by Josh Martin | Nov 7, 2014 | Research
[Josh Martin]
Torry’s post provides a very well informed picture of current social policy in the UK, and attempts to envision what societal changes will occur in the next few decades. He highlights the flexibility of the labor market and the changing nature of households to show that the social policies need to change. He then explains the benefit and longevity of the NHS and Child Benefit before then arguing for a Citizen’s Income (also named a basic income) as the right choice for the future of income maintenance.
Malcolm Torry, “Policy Briefing: Basic Income – A Benefits System For Our Society, Today and Tomorrow”, Discover Society, 30 September 2014.
(Source: Discover Society)
by Josh Martin | Nov 7, 2014 | Research
[Josh Martin]
Barlow’s blog discusses the fascination society holds today with what he calls “workism”: the obsession over working hard. Barlow begins the post with a discussion on the inevitability of robots taking most jobs away, but he claims that workism stepped in to delay the inevitable.
Nick Barlow, “How did workism conquer the world?”, What You Can Get Away With, 14 September 2014.
(Source: What You Can Get Away With)
by Karl Widerquist | Nov 6, 2014 | Research
SUMMARY: Changes to Australia’s income support system over time have resulted in unintended complexities, inconsistencies and disincentives for some people to work. Achieving a simpler and sustainable income support system should involve a simpler architecture, a fair rate structure, a common approach to adjusting payments, a new approach to support for families with children and young people, effective rent assistance, and rewards for work and targeting assistance to need. The paper argues that a preferred alternative for achieving these goals would be Basic Income.
Judith S. Willis. “Response to Interim Report: Review of Australia’s Welfare System.” Australian Government, Department of Social Services, August 2014
by Josh Martin | Nov 5, 2014 | Research
[Josh Martin]
Rader’s post discusses the failure of US foreign policy in the Middle East and the fact that terrorism surfaces most often in areas with extreme poverty. In order to fight terrorism, Rader argues that developed nations should implement income subsidies to those in extreme poverty as a form of a global basic income.
Gaura Rader, “What if we Dropped Money Instead of Bombs on the Middle East?”, The Socratic Diablogs, 15 August 2014.
(Source: Socratic Diablogs)
by Josh Martin | Nov 4, 2014 | Research
[Josh Martin]
In his post, Thorpe argues for the European Central Bank and the Bank of England to begin giving an unconditional basic income to all citizens. This would allow these central banks to directly control the amount of money in circulation.
Simon Thorpe, “Why Mario Draghi and Mark Carney should be pushing for an Unconditional Basic Income for all”, Simon Thorpe’s Ideas on the Economy, 19 October 2014.
Simon Thorpe (Source: Simon Thorpe's Ideas on the Economy)
by Craig Axford | Nov 3, 2014 | Research
[Craig Axford]
In this post from BillMoyers.com 10 different steps to eliminating poverty in the United States are outlined. Though a basic income guarantee is not mentioned directly, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is. Currently childless workers don’t benefit from this tax credit much. By expanding the program to include all workers, together with an increase in the minimum wage, the authors point out that millions could be lifted out of poverty.
Rebecca Vallas and Melissa Boteach, “Top 10 Solutions to Cut Poverty and Grow the Middle Class”, BillMoyers.com, October 3, 2014
