Category: Basic Income

Deployed well, both a robot tax and a basic income could fit comfortably into a redistributive agenda

Automated labor apocalypse: Why a French socialist’s case for taxing robots is better than Bill Gates’ idea Now that he won’t be labor secretary, Andy Puzder will be free to keep running his fast food empire the way he likes: with low wages, rampant wage theft and sky-high rates of sexual harassment. Because humans do pesky things like complain and demand decent hours and collective bargaining rights, Puzder has toyed with the idea of replacing them with robots. As he’s put […]

Full Post at www.salon.com

Synopsis In a system of basic income, as elaborated by Philippe van Paijs, all citizens are given a monthly stipend sufficiently high to provide them with a no-frills, but adequate standard of living. This monthly income is universal rather than meanstested, and it is unconditional – receiving the basic income does not depend upon performing any labour services or satisfying other conditions. It affirms the idea that as a matter of basic rights, no one should live in poverty in an affluent society. In a system of stakeholder grants, as discussed by Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott, all citizens, […]

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In a February 2017 vote on recommendations to address the effects of automation, the European Parliament rejected a proposal to recommend consideration of basic income.

As previously reported in Basic Income News , the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament prepared a draft report with recommendations concerning the regulation of artificial intelligence and robotics as well as their economic and societal effects.

Among numerous other recommendations to the European Commission, the draft stated that “in the light of the possible effects on the labour market of robotics and AI a general basic income should be seriously considered” and that […]

Full Post at www.therockandrolltimes.com

The city of Barcelona is preparing to test an income maintenance program in one of its poorest districts. While it has been called a ‘basic income’, the tested programs diverge in several ways from BIEN’s definition of the term.

Urban Innovative Actions (UIA), an initiative of the European Commission that supports projects investigating “innovative and creative solutions” in urban areas, has allocated €4.85 million (about $5.15 million) to fund a three-year pilot study of guaranteed minimum income (GMI) in Barcelona, Spain. The project is dubbed “B-Mincome” in reference to Mincome , a well-known study of GMI conducted in […]

Full Post at basicincome.org

When people ask me what this column’s theme is, my usual response is, tongue-in-cheek, “Whatever has annoyed me about the tech industry during the last week.” This is not always true. Often I celebrate things! But this week, my friends, this week is different; this week so much has annoyed me about the industry that I scarcely know where to begin.

I guess with Uber. It’s the obvious starting point, thanks to Susan Fowler’s scathing, brilliantly written memoir of her year there, during which sexist insult was piled upon misogynist injury ad nauseum. Travis Kalanick responded that what she described […]

Full Post at techcrunch.com

The Universal Basic Income (UBI) as proposed in the latest Economic Survey, cannot be an add-on benefits like the existing welfare schemes and can be only introduced when no other welfare programmes are in existence, the government’s chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian said today.

For UBI to be put in place, all other existing welfare projects have to be withdrawn as the cost of this programme will exceed the combined cost of all existing welfare programmes, he said.

“The cost of this programme (UBI) is so huge that it cannot be an add-on to the existing programmes as the government cannot […]

Full Post at juniordigest.com

Sponsored Megyn Kelly Scandal Revealed

The Shocking Real Reason She’s Leaving Fox News! Learn More Sponsored by Gone Viral DUBLIN, Ireland – In what came as positive news for Ireland from down under, the Australian Foreign Minister is said to have hinted at a fruitful period for better mutual relations between the two countries.

Addressing the Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce, Julie Bishop said that post-Brexit, Ireland will take U.K.’s place as the key gateway to the EU.The minister further added that she believed Ireland was "superbly" positioned to exploit Brexit and bring in more Australian businesses.Bishop said, “I […]

Full Post at www.irishsun.com

I’ve never been a fan of the term "earn your own way" since basically everybody begs for their first job, and opportunity is shaped by external forces, and salary depends on perception and luck, rather than gumption and productivity.

Anyway, one of the arguments for Basic Income is that people are becoming less useful. There isn’t any nice way to put that. It just is.

If you lose your prestigious factory job, because robots and Malaysian children can do it for $1/day, then that’s just how little you are worth. $1/day. There’s no comfort to be had in pretending otherwise. Hey […]

Full Post at www.actuarialoutpost.com

As liberal democracy seems to be crumbling under the weight of widespread despondency, some hardline opinions are in danger of becoming received wisdoms. In the global market, we are told, we must work harder and improve productivity. The welfare state has become too large and we need to cut back on benefits. Immigration is out of control and borders need to be strengthened.

The choice seems to be either to accept this new paradigm or risk the likes of Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders gaining power. The centre ground is being dragged to the left and right, and collapsing […]

Full Post at www.theguardian.com