Elizabeth May, “A $15 minimum wage will not solve inequality — but it'll help”

In this article Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party of Canada, suggests the ‘implementation of a universal Guaranteed Livable Income. She argues that such a measure ‘would provide the means for every Canadian to avoid poverty. It would save the health care system, the criminal justice system, and a whole raft of other social programs from spending their valuable resources on issues whose root cause is poverty. It could easily be paid for by a modest carbon tax. It would make our economy stronger and our society more just. A GLI paid for by a carbon tax would help to bridge any perceived gap between the fights for social, labour, economic, and environmental justice. It would also help minimize the disproportionate carbon footprint of the wealthy while allowing the less wealthy the freedom to find good work, without being forced to take any job that will employ them. It would hopefully spur real change in the intertwined fights for a livable climate and a just society.’

The full article is available here:

Elizabeth May, “A $15 minimum wage will not solve inequality — but it’ll help”, Rabble, 3rd October 2014

David DeGraw, “The Coming Revolution: Evolutionary Leap or Descent Into Chaos and Violence?”

In this excerpt from David DeGraw’s book, The Economics of Revolution, he suggests that the money the US government used to stimulate the economy through quantitative easing constituted a hand-out to the rich, and would have been better directed elsewhere, namely towards the provision of a basic income. He writes that, ‘If they truly wanted to stimulate the economy, they could have given the $4 trillion to every non-millionaire household, which would have been $40,000 per household, or they could have given 114,285,714 people $35,000 each. If we clawback QE from the ultra-rich, we can eliminate poverty and guarantee a Living Income to every person over the age of 18.

The full article is available here:

David DeGraw, “The Coming Revolution: Evolutionary Leap or Descent Into Chaos and Violence?”, The Economics of Revolution, 7th October 2014

Sarah Jaffe, “Naomi Klein on Cause of Climate Crisis: "Capitalism Is Stupid"”

In this this interview with Sarah Jaffe, Naomi Klein explains how the basic income can help move communities towards greener ways of living by making possible productive activities and relationships with nature that are not dependent upon presently existing economic motives.

The full article is available here:

Sarah Jaffe, “Naomi Klein on Cause of Climate Crisis: “Capitalism Is Stupid””, Truthout, 24th September 2014