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Universal basic income dominates French Socialists’ primary debate

Universal basic income dominates French Socialists' primary debate

The seven candidates to be Socialist-backed presidential candidate before the debate Reuters/Philippe Wojazer

A rebel Socialist’s call for a universal basic income dominated the first of three debate’s between the seven would-be centre-left candidates for France’s presidential election this year.

Rebel Socialist Benoît Hamon, who resigned as education minister in protest at what he saw as the government’s rightward drift, has made the basic income proposal his key policy and Jean-Luc Bennahmias, the leader of the small Democratic and Ecologist Union, also backs the call.And the question provided the only real controversy in the first of three televised debates ahead of […]

Basic Guaranteed Income project holds Kitchener consultation tonight

Basic Guaranteed Income project holds Kitchener consultation tonight

The City of Kitchener is the latest stop in a 14 city provincial tour to discuss whether or not the province should launch a pilot project for Basic Guaranteed Income (BGI).

The plan would guarantee people a monthly payment to supplement their income in order to reach a pre-determined basic earning level. A number of countries are either considering or have implemented similar pilot projects.

The Friday night consultation at the rotunda of Kitchener City Hall will ask the community: Who should be eligible? Where should the pilot take place? What should the basic income level be? How best to evaluate […]

Interactive model shows basic income’s effect

Interactive model shows basic income’s effect

Imagine entering a website for your country which after answering a few questions would inform you how much money you would receive from a basic income. This is net of any increased taxes from each of the financing models proposed to finance the UBI. This site will also tell you how the country would be affected overall. Each of the variables are listed and are changeable, which gives those interested the ability to measure results from all possible outcomes.

We have this now in a spreadsheet form , and it has been forwarded to all the members of the international […]

Robots will take jobs from humans, but later than thought

Robots will take jobs from humans, but later than thought

An automated workforce will replace human labor someday, but not as soon as some frightening predictions suggest, according to a new study by the McKinsey Global Institute.

Read more The experts analyzed more than 2,000 work activities across 800 occupations, breaking down jobs into tasks. “Almost half the activities people are paid almost $16 trillion in wages to do in the global economy have the potential to be automated by adapting currently demonstrated technology,” the report says .

However, less than five percent of all occupations can be automated entirely, according to the analysts. “About 60 percent of all occupations have […]

CEO Daily: Friday,13th January

Good Friday morning.

Recent developments in robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning have the potential to eliminate half the activities people are currently paid to do in the workforce, according to a study out from the McKinsey Global Institute this morning. And it’s not just manufacturing jobs. Many middle- and high-skilled jobs, including those in data collection and processing, have a significant degree of automation potential.

That change won’t happen overnight. The McKinsey report says it will take anywhere from 20 to 40 years for half of today’s work activities to be automated. And new jobs will be created in the […]

India’s most conflict-ridden state becomes the first in the country to commit to a universal basic income

India’s most conflict-ridden state becomes the first in the country to commit to a universal basic income

In a first, the restive Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) plans to provide a basic income to all its citizens living below the poverty line (BPL). This is the first instance in India of a state committing to a universal basic income (UBI) policy.

In his state budget presentation on Jan. 11 , J&K’s finance minister Haseeb Drabu announced that the state will use direct benefit transfers, wherein the government puts money directly into citizens’ bank accounts, to implement this scheme. “I want to leave the seeds of a thought on how to transition from running social welfare […]

Half of today’s work activities could be automated by 2055: McKinsey

About half of the activities people are paid to do in the global economy have the potential to be automated by adapting currently demonstrated technology by 2055, amounting to almost 12 trillion U.S. dollars in wages, the McKinsey Global Institute said in a report newly released in Hong Kong.
The report, entitled "A future that works: automation, employment and productivity", analyzes the automation potential of the global economy, covering all sectors in over 50 countries.
At a time of lackluster productivity growth worldwide, automation technologies, including robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning can give a needed boost […]

End of Work Reading List: Automation, Onshoring, Heart, and AI Texas Hold’em

End of Work Reading List: Automation, Onshoring, Heart, and AI Texas Hold’em

Xconomy Seattle —

One of Xconomy’s areas of focus in 2017 is the increasing impact of technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation on human labor. Technology has always made some occupations obsolete, while changing others, and creating new ones. Today, and looking forward, these changes seem to be accelerating. This is the exponential economy from which Xconomy created its name.

There’s news every day and a lot of great stuff being written on this broad, essential issue. To help you make some sense of it, and to show you the sources that influence our thinking and coverage, we’ll be […]

INDIA: State budget recommends cash transfers for the poor

INDIA: State budget recommends cash transfers for the poor

The Finance Minister of the northern Indian state Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has endorsed what he calls a “universal basic income” — which would entail the replacement of existing subsidies with direct cash transfers — for all residents currently in poverty. Haseeb A Drabu, CC BY-ND 2.0 worldsteel

Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu presented the J&K state budget in a speech on Wednesday, January 11. The budget proposals included what was called “universal basic income”, though Drabu also stated that this universal basic income would be distributed only to those living below the poverty line.

As the economist Himanshu (Jawaharlal Nehru […]

How Universal Basic Income Could Rescue The Freelance Economy:from FastCompany.com – Where ideas and people meet | Fast Company

How Universal Basic Income Could Rescue The Freelance Economy:from FastCompany.com – Where ideas and people meet | Fast Company

How Universal Basic Income Could Rescue The Freelance Economy | Fast Company | Business + Innovation On January 1 Finland became the first country in history to launch a large-scale universal basic income trial . The two-year trial selected 2,000 unemployed Finnish citizens and will pay them €560 ($587) each month whether or not they find a job during the trial. There are also no requirements for reporting how they spend the money. The experiment aims to see if large-scale UBI programs could actually help boost employment and spur the economy by providing people with a small guaranteed income, […]