by Guest Contributor | Apr 9, 2022 | Opinion
14.5 million living in poverty
in the world’s fifth largest economy
until a global pandemic forced our chancellor
to spend £69 billion on a word
none of us had ever heard of.
Furlough showed universal basic income to be
a fundable possibility, at £67 billion net cost
paid for through reduced corporate tax breaks
and subsidies. Just 3.4 percent of GDP
to make absolute poverty extinct.
When the first unconditional money
hit mum’s bank account she cried
with eyes that could now see a future.
But trusting it took time. You’re not supposed to eat
normally just after a fast or you’ll be sick.
So we let relief drip into our days.
First in seconds, dancing round the kitchen
feeding shopping into starved cupboards
now bulging till their doors wouldn’t shut.
Then in minutes, a river that brought mum
home two full days a week. She began
helping me with my homework.
Grades went up. A well fed mind imagined
going to university, freed from the urgent need
to leave school early and start earning.
Knocks on the door brought not fear
but friends. Neighbours came to chat,
share ideas, our street hadn’t felt this alive
in years! Revitalised by breathing in
something other than stress and anxiety.
Minds to the right: tick
for smaller, simpler government; tick
for healthcare appointments reduced
8% by better physical and mental health; tick
for greater purchasing power from the ground up.
Minds to the left: tick
for greater community engagement; tick
for people secure enough to believe in a future; tick
for human ingenuity previously capped
by the poverty trap freed to help create
a society no longer chained to poor
wages for sourcing, making, selling poor
quality goods that return to poor
countries forced to burn, bury, breathe poor
quality air. Instead, the choice to say no
from a new sense of security, dignity, universality
we can do better.
Harula Ladd
by Peter Knight | Mar 29, 2022 | Events, News
This virtual event on 22 March 2022, organized by Income Movement, provided an opportunity to hear from legislators, experts, and thought leaders on the current state of the basic income movement in the United States.
Guest speakers discussed national, state, and local-level efforts, giving a bird’s-eye view of the movement and laying the foundation for Income Movement’s work fighting for direct cash in 2022.
Guest speakers include:
- Representative Rashida Tlaib: U.S. Representative for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District
- Representative Brad Witt: State Representative for Oregon’s House District 31
- Jhumpa Bhattacharya: VP of Programs and Strategy, Insight Center
- Kevin Adler: Founder and CEO, Miracle Messages
- Harish Patel: Director, Economic Security for Illinois
You can view the recording of the event, moderated by Income Movement’s founder, Stacey Rutland, by clicking here.
You can also view the individual segments below:
by Peter Knight | Mar 16, 2022 | Events, News
The University of Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies, together with the Berlin based think tank
polisphere are holding a digital conference on Wednesday 23.03.2022 chaired by Geoff Crocker,
author of ‘Basic Income and Sovereign Money‘ and editor of the web site www.ubi.org.
The focus of the conference is on economic development in East and South-East Asia, specifically on
three elements
Profiling current welfare systems
The constraint of debt/GDP ratios
The potential for basic income and debt-free sovereign money proposals
The conference is of specific interest to professional economists, including government economists,
academic economists, central bankers, politicians, economics journalists, aid agencies, and think tanks.
For the full program click here
Please register by clicking here.
by Tyler Prochazka | Aug 25, 2021 | Chinese
經過一年多的時間，台灣避免重大的本土 COVID 疫情的爆發，不過台灣在 5 月經歷了恐慌，出現了數百個病例。由於一夜之間數以百萬計的工作崗位不穩定，這將普發現金的措施帶到了台灣政治辯論的前沿。
在此背景下，UBI Taiwan 於 8 月 15 日舉辦了首次線上基本收入高峰會，邀請來自世界各地的學者、運動人士以及政治人物來討論疫情期間的基本收入狀況。
韓國京畿道知事李在明在高峰會開幕時指出了基本收入運動對於韓國和台灣的重要性。李現正參選韓國總統競選初期的領先地位。由於他的社會福利的政見，他被稱為『韓國的桑德斯』。
「當世界正在實施擴張性財政政策時，基本收入作為面臨第四次工業革命時代的最理性和準備措施」李說。
作為城南市前市長，李實行了一項青年基本收入計畫，該計畫讓該市所有 24 歲的青年每季度獲得地方貨幣。該計畫說明地方貨幣可以改善該地區的小型企業活動。後來當他成為知事時，他將該計畫擴展到了全省。
Kim Kyeong Soo 是京畿道政府願景規劃師的管理人。他也是青年基本收入計畫的規劃者。
「我們所做的是實現年輕人的基本社會權利而保障年輕人的權利」Kim 說。
青年基本收入是 COVID 危機期間的一個有用模型，因為省政府能夠在經濟衰退期間迅速擴大該計畫以包括該省的所有居民。
Kim 還討論了他們如何在疫情期間增加不同的社會福利項目，以及在全國範圍內推動基本收入的計畫。
「我們將地方貨幣的設計成只能在年銷售額在 12 億韓元以下的商店中可以用，這樣才能真正振興真正的胡同經濟的小企業主」Kim 說。
韓國基本收入網的成員 Mok Hwakyun 和 Kim Jae-seop 出席了高峰會的問答環節。他們提到基本收入已經成為韓國的主流話題。
「最大的變化是現在每個人都知道基本收入。我希望韓國能夠成為第一個實施 UBI 的國家」Mok 說。
著名的美國活動家 Scott Santens 在會議的採訪，他討論了美國大規模的 COVID 救濟計畫的成功和失敗。在美國已經出現的最大變化之一是兒童稅收抵免，Santens 表示，他相信這將使更多人會支持全民基本收入。
「我充滿希望，尤其是每月的兒童稅收抵免將真正改變這裡的情況，並有助於為美國建立真正的 UBI」Santens 說。
台灣陽明大學黃嵩立教授討論了全民基本服務與基本收入之間的爭論。他的結論是，基本服務沒有提供與基本收入相同的個人自由。
UBI Taiwan 理事長羅泰（Tyler Prochazka ）評估了台灣的 COVID 救濟響應，並指出了台灣救濟的不足和複雜性。
今年 5 月，當地爆發導致台灣在疫情期間首次進入三級。台灣正在經歷一個奇怪的矛盾，儘管其他行業被封鎖，但其強勁的出口產業推動了台灣創紀錄的經濟增長。與此同時，封鎖令台灣員工經歷了數十年來最糟糕的經濟狀況，尤其是服務業。
由於封鎖，一半台灣人的工資減少了 10% 至 50%，且 74% 的人表示工資有所減少。與此同時，41% 的台灣人表示他們認為政府的 COVID 救濟計畫沒有提供任何幫助。救濟計畫的一些問題是，它依賴大量文件來證明個人的情況。比如說，如果家人的銀行裡有太多錢，也可能排除申請人。
例如，台灣在封鎖期間失業人數達到 57 萬人，低於正常工作時間的人數達到近 100 萬人。然而，6 月份的失業救濟人數僅增加了 2 萬人，不到同期真正失業人數增加的四分之一。
台灣的二級封鎖已延長至 9 月 6 日，這對企業的運營方式施加了不同程度的限制，並完全關閉了某些企業，例如某些娛樂場所。即使大部分地區恢復正常，但在可預見的未來，許多企業的運營可能會繼續受到限制，需求也會減少。
儘管台灣是幾十年來最糟糕的就業形勢之一，但今年政府僅將其年度 GDP 的 6% 用於 COVID 救濟計畫。與日本和美國將其國內生產總值的 16% 至 30% 用於 COVID 救濟相比，台灣作為發達經濟體對其公民的幫助要少得多。
台灣執政黨民進黨正準備推出另一輪價值 5,000 新台幣（180 美元）的振興券。由於與 COVID 救濟計畫相關的嚴格條件，對於許多台灣家庭來說，通用振興券是政府 COVID 響應中最容易獲得的幫助。台灣在野黨現在大力推動為大多數台灣人發放現金而不是券，並利用行政儲蓄為貧困家庭提供額外的現金補助。
「台灣執政黨表示，他們希望與所有台灣人『分享經濟增長』，不過分享經濟增長的真正方式是無條件基本收入」羅泰說。
Original English Article here.
Translation: Tyler Prochazka & Pandora Lai
by Tyler Prochazka | Aug 25, 2021 | News
After over a year of avoiding significant local COVID outbreaks, Taiwan experienced a scare in May with hundreds of cases emerging. This brought the idea of universal cash payments to the forefront of Taiwan’s political debate as millions of jobs were destabilized overnight.
With this backdrop, UBI Taiwan held its first-ever online basic income summit on August 15, inviting professors, activists, and politicians from around the world to discuss the state of basic income during the COVID pandemic.
Korea’s Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung opened the summit by noting the importance of the basic income movement in Korea and Taiwan. Lee is currently a frontrunner in the early stages of Korea’s presidential race. He has been called the “Bernie Sanders of Korea” because of his economic proposals.
“When the world is implementing expansive fiscal policy, basic income is gaining attention as the most rational and remarkable way to prepare for the era of the fourth industrial revolution,” Lee said in his address to the conference.
As the former mayor of Seongnam, Lee started a youth basic income program for all 24-year-old youth in the city to receive local currency every quarter. The scheme was shown to improve small business activity in the region. He later expanded the program to the province when he became governor.
Kim Kyeong Soo is part of the Gyeonggi provincial government vision planner. He is the planner of the provincial youth basic income program.
“What we are doing at our expense is to realize the basic social rights of young people,” Kim said in an interview for the conference.
This was a useful model during the COVID crisis because the provincial government was able to quickly expand the program to include all residents of the province during the economic downturn.
Kim also discussed how they increased a myriad of programs during the COVID pandemic and the plans to push for basic income on a nationwide scale.
“We designed it so that it could only be used in stores with annual sales of 1.2 billion won or less, so that the money could be actually revitalized for the small business owners of the real alley economy,” Kim said.
Members of the Basic Income Korea Network Mok Hwakyun and Kim Jae-seop attended the summit for the question-and-answer session. They noted how basic income has become a mainstream topic in Korea.
“The biggest change is that everyone knows about basic income now,” Mok said. “I hope Korea will be the first country” to implement UBI.
Prominent US activist Scott Santens gave a pre-recorded interview for the conference where he discussed the success and failures of America’s massive COVID relief program. One of the biggest changes that has emerged is the Child Tax Credit, which Santens said he believes will get more people on board with a wider basic income safety net.
“I feel hopeful that especially the monthly CTC is going to really change things here and help build momentum for a full UBI here in the US,” Santens said.
Taiwan’s Yangming University Professor Song-Lih Huang discussed the debate between Universal Basic Services compared to basic income. He concluded that UBS does not provide the same level of individual freedom as UBI.
UBI Taiwan Chairman Tyler Prochazka evaluated Taiwan’s COVID relief response and noted the inadequacy and complexity of receiving relief.
The situation became more severe this past May when a local outbreak caused Taiwan to go into level 3 lockdown for the first time during the pandemic. Taiwan is experiencing a bizarre contradiction, where record economic growth is fueled by its strong export sector despite the lockdown for other industries. At the same time, the lockdown has caused Taiwan’s employees to experience their worst economic situation in decades, particularly for the service industry.
As a result of the lockdown, half of Taiwanese experienced wage reductions of 10 to 50 percent, and 74 percent reported some reduction in wages. At the same time, 41 percent said they believed the government’s COVID relief program provided no help. One issue with the relief program is it relies on extensive documentation to prove an individual’s circumstance and can also reject an applicant if a household member has too much money in the bank.
For example, Taiwan’s unemployment had reached 570,000 people and the number experiencing lower than normal working hours had reached nearly one million during the lockdown. However, only 20,000 people were added to unemployment benefits during June which is less than one-fourth of the increased unemployment for that period.
Level two lockdown has been extended until September 6 in Taiwan, which places varying levels of restrictions on how businesses operate and closes some businesses entirely, such as certain entertainment venues. Even as much of the country returns to normal, many businesses will likely experience continued restrictions on their operations as well as reduced demand for the foreseeable future.
Despite one of the worst employment situations in decades for Taiwan, the government has only allocated around 6 percent of its annual GDP on COVID relief this year. Compared to Japan and the United States, which spent between 16 to 30 percent of their GDPs on COVID relief, Taiwan has given significantly less to its citizens as a developed economy.
Taiwan’s ruling party Democratic Progressive Party is moving toward another round of stimulus coupons worth 5,000 NT ($180 USD). Due to the stringent conditions associated with COVID relief programs, the universal coupons are the most accessible program from the government’s COVID response for many families. There has been a strong push by opposition parties in Taiwan to provide cash relief now for most Taiwanese instead of coupons and use the administrative savings to give an additional cash boost to poor households.
“Taiwan’s ruling party said they want to ‘share economic growth’ with all Taiwanese,” Prochazka said. “The real way to share economic growth is with Universal Basic Income.”
