Coulter’s article argues that low-wage work like that in slaughterhouses is detrimental to animal rights, and that poverty plays a direct role in continuing the factory farm culture of the food industry. Coulter then states that a basic income could lead people out of poverty and out of such damaging jobs.
Kendra Coulter, “Love Animals? Support Poverty Eradication and Humane Jobs”, Huffington Post, 3 March 2015.
Benns interviewed Toni Pickard, coordinator of the Kingston Action Group which supports a basic income for all Canadians and has been around since 2013. The group is committed to spreading awareness and securing political support for a Canadian basic income. In the interview, Pickard also describes her vision for current welfare programs if a basic income is implemented.
Roderick Benns, “Basic income guarantee group in Kingston tackles issue one kitchen table at a time”, Leaders and Legacies, 2 March 2015.
Monahan’s post thoroughly details the life and publications of Thomas Paine. Although now considered an American founding father, he was a controversial figure not even half a century ago. One of his works, Agrarian Justice, argues for a ground-rent for every citizen, given in a lump sum at the age of twenty-one as a means to avoid poverty and be productive. Many interpret Paine as one of the first supporters of basic income, even though such a grant would be a once-in-a-lifetime lump sum.
Sean Monahan, “Reading Paine from the Left”, Jacobin, 6 March 2015.
In this CNN Opinion piece, Sutter highlights child poverty as a major issue in America, since even the wealthiest areas like Silicon Valley still see large numbers of children living in poverty; in total, child poverty costs the US $500 billion each year. Sutter then introduces the universal basic income as a possible remedy to the social issues seen in America today and discusses the history of basic income support in US history. To further understand the idea, Sutter visits a town named Cherokee, North Carolina, where each resident receives, essentially, a basic income from the profits of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation’s casino. This tribe owns all of the land in the town and decided to split the casino’s revenue equally among its contributing members, leading to initial dividends of a few hundred dollars but now reaching over $10,000 per citizen per year given biannually. This policy has led to long-term positive effects for Cherokee citizens in education, health, and poverty alleviation.
John Sutter, “The argument for a basic income”, CNN, 9 March 2015.
Drover, Moscovitch, and Mulvale write on behalf of the Canadian Association of Social Workers to share their concerns about the direction of Canadian social policy. They fear that it has become too decentralized, potentially harming health care, social inclusion, and social protection. Their policy recommendations to promote pan-Canadian equity are a national basic income scheme, continued funding of the Canada Social Transfer, and to continue to fund the health system, among other policy recommendations.
This may be the first time a national professional organization in Canada has advocated a basic income, and Jim Mulvale is Vice-Chair of the Basic Income Canada Network.
Glenn Drover, Allan Moscovitch, and Jim Mulvale, “Promoting Equity for a Stronger Canada: The Future of Canadian Social Policy”, Canadian Association of Social Workers, 22 May 2014.
