Tag: guaranteed income

In Switzerland last June, they held a referendum on a universal basic income that would have given each adult Swiss citizen $2,500 per month. It was a truly universal basic income because it would have gone to everybody, whether they were working or not. The horrified Swiss rejected it by a majority of more than three-to-one.

In Finland in January, the government launched a pilot program for a basic income, but it was a timid little thing that gives the participants in the trial just $600 per month. It certainly isn’t universal because it only goes to jobless people who […]

Full Post at www.kamloopsthisweek.com

In Switzerland last June, they had a referendum on a universal basic income that would have given each adult Swiss citizen US$2,500 (86,450 baht) per month. It would have gone to everybody whether they were working or not and the horrified Swiss rejected it by a majority of more than three-to-one.

In Finland last January, the government launched a pilot programme for a "basic income", but it was a timid little thing that gives the participants in the trial just $600 per month. It certainly isn’t universal: it only goes to jobless people who are receiving the lowest level of […]

Full Post at www.bangkokpost.com

A basic income pilot program will be tested in Thunder Bay and two other Ontario cities. | Photo: WDIO-TV file

Some residents of Thunder Bay will be part of a three-year study by the Ontario provincial government to see if a basic income program is a better solution than existing programs to help people on low incomes.

Under the pilot program, single individuals will receive $16,989 (Canadian) per year and couples will receive $24,027 per year, less 50 percent of any earned income. For example, a single person earning $10,000 per year would receive an additional $11,989 in basic income, for […]

Full Post at www.wdio.com

by Thomas Walkom

Back in the 1970s, a basic income (or guaranteed annual income as it was called then) was seen as way to end poverty.

Those on the right viewed the concept, which in its purest form involves government handing out cheques to everyone below a certain income level, as a way to cut back a debilitating and ruinously expensive welfare system.Those on the left saw it as a simpler and more humane way to transfer money to the needy. Manitoba’s New Democratic government briefly experimented with the idea.There were plenty of needy people in those days. Still, poverty […]

Full Post at morinvillenews.com

Ontario’s new scheme assumes poverty is an inexorable part of the gig economy. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne speaks at the Ford Essex Engine Plant in Windsor, Ont. in March. Ontario is launching a basic income pilot project this spring, aimed at providing financial stability for low-income residents during a time of precarious work and a changing economy. Back in the 1970s, a basic income (or guaranteed annual income as it was called then) was seen as way to end poverty.

Those on the right viewed the concept, which in its purest form involves government handing out cheques to everyone below […]

Full Post at www.thestar.com

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Wynne_pic_cropped.jpg Ontario chooses Thunder Bay, Lindsay and Hamilton

HAMILTON—Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced her government’s plan to provide 4,000 residents of Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Lindsay with a guaranteed basic income as part of a pilot study to determine if that approach will assist lower income families improve their job prospects and quality of life.

Under the plan, the province’s working poor and homeless residents would receive a basic income that would pay for their basic needs, food and shelter.Under the pilot project, recipients will be randomly chosen and will begin receiving the funds as soon as this summer. The […]

Full Post at www.manitoulin.ca

Artificial intelligence developer Tom Gruber speaks at TED 2017 — The Future You — in Vancouver. Whether we should fear future “robotic overlords,” job-killing technologies born out of artificial intelligence and automation, will really depend on who is building them and what they’re building them for, according to AI developer Tom Gruber.

Gruber, co-creator of Siri, the voice-command AI feature on Apple iPhones, told the audience at TED Talks that we have a choice to create “humanistic AI” that can enhance human abilities and help people solve problems, not simply take over from them.

“We can choose AI to automate and […]

Full Post at vancouversun.com

Regardless of what happens in the next provincial election, all parties need to pledge allegiance to its full mandate. By choosing Lindsay, Hamilton and Thunder Bay for its basic annual income pilot, the Wynne government has chosen representative sites that mirror the province as a whole: north, central, large, small. “No nation can achieve true greatness if it lacks the courage and determination to undertake the surgery necessary to remove the cancer of poverty from its body politic.”

That’s a useful quote to keep in mind as the Wynne government pushes aside the naysayers, at least for the moment, and […]

Full Post at www.thestar.com

Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, announced the long-awaited details of the Canadian province’s pilot study of guaranteed minimum income on Monday, April 24, 2017.

The Government of Ontario is preparing a three-year test of a guaranteed minimum income in three regions: the city of Hamilton (southeastern Ontario, population around 537,000), Thunder Bay (northwestern Ontario, population around 108,000), and Lindsay (southeastern Ontario, population around 20,000). Kathleen Wynne, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Premier of Ontario Photography A press release issued on April 24 indicates that 4,000 individuals between ages 18 and 64 will be selected to participate in the study. According to […]

Full Post at basicincome.org

The Ontario government just announced a pilot project to test a basic income for low-income earners in Hamilton, Brantford, Lindsay and Thunder Bay. Participants will need to apply, and once accepted into the program they will be guaranteed an income of just under $17,000 a year, less 50 per cent of any income earned. Couples will earn around $24,000, less 50 per cent of earned household income.

Will the program be successful? I have no idea.

The answer will, in large part, depend on what will be measured. Proponents of basic income look beyond the primary goal of poverty reduction , […]

Full Post at www.huffingtonpost.ca