Category: Basic Income

Fitzgerald: Giving the poor money — what an outrage!

Fitzgerald: Giving the poor money — what an outrage!

Stockton will be a guinea pig, a happy little piggy, you would think: A Bay Area foundation will give select Stocktonians $500 a month for at least a year. No strings attached.

The intriguing idea is to help them, and to test “universal basic income” as a policy to address both poverty and an economy leaving more and more people behind.

“Every day we have people calling the office who are working people, working two jobs, three jobs, even more, who are worried they can’t afford rent,” said Mayor Michael Tubbs, who announced this pilot program Wednesday.The Economic Security Project, a […]

Stockton trial project with guaranteed Basic Income | Page 3

Stockton trial project with guaranteed Basic Income | Page 3

I’m very interested to see how this goes, but I think there is a very serious problem that will taint the experiment, all the other welfare in California. Hopefully it helps the people intended, but I don’t think we’ll prove this is a better model than the welfare model with this, and it may make things worse. One big thing that gives me trepidation on all welfare is giving people something for nothing on an ongoing basis and with no real accountability. I really believe that people do better when they have to earn things. Sure but the problem […]

Basic Income Isn’t Just About Robots, Says Mayor Who Just Launched Pilot Program

Basic Income Isn't Just About Robots, Says Mayor Who Just Launched Pilot Program

The idea of universal basic income is popular in Silicon Valley because it’s seen as a potential solution to job losses in the age of automation.

Phonlamaiphoto / Getty Images / Caroline O’Donovan The idea of basic income — in which the government gives all citizens a small monthly stipend — has grown popular in tech circles, not in the least because it’s seen as a possible solution to the looming problem of robots, artificial intelligence, and automation taking jobs away from human workers.

But when Stockton, California Mayor Michael Tubbs spoke at Cash Conference, a pro-basic income event […]

Next Year, a Californian City Will Launch the First Basic Income Experiment in the U.S.

Next Year, a Californian City Will Launch the First Basic Income Experiment in the U.S.

Stockton, California, is about to become the first city to test government-supported universal basic income in the U.S. The program is the idea of the city’s 27-year-old mayor and will be primarily funded by the basic income advocacy group Economic Security Project. No Strings Attached

The idea of a guaranteed income for all citizens regardless of their social and economic standing is called universal basic income (UBI) , and it’s been floating around for centuries. Thomas Paine wrote about it back in the 1790s, and in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. expressed his support for a universal basic income […]

High-tech threatens millions of Canadian jobs

High-tech threatens millions of Canadian jobs

FILE PHOTO Structural reform key to maintaining Turkey’s growth Turkey calls on Muslims to cooperate in science, tech TRENTON, Ont.

Millions of Canadian jobs are threatened by technology that is changing so fast authorities and businesses cannot react quickly enough to the changes, Canadian media reported Thursday.

‘A new report, The Intelligence Revolution: Future Proofing Canada’s Workforce, was co-authored by the financial advisory firm Deloitte Canada and the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA). It says 35 – 42 percent of Canadian jobs are threatened but did not put a timetable on the losses.The report said government and business leaders and […]

Basic Income Isn’t Just About Robots, Says Mayor Who Just Launched Pilot Program

Basic Income Isn't Just About Robots, Says Mayor Who Just Launched Pilot Program

Phonlamaiphoto / Getty Images / Caroline O’Donovan The idea of basic income — in which the government gives all citizens a small monthly stipend — has grown popular in tech circles , not in the least because it’s seen as a possible solution to the looming problem of robots, artificial intelligence, and automation taking jobs away from human workers.

But when Stockton, California Mayor Michael Tubbs spoke at Cash Conference, a pro-basic income event held in San Francisco on Thursday, about plans to test a basic income pilot for his city, he said the program isn’t a response to encroaching […]

Stockton to pilot ‘basic income’ experiment

STOCKTON – A consortium of policy experts, researchers and academics has awarded $1 million to Stockton to fund an experiment that aims to assess the social benefits of providing a guaranteed monthly income for one or more years to a tiny segment of the city’s residents, Mayor Michael Tubbs announced Wednesday.

Tubbs said the stipends will be awarded with no strings attached. The aim will be to ease the daily strain of barely scraping by that is experienced by the one-fourth of Stockton’s population that lives below the poverty line.

The mayor unveiled the initiative, dubbed the “Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration,” […]

Even A Modest Basic Income Could Improve Economic Security

Even A Modest Basic Income Could Improve Economic Security

Amanda / Flickr The idea of a universal basic income (UBI) – a cash payment made to every person in the country with no strings attached – is becoming increasingly popular in experimental policy circles . Most proposals for a universal basic income are “complete” UBI proposals: payments large enough to guarantee a minimum standard of living to every person independent of work. In the US, that would be roughly $12,000 per person based on the poverty line.

However, it is more likely that any universal cash payment passed in the US would be more modest to begin with, e.g. […]

This California city’s 27-year-old mayor will give residents $500 free cash per month

This California city's 27-year-old mayor will give residents $500 free cash per month

A two-hour drive from the tech-fueled riches of San Francisco, Stockton, Calif., is a completely different world from its Silicon Valley neighbor. But the small city is taking a big bet to try to fix its lagging economy with a strategy that many of the tech elite have been largely only pontificating about: universal basic income, or cash handouts.

In 2013, Stockton became the most populous city in the United States to enter bankruptcy . The city of 300,000 was toppled when the housing bubble burst, its basic operating expenses dependent on developer fees and increasing property tax revenue that […]

City of Stockton to Consider America’s First Basic Income Grant

City of Stockton to Consider America’s First Basic Income Grant

The city of Stockton, California, is planning to offer a basic income grant of $500 per month to poor residents, making it the first U.S. city to provide a guaranteed income.

Mayor Michael Tubbs announced the program on Wednesday, according to Capital Public Radio . “This is not a handout, it’s a hand up,” he reportedly said. The program is to be privately funded by the Economic Security Project , which Capital Public Radio describes as “a network of researchers, elected leaders, and organizers” and which is run by Facebook co-founder and Barack Obama campaign veteran Chris Hughes.

Stockton declared bankruptcy […]