United Kingdom: Cartoon Introduction for Basic Income
Citizen’s Income Trust in the UK has published a comic strip introductory leaflet (pdf) online. It is written by Seán Michael Wilson, and illustrated by Carl Thompson.
Jeremy Gilbert, “A 10-Point Programme for 21st Century Socialism”
Gilbert supports Jeremy Corbyn for the UK Labour Party’s leadership election, but he worries that Corbyn’s economic plan largely ignores the past thirty years of technological change that makes 1980s policies less applicable today. Gilbert then proposes ten forward-looking policies he suggests Corbyn adopts, among which is to bring forward plans for a universal basic income.
Jeremy Gilbert, “A 10-Point Programme for 21st Century Socialism“, Novara Wire, 8 August 2015.
UNITED KINGDOM: Channel 4 News’s economics editor refers BI in his new book
Paul Mason, the award-winning economics editor of Channel 4 News, argues in favour of a basic income in his new book entitled PostCapitalism: A guide to our future, published in 30th July 2015 by Allen Lane, London.
Neoliberalism is broken, Mason argues, and we have the chance to create a new global economy which he calls ‘Postcapitalism’. He gives three reasons why this is possible: information technology is reducing the need for work; the abundance of information goods is undermining the market-based pricing mechanism which relies on scarcity; collaborative production is rising.
A basic income play a key role in Mason’s argument for the transition from capitalism to post-capitalism. Implementing it could ‘socialize the costs of automation’ by formalizing ‘the separation of work and wages’, while subsidizing ‘the transition to a shorter working week, or day, or life’.
What makes Mason’s argument unique among the many other existing arguments for a basic income, is that a basic income will be possible only during the process of transition and will disappear when the transition to post-capitalism is completed.
‘The ultimate aim is to reduce to a minimum the hours it takes to produce what humanity needs. Once this happens, the tax base in the market sector of the economy would be too small to pay for the basic income. Wages themselves would increasingly be either social – in the form of collectively provided – or disappear. So as a postcapitalist measure, the basic income is the first benefit in history whose success measure is that it shrinks to zero.’
Although Mason referred to a basic income in his contribution to the Guardian several months ago, this book locates a basic income in his wider perspective on history and the current state of capitalism as well as his design for future.
UNITED KINGDOM: Jeremy Corbyn, candidate for Labour Party leader, recruits Basic Income advocate to draft economic plan
Jeremy Corbyn, front running candidate to be the next Labour Party leader, has recruited Richard Murphy, an advocate of basic income, to draft his economic policy.
Corbyn, a 66-years-old MP, not especially prominent in Westminster politics, has recently gotten tremendous media attention on account of his unexpected initial success in getting support for his candidacy for Labour Party leader, coupled with mainstream Labour politicians’ panic reaction against precisely this (Tony Blair, for one, has advised Corbyn supporters to get a heart transplant).
Although Corbyn himself hasn’t spoken on basic income yet, there have been some speculations as to whether he could possibly support the idea — namely: ‘Why Anti-Austerity Needs The Basic Income: SNP, Jeremy Corbyn?’ and ‘Universal Basic Income: How the Labour Party could stand up for workers, help the poor and be pro-business’.
Richard Murphy, Tax Research UK
It is good news for basic income supporters that Richard Murphy is involved in drafting Corbyn’s economic policy.
Murphy, an economist at Tax Research UK, is also an advocate of basic income and co-author (with Howard Reed) of ‘Financing the Social State’ (pdf), which recommends the implementation of basic income in the U.K. This policy paper was published in 2013 by the Centre for Labour and Social Studies.
Corbyn hasn’t published his detailed economic plan other than providing a brief outline. Despite this, The Daily Mail, The Times, to cite a few, have already termed it the derisory ‘Corbynomics’.
Will basic income be included in ‘Corbynomics’ (which I am using the term without ridiculing tone)? Will Corbyn win the Labour Party leader contest? We will know by the autumn. The party’s internal vote will begin Friday 14 August and close on Thursday 10 September, with the results being announced on Saturday 12 September.
Credit Picture: CC Chris Beckett
*Minor editing for a link and for responding one of comments below on 10th August
Robert Skidelsky, “Minimum Wage or Living Income?”
Skidelsky, a distinguished academic in history and economics, writes on the Conservative government in the UK and their budget that was released in early July. They plan to cut £12 billion in welfare, with £9 billion of that coming from cuts in tax credits, which are in place to help working families reach some semblance of a living income. While the government plans to raise the minimum wage, Skidelsky worries that such a policy re-emphasizes the importance of income generated by labour in a time when automation looks set to make millions of jobs redundant. Instead, Skidelsky believes a basic income is necessary as labour markets shift.
Robert Skidelsky, “Minimum Wage or Living Income?”, Project Syndicate, 16 July 2015.
