by BIEN | Mar 20, 2018 | News
Credit to: Wikipedia.
The Democratic Party in California is supporting Universal Basic Income (UBI). It is now public that people like Elon Musk have supported the initiative, mainly justified through job losses due to automation.
However, this of course leads to questions about the source of the influence that is supporting a basic income in the California Democratic Party, which has adopted on the 25th of February its official 2018 Platform.
In the Californian Democratic Party scene, UBI is mainstream, apparently, since it now features in the Platform, but not in the US as a whole. Since politicians with a Democratic label have to read and support the party policies, one may conclude that the UBI concept has gained traction in the Californian state, at least.
A growing cohort of young political activist leaders have been adopting UBI in their political campaigns. One such examples is 27-year-old Michael Tubbs, the present mayor of Stockton, California. He has promoted and launched a pilot project in Stockton municipality (funded by the Economic Security Project).
Region 5 (a congressional district) Director for the California Democratic Party, Rocky Fernandez, said that he has been talking about UBI for several years. Bob Wieckowski has also played an important leadership role in having basic income become concrete and part of the platform. The UBI platform proposal went through and “was passed,” in the convention by “thousands of party delegates”.
UBI has now a main statement in the Economic Justice section of the California Democratic Party platform. However, the same platform reinforces traditional Democratic values, which focus on jobs to further economic mobility for all Americans. The Party platform justifies the UBI in order to eliminate poverty, while simultaneously supporting efforts to establish government guaranteed jobs, that will “help people climb the economic ladder.” This could be interpreted as being willing to secure basic economic conditions for all people, while not trusting that these people will work if they get to be economically secure.
More information at:
Shirin Chaffray, “Many in Silicon Valley support Universal Basic Income. Now the California Democratic Party does, too.“, Recode, March 8th 2018
Kate McFarland, “Elon Musk reaffirms UBI prediction at World Government Summit”, Basic Income News, February 17th 2017
Roger Phillips, “Stockton to pilot ‘basic income’ experiment”, Recordnet.com, October 18th 2017
by Sandro Gobetti | Mar 19, 2018 | News
The Network
Rete dei Numeri Pari organized the event called “I love dignity. Guaranteed minimum income. What it is and how to build an instrument against inequality, mafia and poverty” in the past 14th and 15th of February, 2018.
Among many speakers, Sandro Gobetti, Giuseppe Allegri and Giuseppe Bronzini, from
Basic Income Network Italia, shared their thoughts with the audience. Below can be watched a video of the speeches, recorded on February 14th and edited by Radio Radicale.
The video can be watched
here (in Italian).
by Sandro Gobetti | Mar 17, 2018 | News
Basic income, the whole world talks about it. Experiences, proposals and experiments this is the title of a new book by Sandro Gobetti and Luca Santini, with a preface by Andrea Fumagalli, published by GoWare Edizioni (March 2018).
Description
At the dawn of a new great transformation with the advent of the technological revolution, robotics and artificial intelligence, and in the age of major crises (economic, financial, political and ecologic), comes the echo of a proposal that opens unpublished scenarios: a basic income for all. In the era of the capitalism as a unique economic model, the idea of a guaranteed income rises up as one of the main human rights.
From experiences of minimum income inEuropean countries to the experimentation of an unconditional basic income around the planet, the right to a guaranteed income becomes key to fully enter, with confidence, in the third millennium. A book of agile and quick reading, written by two major Italian experts, helps to understand where we are and what we can expect.
Summary
Preface by Andrea Fumagalli
Introduction
Guaranteed minimum income and basic income
universal
Protection against social risks and minimum income: from welfare state to guarantee income
Unemployment insurance and minimum income in Europe
Systems and models of protection in European countries
What this means in practice: some examples
The universal and unconditional basic income
People talk about it everywhere. The state of the art of experimentation in the world
Africa at the forefront
What happens in Latin America
Back in the “first world”: North America
Asia, a crossroads of experimentation
The old continent that wants to reinvent itself
The debate and the proposals in Italy
Without income, without a network
A categorial and fragmented welfare
Moving situation
Essential principles for a possible proposal
Relations with unemployment benefits
Beneficiaries’ platform
The question of accessibility
Basic Income amount
Connection with the service system
Individuality
Basic Income duration
The principle of congruence
To find out more: bibliographic references for topics
European models of guaranteed minimum income
Social and labor transformations and basic income
The fourth industrial revolution, artificial intelligence, robotics and basic income
Authors
Sandro Gobetti, independent researcher and author of articles with a particular enphasis on guaranteed income. He collaborated on the 4/2009 law definition about minimum guaranteed income in the Lazio Region, and the national proposal law for guaranteed income. He is a founding member and coordinator of the Basic Income Network-Italy.
Luca Santini, lawyer, expert on migration law and social security law and has signed several articles. Has collaborated on the proposed law for guaranteed minimum income in Italy. He is the president and founder of the Basic Income Network-Italy.
This article has been reviewed by André Coelho
by BIEN | Mar 16, 2018 | News
Credit to: The Blue Diamond Gallery.
Who does data belong to? As data becomes an even bigger part of society, it’s a very important question to ask. A lot of businesses collect their own data then go to someone like JustUnderstandingData, a data engineering consultancy, to help them utilize it. Other companies buy data from web scrapers that collect as much data as possible. And some, unfortunately, access data in morally questionable ways. At an individual level, a lot of consumers don’t know how to restrict what data gets shared with third parties whereas others take their privacy very seriously. Would it be possible for all of us to receive monetary compensation for what we put on the internet? These questions lead to additional questions regarding the latest tendencies in data mining and management related to Universal Basic Income (UBI).
Eduardo Porter in the New York Times talked about data in the Robotic Age and posed such a question, “Shouldn’t we be paid for it?” (Our data being placed on the web.)
Porter notes that 1.4 billion people use Facebook on a daily basis. He opines in amazement that we are not paid for any of the data we share. Interestingly, if people were paid for their data, Porter argues that the quality of the data would increase because it would no longer be free. If the switch to data-for-pay were to take place, he claims there would be difficulties putting systems in place in order to put a value on information. This could challenge the dominance of Google, Amazon, Apple, and other information giants.
Jaron Lanier founded a proposal in 2013 with his book Who Owns the Future? to have companies pay transparently for any information users place online. Porter mentions this could undermine the “stranglehold” on the future of technology by the “data titans.” Lanier’s bold proposal remains relevant now into 2018. According to Politico, the European Commission generated a report in February 2018 that proposed a tax on the revenue earned by digital companies, which would be based on their location.
Basic Income News has previously reported on proposals and news about the funding of basic income through data mining. Ex-CIA officer, Bryan Wright, made the proposal for UBI funded by data as well.
More information at:
Eduardo Porter, “Your Data Is Crucial to a Robotic Age. Shouldn’t You Be Paid for It?“, The New York Times, March 6th 2018
Janet Maslin, “Fighting Words Against Big Data”, The New York Times, May 5th 2013
Kate McFarland, “UNITED STATES: Ex-CIA officer Bryan Wright proposes data mining royalties”, Basic Income News, May 27th 2016
Craig Rhodes, “Funding basic income through data mining”, Basic Income News, January 29th 2017
by Claire Bott | Mar 15, 2018 | News, Research
The UK-based Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has released a report suggesting a Universal Basic Opportunity Fund (UBOF) as a stepping-stone to a full universal basic income (UBI).
The suggested UBOF would consist of £5000 a year for two years, and would be made available to every person in the UK upon request. Although this would fall significantly short of a full, life-long UBI, the study’s authors, Anthony Painter, Jake Thorold and Jamie Cooke, suggest that the UBOF would have a number of potential uses: “A low-skilled worker might reduce their working hours to attain skills enabling career progression. The fund could provide the impetus to turn an entrepreneurial idea into a reality. It could be the support that enables a carer to be there for a loved one without the need to account for one’s caring to the state.”
Noting that the UK’s rate of corporate tax is currently being gradually reduced from 28% to 17%, the study suggests that the UBOF could be funded simply by returning the corporate tax rate to its original level.
The study states that “The UBOF is an ambitious effort to re-envisage the relationship between citizen and state, emphasising trust in people as opposed to a default of suspicion as is the case currently. It also represents a practical step and valuable experiment on the possible road towards a more permanent Universal Basic Income model.”
The RSA states that its mission is “to enrich society through ideas and action.” It regularly publishes research papers on a variety of social issues. Anthony Painter is the Director of its Action and Research Centre, while Jamie Cooke is the head of RSA Scotland, and Jake Thorold is a research assistant.
More information at:
Anthony Painter, Jake Thorold and Jamie Cooke, “Pathways to Universal Basic Income“, RSA Action and Research Center, February 2018
