Category: Basic Income

Gates: World Isn’t Ready For Universal Basic Income System

Gates: World Isn't Ready For Universal Basic Income System

Bill Gates (AP Photo/Grigoriy Sisoev) Bill Gates, one of the world’s richest man with a net worth of $81 billion, thinks nations – including the United States – are not wealthy enough yet for a universal basic income system that would give everyone a set amount of money.

In a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" conversation Monday, the philanthropist and co-chair of the Gates Foundation was questioned about what he thought about a UBI, which some have argued would close gaps in equality.

"Over time, countries will be rich enough to do this; however, we still have a lot of work that […]

Basic income : an anthology of contemporary research

Part I Freedom 1

Introduction: Freedom and Basic Income / Karl Widerquist Widerquist, Karl 2

1 The Psychological Aspects of the Guaranteed Income / Erich Fromm Fromm, Erich 5 2 The Case for a Negative Income Tax: A View from the Right / Milton Friedman Friedman, Milton 11 3 Why Surfers Should Be Fed: The Crazy-Lazy Challenge / Philippe Van Parijs Parijs, Philippe Van 17 4 Optional Freedoms / Elizabeth Anderson Anderson, Elizabeth 23 5 A Republican Right to Basic Income / Philip Pettit Pettit, Philip 26 6 Why We Demand a Basic Income / Karl Widerquist Widerquist, Karl […]

Early insights from the first field test of universal basic income

Early insights from the first field test of universal basic income

Kenya shillings. Photo by: klndonnelly / CC BY Since October 2016, each of 95 adults in a rural village in Western Kenya has received 2,280 shillings, about $22, every month from Silicon Valley-based nonprofit GiveDirectly. They’ll get that money for the next 12 years, regardless of what else happens in their lives.

The pilot project is among the first field tests of universal basic income — the idea of providing everyone with a base amount of cash, regardless of work status. It may also hold some early answers about how recipients choose to use the money, how it impacts their […]

Guy Caron enters NDP leadership race, promises basic income

Guy Caron enters NDP leadership race, promises basic income

Quebec MP Guy Caron told a news conference in Gatineau, Que., on Monday that he is joining the NDP leadership race. (CBC) Guy Caron, a Quebec MP and former economist with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, is the third candidate to enter the race for the federal NDP leadership.

Caron, who represents the riding of Rimouski–Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, focused on economic issues in launching his campaign Monday in Gatineau, Que., saying his first policy proposal would be a basic income .

"I am an economist by training," he said. "I decided to study economics because, fundamentally, economics is not […]

5 Things You May Not Know About Basic Income

5 Things You May Not Know About Basic Income

Universal basic income is the practice of dispensing periodic cash payments to individuals, regardless of their financial or employment status. It is different from a welfare program in that you do not have to take a means test to determine your eligibility. You don’t have to prove that you make less than a certain amount, or that you recently lost your job. Basic income gives unconditionally, implying that it doesn’t distinguish between recipients who earn a full-time income and recipients who don’t work at all.

Those against basic income often argue that it would raise taxes on the wealthy, and […]

Bill Gates says it’s too early for basic income, but over time ‘countries will be rich enough’

Bill Gates says it's too early for basic income, but over time 'countries will be rich enough'

Bill Gates (Gus Ruelas/Reuters)
Bill Gates isn’t opposed to giving people money for free — particularly as a means to lift them out of poverty — but he doesn’t think universal basic income (UBI) is ready for public use quite yet.

In a February 27 AMA on Reddit , the philanthropist and co-chair of the Gates Foundation responded with some hesitation to a question about UBI, a system of income distribution in which everyone receives a set amount of money regardless of job or income level.
Proponents of UBI claim the system could close gaps in equality , as everyone’s […]

A Universal Basic Income in Africa

A Universal Basic Income in Africa

GiveDirectly Foreign aid has traditionally taken the form of in-kind assistance: sending meals or medicine, helping build houses or schools, and so on. This can lead to all kinds of unfortunate side effects, as when free food from abroad undercuts local farmers. There is also a recurring mismatch between what the planners in aid agencies think a community needs and what the people on the ground actually want. And so a small group of forward-looking aid workers has embraced a cheaper, more flexible, and less paternalistic approach: Just send people cash instead.

The leading player here is GiveDirectly , a […]

Jim’s Pool Care Franchise – Guaranteed Income of $1,500/Week for the First 6 Months – Mobile Service – Gold Coast – Exciting Opportunity….Only $67,500 + VAN

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US: Radio program “Intelligence Squared” hosts Basic Income debate

US: Radio program “Intelligence Squared” hosts Basic Income debate

Intelligence Squared U.S. (IQ2US), a debate program moderated by ABC News correspondent John Donvan and broadcast on more than 200 public stations, will air an episode on basic income on Wednesday, March 22.

Four guests will debate the question “Is the universal basic income the safety net of the future?”

“For the Motion” Andrew Stern (former President of the Service Employees International Union, now Senior Fellow at Columbia University). In his highly publicized 2016 book Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream , Stern argues that UBI is the […]

Finland considers basic income to reform welfare system _ hacker news

> The danger for any country implementing this is that once they get into the political procee, they will chop and compromise and water down the idea until it is just another item on the big list of ingredient in the social welfare soup €212.13 per month that you qualify for while keeping everything else that exists.

Exactly this. Housing benefit while working You can already see in the article this process is happening in Finland. Low income housing benefit At first it talks about basic income, then about how the income should be below a living wage (which at […]