Alaska’s House of Representatives has passed a bill which sets the state’s annual PFD (Permanent Fund Dividend) at approximately $1,600 per person next year, an amount which has been confirmed after a hard-fought legislative battle over the size of the payment.
The PFD, which is funded largely out of oil revenues, has been reduced for the past couple of years due to low oil prices. In 2016, the payment, which had previously risen to about $2000 in 2015, was cut to approximately $1000.
In late March of this year, the Alaskan House of Representatives voted 21-19 to provide a dividend of about $2,700 per person, but after much debate this was reduced to the current figure of $1,600.
The bill will now go to Alaska’s Senate for further consideration.
Saksham Khosla, a research analyst at Carnegie India, has written a detailed report on the implementation of basic income in India. His research focuses on the political economy of administrative, economic and welfare reforms in India.
Less than a year ago, India’s Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, presented the Indian government’s Economic Survey, which featured a 40-page chapter on basic income and its implementation in India. Khosla report now comes and offers path onward, recognizing the previous survey achievements and limitations. Briefly reviewing the Economic Survey and its features, he writes that “the survey’s central design features offer a weak foundation”, and that if not subject to a deeper analysis and debate it “will produce underwhelming results”.
The new report calls for a basic income trial in India (or several trials, as presently the case in the Netherlands). The rationale behind this assertion is that hard evidence is crucially needed, so the discussion can move “from academic conferences and opinion pages into parliamentary debate and legislation.” However, it warns about the relevance of such trials, arguing that none can be achieved without strong public support and clear economic fundamentals. It also notices that cutting through all existent social programs, although most being inefficient and expensive to administer, could “turn quickly from manna from heaven to actively undermining the Indian social contract”.
Finally, Khosla report also acknowledges the importance of developing and enhancing the recently deployed Aadhaar authentication system, plus other initiatives to boost digital payments and further financial inclusion, which, apart from the political and tax collection problems still to resolve, are key to a future basic income implementation in India.
A new book on universal basic income (UBI) will include a contribution from Brian Eno, the well-known musician and composer who has collaborated with artists such as David Bowie, U2, and Damon Albarn. The book, It’s Basic Income, is a collection of essays from a variety of contributors, including Eno, who argues that UBI will “nurture and support creativity”, according to the book’s introduction.
It’s Basic Income was published by Policy Press, an imprint of Bristol University Press, on 14 March 2018.
The India Network for Basic Income recently released two new YouTube videos aiming to highlight issues around universal basic income (UBI). The first, which lasts slightly over one minute, addresses the payment of UBI to women, and makes the argument that, as women frequently do unpaid work such as childcare or housekeeping, providing them with a regular income does not count as giving them “free money”, but rather as recognising the work they already do. The second video, which is somewhat longer at over six minutes, deals with a research project on UBI which took place from 2011 to 2013, and with a recent follow-up to this which aimed to look at the long-term effects of the original experiment.
The India Network for Basic Income is the Indian affiliate of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN).
Zoltan Istvan continues to walk his path to be California’s Governor. His campaign involves a controversial plan to “develop California lands and use the revenue to form a Universal Basic Income for all California households”, as he told Basic Income News in a previous occasion.
Zoltan has given a major speech at the Worlds Fair Nano, which has happened on the 10th of March, 2018, at San Francisco’s Pier 48. The Worlds Fair Nano, an international fair event focused on technology, innovation and future inspired ideas, went on during the 10th and 11th of March, featuring presentations and exhibitions around technical advancements, food, art and thought.
Zoltan Istvan at the Worlds Fair Nano.
His talk was focused on the rise of the machines, which is based on the notion that humans cannot possibly compete with these in most non-creative tasks, which leads to the obvious question of how all these newly unemployed people will be made to survive in the next decades. This is where Zoltan introduces his preferred view on financing a Basic Income (BI), the Federal Land Dividend. According to him, this is the only way to finance BI without taking from the rich or increasing taxes for everyone. He estimates that “developing” “empty federal land” can generate 150 trillion dollars, potentially providing each American with 500 000 US$ (which could be divided into approximately 1700 US$/month for life). The caveat here, of course, revolves around the notion of “developing”, and exactly what that would entail when private developers had access to “empty federal land”.
In any case, Zoltan Istvan stresses the importance of eliminating poverty in the United States, and that, according to him, is worth the effort and risk of leasing out public lands to private developers.
Tom Minogue Hastings. Credit to: Free Folk University
Tom Minogue Hastings has been promoting Universal Basic Income (UBI) in the United States. He has been doing this with a popular website devoted to UBI, also appearing on the USBIG (U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network) website while also writing for the Diane Pagen blog.
Hasting’s version for 2018 includes quotations by individuals, including Dr. Joseph Stiglitz, Dr. Paul Krugman, Dr. David Harvey, Dr. Richard Wolff, and links to Youtube lectures by Dr. Guy Standing, Dr. Yanis Varoufakis, Dr. Robert Reich, Dr. Michael Hudson, Dr. David Graeber, Dr. Paul Mason, Dr. Alex Vitale, Dr. Thomas Frank, Elon Musk and Dr. Barbara Ehrenreich.
The website also includes links to a number of lectures and videos available for free online from the likes of David Graeber, Dr. Paul Mason, and Elon Musk. The website is focused on the 99% of people, the Precariat, or those living more precarious lives than other Americans.
This website is an information resource in order to inform the reader on the important sub-topics within the UBI world.
