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Catalonia (Spain): Catalonian Ministry of Economy and Tax Office presents profound study on social policies, featuring basic income

Catalonia (Spain): Catalonian Ministry of Economy and Tax Office presents profound study on social policies, featuring basic income

(Image: Barcelona, “Queen” of the Mediterranean)

In the Spanish region of Catalonia, serious efforts are being made to reduce poverty and to reduce inequalities. Last week, on the 17 th of November, the Catalan Ministry of Economy and Tax Office presented a thorough study on social policies, which includes the contributions of 30 academics and other experts and technicians.

The document points out that current restrictions on the Catalan Government public policies are stalling necessary changes, such as the implementation of more redistributive measures. This is due, in part, to the fact that the main tax revenue is managed by the […]

‘My heart tells me this is a fantastic solution’: Ontario Minister on Basic Income

‘My heart tells me this is a fantastic solution’: Ontario Minister on Basic Income

Chris Ballard, Minister of Housing and Minister Responsible for the Poverty Reduction Strategy for Ontario Chris Ballard, the Minister of Housing and Minister Responsible for the Poverty Reduction Strategy for Ontario, says he is hopeful the province’s Basic Income pilot will “put to rest” any doubts people have about how positive a minimum income strategy could be.

Ballard, who is overseeing the Basic Income pilot project initiated by Canada’s largest province, says some of the key things they want to look at from studying the pilot will be Basic Income’s impact on community health, individuals’ health, education, general quality of […]

Ontario’s Austerity Government Sets Basic Income Trap

Ontario’s Austerity Government Sets Basic Income Trap

The Ontario Government’s Adviser on Basic Income (BI), Hugh Segal, has released his much heralded discussion paper, “ Finding a Better Way ,” that sets out his proposals for a lengthy BI pilot project. If the experiment he advocates is put into effect, it will run parallel to the deliberations of a Security Reform Working Group that will be considering changes to the present social assistance system in the province, rather than replacement to it.

Segal’s proposal is being put forward in an international context of considerably enhanced interest in the notion of Basic Income (BI). The Ontario Coalition Against […]

A New Initiative In Canada Trials Universal Basic Income

A New Initiative In Canada Trials Universal Basic Income

The policy will provide an unconditional salary for citizens living below the poverty line The policy will provide an unconditional salary for citizens living below the poverty line

The Canadian province of Ontario will be testing universal basic income in 2017, making it the first government in North America in decades to test the policy that many feel is a panacea to growing levels of income inequality. The province’s most impoverished residents will be given a guaranteed minimum income with the hopes of raising their quality of life and saving the government money.

Longtime advocate of basic income, conservative political strategist […]

The U.S. Could Adopt Universal Basic Income in Less Than 20 Years

Scott Santens is a writer and advocate of universal basic income for all. He is the moderator of the Basic Income community on Reddit and Founder of the BIG Patreon Creator Pledge. His writing has been featured in the Atlantic and Huffington Post.

Daniel Araya: Scott, everyone seems to be talking about universal basic income as a way to resolve technological unemployment. How do you define basic income? How did you come to embrace the idea of basic income?

Scott Santens: I define basic income as a universal income floor set above the poverty level. It’s essentially a […]

How Trump’s Victory Will Affect Jobs Vs. Automation Issue?

How Trump’s Victory Will Affect Jobs Vs. Automation Issue?

The election of Donald Trump has gotten more experts talking about the automation’s anticipated effect on the job market.

Jobs Vs. Automation

Computer scientist Moshe Vardi started a debate six months ago about the anticipated effect of automation on the job market, according to Geek Wire . As a no political candidate, the scientist was talking about the potential impact of automated manufacturing and autonomous cars on future employment.Today, the topic became hot, after the election of Trump as the next U.S. president. Rice University’s Vardi said that the debate went practically mainstream from being just somewhat esoteric. In […]

A New Film Urges Americans to Start SERIOUSLY Worrying About Unemployment (Video)

A New Film Urges Americans to Start SERIOUSLY Worrying About Unemployment (Video)

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Robots, immigrants, and low-wage workers in other countries have all been scapegoated as potential threats to America’s employment. And sometimes for good reason. Automation and artificial intelligence have already taken away thousands of jobs from U.S. employees of the human kind – in factories, on computers, and even at Uber . Though happening at a rate blown far out of proportion (by the likes of President-Elect Donald Trump and others), there are immigrants who come to the United States willing to take low-paying jobs at even lower pay than their American counterparts, effectively decreasing the amount of Americans in […]

Welcome to the future of work

Welcome to the future of work

Brooks Rainwater is the director of the Center for City Solutions and Applied Research at the National League of Cities .

How to join the network

Nicole DuPuis is the senior associate for infrastructure at the Center for City Solutions and Applied Research at the National League of Cities How to join the network With advances in information technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence developing at a rapid rate, workforce dislocations are happening now and are here to stay. As existing trends accelerate and irreversibly change the workforce as we know it, the question to be answered is–what will […]

The Fate of the Office in the ‘Post-Work Era’

The Fate of the Office in the ‘Post-Work Era’

@simontheodavies With the rise of automation, human work may soon be a thing of the past. But when we reach this ‘post-work era’, what will become of the millions of offices that line our skylines?

Professor Moshe Vardi of Rice University estimates that 50 percent of human jobs may be obsolete in 30 years, as artificial intelligences and robots take over. So far, robots have replaced us in warehouse worker and truck driver roles, but experts say office jobs are far from safe. Once humans are automated out of these occupations, the fate of the office is uncertain. Offices in […]

Divide and Automate

Divide and Automate

Illustration by Lydia Wojack-West

As a species, we are poised at the brink of a transformation unlike any before.

The ancestor of this coming metamorphosis was not political or philosophical in nature; it did not emerge from the ashes of the American Revolution or the Bolshevik’s, nor did it germinate from the teachings of Jesus, Buddha or Muhammad. The predecessor to the singularity we so boldly march toward was something far more primordial, far more tangible. It was industrial.The last three industrial revolutions transformed the fabric of human civilization: The first, borne of steam and coal, powered newly invented […]