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Basic income is a radical idea bound for the political mainstream – here’s why

Basic income is a radical idea bound for the political mainstream – here's why

Here’s the best gift you can give this Christmas. Warm winter clothes for a child. Help a Syrian child survive the cold by providing a set of warm winter clothing. Your gift will kit out a vulnerable child with jackets, trousers, fleeces, boots or strong shoes, scarf and a hat. Writing Sparks Writing Life Brilliant Definition Definition For Politicians Today Politics Today People Politics 2016 Politics Truth And Interests snollygoster (n.) someone, especially a politician, who acts for personal gain instead of consistent, respectable principles. See more Ugh Truth Feminist Feels Social Shit Social Justice Equality Truths Feminism Tumblr […]

Build Your Own Basic Income

Build Your Own Basic Income

Basic income is a contentious – and common – subject these days.

The concept of robots taking over people’s jobs used to be something out of science fiction movies, but that’s not the case any longer.

Automation is real. It’s increasing and improving. And it seems increasingly likely that there will be far less jobs in the future, especially for people who lack the education, intelligence, or interest to participate in the new economy and workforce that will develop as a result.And so you have a lot of people who believe that basic income is the only possible solution at this […]

How Bitcoin Could Make Distributing a Universal Basic Income Actually Possible

Beyond the crypto realm, universal basic income has seen a little traction.

Swarm’s DCOs claims to provide a basic income, although Slepak thinks the inner workings need further explanation.

Basic income, and especially universal basic income, requires a secure, tamper-proof ledger that can be audited by anyone to ensure the safe delivery of funds,” Slepak said. Future tech could make it easier to implement basic income. A Group Currency must identify all members (because you don’t want any one member to receive multiple incomes). Future robots will nab your job, but cryptocurrency could save your income. @scottsantens : @darcnos […]

Is a Universal Basic Income the Answer to Automation-Caused Unemployment?

In Brief

With automation poised to take over an estimated 57 percent of jobs, many are turning to universal basic income (UBI) as a possible solution to widespread unemployment.

t UBI systems are already being tested in countries such as Canada, Finland, and the Netherlands, so hard data on the practicality of such systems should be forthcoming. Disruption and Displacement While technological advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will clearly make a lot of processes easier and more cost-effective, the impending repercussions need to be addressed before the inevitable happens. As automation begins to take over several jobs, […]

Productivity And The Minimum Wage – Higher Productivity Does Mean Fewer Jobs

One of the arguments that is used in the minimum wage debate is that a higher minimum wage will drive productivity higher. This is true, it will, because only those jobs where the labour is productive enough to cover the higher minimum will survive. We don’t in fact measure the productivity of unemployed people. Thus, if one of the adaptation mechanisms to a higher minimum wage is that businesses increase labour productivity then by definition there will be fewer jobs : Sir Charlie Mayfield, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership and a government adviser on productivity, told the Guardian […]

How technology will destroy low-wage and middle class jobs the world over

How technology will destroy low-wage and middle class jobs the world over

Rise of the Robots underlines that we have to rethink the assumption that education and reskilling on the job will lead to better prospects. (Shutterstock) It’s likely that machines will be smarter than us before the end of the century – not just at chess or trivia questions but at just about everything, from mathematics and engineering to science and medicine.” – Gary Marcus, professor at New York University

There is an ongoing crisis of jobs in India and the world that does not provoke as much discussion as it should. The Labour Bureau revealed this year that India added […]

Is a Universal Basic Income the answer to automation-Caused Unemployment?

In the 1950’s technology it was predicted would free people from drudgery jobs and allow people to spend more time in leisure activities. This assumed that the freed up time would be spread out equally, but what happens in reality is that there are big winners and losers. The losers, generally those without the qualifications to make it in the knowledge economy became the unemployed and people received a subsistence living, if they weren’t working. There are now generations of families who have been unemployed or underemployed and there is never any political will to get them back into […]

Fast-food technology

Fast-food technology

Associated Press
McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook demonstrates an order kiosk during a presentation at a McDonald’s restaurant in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood.

Changes on way, but not just to save labor costs
NEW YORK – It’s a scenario often invoked by critics of minimum wage increases: fast-food workers replaced with burger-flipping robots.The imagery resurfaced when President-elect Donald Trump named Andrew Puzder to head the Labor Department. Puzder, CEO of the company that owns Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, is known for saying significant wage increases would lead to job losses and the automation of some tasks.But the sentiment does […]

A mining fund in Goa could soon give all its residents an equal, regular income

A mining fund in Goa could soon give all its residents an equal, regular income

Tourist brochures frequently describe Goa as some kind of utopia and the Economic Survey – expected at the end of January, a day before the next Union Budget – could go some way in bridging the gap between imagination and reality. The document will discuss the feasibility of implementing basic income, an unconditional cash transfer for all residents that could bring improvements in health, nutrition and education.

In Goa, the basic income could come out of the Goa Iron Ore Permanent Fund, created by the Supreme Court in April 2014 as part of its judgement in a case regarding widespread […]

UBI – real solution in perfect storm of debt

UBI – real solution in perfect storm of debt

A new report from the investment service Wealthify reveals that many Scottish people are unable to save for the future because of “zero hour contracts, insecure work and low pay.” Moreover, according to the report, Scottish women save less than half of the money of men, and 10 times less than some areas of England.

Campaigners have proposed a universal basic income (UBI) in response to this–such as Kirstein Rummery, Professor of Social Policy at the University of Stirling, whom Nathanael Williams interviewed in a Commonspace article about the Wealthify report.

Rummery said, “The only real policy solution would be Universal […]