Jessie Golem, a photographer from Hamilton, is one of the 4000 people who were taking part in the Ontario Basic Income Pilot, which was cancelled earlier this year.
Golem has created a series of portraits called Humans of Basic Income, a collection of portraits taken of the people who were affected by the cancellation of the pilot, and has since become active in the movement for basic income in Ontario. She has said that she is “glad I’m able to give people a voice” and to “add a human element to a very divisive political issue”.
More information at:
HumansBasic, Twitter
Funding UBI
The merits of UBI are obvious, so this comment will focus on how to pay for it.
While welfare penalises participation in the economy, with UBI one is free to take a job or create your own products or services without having your UBI clawed back.
Basic Income has proven to lead to a renaissance of ingenuity and creativity, rather than the disgrace and discouragement of welfare.
A public central bank will provide UBI for everyone. Here is the proof…
Taking the Canadian population of 30 million as the example, then if every adult received $12,000 per year that would amount to 360 billion.
Since private banks create Canadian dollars out of nothing, then so can the government as was the case prior to 1973 by the Banque du Canada, saving interest payments of 60 billion.
The public Banque du Canada would need to introduce new currency as the economy grows to maintain price stability. Assuming a growth rate of 2% on a GDP of 1.5 trillion that amounts to 300 billion.
To sum up (in billions)
(360) – Universal Basic Income
60 – Interest payments
300 – Price stabilisation
This achieves both price stability, as well as full employment since the scarcity of currency is lifted leading to the expansion of economic activities to the next constraint, namely skills.
The $360 billion is created by the country anyway.
It is up to us to decide whether it:
– goes to the banks, or
– comes to the people.
Currently the $360 billion per year accrues to private banks. This invisible tax is the very mechanism by which the rich become richer at our expense.
It is access to this volcano of currency that empowers a small group to run corporations, bribe politicians, grease bureaucrats, influence courts, pollute our planet, cause wars, dispossess and enslave us.
By contrast, money given back to the people (who produce the wealth in the first place) will be either spent stimulating the economy, or saved creating capital for growth.