Iñaki Uribarri, “No es una buena idea extender el sistema de rentas mínimas condicionadas de Euskadi al conjunto del Reino de España” [“It is not a good idea to extend Basque Country conditional grant scheme to the whole Spanish territory”]

Credit to: Sinpermisso

Credit to: Sin Permiso

This article first describes, in detail, 26 years of the conditional minimum income grant scheme in Comunidad Autónoma Vasca (Basque region in Spain). It concludes that such scheme is a failure and so must not be reproduced  through all Spanish territory. To radically change social policy would necessarily mean complete disconnection between work and income, and as such the implementation of a basic income guarantee.

 

Iñaki Uribarri, “No es una buena idea extender el sistema de rentas mínimas condicionadas de Euskadi al conjunto del Reino de España” [“It is not a good idea to extend Basque Country conditional grant scheme to the whole Spanish territory”], Sin Permiso magazine, November 8th 2015

Conor Lynch, “Stephen Hawking sobre el futuro del capitalismo, la desigualdad…y la Renta Básica” [“Stephen Hawking on the future of capitalism, inequality…and the basic income”]

Robots for good. Credit to: 3D Printing Industry

Robots for good. Credit to: 3D Printing Industry

Machines are getting better and better at performing work that was or still is performed by humans. This article starts with Stephen Hawking’s thoughts on the issue, which are that without proper wealth distribution, society will become a distopia in which an elite will have everything and all the rest almost nothing. Conor Lynch argues that, although current social developments show higher and higher inequality, nothing is for certain, which means that current capitalism could give way to a new social paradigm where basic income plays a central role.

 

Conor Lynch, “Stephen Hawking sobre el futuro del capitalismo, la desigualdad…y la Renta Básica” [“Stephen Hawking on the future of capitalism, inequality…and the basic income”], Sin Permiso magazine, October 26th 2015

Julio Aguirre, “Más allá del asistencialismo: El ingresso ciudadano universal y las condiciones materiales para la libertad” [“Beyond welfarism: Basic Income and the material conditions for freedom”]

Credit to: Sinpermisso

Credit to: Sinpermisso

 

Julio Aguirre discusses the basic premises for conditional grants to alleviate poverty (conventional welfarism), very popular in Spain in the past few years, which contrasts with the more progressive and integrating basic income. According to Julio, basic income, being unconditional and universal, will generate the necessary material conditions to provide for real liberty in people’s lives.

 

In Spanish:

Julio Aguirre, “Más allá del asistencialismo: El ingresso ciudadano universal y las condiciones materiales para la libertad” [“Beyond welfarism: Basic Income and the material conditions of freedom”], Sin Permiso magazine, November 2, 2015

Daniel Raventós, The material conditions of freedom

The material conditions of freedom_book cover

The material conditions of freedom is an updated version of an earlier book (published in 1999) called El derecho a la existencia (The right to existence). This is a comprehensive volume about Basic Income (BI), dealing in a detailed fashion its definition(s), related theory, discussions about work, welfare, BI financing and typical criticisms of BI. Although dated from 2007, the volume is now accessible online.

 

Daniel Raventós (trans. Julie Wark), The material conditions of freedom, Pluto Press, 2007

Jordi Arcarons, Daniel Raventós, Lluís Torrens, “El “trabajo garantizado” de Izquierda Unida y el “plan de garantía de rendas” de Podemos contra la pobreza: unas propuestas muy pobres” [“”Guaranteed jobs” from Izquierda Unida and “Plan of income guarantee” from Podemos, against poverty: two very weak proposals”]

Credit to: Sin Permisso

Credit to: Sin Permisso

Daniel Raventós, Jordi Arcarons and Lluís Torrens make the case for basic income, which they justify as more rational, more efficient and socially desirable than guaranteed jobs (from Izquerda Unida) and the plan of income guarantee (from Podemos). This is put forward in a recently published article on the Sin Permisso magazine.

 

Jordi Arcarons, Daniel Raventós, Lluís Torrens, “El “trabajo garantizado” de Izquierda Unida y el “plan de garantía de rendas” de Podemos contra la pobreza: unas propuestas muy pobres” [“”Guaranteed jobs” from Izquierda Unida and “Plan of income guarantee” from Podemos, against poverty: two very weak proposals”], Sin Permisso, November 1st 2015