Category: Basic Income

Universal Basic Income, also known as “basic income,” “guaranteed minimum income,” and “negative income tax,” is a way to eliminate poverty completely and thoroughly, once and for all!

A universal basic income would be an income that would be given to all members of society every month regardless of any other factor in their life. The amount would not be extravagant but it would be enough to provide the basics necessary for life. In the United States this would be something like $1500 per month.

A large portion of the money would come from currently existing welfare programs like SNAP, TANF, […]

Full Post at gaurarader.com

The first stage of the Finnish basic income experiment will be launched at the beginning of 2017. The team of researchers who explored various alternatives for implementing the experiment hopes to see the experiment continue after the initial stage.

According to Olli Kangas of Kela, who led the team, the model which will be investigated in 2017 should be seen as the first step in a series of experiments testing various types of basic income.

A total of 2,000 persons between ages 25 and 58 who are paid unemployment benefits paid by Kela will participate in the first stage. The […]

Full Post at www.kela.fi

"Don’t slam the door on your way out, man." A robot ate my job and all I got was this lousy welfare check.

A new survey says nearly half of Americans are OK with the idea of a "universal basic income," a monthly payment that could be funded by tax revenues and used as a safety net against job loss caused by, among other things, automation, artificial intelligence and similar tech developments .

Celebrated personalities such as Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking have expressed concern over the possibility of such job loss , and one researcher has forecast that 6 percent […]

Full Post at www.cnet.com

Protestors in Zurich demand a restructuring of the welfare state In the previous two articles in this series, the precariat was depicted as the emerging mass class , experiencing falling real wages, chronic economic insecurity and growing anger, in a context best described as rentier capitalism , rather than free-market capitalism. Revolt is in the air, and is justified, even if we may detest the forms it is taking, because the system is "rigged" excessively in favour of the rentiers, those who earn income from property, physical, financial or intellectual.

What is to be done? The starting point – elaborated […]

Full Post at www.weforum.org

By Pedro Sousa

* This article was originally published by the Australian Institute of International Affairs .

The concept of a universal basic income has received renewed attention in 2016 . The general frustration with mainstream politics and the finance sector—manifested in the Brexit and US election votes—is indicative of the view that the economic system in the West is deficient. Inequality is growing, welfare costs are increasing, and technological disruption is escalating; prompting some to warm to the idea of a guaranteed basic income for everyone. The technological revolution and the resulting digital economy are driving the increasing […]

Full Post at econplus.wordpress.com

CEOs could soon have a lot less staff to manage, whether they like it or not.

universal basic income A new survey indicates the once pie-in-the-sky notion of paying all citizens regularly for doing absolutely nothing is gaining traction in America, amid rising voter concerns about income inequality and the threat to people’s jobs posed by robots.

The poll of 500 Americans found that 46% supported the introduction of a so-called universal basic income, or UBI. Just 35% opposed the idea, while 19% were undecided.The survey was commissioned by a collective of nonprofit, political and technology organizations including Bloomberg-backed […]

Full Post at chiefexecutive.net

Image: Ismo Pekkarinen / AOP The Social Insurance Institution of Finland, better known as Kela, has randomly chosen 2,000 unemployed persons as a random sample to participate in a basic income trial. The selected candidates will be informed on December 28, and participation in the pilot is compulsory.

Once the trial begins, recipients of the basic income will have to give up their basic unemployment allowance or labour market subsidy, but the basic income will not affect other benefits.

Officials are hoping that participants in the trial will be motivated to find temporary or part-time work. However they will also be […]

Full Post at yle.fi

Smiths Falls Record News

The idea of Smiths Falls vying to be one of the municipalities in Ontario to test out a basic income pilot project was shot down at council’s committee of the whole meeting on Dec. 19.

The purpose of the basic income pilot project would be to test replacing the broad policing, control and monitoring present in the current Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) with a "modestly more generous" basic income which would be disbursed automatically to those living beneath a certain income.In a priority issue put forward by the town’s chief administrative officer, […]

Full Post at www.insideottawavalley.com

Starting January 1, 2017 Finland will provide 2,000 unemployed citizens with 560 Euros every month for two years. The nation hopes that the basic income experiment will improve quality of life for its citizens while opening up new jobs.

If you currently collect unemployment in Finland, you risk losing your benefits if you start to bring in side income. The country has discovered that the regulations behind this safety net effectively deter people from seeking part-time jobs. Starting a new company or joining a startup is also risky, and many people need the reliability of an unemployment […]

Full Post at inhabitat.com

As technology gets more and more advanced, it stands to reason that the United States’ economy will continue to get more and more automated. And it follows in turn that as more and more jobs are lost to automation , more and more people will find themselves out of work and without any immediate apparent means of support. Naturally, opinions vary on solutions to the problem, and one of them is the concept of universal basic income, an idea which can now count Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes among its interested parties.

Hughes is just one of more than a hundred […]

Full Post at www.celebritynetworth.com