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10 Reasons You Should Support Basic Income

10 Reasons You Should Support Basic Income

Credit: The Daily Public

At George Fox University 10 Reasons You Should Support Basic Income

Pin It The idea of a universal basic income (UBI) has been around for a while, but it has been gaining attention recently. It is a fairly simple idea. Step 1 is to regularly give every citizen a check to cover basic expenses. There is no Step 2.Despite — or perhaps because of — its simplicity, implementing a universal basic income would solve several problems in American economic policy and ultimately be beneficial. Here is an overview of some of the reasons why. […]

About half of Americans support giving residents up to $2000 a month when robots take their jobs

About half of Americans support giving residents up to $2000 a month when robots take their jobs

Nearly half of Americans are in favor of giving cash handouts of $500-$2,000 a month to residents when robots take their jobs.

A survey of 500 individuals in the U.S. released today found that 46 percent of people support the idea of a universal basic income, through which the government gives a cash handout to any resident, irrespective of employment status.

"The general concept of a floor on income is generally acceptable to and popular with voters. This is a solid first step," writes Misha Chellam , the founder of startup-training company Tradecraft and a signatory of the Economic Security Project, […]

Libertarian calls for guaranteed income to replace Social Security and welfare

Libertarian calls for guaranteed income to replace Social Security and welfare

Distinguished author and commentator Charles Murray, who is the author of the book, " In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State ," said in an interview on C-SPAN today that the current scheme of income transfer from the government is “crazy.” He is proposing that the governnment should instead provide an annual subsidy of $10,000 per year in lieu of other benefits such as welfare and Social Security to every American aged 21 years or older. Murray is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

“It is crazy. We have $2 trillion a year we spent […]

In 2017, We Will Find Out if a Basic Income Makes Sense

In 2017, We Will Find Out if a Basic Income Makes Sense

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In 2017, we may find out if a universal basic income is a good idea.The concept is simple enough: Governments pay people for doing nothing. In place of state benefits, people would receive income regardless of their situation. Proponents say that such a system could alleviate poverty, and help provide people who are just about managing with a little freedom to escape low quality jobs and access education. As more jobs are lost to automation , the argument, a universal income will become even more important.Problem is, we […]

Sam Altman is Worried Basic Income Will Make Us Sad

Sam Altman is Worried Basic Income Will Make Us Sad

Could free money for everybody make people unhappy? Sam Altman, president of startup accelerator Y Combinator, is worried that a universal basic income may not be the magic bullet Silicon Valley makes it out to be. Some of tech’s biggest names believe the policy would help people who lose their jobs through robot automation, making sure everyone has enough to get by without fears over cut working hours.

Altman is not totally convinced this will lead to a better world. “What’s unclear to me is will people be net-happier or are we just so dependent on our jobs for meaning […]

Finland Will Give Some Unemployed Citizens a Basic Income

I’ve generally talked about a Universal Social Security (a type of UBI) in its potential to create broad market effects. That’s not possible in these small experiments, so you get incomplete information.

Imagine being a landlord. If an average of 10% of your theoretical rent revenue is lost to evictions and empty units, what happens? You have 10 units that must rent for $250/month to make your profit margin, yet you face a risk of $25/month per unit. Well, to retain the same profit margin, you have to charge $275/month–and what if your tenants can only afford $260/month? You can’t […]

New Leaf co-founder aims to help homeless and sees parallels with Basic Income

New Leaf co-founder aims to help homeless and sees parallels with Basic Income

In 2015 Claire Williams left her career behind in Vancouver to volunteer at an orphanage in India. When she returned to Vancouver six months later, the issue of homelessness in her city preoccupied her. She wanted to make a lasting impact in the lives of others.

With her co-founder, Frans Tjallingii, the New Leaf Project was born. New Leaf is a simple concept. A one time cash grant of $7,500 is awarded to a person who is homeless, with no strings attached.

In Vancouver the pilot project will run in association with UBC and The Lookout Society next Spring. Fifty participants […]

Industry 4.0 and Industrial Robots: Are our jobs at risk?

By Molly Connell, Online Marketing, TradeMachines

Industry 4.0 is here and it is making changes. The trend of data exchange and automation in factories is expanding rapidly and it’s presence is proven by countless numbers. For example, while in 2002 69.000 robot units were sold, in 2016 this number increased significantly and was 290.000. By now there are approximately 1.8 million robots in operation .

While installing robots has been an option for manufacturers for quite a while now, the fact that they have become more affordable and suitable for more types of tasks, triggered the boost of robots sales. […]

Michael Hicks: Manufacturing’s future production and jobs

Michael Hicks: Manufacturing's future production and jobs

One benefit of the political debate about trade is that it led to an overdue discussion of manufacturing. But after more than a year of politicking, I’m afraid there’s still a great deal of confusion about the industry and its future. To help clear things up I’ll begin with a parlor trick. Pick the year you think manufacturing production peaked in the U.S. or Indiana. Some of you will say, 1928, 1945, 1975, and sometimes even 1999. The correct answer, of course, is 2015. Yes, inflation-adjusted manufacturing production peaked both in the U.S. and Indiana in 2015, replacing 2014 […]

View from a Reg reader: My take on the Basic Income

View from a Reg reader: My take on the Basic Income

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Few things are more divisive than ideas that are perceived as radical; ideas that push against what we consider to be normal, against the social or political boundaries that we have grown up and lived within.

As Chris Mellor’s recent article demonstrated, when the powers that be put forward divisive ideas it doesn’t take long for the population to fall in to one camp or another: For! Against! All with very little middle ground to be found.Universal Basic Income (UBI) is simultaneously a simple and difficult concept to grasp. Simple: Everyone receives a basic level of income […]