by BINews | May 25, 2013 | Research
Wolfgang Müller – BI News
As many other countries, South Africa struggles to provide effective social assistance policies in tackling poverty and inequality. Any proposed reform has been determined by ideology according to Leon Schreiber in an article on Politicsweb, February 26, 2013. They still ignore social reality, that many people are not able to find employment. This dominance of ideology also affected the public discourse about a proposal for a Basic Income Grant (BIG) by the Taylor Committee on Comprehensive Social Security for South Africa. Despite of positive examples such as Alaska or the Basic Income Grant Coalition in Namibia, the BIG has faded. In order to overcome this ideological driven discourse in South Africa and alleviate poverty and inequality, Schreiber urges to simply relay on the Constitution, which grants everyone the right to social security and social assistance.
Schreiber, Leon “Time to think BIG again?” Politicsweb, February 26, 2013
https://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71619?oid=360521&sn=Detail&pid=71619
by BINews | May 24, 2013 | Research
Wolfgang Müller – BI News
This article by Noah Smith, published in The Atlantic, January 13, 2013, discusses the hypothetical proceeding fall of labor income along with its consequences and possible solutions. He argues that the two-thirds/one-thirds division of labor and capital income of most rich nations has changed in a disadvantage to labor income. This is a result of mainly two reasons: First, China’s low wage labor force entered into the global trading system, and second, more persuasive, technology replaces humans in more and more areas. This development requires new creative measurements since current social security systems are not build to deal with this challenge. As an alternative, Smith suggests stakeholder grants “with some fairly light paternalism”, which he calls “portfolio of capital ownership”. Not exactly basic income, but a step in that direction.
Smith, Noah, “The End of Labor: How to Protect Workers From the Rise of Robots,” The Atlantic, January 13, 2013
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/the-end-of-labor-how-to-protect-workers-from-the-rise-of-the-robots/267135/
by BINews | Apr 4, 2013 | News
[Aynur Bashirova – BI News – April 2013]
“The BIG Movement” is a global grassroots movement that aims to raise awareness about the Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) through a network of project teams, public events, and media channels. It has a website and a Facebook page. It is currently sponsoring a petition and recruiting members. It held a virtual meeting online on December 30, 2012 in which the following issues were discussed: Goals of the movement, website structure & functionality, and TeamSpeak server setup. The meeting decided to focus in on one central goal, “To raise awareness of Basic Income through a network of project teams, public events, and media channels.”
If you’re interested in the BIG Movement, it can be found online at these two places:
Webpage: https://www.thebigmovement.org/
Facebook page: https://www.thebigmovement.org/2013/01/02/like-this-facebook-page-the-big-movement
by BINews | Jul 7, 2011 | News
