The concept of a basic income guarantee (BIG) has gained increasing traction on the left in recent years, for example being adopted as union policy by GMB and UNITE , being a manifesto commitment of the Green Party , and supported by John Mcdonnell , the shadow chancellor.
The concept is hardly new, with subsidized grain for plebian citizens being introduced by the populist Tribune, Gaius Gracchus in 123 BC. Indeed, as one of the currently touted arguments for a citizen income is founded on the idea that automation is creating a sub class of those permanently excluded from work, […]
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