United States: Philosophy class examines universal Basic Income whose time has come

United States: Philosophy class examines universal Basic Income whose time has come

by | Sep 20, 2017 | News

A Stanford University class –available on a podcast replays the 1970s Manitoba, Canada, experiment called “mincome,” on the way to rejoicing in Universal Basic Income.

In the U.S., Silicon Valley entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, who according to some is preparing to run for U.S. President, are promoting universal basic income.

What does basic income mean, students ask? The contentious subject raises many questions, such as: would society fall apart because everyone would just hang out on the couch?

The Stanford class seeks to separate the argument that robots will replace 47% of jobs, a prediction that fuels much of Silicon Valley’s support of basic income, from the “paradigm of work” dialogue, according to Juliana Bidadanure, Assistant Professor in Political Philosophy at Stanford University, who is teaching the class.

The podcast studies the observations of many “experts” on culture, race and gender in an effort to separate jobs (wage-work) from understanding the true nature of work. Several contributions are under analysis, such as the following:

– Doug Henwood — Journalist, economic analyst, and writer whose work has been featured in Harper’s, Jacobin Magazine, and The Nation, says if robots were really taking over, there would be a strong productivity growth in the U.S., which is not true, so far;

– Rutger Bregman — Journalist and author of “Utopia for Realists: The Case for a Universal Basic Income, Open Borders and a 15-hour Workweek” thinks that if basic income were accomplished by the government printing money, that situation would definitely lead to inflation. But no inflation fears would be attached to a taxation process;

– Kathi Weeks — Marxist, feminist scholar, associate professor of women’s studies at Duke University in North Carolina, and author of “The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries” believes that wage-work is not the only meaningful activity. She points to pre-industrial society as a good example of when wage-work took a backseat to the value of non-paid work;

– Evelyn Forget — Economist and professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba and academic director of the Manitoba Research Data Centre, who first reported the “mincome” data. Forget argues that “mincome” made it possible for single mothers to get off welfare and proudly have a profession.

 

A second podcast will be available that discusses whether universal basic income is the end of capitalism or not.

More information at:

Podcast: Universal Basic Income – An Idea Whose Time Has Come

 

 

 

Ping Xu, Leader of UBI Taiwan, interviews Hawaii State Legislator Chris Lee

Ping Xu, Leader of UBI Taiwan, interviews Hawaii State Legislator Chris Lee

by | Sep 3, 2017 | News

Ping Xu, the leader of Basic Income in Taiwan,  interviewed Hawaii representative Chris Lee about Basic Income in July. In the interview, Representative Chris Lee talks about the need for discussing Basic Income as a solution outside the traditional government safety net programs. Lee says that discussion of Basic Income goes beyond party politics in Hawaii, Basic Income, he says is rather  “a question of humanity and what our future is going to look like.”

Representative Chris Lee first encountered the concept of Basic Income on the Reddit Basic Income group, and since then has been interested in the topic. According to Representative Lee, the state of Hawaii needs to think about Basic Income with some urgency for reasons related to its economy, which is mostly based in the service industry. Hawaii’s flourishing tourist market and its physical isolation combined make the state’s cost of living much higher than what the local residents are able to afford. Lee mentions several situations, from homelessness, to people who are not able to retire, to younger residents who have to live with their parents for much longer than would be desirable, and yet others who have to leave the state and move away from their families. Basic Income would be a way to guarantee that the local economy could benefit and work for everyone and that Hawaii natives and others can live in the state while being able to pursue their dreams and their passions, and that no one is left behind.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLMTxCpes1HOJGsdoBwSPGPPrh1pWox6r

Hawaii, being a service based economy, could be hit hard with the new wave of automation that is focusing on innovation applicable to the retail industry. This however can be seen as an opportunity to change the nature of work for Hawaii’s residents. Representative Lee argues that the millennials look for meaningful work that is more than just a paycheck. According to Lee, 51% of all millennials don’t believe in capitalism as is right now. Millennials would like to redefine the american dream. The american dream is “no longer to seek out the best job that pays the most, but it is rather to find the job that provides the best meaning and quality of life.” Basic Income is “a mechanism that empowers people to have that opportunity in the face of a changing economy.” Furthermore, with the innovations in automation, traditional safety nets such as welfare, food stamps, and housing assistance, can make government expenses skyrocket in the near future. Basic Income could be a policy that is cheaper to implement in the long run. For all these reason, Representative Chris Lee is supporting Basic Income in Hawaii and was able to pass legislation that will create a working group to officially look at Basic Income as a solution, looking for a better future in the state of Hawaii.

 

More information at:

Basic Income Bill in Hawaii: House Concurrent Resolution n. 89.

Tyler Prochazka, “Interview: Hawaii becomes first state to study full basic income”, Basic Income News, June 27th, 2017

Ashley Blackwell, “United States: Hawaii to study Universal Basic Income and impact of job automation on social safety net”, Basic Income News, June 18th, 2017

 

Cure health inequality by reducing income inequality

Cure health inequality by reducing income inequality

by | Aug 30, 2017 | Opinion

The relationship between health and social context includes a range of factors influencing overall well-being. Social status, class, lifestyle, education, and environment primarily shape these factors. Age, gender, race, and ethnicity are structural variables of equal importance to health outcomes. Health is being facilitated or inhibited by the socioeconomic, cultural, and political backgrounds, in which one is born and raised. The people that view these data points and makes correlations between socioeconomic status and backgrounds to health issues have an interesting career because they constantly have to adapt to the understanding of new societal groups and focus on why a certain group would make a certain decision, for example.

In the last few decades, we have seen growing income inequality between the poor and rich. Since the 1980’s, the United States of America has seen a shift in wealth from the middle class towards the wealthiest people and transnational companies. The top one-tenth of 1 percent owns as much as the bottom 90 percent. Firebaugh and Beck argued economic growth would automatically benefit the masses, which in hindsight seems questionable.

As health outcomes and life expectations closely liaise to within-country income inequality, policies should aim at finding appropriate actions to address this phenomenon. Meaning, getting basic family urgent care, in terms of medical needs cannot be compromised. Currently, in some countries, those who earn more are able to find medical treatments to treat their injuries or illnesses, whilst those who don’t have as much money are having to cope with their illness or find other treatments. For example, those who suffer from digestive problems would have to pay a significant amount to get their illness looked at, so people on lower incomes will find supplements to help them instead. The bio complete 3 supplement can deliver prominent improvements for people’s digestive systems, so people are able to treat these problems. However, not all problems can be treated with supplements. This is why changes have to be made.

Wilkinson and Pickett found health issues to be strongly correlated to income inequality within a country. To support this finding, they used two different measurement tools. The first index, applied to Western countries, was a ratio of the 20 percent top incomes in relation to the 20 percent of the bottom earners. For different states within the USA they used a second index, the Gini-index, which adopts a different methodology. Where ‘Gini = 0′ represents perfect equality (same income for everyone) and ‘Gini = 1′ is total inequality (if all income goes to one person). The outcome of these results showed that the widening income gap led to an increase of different health issues related to mental disorders, life expectancy, infant mortality, obesity and teenage births. Societal problems that correlated to income inequality included: lower levels of trust, less educational performance, more homicides, higher imprisonment rates and a lack of social mobility. Some authors found Wilkinson and Pickett’s dismissal of poverty in relation to health outcomes incorrect as they did not measure it. On the other hand, research by Beckfield and Bambra confirmed the correlation between life expectancy and health stating that the lagging welfare state in the USA led to an average loss of 3.77 quality life years in comparison to other OECD countries. The USA has an income gap of 8:1 (the average biggest earners have 8 times the wage of those at the other end of the spectrum) leading to a life expectancy of 78.7 years, which is in contrast with Japan reaching an average of 83.0 years with an income gap of 4:1. The same age dependent relation has been found in Scandinavian countries having similar income gaps as Japan.

Goda and Torres Garcia looked at the rise of global inequality and confirmed previous results by stating that within-country inequality is responsible for 70 percent of the global inequality, suggesting 30% is due to in-between country inequality.

Taking national and local figures into account for the UK, the Office for National Statistics observed a life expectancy for new-born baby boys to be 83.3 years in the Kensington and Chelsea area. Meanwhile, the life expectancy for the same cohort in Blackpool is merely 74.7 years. Nationwide, the female life expectancy is 86.6 years in Purbeck and the lowest in Glasgow City with an expectancy of 78.5 years. The authors conclude that inequality has increased over the last two decades despite improvements in these local areas.

Medical technology has improved greatly over the past two decades, with many illnesses that were fatal twenty years ago proving simple to treat now. Simple technological breakthroughs such as RFID labeling and instant messaging have meant that medical practices can be streamlined, saving time and money which can then be invested back into treating patients. With all these improvements in technology, why is there still little improvement in life expectancy in some areas? The answer lies again with income inequality, with areas that suffer from low income also suffering from lower government funding. This directly impacts the access local hospitals have to new technology, meaning they have fewer new technologies to utilise for their patients.

We may assume a strong relation between income inequality and health outcomes on a global scale as Dorling in recent research concludes there are overarching arguments. Dorling (2007) confirmed a strong relation between income inequality and negative health outcomes on a global scale after an observational study performed in 126 countries.

The academic world has provided alternatives to deal with the widening gap between poor and rich. Reformed minimum wages, living wages, basic income or a global ‘fair tax’ and redistribution are only a few austerity counter-proposals to ensure overall well-being by reaching or transcending the poverty line. Minimum wages have proven insufficient and a basic income is still globally debated. An international fair tax may even prove more challenging as this requires global political support.

Minimum wages and living wages have the same aim; raising income for the least fortunate to reduce the impact of a growing income gap. A minimum wage is defined as a minimum market valued income, imposed by law and paid by employers. A living wage is a locally liaised and negotiated pay rate that a fulltime employee needs for a household of four to reach the poverty line. For the latter, societal context is important, as living in a metropolitan area is more expensive than living in the countryside. The Basic Income Earth Network defines basic income as “a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means, test or work requirement”.

A locally implemented living wage project in the UK, facilitated by the General and Municipal Boilermakers Union in 400 councils, has proven to be successful in reducing (health) inequalities as well as being beneficial for government tax income. Awareness within the community influenced policy in a way that living wages became accepted as a benchmark for society. In this regard, a living wage clearly will contribute to individual well-being and social cohesion – both factors improve health within communities.

Proposals for a Universal Basic Income (UBI) are slowly reaching the minds of global policymakers, but this process will take more time in achieving broader support. In developing a short-term response tackling inequality, a living wage appears to be a possible solution for developed countries yet remains a huge challenge for developing countries.

Emerging new technologies will demand economical strategies that are able to cope with less job certainty and keeping up with growing demands in healthcare.

A redistribution of capital, as proposed by Thomas Piketty in his book ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’, in combination with a UBI may prove to be the best strategy in the long-run to counter income-related health inequalities on a global scale. We must urge politicians to finally face transnational companies and the top one percent in order to obtain a globally acceptable taxation rate.

About the author:

Sam Brokken hails from Belgium and lives near the city of Leuven. He studied physiotherapy, sports physical therapy and manual therapy practicing these areas for years in private practices within local communities. He lectures in musculoskeletal disorders in relation to manual handling and ergonomics for healthcare service providers.
He is currently engaged in postgraduate work at the Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen – Scotland) within the MSc Public Health and Health Promotion course.

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New Zealand Fabians host Basic Income panel

by | Aug 13, 2017 | News

On August 31, the New Zealand Fabian Society will host a panel discussion on basic income, led by BIEN cofounder Guy Standing, as part of its seminar series in Auckland.

Standing, who has recently published Basic Income: And How We Can Make it Happen, will be delivering a lecture titled “Basic Income: the case for a significant new policy.”

Two commentators will respond to Standing’s talk: Sue Bradford, a former Green MP, political activist, and founding member and former coordinator of Auckland Action Against Poverty, and Keith Rankin, an economic historian who has written extensively on basic income.

The event will conclude with a 20-minute debate on the issue of whether an income guarantee policy should be targeted or universal.

Details and registration are available on the NZ Fabian Society website here.

 

The New Zealand Fabian Society, a policy forum devoted to exploring progressive policy and economic reforms, has been active in promoting discussion of basic income.

In February 2016, the organization initiated its 2016 series of events with a presentation titled “A UBI for New Zealand: on the cards, but is it the answer?” by Rankin and economist Susan Guthrie. (Guthrie is the coauthor of The Big Kahuna and other work with Gareth Morgan–the economist and businessman whose new political party, The Opportunity Party, has recently made a basic income for elders and young children part of its campaign platform.)

The NZ Fabian Society has also collaborated with BIEN’s affiliate Basic Income New Zealand (BINZ) by helping to organize some of events held in connection with BINZ’s basic income roadshow for Basic Income Week 2016, and supported past lectures by Guy Standing in Auckland. In March 2016, the NZ Fabian Society hosted Standing at an event in Christchurch, where he spoke on the theme of his previous book, “rentier capitalism and the coming precariat revolt” (video below).

Phil Harington, an active member of NZ Fabian Society and lecturer in sociology and social policy at the University of Auckland, explains that a key object of the Fabians is strengthen public confidence in progressive reforms. The arguments for basic income, he states, “make a plausible argument for rethinking the very principles we need to apply in core policy and economic creativity alongside a concern to rethink the tax side of the income pool to increase social equity and participation.”

YouTube player

Thanks to Phil Harington for information about the upcoming event as well as past efforts of the New Zealand Fabians.

Cover photo: Auckland Skyline

NEW BOOK: På vej til Borgerløn (On the way to Basic Income) by Erik Christensen

NEW BOOK: På vej til Borgerløn (On the way to Basic Income) by Erik Christensen

by | Aug 9, 2017 | News

Erik Christensen, former associate professor at Aalborg University, has written a new book on basic income, På vej til Borgerløn – Aktuel idedebat (“On the way to Basic Income: A debate on contemporary ideas”), which is to be published in August 2017 by the independent publishing house Hovedland. See the announcement at the website of BIEN-Denmark.

Christensen’s latest book is a compilation of revised and expanded blog posts from the past four years, which he previously published on Modkraft, a now-defunct Danish progressive Internet portal.

Contents:

  1. What is basic income?
  2. Why has basic income again become topical?
  3. Basic income in historical perspective
  4. Basic income as a liberation project
  5. From welfare state to competitive state
  6. From working society to civil society
  7. Basic income and global capitalism
  8. The trade union movement and basic income
  9. Basic income and economic democracy
  10. Basic income and monetary and land reforms
  11. Basic income nationally and internationally
  12. On the way to a major breakthrough

Christensen is the author of The Heretical Political Discourse: a Discourse Analysis of the Danish Debate on Basic Income (2008, Aalborg University Press; full text here).