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.
OPINION: A viable transition to Basic Income
Thomas Paine and many other libertarians concerned with fundamental human rights, dreamt of the day when no one would suffer from want and basic income security should be garanteed to all. The Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) promotes the idea among all countries....
OPINION: Dependency: An ideology chasing its tail
I graduated in Social Work in 1964 and back then, in Australia, we were three quarters of the way through the 23 years of unbroken conservative rule. The prevailing welfare ideology of the time was heavily influenced by the combination of providing assistance to those...
OPINION: Temporal Basic Income is Desirable for the Disaster-sufferers to rebuild and sustain their Living
Almost a half year has passed after the Great Earth Quake and Tsunami on March 11 in East Japan which jointly victimized nearly 16,000 people’s lives, made around 4,600 people missing, destroyed a large number of houses and facilities, and induced the nuclear...
OPINION: A Basic Income scheme will eliminate poverty in Japan: Ensuring Basic Incomes for All Rather Than Welfare Public Assistance
Japan’s social security system until now has been dependent on support from corporations and employers. Due to Japan’s present economic circumstances, however, they have become unable to endure such burdens any more. Basically, the aim of private corporations is to...
Why I Support the Basic Income Guarantee
I write a lot about the Basic Income Guarantee (BIG)—about its labor-market effects, its use as cushion against instability, and so. In this essay I want to explain in simple terms why I believe it is so worth talking about.
Anniversary Note: BIEN's 25th
Anniversaries are poignant human moments, points on a journey, never an end in themselves. Twenty-five years ago, on September 4-6, 1986, a small group of us held a workshop on basic income, and on September 6 decided to set up a network, BIEN. The memory is blurred; the documentation is scattered. However, this 25th anniversary is a testament to several aspects of BIEN, and it is perhaps acceptable to reflect on the journey so far.
OPINION: Two basic income pilot schemes will start in India
Guy Standing details the features of two pilot projects schemes set to start soon in rural India.
OPINION: If economic disparity is a growing problem, then let’s discuss solutions
There is a growing gap between rich and poor in Canada. Poverty and excessive income disparity harms everyone not just the very poor. For ethical and prudential reasons, Canadian policymakers should consider policy options that provide a basic income to all citizens as a means of ameliorating poverty and its deleterious effects.
OPINION: Thinking About Ethical Leadership: An ethical response to poverty in Canada
Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet a significant number of Canadians live in poverty. As economic disparity increases in Canada, many citizens seem not to recognize the poverty in their midst. The author calls for greater knowledge, imagination and understanding of our interconnectedness in order to spur an ethical response to poverty alleviation.
Film review: “This Land is Our Land:” reviewed by a commoner
“This Land is Our Land” is a recent video (2010) subtitled, “The Fight to Reclaim the Commons” and was previously titled “Silent Theft”. It’s by author David Bollier (Senior Fellow at the Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication); it’s available from the Media Education Foundation.
VIEWPOINT: Where does housing fit in?
Looking at progress against the pillars of the Beveridge welfare state: health, housing and education, many commentators have identified housing as the 'wobbly pillar', starved of investment or ineffectively maintained. With this being said, an article titled retired...
OPINION: Genetics, the deserving and underserving poor
By Michael A. Lewis, Associate Professor The Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College After spending 15 years teaching about, writing about, and observing the U.S. welfare state, I believe that the policies that make it up are based on a questionable...
