by Andrew Sisk | Mar 10, 2017 | News
To eliminate poverty and promote economic egalitarianism, which is the right policy, Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) which provides everyone with a minimum level of material security regardless of employment, or Job Guarantee (JG) which provides everyone with a job?
Brad Voracek writes the right approach is not to pit these two ideas against each other. He points out the two policies have much in common, and supporters of BIG and JG are on the same side. The real opposition is the ineffective and disorganized status quo and those who support it.
Brad Vorecek, “The Basic Income and Job Guarantees are Complementary, not Opposing Policies.” (December 7, 2016).
by Andrew Sisk | Mar 9, 2017 | News
A test of UBI began this year in Finland in which a monthly stipend is paid to randomly-selected unemployed recipients even if they become employed. Ilkka Kaukoranta, chief economist of the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), says it’s the wrong direction.
So writes Raine Tiessalo for online newspaper The Independent. Tiessalo quotes Kaukoranta describing a Finnish UBI as “impossibly expensive”, though SAK’s opposition may be related to potential loss of union membership and bargaining power if UBI made trade unions less relevant.
Raine Tiessalo, “Universal basic income ‘useless’, says Finland’s biggest union” (Februaury 9, 2017)
by Andrew Sisk | Feb 28, 2017 | News
Writing on thRead, the blog of Indian newspaper The Hindu, Prashant D.P. presents the idea that a Universal Basic Income (UBI) in India, while favored by Arvind Subramanian, India’s Chief Economic Adviser, could have unintended consequences if implemented.
D.P. reasons that India’s previously poor would use a UBI to buy much needed resources, like nutritious food. The resulting demand increases would cause brutal price inflation, he writes, unless the chronically inadequate supply of those needed resources can be increased first.
See the full article:
Prashant D.P., “UBI | Pockets to fill, mouths to feed” (February 3, 2017)
by Andrew Sisk | Feb 27, 2017 | News
On the website Big Think, Natalie Shoemaker details an essay by Eva Cox of the University of Technology, Sydney. Shoemaker presents the essay, originally published by the Green Institute, as showing that basic income is a program that will enable acts of social and personal good.
Cox argues that current welfare systems scapegoat the poor as lazy and incompetent, and removing requirements to search for work or prove incapacity would enable more people to feel valued and return a sense of agency, reducing hopelessness and empowering positive action.
See the full article:
Natalie Shoemaker, “How Basic Income Could Unlock Humanity’s Altruism and Creativity” (February 1, 2017)
by Andrew Sisk | Feb 25, 2017 | News
On the TriplePundit website, RP Siegel asks if a Trump administration might promote a Universal Basic Income in the United States. He writes that, while supported by progressives, UBI may eventually be endorsed by the decidedly non-progressive Trump to make good on campaign promises to restore working class economic security.
Citing support for UBI on both the right and left and Trump’s constant unpredictability, Siegel asserts “anything is possible” with regard to this new republican president and UBI.
RP Siegel, “Could Donald Trump Deliver a Universal Basic Income?” (February 14, 2017)
