BIEN | Opinion
Opinion Posts
Here you will find articles expressing opinions about current issues in the Basic Income debate. Opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinions of BIEN.
Basic income will be at the core of monetary policy in the 21st century
So called ‘helicopter money’ – or monetary-financed basic income – will soon be the only way for central bankers to address global deflation.
Jobs in ‘security’ are about to end
Jobs in security are on the verge of obsolescence. Security jobs usually refer to night watchers, guards, soldiers, intelligence officers, police officers and so on. Armies, police, security companies and related industries employ millions of people worldwide,...
CANADA: Robert-Falcon Ouellette’s petition to study basic income marked by his own childhood
From the Basic Income Canada Network by Roderick Benns, on March 29, 2016 As a youth growing up in Calgary, Robert-Falcon Ouellette remembers being inspired by the 1988 Olympics. Ouellette’s parents struggled financially, and his father was in and out of the picture....
Does the Basic Income overlook disabled individuals?
Just because someone is disabled doesn't mean they're any less of a person. Most disabled individuals can still work jobs, get into Disabled Dating, have families, go places, etc. However, society has a tendency to discriminate against them and doesn't offer disabled...
Simplifying childcare benefits
By Mark Wadsworth The Citizen's Income Trust has suggested replacing Child Tax Credits and Child Benefit with a higher flat rate Child Benefit and merging the income tax-free personal allowance, the National Insurance-free Lower Earnings Limit and Working Tax Credits...
Why basic income can save the planet
By Clive Lord Almost everyone I know of who supports the Basic Income (BI) does so on the grounds of social justice. I agree of course, but for me less inequality is only the second most important of three reasons to support the Basic, or as we call it in Britain, the...
Universal basic income: a search for alternative models
By Johanna Perkiö First published on January 25, 2016, by Kela, the Finnish government agency in charge of welfare benefits. The original article is available here. With the expressed commitment of the Prime minister Juha Sipilä’s centre-to-right Government to conduct...
On why basic income has not yet been deployed
The hypothesis: basic income has not been deployed in South Africa in part because the powers that be do not let go of their interest and ability to explore people. The following article attempts to demonstrate the validity of this hypothesis. Let's...
Thinking about Basic Income on International Women’s Day
By Liane Gale and Ann Withorn for the Basic Income Woman Action Group (BIWAG) Since 1909, International Women's Day has been a day for recognizing women's economic, political and social achievements. Yet over the past century, March 8 Women's Day celebrations have...
Yanis Varoufakis urges Swiss to vote ‘yes’ for the UBI referendum
Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greece prime minister, recommends Swiss people to vote 'yes' for UBI at the national referendum scheduled on 5th June. Varoufakis, who've recently made his support for UBI clear in the interview published for the Economist, calls...
Can the ECB create money for a universal basic income?
Having a pan-European basic income paid by the European Central Bank makes sense. Here is why.
Interview with Zoltan Istvan, US presidential candidate in support of basic income
Founded in 2014 by futurist and philosopher Zoltan Istvan, the Transhumanist Party is an American non-profit political organization, which advocates the use of non-discriminatory implementations of science and technology to solve a majority of the world’s problems....
