Category: Basic Income

Basic Income Won’t Fix Everything, We Need More Innovative Social Ideas

A Universal Basic Income (UBI) will not fix everything- it’s not supposed to -it’s a start for some people and a boon for everyone. But don’t let the prospect of a little free money stop us from pursuing more progressive regulations and reforms.

UBI is meant to provide a floor -a standard-which no one can fall beneath. But giving people unconditional free money shouldn’t be the end of the conversation, says Ben Spies-Butcher, a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Masters of Policy and Applied Social Research in the Sociology Department at Macquarie University.

In his essay ” Not Just a […]

Does the guaranteed income intrest you?

Does the guaranteed income intrest you?

Join Date Location Posts The first comment I will make try to explain to the average person of 1816 why the world of 2016 isn’t a utopia. Of course our times has it problems, serious problems. But we have effectively address many of the concerns that the average individual has had in the world of 1816. We are better fed, clothed, access to more information, etc, etc. You can point at problems throughout the world and even within western civilization but they are the problems spreading the benefits of victory not a see-saw fight against famine and pestilence that […]

Rural Kenyans Are Getting Free Cash Every Month To Test The Concept Of A Basic Income

Rural Kenyans Are Getting Free Cash Every Month To Test The Concept Of A Basic Income

2016 turned out to be a banner a big year for the idea of giving people enough money so they’re no longer poor—otherwise known as a universal basic income (UBI). Around the world, more cities and countries are exploring UBI, including a big new effort in Finland , which launched recently. Millions of dollars of research are going into it in the U.S . The debate has shifted from ‘wow, what a crazy notion’ to ‘let’s see if the crazy thing can work.’"

Aside from Finland, the tech-incubator Y Combinator is also piloting basic income in Oakland, California . And […]

Universal Basic Income Trials Being Considered In Scotland

Universal Basic Income Trials Being Considered In Scotland

Create! Scotland, Universal Income By Libby Brooks, www.theguardian.com January 5th, 2017 Above Photo: Glasgow is the ideal place to test a basic income scheme, said the councillor Matt Kerr. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Guardian

Two councils, Fife and Glasgow, are investigating idea of offering everyone a fixed income regardless of earnings

Scotland looks set to be the first part of the UK to pilot a basic income for every citizen, as councils in Fife and Glasgow investigate trial schemes in 2017.The councillor Matt Kerr has been championing the idea through the ornate halls of Glasgow City Chambers, and is […]

The economist behind Universal Basic Income: Give all citizens free money to help combat a ‘neofascist wave of populism’

The economist behind Universal Basic Income: Give all citizens free money to help combat a ‘neofascist wave of populism’

In 2011 Guy Standing, then an economist at the University of Bath, prefaced his new book with a warning.

He described a growing class of “precariat” workers, alienated by a western political agenda which had, since the 1970s, promoted market-led competition above job security. Real wages across the west had stalled for decades and “flexible” work was becoming the norm, leaving many millions around the world in “without an anchor of stability.”

This precariat, he said, “are prone to listen to ugly voices, and to use their votes and money to give those voices a political platform of increasing influence.” Such […]

8 Facts About Annuities Every Retiree Should Know

8 Facts About Annuities Every Retiree Should Know

8 Facts About Annuities Every Retiree Should Know An annuity is a contract between you and a company — typically, an insurance company. You give the company a lump sum of money, and it promises to make monthly payments to you, either immediately or beginning at some point in the future.

Generally speaking, the motivation for buying an annuity is simple — to create a guaranteed stream of income from your savings. Annuities are maintenance free, and continue to generate income no matter what the economy does. Essentially, annuities can take the guesswork out of managing your money in retirement.

Annuities […]

Finland Takes Plunge Into Guaranteed Income Socialist Insanity

Like Arnold Toynbee said about civilizations dying not by murder but by suicide : Finland has become the first country in Europe to pay its unemployed citizens a basic monthly income, amounting to 560 euros ($587), in a unique social experiment which is hoped to cut government red tape, reduce poverty and boost employment. Cut red tape by expanding the welfare state. Reduce poverty by paying people to be poor. Boost employment by paying people not to work or even look for work. Some concepts are so stupid that stupidity alone cannot explain them.

At least they are starting off […]

India basic income plans: Can India give every one of its citizens an income without destroying its economy?

India basic income plans: Can India give every one of its citizens an income without destroying its economy?

Basic income India, universal basic income In December 2016, US-based Economic Security Project (ESP), co-chaired by future of work expert Natalie Foster, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and Roosevelt Institute Fellow Dorian Warren, pledged $10 million in initial project fund to explore how a ‘basic income’ could rebalance the economy and ensure economic opportunity for all .

Silicon Valley, automation and universal basic income; what to do to stay one step ahead of the robots?

The move is just one in a series of such clamours around the world getting momentum over the concept of a universal basic income (UBI) […]

News roundup: Can Indian economy survive basic pay to citizens, India bans import of skins of reptiles, mink, fox and chinchillas, and more

News roundup: Can Indian economy survive basic pay to citizens, India bans import of skins of reptiles, mink, fox and chinchillas, and more

Kiosked A male leopard which was tranquilized by forest officials, is carried in a cage from a residential house after it strayed from the wild, in the northeastern Indian city of Guwahati January 7, 2015. Here are stories from International Business Times, India that have broken through the day:

1. India basic income plans: Can India give every one of its citizens an income without destroying its economy?

In December 2016, US-based Economic Security Project (ESP), co-chaired by future of work expert Natalie Foster, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and Roosevelt Institute Fellow Dorian Warren, pledged $10 million in […]

Poor Darwin – Robots, Not Nature, Now Make the Selection

Poor Darwin – Robots, Not Nature, Now Make the Selection

Editors’ Choice , Featured , Global , Globalisation , Headlines , Human Rights , IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse , Labour , Trade & Investment TOPIO ("TOSY Ping Pong Playing Robot") is a bipedal humanoid robot designed to play table tennis against a human being. TOPIO version 3.0 at Tokyo International Robot Exhibition, Nov 2009. Photo: Humanrobo. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. ROME, Jan 5 2017 (IPS) – When British naturalist Charles Darwin published in 1859 his theory of evolution in his work On the Origin of Species, he most likely did not expect that robots, not […]