- 9 years ago Sticky: Welcome to BasicIncome
-
+4 +1
A Progressive Experiment That’s Doomed to Fail
If the states are supposed to be laboratories for democracy, where new ideas that reflect regional attitudes can flourish, then cities are like micro-laboratories. Local governments can try out ideas that would never get statewide traction. Unfortunately, some California cities are more like laboratories run by Dr. Frankenstein, where frightening concepts are given life — and local residents have few other choices than to flee to other places. By Steven Greenhut.
-
+9 +1
Experts say basic income could reach mainstream politics in 2018
Is this the year of UBI?
-
+36 +1
A village in Kenya is quietly disproving the biggest myth about basic income
A 12-year basic income experiment in Kenya is showing that people typically spend free cash on necessities, not vices like alcohol or gambling. Maurice Owiti is 47 years old and works as a caregiver in a rural Kenyan village. In a poor community such as his, Owiti is lucky to have a job. But until late 2016, spending even $20 a month on school fees for his son was a struggle.
-
+6 +1
Canada is paying its citizens a universal basic income
An estimated 84,000 people in the Canadian province of Quebec are to receive basic income from the start of next year, as part of the government's anti-poverty plan. Quebec’s Premier Philippe Couillard made the announcement as part of his administration’s $3bn (£2.25bn) plans on Sunday, which aims to promote “economic inclusion”, CBCNews reported.
-
+13 +1
Quebec to offer basic income for people unable to work
Quebecers who have a severely limited capacity to work will gradually be able to access a guaranteed minimum income beginning next year, Premier Philippe Couillard's government announced Sunday. The measure is part of a $3-billion action plan to fight poverty and promote "economic inclusion," but falls short of offering a basic income for all Quebecers, a demand of many anti-poverty groups.
-
+24 +1
A Radical Critique of Universal Basic Income
Rather than deliver a Utopia, UBI institutionalizes serfdom and a two-class neofeudalism in which the bottom 95% scrape by on UBI while the top 5% hoard what every human wants and needs: positive social roles in our community, meaningful work that makes us feel needed, and the opportunity to build capital in all its manifestations. By Charles Hugh Smith.
-
+21 +1
Universal Basic Income Explained – Free Money for Everybody?
-
+12 +1
Canada begins paying basic income to citizens
Canada is testing a basic income to discover what impact the policy has on unemployed people and those on low incomes. The province of Ontario is planning to give 4,000 citizens thousands of dollars a month and assess how it affects their health, wellbeing, earnings and productivity. It is among a number of regions and countries across the globe that are now piloting the scheme, which sees residents given a certain amount of money each month regardless of whether or not they are in work.
-
0 +1
Free Money: The Surprising Effects of a Basic Income Supplied by Government
Thanks to a profitable casino, an Indian tribe gives its members sizeable cash payments. It’s called a basic income and might be the solution to job losses brought on by automation and globalization.
-
+24 +1
A basic income for everyone? Yes, Finland shows it really can work
In a speck of a village deep in the Finnish countryside, a man gets money for free. Each month, almost €560 (£500) is dropped into his bank account, with no strings attached. The cash is his to use as he wants. Who is his benefactor? The Helsinki government. The prelude to a thriller, perhaps, or some reality TV. But Juha Järvinen’s story is ultimately more exciting. He is a human lab rat in an experiment that could help to shape the future of the west.
-
+20 +1
A Five-Year Basic Income Experiment is Finally Happening in the US: $2,000 a Month
Y Combinator, the Silicon Valley technology startup-incubator that’s that offered early funding for Airbnb, Reddit, Genius, Twitch, and Dropbox, among others, has its eyes on a backing an even bigger potential disruption: basic income. This week, the company announced that its year-long feasibility study on basic income, using a few dozen people in Oakland, California, had come to an end. Its next logical step is altogether more ambitious...
-
+18 +1
A $1,000 per month cash handout would grow the economy by $2.5 trillion, new study says
Giving every adult in the United States a $1,000 cash handout per month would grow the economy by $2.5 trillion by 2025, according to a new study on universal basic income. The report was released in August by the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute. Roosevelt research director Marshall Steinbaum, Michalis Nikiforos at Bard College's Levy Institute, and Gennaro Zezza at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio in Italy co-authored the study.
-
+15 +1
Researchers studied universal basic income - and found it could have an unexpected side effect
The potential advantages and drawbacks of universal basic income have been debated fiercely in recent months, but a new study suggests that paying everyone an unconditional salary could have a welcomed side effect. According to US think tank The Roosevelt Institute, a system of universal basic income – or UBI – in the US, under which every citizen is given a basic government salary unconditionally could actually grow the economy on a permanent basis. But there is a catch.
-
+11 +1
Richard Branson thinks every citizen is entitled to a universal basic income
'In the modern world, everybody should have the opportunity to work and to thrive. Most countries can afford to make sure that everybody has their basic needs covered,' the Virgin boss wrote.
-
+20 +1
Universal income: A guaranteed income for every American
When people learn that I want to replace the welfare state with a universal basic income, or UBI, the response I almost always get goes something like this: “But people will just use it to live off the rest of us!” “People will waste their lives!” Or, as they would have put it in a bygone age, a guaranteed income will foster idleness and vice. I see it differently. I think that a UBI is our only hope to deal with a coming labor market unlike any in human history and that it represents our best hope to revitalize American civil society.
-
+20 +1
One of Silicon Valley's biggest CEOs just backed a universal basic income
Billionaire Silicon Valley bosses are fast becoming a key source of support for the idea of a universal basic income. Mark Zuckerberg and friends are unlikely to ever have to rely on free, no-strings-attached money from the state in order to make ends meet, but the telephone number salaries that their companies dole out have, paradoxically, brought the idea to the fore.
-
+20 +1
What We Can Learn From Finland’s Basic Income Experiment
At the beginning of this year, Finland launched a national experiment to determine the feasibility of universal basic income. However, due to problems with the trial and the country's economy, the results may not prove to be particularly useful.
-
+32 +1
Mark Zuckerberg doubles down on universal basic income after a trip to Alaska
The Facebook CEO remarked in a recent post that Alaska's approach to basic income "may be a lesson for the rest of the country as well."
-
+31 +1
Universal Basic Income Is the Path to an Entirely New Economic System
Sooner rather than later, a robot is going to be able to do part or all of what you do for a living. In response to this and other pressures, the Canadian province of Ontario is gearing up to launch a basic income trial this summer. For a limited period of time, and in three regions across the province, the government will be giving people a living wage, for free and with no strings attached, and seeing how the hell it goes, eh?
-
+22 +1
Finland is testing universal basic income - and found it has had an unexpected side effect
Finland has been giving 2,000 of its citizens an unconditional income for the last five months and some are already seeing the benefits, reporting decreased stress, greater incentives to find work and more time to pursue business ideas. The scheme is the first of its kind in Europe and sees participants receive €560 (£473) every month for two years. Recipients do not have to demonstrate that they are seeking employment and they are not required to regularly report to authorities to prove they still need the payment, as is the case with standard unemployment benefits. They can spend the money however they like.