Kristalle Ramlakahn, "Report suggests guaranteed minimum income in Nunavut"

by | Jan 1, 2014 | Research

Income support in Nunavut has 'actually become a program of first resort,' says Ed McKenna, the director of the Anti-Poverty Secretariat. 'For many people this is the only option they see.' (Grant Linton/CBC)
Income support in Nunavut has ‘actually become a program of first resort,’ says Ed McKenna, the director of the Anti-Poverty Secretariat. ‘For many people this is the only option they see.’ (Grant Linton/CBC)

[Craig Axford]

A report recently commissioned by Nunavut’s Anti-Poverty Secretariat recommends adopting a minimum basic income guarantee to overcome the territory’s 40% poverty rate.  The report points out that a basic income would not require people to divest themselves of almost all their assets and become desperately poor before they could qualify, therefore ensuring residents of this Arctic region have the resources they need to meet their basic needs.

Kristalle Ramlakahn, “Report suggest guaranteed minimum income in Nunavut“, CBC News, December 10, 2013.

Bruce Barlett “Rethinking the Idea of a Basic Income for All”

by | Dec 31, 2013 | Research

Bruce Bartlett -Goodman/Van Ripe

Bruce Bartlett -Goodman/Van Ripe

[Craig Axford – USBIG and Aynur Bashirova – BIEN]

In this New York Times column Bruce Bartlett, former senior adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, provides a detailed overview of the history of the basic income guarantee idea and the arguments offered in its support.  Using the upcoming vote in Switzerland as an introduction to the concept, efforts to make BIG official policy during both the Johnson and Nixon administrations as well as arguments favoring grants to every citizen articulated by Thomas Paine more than two centuries ago are described.

Barlett also writes about modern activists for the basic income guarantee, such as Jessica M. Flanigan. As an activist, Flanigan has published many articles in support of the initiative in which she calls BI, negative income tax. According to her and her supporters, the BI is needed as compensation for the negative effects of property rights on ordinary citizens, especially young people, who are suffering due to past consequences not related to them.

Bruce Barlett. “Rethinking the Idea of a Basic Income for All.” The New York Times. 10th December 2013.