Category: Basic Income

Income for All

In theory, a universal basic income (UBI) would be great. Under such a system, all citizens of a country are entitled to an unconditional amount of money on top of income they already generate through other means. It could spur productivity, improve health, alleviate poverty, reduce crime, raise education, and improve quality of life. It’s also especially relevant, given the reality of automation taking over more and more jobs.

UBI’s potential has prompted several nations to study and test its viability. Among the pioneers are Finland, which just started implementing a UBI program that gives 2,000 randomly […]

Full Post at trueviralnews.com

In a recent article for The Guardian, Jason Hickel writes that “a basic income could defeat the scarcity mindset, instil a sense of solidarity and even ease the anxieties that gave us Brexit and Trump.”

Hickel argues that a basic income is not just a privilege, nor just a nice idea – instead, basic income is a birthright.

Hickel begins by reflecting on the Charter of the Forest, 1217, a companion document to the Magna Carta, which enshrined the right of Englishmen to access royal lands, “which they could use for farming, grazing, water and wood [collecting].” Hickel argues that […]

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I’ve heard it said that the majority of humans are becoming little more than serfs, those bonded folk from the early medieval days following the Norman Conquest of 1066. Wages are being driven down and despite this housing costs are spiralling upwards forcing more and more into poverty traps. It is 2017 and in the United Kingdom there are people who need to obtain food from food banks in order to live. Yes, people are relying on charitable donations of food in order to live.

The serfs of 13th and 14th century Britain, however, were better off. Yes, they were […]

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Parts of the radical left see the Universal Basic Income (UBI) demand as a potential vehicle to a) ‘make people think’ about productive potentials and wealth distribution in capitalism; and b) unify a (fragmented and atomised) working class through a common demand. We think that the demand ain’t helpful for the following reasons.

Some of us went to a Novara public debate on Universal Basic Income yesterday. Hackney Showrooms was packed with mainly hip people in their twenties, who paid for the event and £4 for a can of Red Stripes beer. must have been over 100 people (if such […]

Full Post at libcom.org

There’s been a lot of talk about robots taking jobs and recently I saw something implying that people may be dying prematurely because of the perception of not enough work.

While the robots taking jobs is definitely happening (and it’s not all a bad thing). I’m not sure there is enough data for the second point.

Regardless, these two points and many other factors contribute to the idea that the time might be right for a Universal Basic Income (UBI) A Basic Income was proposed by Thomas Paine over 200 years ago. A “basic income” is an income unconditionally granted to […]

Full Post at www.business2community.com

Sam Altman has gained a reputation over the last year or so for inserting himself into politics and social issues. Altman, the president of influential Silicon Valley startup incubator Y Combinator, has been loudly critical of President Donald Trump and is organizing tech workers to pressure their companies to commit to such values as privacy and equitable pay for employees.

He has also been prodding tech executives to run for governor of California and challenge Trump’s policies.

“I think you’d be good at this,” he has told Silicon Valley leaders, whom he wouldn’t name. “You seem pretty bored at your job.”But […]

Full Post at www.recode.net

Sam Altman, the president of prestigious Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator, has been expanding the organization’s scope into areas such as researching cities. He also made headlines last year for his vocal opposition to Donald Trump while also maintaining his ties to investor and Trump-supporter Peter Thiel. Speaking at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco, Altman talked about the state of Trump and technology.

Big takeaway: Despite his criticism of Trump, Altman says the President is right one thing — that the tech industry is partly responsible for the fact that so many Americans feel left […]

Full Post at www.axios.com

Charity is always a way to confirm who’s on top and who’s stuck below — and a guaranteed basic income is essentially charity. It is better to organize somehow to get a seat at the same table as those guys with the investments and returns have done forever. An alternative to a guaranteed basic income is take control of your destiny by organizing somehow — unions, political parties, whatever, says Rick Salutin. Something about the Guaranteed Basic Income program being readied for an Ontario test run — names vary but it means automatic minimum support for the needy and […]

Full Post at www.thestar.com