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Scottish Councils Are Considering Implementing Universal Basic Income

Scottish Councils Are Considering Implementing Universal Basic Income

Glasgow, pictured above, is among two Scottish councils interested in testing an idea based on Thomas More’s “Utopia.” Michel Curi / CC BY 2.0

Now that Scotland will have more power over its finances, the councils of Glasgow and Fife are eager to try out an economic plan already running successfully in parts of Finland, Netherlands, Africa, India and Canada: universal basic income.

Proponents of the concept, which would allow the state to allot a set amount of money to all inhabitants of a given place regardless of income, understand that it will require a significant shift in social thinking. […]

Scotland set to pilot universal basic income scheme in Fife and Glasgow

Scotland set to pilot universal basic income scheme in Fife and Glasgow

The SNP passed a motion in support of universal basic income at their conference last year A radical scheme to give every citizen a universal basic income (UBI) regardless of whether or not they work is set to be piloted by two Scottish councils this year.

Labour-run Glasgow and Fife councils are designing trial schemes following meetings held late last year.

One expert said the decisions represented “a very significant step forward for basic income in Scotland”.It has not yet been announced what level the basic income will be set at, but the councils are to proceed with the pilots, subject […]

Finland is giving 2,000 citizens a guaranteed income

Finland has started a radical experiment: It’s giving 2,000 citizens a guaranteed income, with funds that keep flowing whether participants work or not.

The program, which kicks off this month, is one of the first efforts to test a “universal basic income.” Participants will receive €560 ($587) a month — money that is guaranteed regardless of income, wealth or employment status.

The idea is that a universal income offers workers greater security, especially as technological advances reduce the need for human labor. It will also allow unemployed people to pick up odd jobs without losing their benefits.The initial program will run […]

VIDEO: Rudy Karsan on Meaningful Work and Entitlement to a Universal Basic Income

VIDEO: Rudy Karsan on Meaningful Work and Entitlement to a Universal Basic Income

Rudy Karsan, co-founder and former CEO of the former human resource software company Kenexa (sold to IBM in 2012) recently held a TEDx talk in Calgary where he advocated a universal basic income as a means of stimulating innovation.

“We are in the golden age of our species,” Karsan begins his talk. He argues that we already have multiple solutions for the lack of food, water, and energy, and even for global warming; thus, our number one risk is none of these. Instead, he argues, “Meaningful work is about our choice of who we are,” and the lack of it […]

Automation Trepidation

Automation Trepidation

Getting to know our new robot overlords. Photographer: Martin Divisek/Bloomberg Decades from now, when historians look back on 2016, they’ll of course take note of the momentous votes on both sides of the Atlantic. But if they’re interested in symbolism, they might find that an even more profound turning point occurred over the English countryside in early December, when a little flying robot buzzed though the air, alighted on a lawn and gently deposited a package for a happy customer.

It was the first real-world drone delivery for Amazon.com. And it offered a bracing glimpse of the glories — and […]

When robots take jobs, workers deserve compensation

When robots take jobs, workers deserve compensation

The largely forgotten fate of London’s watermen, who ferried passengers on the Thames for centuries before faster forms of transport stole their jobs, would seem of marginal relevance today. But the lessons of the past can often inform the decisions of the future. And as we fret about the rise of robots and the impact of artificial intelligence, the history of London’s water taxis can teach us something about how to ease disruption caused by new technologies. For many years, London’s watermen were the most numerous workers in the city. But complaints about their abusive practices forced parliament to […]

With automation (not trade or immigrants, as Trump claims) taking jobs, it’s time to consider a universal basic income

LFPress.com – Opinion – Work In Progress?

The main message of 2016 was that we are entering a period of economic and political upheaval comparable to the industrial revolution of 1780-1850, and nothing expressed that message more clearly than Donald Trump’s appointment of Andrew Puzder as secretary of labour — even though it’s clear that neither man understands the message.

Puzder bears a large part of the responsibility for giving space for Trump’s election promise to “bring back” America’s lost industrial jobs: seven million in the past 35 years. That’s what created the Rust Belt and the popular anger that put […]

Finland started the experiment on payment of a basic income

Finland was included in 2017 as the first country in the world where some citizens get a basic income is an unconditional payment from the state, which do not depend on their income or social status. The first participants in the experiment were selected by lot 2000 unemployed.

Those who will receive a basic income within two years will not receive unemployment benefits. 560 euros is the average size of the unemployment benefit after tax. Such sum will transfer the pension Agency Kela the participants of the experiment. By the standards of Finland with an average salary of more than […]

Universal basic income trials being considered in Scotland

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 frank about the challenges it poses.

“Like a lot of people, I was interested in the idea but never completely convinced,” he said. But working as Labour’s anti-poverty lead on the council, Kerr says that he “kept coming back to the basic income”.Kerr sees the basic income as a way of simplifying […]

Foxconn aims to replace almost entire workforce with robots

Foxconn aims to replace almost entire workforce with robots

Foxconn aims to replace almost entire workforce with robots
30 percent automation in China by 2020

According to the latest reports from Foxconn executives, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer now plans to replace nearly its entire human workforce with automated machines over three testing phases, due to advancements in the number of robots it can produce per year.
Dai Jia-peng, Foxconn’s GM of the Automation Technology Development Committee, says that the company has produced and deployed over 40,000 in-house industrial robots called “Foxbots” at its factories in China. It can now produce roughly 10,000 robots per year, allowing […]