This is the Newsletter of the USBIG Network
(www.usbig.net),
which promotes the discussion of the basic income guarantee (BIG)
in the United
States. BIG is a policy that would unconditionally guarantee at
least a
subsistence-level income for everyone. If you would like to be
added to or
removed from this list please email: Karl@Widerquist.com.
1. Twelfth North American Basic Income
Guarantee
Congress Announced for 2013
2. ALASKA: Interesting times
for Alaska’s
Fund and Dividend
3. EDITORIAL: Report from the
NA-BIG
Conference
4. NAMIBIA: BIG Coalition appeals
for donations to
keep basic income pilot project going
5. Alaska-style dividend
under discussion
in at least five states and nations
6. BIG news from around the world
A. INTERNATIONAL:
GlobalMay
Manifesto of the Occupy Movement endorses BIG
B. INDIA: Basic Income Pilot Project makes progress
C. BRAZIL: Basic Income in Quatinga Velho celebrates 3-years of
operation
D. UNITED STATES: IEET Poll of Readers Find Strong Support for
Universal Basic
Income
E. GERMANY: Pirate party enters Saarland state parliament
F. EUROPEAN UNION: European Citizens’ Initiative for basic income
G. SWITZERLAND: An Initiative to Establish Basic Income for All
H. SWITZERLAND: Huge media attention for petition in favor of a
basic income
referendum
I. FINLAND: Launch of a basic income citizens’ initiative
J. SPAIN: Basic Income becomes a growing demand in the Occupy
movement
7. Upcoming
events
8. Recent events
9. Recent publications
10. Recent opinion pieces
on BI News
11. Recent external blogs
12. New links
13. New video links on BI News
14. Writers needed (for BI News,
the BIEN
NewsFlash, and the USBIG Newsletter)
The Twelfth Annual North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Congress will be held on May 9-11, 2013 in conjunction with the Eastern Economic Association's Annual Meeting at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers, New York City. Almaz Zelleke, of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network, will organize the Congress.
The NABIG Congress is a joint project of Basic Income Canada Network / BIEN Canada and the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee (USBIG) Network. The conference takes place annually, alternating between the two countries. The congress brings together academics, students, activists, policy analysts, government officials, low-income people, and others interested in exploring the Basic Income Guarantee (BIG), a government-ensured guarantee that all citizens unconditionally receive an income sufficient to meet their basic needs.
The call for proposals will be released soon. The deadline for proposals will be sometime before the end of this year.
Please save the dates of the Congress: May 9-11, 2013
The call for proposals will be released soon. The deadline for
proposals will
be in October. For more information about the Congress, see the
USBIG website:
www.usbig.net or email: Almaz Zelleke <azelleke@gmail.com>.
[Karl Widerquist – USBIG – May 2012]
Alaska’s basic income is cursed with interesting times. The
Permanent Fund
Dividend (PFD) is a small, variable basic income given yearly to
every Alaskan
who meets the state’s residency requirement. The size of the
dividend is
determined by several different factors, all of which are facing
increased
uncertainty and possibly moving in different directions.
The PFD is financed not by current oil revenue, but by past oil
revenues that
have been saved and invested in the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF).
The size of
the dividend depends on the returns to the fund’s investments and
on the size
of the fund, and the size of the fund in turn depends on the
international
market price of oil, the amount of Alaskan oil sold on the
international
market, and the tax rate on oil companies selling Alaska’s oil.
Those four
factors (among others) affect the size of the dividend, and all of
them seem to
be moving in different directions and facing increasing
uncertainty right now.
Oil prices and returns to the fund’s investments have been high
recently,
helping bring the APF’s principal to record high levels. According
to Amanda
Coyne of the Alaska
Dispatch, the
fund ended March with $41.5 billion—the highest month-end figure
to date. The
state is expected to deposit nearly $1 billion into the APF this
year. But
while oil prices are high, oil exports from Alaska are declining;
the governor
of Alaska is pushing for lower taxes on oil exports; and the rate
of return on
the APF’s investments is facing increased uncertainty in the next
few years.
To begin, consider the APF’s rate of return. According to Pat
Forgey, of the Juneau
Empire, executives of the
Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC) expect lower earnings for
the rest of
this year, and perhaps for several years, thanks to the outlook
for stocks,
bonds, and real estate. Alaskans have come to expect a very
healthy return of 8
percent or more, but Forgey quoted Greg Allen, of the advisory
firm Callan
Associates, “Getting a 5 percent (real) return is going to require
people to
take more risk than they’re used to.” The APFC has a strong
responsibility to
avoid unnecessary risks with the people’s APF, and so they are
likely to stick
with a more conservative investment strategy. Lower returns will
translate into
lower dividends over the coming years even if oil revenues remain
constant.
And oil revenues are not likely to remain constant. Alaska’s oil
exports
(measured in barrels of oil) have been gradually declining for 20
years, but
rising oil prices have kept the state’s oil revenues up. The
increase in oil
prices in the first months of 2012 have been an enormous help to
the state’s
fiscal position. Oil revenues have also been increased by higher
tax rates on
oil companies, enacted in 2008. But the gradual decrease in the
number of
barrels exported each year will sooner or later outstrip the
effect of higher
revenues per barrel of oil, and the effects of the decline might
be felt sooner
rather than later.
According to the Fairbanks
Daily
News-Miner state projections indicate that declining
revenues could put the
budget into deficit within the next three years. For most states a
budget
surplus with a possible deficit three years off would be a great
fiscal
position. But Alaska is used to budget surpluses, and because oil
is by far its
main source of revenue, any decline in oil output is worrying.
Alaska governor Sean Parnell has responded to the prospect of
declining oil
exports by asking the legislature to decrease oil taxes. The idea
is that lower
taxes will encourage greater oil exports. The difficulty with this
strategy is
that to increase oil revenue lower taxes would not only have to
increase oil
exports but increase them so much that the greater number of
barrels exported
makes up for the smaller revenue on each barrel. It’s a
questionable strategy
that has certain benefits only for oil companies. Other oil
exporters with high
oil taxes find oil companies willing to drill and sell it. There
are other
things the state could do to encourage greater oil exports, such
as introducing
use-it-or-lose-it leases. Current law allows oil companies to
lease the right
to drill for oil in a certain area and then choose not to do so.
Many leases
today are simply sitting unused.
In sum, at the moment we have: oil prices up; returns on
investments up (for
now); oil taxes probably going down; and oil exports down. All
that could
change, in the short and medium term. The only certainty is that
oil exports
will eventually decline over the long term, because there is only
so much oil in
Alaska. It seems that the downsides are looking larger than the
upsides at the
moment, but I make no prediction of whether the APF and PFD will
be up or down
in the next few years.
-Karl Widerquist Tel Aviv, May 2012
Recent articles on the APF & PFD include:
Forgey, Pat (Feb. 24, 2012) Juneau
Empire,
“Permanent fund warned of lower earnings”
http://juneauempire.com/state/2012-02-24/permanent-fund-warned-lower-earnings
Pat Forgey (February 23, 2012) Juneau
Empire, “Permanent Fund to continue securities lending:
Alaska protected
from risks, advisers tell fund trustees”
http://juneauempire.com/state/2012-02-23/permanent-fund-continue-securities-lending
Pat Forgey (February 23, 2012) Juneau
Empire, “CIO suggests new permanent fund options: Investment
chief Jay
Willoughby says state should capitalize on fund's strengths”
http://juneauempire.com/state/2012-02-23/cio-suggests-new-permanent-fund-options
Maureen Farrell (February 29, 2012) CNN
Money Markets, “Alaska's oil windfall”
http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/29/markets/alaska_oil/
Amanda Coyne (Apr 20, 2012) “Alaska Permanent
Fund makes a
comeback as markets rebound,” Alaska
Dispatch.
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/alaska-permanent-fund-makes-comeback-markets-rebound
Kevin Olsen (April 23, 2012) “Alaska Permanent Fund nets 1.9%
return over 9
months”
Pensions & Investments (PI online):
http://www.pionline.com/article/20120423/DAILYREG/120429976/alaska-permanent-fund-nets-19-return-over-9-months
Lisa Demer (February 27, 2012) “Alaska
Legislature: Senate
panel tackles multiple amendments to oil tax bill”
Anchorage Daily News:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/02/24/2040560/senate-panel-tackles-oil-tax-bill.html
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Editorial Board
(March 4, 2012) “Deficits
loom: Alaska’s cash will erode quickly in coming years,” Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/17726357/article-Deficits-loom--Alaska%E2%80%99s-cash-will-erode-quickly-in-coming-years?instance=home_opinion_editorial
[Karl Widerquist – USBIG – May 2012]
The Eleventh North American Basic Income Guarantee (NA-BIG)
Congress took place
at the University of Toronto on May 3-5, 2012. I had the privilege
of attending
this conference. It provided an unusual opportunity for me to go
to a NA-BIG
Congress purely as a participant, because I had almost nothing to
do with the
organization of it this year.
The theme of the Congress was "Putting Equality Back on The
Agenda: Basic
Income and Other Approaches to Economic Security for All." It
began—unusually for a conference primarily dedicated to examining
basic
income—with two skeptics explaining what was wrong with the basic
income as a
solution to current problems in the United States and Canada. I
applaud these
participants for speaking their mind in an auditorium full of
basic income
supporters. It was kind of strange to begin with the
skeptics—rebutting an idea
that hadn’t yet been presented at the conference—but it worked
very well to
keep the basic income supporters on their toes throughout the
conference.
The organizers invited two speakers to focus on the problems of
poverty and
inequality rather than specifically on basic income as a proposed
solution: Charles
Karelis (Research Professor of Philosophy at The George Washington
University
and author of The
Persistence of Poverty:
Why the Economics of the Well-Off Can't Help the Poor) and
Richard
Wilkinson (Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology at the
University of
Nottingham Medical School and co-author of The
Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better).
Even
though these speakers’ remarks were not directly about basic
income, they were
valuable to the conference, because they show the need to do
something about
poverty and inequality in the world today. It’s the work of a
conference like
this to see if basic income can help solve the problems
researchers like these
have identified.
One featured speaker, Erik Olin Wright (of the Department of
Sociology,
University of Wisconsin - Madison, author of Envisioning Real Utopias, and American Society: How it
Actually Works),
brought the congress back to focus on basic income, but he did not
support the
common version of the basic income proposal—a basically
unregulated economy
with basic income as its one central progressive reform. He argued
that basic
income would only succeed if it were part of a major reform of the
economic
system.
One of the most pertinent presentations was given by Evelyn Forget
(Professor,
University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine, author of a major
forthcoming study
on Mincome: the Manitoba minimum income experiment). She has been
working for
several years to recover and analyze data from the Canadian
Negative Income Tax
experiment, known as Mincome. The experiment was conducted by the
Canadian
Federal government in the late 1970s, but it was cancelled before
the data was
analyzed. Only now, thanks mostly to Evelyn Forget, are the
findings of the
experiment becoming fully available. She finds that the experiment
had many
benefits for recipients including, for example, improved school
attainment
among children and improved health outcomes for all family
members.
Senator Art Eggleton, former mayor of Toronto, concluded the
conference with a
practical discussion of how to put BIG on the political agenda in
North
America.
The parallel sessions provided a wide range of discussion about
BIG. These
sessions were especially valuable for me because I was able to
attend two
sessions and a dinner dedicated to providing feedback to me on
chapters of the
book that I am currently polishing for publication. The book makes
a
freedom-based argument for an unconditional income from the
perspective that
the imposition of rules, including the rules of property, make the
poor unfree
in very important ways. Basic income is both compensation for the
imposition of
these rules and a necessary institution (in modern industrial
society) to
maintain each individual’s status as a free person with the power
to accept or
reject active cooperation with other willing individuals. The
sessions I
participated in helped me formulate this argument and to present
the book as a
work of political philosophy.
For me, the Congress was also an opportunity to reconnect with
friends,
colleagues, and acquaintances. I have now been to six BIEN
Congresses and all
eleven NA-BIG Congresses. I believe there are only three of us who
have been to
all eleven Congresses (the other two being Jeff Smith and Al
Sheahen). Every
Congress is a little different. Some themes recur every time, but
I’m always
confronted with new ideas.
One welcome addition to this Congress was the presence of a
significant number
of people who are on disability or other forms of public
assistance. This group
brought the discussion back to practical issues every time,
providing a
skeptical view of nearly all the ideas presented. I hope we can
get someone
from this group to be a featured speaker at an upcoming NA-BIG or
BIEN
Congress.
The North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress is a joint
project of the
USBIG Network and the Canadian Basic Income Guarantee. It takes
place in Canada
and the United States on alternating years. Next year’s Congress
will be in New
York City in February (see announcement above).
-Karl Widerquist, Nicosia, Cyprus, May 2012
For more information on this past conference go to:
http://biencanada.ca/
Papers from the Congress will be online as part of the USBIG
Discussion Paper
Series at:
http://www.usbig.net/papers.php
Information about next year’s Congress will soon be online at:
The Basic Income pilot project that has been
running for
more than three years in Otjivero, Namibia may have given its last
grant
payment. The Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition, which has run the
project
since 2008, is running out of money. It has put out an
international call for
donations to keep the project going. If it doesn’t receive
sufficient funds,
payments made earlier this year will be the last.
The project targets nearly 1000 people in the small town of
Otjivero in rural
Namibia. Organizers originally planned the project to last for two
years, but
when they saw the positive effects of the policy, they decided to
keep it going
as long as they could or until the government introduced a
nationwide BIG. The
results point to a significant drop in child malnutrition,
improved access to
education and positive performance and output, increased small
business
activities, improved access to ARVs for HIV+ residents and better
community
cooperation.
If you are interested in donating to the project, the organizers
provide the
following instructions:
All amounts are welcomed. You can either give a once-off donation
directly or
instruct your bank to make a debit order for a minimum of N$100
over 12 or 24
months. Please pay your contribution into either one of the
following bank
accounts:
Namibian account:
Account name: Name of Bank: Account number: Branch number: Branch
name:
ELCRN - BIG Namibia First National Bank 62146088457 281972
Windhoek Commercial Suite
European account in Germany:
Account name: Reference: Name of Bank: Account number: Branch
Number (BLZ) BIC:
IBAN:
For more information contact:
Blumhardt-Gemeinde HD-Kirchheim BIG Namibia H+G Bank Heidelberg
100 027 61
672 901 00 GENODE 61 HD 3 DE66 6729 0100 0010 0027 61
Or visit the BIG coalition’s website at: www.bignam.org
For more news about the project, see the following stories:
Sasman, Catherine (2 March 2012) “Namibia: Basic Income Grant
Project Money
Runs Dry,” The Namibian:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201203020177.html
Namibian Basic Income Grant Coalition (May 2012) “The Basic Income
Grant (BIG)
is Government’s Responsibility.” Online at:
http://bignam.org/Publications/Press_release_March_2012_to_Government.pdf.
[Karl Widerquist – USBIG – May 2012]
Although Alaska’s basic income, the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD),
has had
great success for the past 30 years, it is yet to be imitated.
Many
resource-exporting nations around the world have sovereign wealth
funds (a pool
of state-owned investments in private assets accumulated from past
trade
surpluses). But so far, the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) is the
only sovereign
wealth fund paying a regular dividend. Discussion of an
Alaska-style dividend
has occurred intermittently in various spots around the world over
the years
without any states so far making significant moves toward actually
doing it.
But that could be changing.
Discussion of an Alaska-style dividend now seems to be on the rise
around the
world. Just within the last three months discussions have gone on
in Iraq,
Libya, North Dakota, Western Australia, and Alberta, all of which
are currently
experiencing—or expecting to experience soon —major resource
windfalls.
The most serious discussion at the moment seems to be happening in
Iraq. Now
that violence has settled down, the country is on the way to
regaining its
position as one of the world’s largest oil exporters. But, because
many Iraqis
live in poverty, the issue of providing a resource-financed
dividend, along the
lines of Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend, has returned to
high-level political
debate in Iraq, according to Aminah al-Thahabi, writing for Niqash: briefings from inside
and across
Iraq. The issue is so well-known that most major factions up
to and
including parties in parliament have a position on it. Supporters
of the
dividend argue that it would help fight the resource curse and
ensure that all
Iraqis benefit from the country’s oil industry. Opponents argue
that a dividend
could feed inflation and that the money could be better spent
helping people
indirectly by improving Iraq’s infrastructure, much of which is
still in
disrepair after years of sanctions and war.
Johnny West, of OpenOil consultancy, calculates that Iraq can
afford “a
dividend, starting at $220 per capita in October 2012 and rising
with expanded
production.” West argues Iraq’s resource-dividend potential is so
strong that “poverty
could be abolished inside two years, and that, just as important,
it would
unleash such interest and attention from the public that
governance in the oil
industry would never be the same again.”
Like Iraq, Libya is a potentially oil-rich nation in which large
numbers of
citizens live in poverty, thanks, in part, to conflict and
dictatorship. In a
recent Business Week
editorial, Brian
Bremmer argues that an Alaska-style fund and dividend could help
Libya escape
the resource curse, which plagues many resource exporting nations,
including
Libya during the Qaddafi regime. Bremmer argues that Libya’s
Sovereign Wealth
Fund became a plaything for Qaddafi’s family. Devoting fund
returns to
dividends would keep the Sovereign Wealth Funds in the public eye
and might
make Libya’s investments less vulnerable to corruption.
In Western Australia, Larry Graham, a former member of the state
parliament,
recently wrote an opinion piece arguing that the burning political
question
facing Western Australia right now is how to share the benefits of
the coming
resource boom. He argues that the state could do no better than to
imitate
Alaska by creating a sovereign wealth fund that pays a yearly
dividend.
North Dakota is also on the cusp of an oil boom with new oil
drilling quickly
getting underway. In a recent opinion piece in the Bismarck Tribune, Vernon Peterson argues that
North Dakota
should take “a prudent look at Alaska’s Permanent Fund and
Dividend.” Citing
the enduring popularity of the Alaska Dividend, Peterson argues
that a North
Dakota Permanent Fund and Dividend would aid cash-strapped
families and
individuals. He indicates that the people of North Dakota, not
just the
Legislature, should have the opportunity to decide how to spend a
small portion
of the oil windfall.
In Alberta, the second-largest party in the provincial assembly
supports an
Alaska-style dividend. This party, the Wildrose Party, which holds
17 of 87
seats in the Alberta legislative assembly, is a recently formed
conservative
party that exists only in Alberta. In their platform for the
elections held on
April 23, 2012, the Wildrose party endorsed a policy in which the
Alberta
Heritage Fund (the state’s sovereign wealth fund) would pay a
yearly dividend
of about $300 to every Albertan. The Heritage Fund paid a one-time
dividend
several years ago, but that move has been widely dismissed as an
election-year
gimmick. Despite earning significant returns over the years
Alberta’s Heritage
Fund has failed to build up nearly the principal of the Alaska
funding (closing
at only $15.4 billion at December 31, 2011), largely because the
legislature
has dipped into the fund for ad hoc spending. The difference in
success between
Alaska’s and Alberta’s sovereign wealth funds might indicate the
value of a
regular dividend.
At least one resource-exporting nation has recently introduced a
basic income.
Iran pays a monthly
‘cash
subsidy’ of about US$40 to every citizen, which comes out to
$480 per year for
a single individual and $2,300 to a family of five (see story
below and Hamid
Tabatabai’s opinion piece on BI News). This amount is extremely
significant for
low-income families in Iran. But unlike the five proposals
discussed above,
Iran’s basic income is financed by current revenues rather by a
sovereign wealth
fund, and so it is hard to say that Iran’s policy is an
Alaska-style dividend.
The possibility of other states and nations imitating aspects of
Alaska’s Fund
and Dividend system is the subject of two books published this
year by Palgrave
Macmillan. Alaska’s
Permanent Fund
Dividend: Examining its suitability as a model (released
in March 2012) and
Exporting the Alaska
Model: Adapting the
Permanent Fund Dividend for Reform around the World (due
to be released in
August 2012). These two books examine the strengths and
weaknesses of the fund
and dividend in Alaska and discuss the possibility of imitating
that
combination of programs in a range of states and nations
including Vermont, the
United States (as a whole), the South Sudan, Iraq, and several
others.
Angela Cummine, of Oxford University, has studied existing
sovereign wealth
funds around the world and found considerable reluctance on the
part of
managers of existing funds to use the returns to fund an
Alaska-style dividend.
However, the recent increase in discussion among
newly-resource-rich nations
and nations that have had recent regime changes might indicate
that the
prospects for introduction of the world’s second Alaska-style
dividend are
increasing.
-Karl Widerquist, Jerusalem, Israel-Palestine, May 2012
For more on the above proposals, see the following:
Aminah al-Thahabi (April 12, 2012) “The resource curse: will
ordinary Iraqis
ever see their oil money?” Niqash:
briefings
from inside and across Iraq.
http://www.niqash.org/articles/?id=3027
Johnny West (September 19, 2011), “Give it Back! Direct Citizen
Oil Dividends
in Iraq, Why Not?” The
Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/johnny-west/oil-profits-should-be-given-back-to-iraq_b_962876.html
Graham, Larry (2012) “We should get a direct dividend from boom”
The West Australian, April 10, 2012
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/opinion/post/-/blog/13382710/we-should-get-a-direct-dividend-from-boom/
Winnipeg Free Press staff (April 3, 2012) “Alberta party plans to
share wealth
if elected,” Winnipeg Free
Press:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/alberta-party-plans-to-share-wealth-if-elected-145886475.html
Vernon Peterson (March 15, 2012) “How about doing it the Alaskan
way?” The Bismarck Tribune.
http://bismarcktribune.com/news/opinion/mailbag/how-about-doing-it-the-alaskan-way/article_394b8efc-6e53-11e1-b508-001871e3ce6c.html
Brian Bremner (April 03, 2012) “Sovereign Wealth: Alaska's Answer
to the
Dreaded Resource Curse.” Business
Week.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-03/alaskas-answer-to-the-dreaded-resource-curse
Hamid Tabatabai, “Iran’s Citizen’s Income Scheme and its Lessons”
BI News
http://binews.org/category/opinion
[BI News – March 2010]
According to the Guardian Newspaper (UK), the Global Occupy
Movement has
released a three-point manifesto, in which it endorses a universal
basic income
guarantee. In the preamble to what the authors call the “GlobalMay
Manifesto,”
includes the following: “The statement below does not speak on
behalf of
everyone in the global spring/Occupy/Take the Square movements. It
is an
attempt by some inside the movements to reconcile statements
written and
endorsed in the different assemblies around the world. The process
of writing
the statement was consensus-based, open to all, and regularly
announced on our
international communications platforms. It was a hard and long
process, full of
compromises; this statement is offered to people's assemblies
around the world
for discussions, revisions and endorsements. It is a work in
progress. … We
want another world, and such a world is possible.”
The manifesto contains three basic points, each with several
bullet points
below it. The main points are:
1. The economy must be put to the service of people's welfare, and
to support
and serve the environment, not private profit. We want a system
where labour is
appreciated by its social utility, not its financial or commercial
profit.
2. To achieve these objectives, we believe that the economy should
be run
democratically at all levels, from local to global. People must
get democratic
control over financial institutions, transnational corporations
and their
lobbies.
3. We believe that political systems must be fully democratic. We
therefore
demand full democratisation of international institutions, and the
elimination
of the veto power of a few governments. We want a political system
which really
represents the variety and diversity of our societies.
Underneath point 1, the fourth bullet point reads, “Every human
being should
have access to an adequate income for their livelihood, so we ask
for work or,
alternatively, universal basic income guarantee.”
The full text of the manifesto is online at the Guardian’s website
and on the
GlobalMay website:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/11/occupy-globalmay-manifesto
And on the GlobalMay website:
http://www.globalmay.org/blog/item/95-globalmay-manifesto-template-v3.html
[Wolfgang Müller – BI News – March 2010]
The Basic Income pilot project in India, conducted by the Self
Employed Women's
Association and the India Development Foundation, has been making
progress and
may provide interesting statistical data in the future, according
to
information by Guy Standing, professor of economic security at the
University
of Bath and honorary co-president of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN).
Standing has
also operated as advisor for the project. The project consists
of
three components:
1) The aim of the first component is to explore effects of
unconditional cash
transfers on a larger scale. 4,000 individuals in eight villages
have been
given a monthly unconditional cash transfer for 12 months
regardless of their
poverty status, employment status, age and gender. The setup of
the trial also
includes control villages to measure occurred effects. Because
inhabitants of
these control villages do not receive any cash transfers, these
villages enable
researcher to recognize effects of performed cash transfers in
implemented
surveys. One survey was conducted in the beginning, a second one
in the middle
of the trial. A third and final survey is planned to conclude the
first
component of the project.
2) This part of the project aims to compare effects of
unconditional cash
transfers and subsidized ration shops. In the beginning of the
project,
participants were given the choice between both. They have then
received support
in accordance to their choice for one year. Occurred effects have
been
monitored in both groups.
3) The third component of the project focuses on effects of an
unconditional
basic income in a tribal village. Every inhabitant has received a
monthly paid
cash transfer. Two surveys are part of this component. One survey
was conducted
before cash transfers were performed. The second survey will be
conducted in
June. A comparison of both surveys will then disclose effects of
an
unconditional basic income.
Related information can be found at:
http://binews.org/2011/09/india-basic-income-pilot-projects-are-underway/
[USBIG – May 2012]
Recivitas has been running a privately funded basic income for a
small,
impoverished rural community in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil for
three years
now. Recivitas was founded and is run by Bruna Augusto Pereira and
Marcus
Vinicius Brancaglione. The project pays 30 Brazilian Raeis (about
US$15) per
month to people in the community of Quatinga Velho, Sao Paulo,
Brazil. This
amount of money sounds very small to people from industrialized
countries, but
it has a large impact in a rural area of Brazil.
The coordinators have verified gains in nutrition, clothing,
living conditions,
health (especially in children), construction of new housing, and
improvements
to existing ones. In informal interviews, the coordinators have
noticed
increased self-esteem and social interaction, reduction of social
insecurity,
and rising expectations of the future, especially regarding
children. They
noted that they have not observed increased use of alcohol or
illicit drugs;
significant changes in labor relations, birth, migration or
emigration, or
generation of political relations and economic dependency.
Although the project leaders are examining the effects of the
local basic
income, the coordinators of the project told USBIG that the point
of the
project is not to study BIG. They are already convinced that model
has been
proven effective; they want to put it into practice. The goal is
to put the
policy in place. If governments are not ready to do it on a
national scale with
tax funding, Recivitas is attempting to do it on a small scale
with private
funding.
The organizers intend to expand the project and keep it going
indefinitely. If
you would like to donate to the project, contact Recivitas at:
recivitas@recivitas.org.br.
[Wolfgang Müller – BI News – March 2012]
The Institute for Ethics and Emerging
Technologies (IEET)
published a poll about the question “Do you believe in a universal
Basic Income
Guarantee? What amount
would be
satisfactory?” on March 24, 2012. It resulted in a support of a
basic income of
more than fifty percent. Unfortunately, there is no information
about the
number of respondents. More information about the result, however,
can be found
at:
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/poll20120324
[Wolfgang Müller – BI News – March 2012]
The Pirate Party in Germany achieved another
success. It
gained 7.4 percent in their first participation in the Saarland
state election
on March 25, 2012 and entered the federal state parliament thus.
The German
Pirate Party has become known for its support of an unconditional
basic income
as solution for the heavily criticized existing German social
system.
More information about the Pirate Party and the
election can
be found online at:
http://news.techeye.net/internet/german-pirates-set-sail-for-change
European Citizens’ Initiative for the
introduction of the
Unconditional Basic Income in all member states of the European
Union
[BIEN - May 2, 2012]
The preparation process of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI)
for an
Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) again made some progress. During
a meeting
that took place in Brussels on 26-27 April 2012, an agreement was
reached on a
concrete wording proposal, and a Citizens’ Committee of
representatives from 14
member states (although the minimum requirement is only 7 member
states) was
founded. This Citizens’ Committee is now planning the national as
well as the
country-overlapping (i.e. EU-wide) preparations for a UBI
campaign, and for the
registration of the ECI with the European Commission. All these
preparations
will be discussed in detail and coordinated during the next
meeting of the
Citizens’ Committee on 7-8 July 2012 in France, to be able to
start with the
official collection of signatures right after the registration
through the
European Union.
A video interview, in which Klaus Sambor (coordinator of the Attac
group for an
unconditional basic-income (UBI) guarantee talks about the
campaign to for a
European Citizens Initiative, is online at:
http://blip.tv/etopia-news-now/klaus-sambor-discusses-the-unconditional-basic-income-eci-6130258
For further information email: Klaus Sambor, klaus.sambor -at-
aon.at.
[May 7, 2012: Stanislas Jourdan for BI News and
for Global
voices]
An initiative to establish a new federal law known as “For an
unconditional
basic income” [fr] was formally introduced in Switzerland in
April. The idea,
which consists quite simply of giving a monthly income to all
citizens that is
neither means-tested nor work-related, has generated commentary
throughout the
Swiss blogosphere.
The Swiss referendum process is a system of direct democracy that
enables
citizens to call for legislative change at the federal or
constitutional level.
If the initiative to introduce a basic income gathers more than
100,000
signatures before October 11, 2013, the Federal Assembly is
required to look
into it and can call a referendum if the initiative is judged to
be credible.
On his blog, Pascal Holenweg explains what it's all about [in
French,
translated here]:
“The grassroots initiative “for an unconditional basic income”
proposes that
“the establishment of an unconditional universal benefit” be
written into the
federal constitution which would “allow the entire population to
lead a
dignified existence and participate in public life”. The law will
address
financing and set the amount of the benefit (the proposers suggest
around
2,000-2,500 Swiss francs per month (or 2,200-2,700 US dollars per
month), which
is about the same as the maximum current social security payment,
but they have
not written this into the text of the initiative). The basic
income does not
come with any conditions attached: it is not subject to any means
testing. It
is universal (everyone will receive it) and egalitarian (everyone
will receive
the same amount). It is also personal (it is paid out to
individuals, not
households). It is not income to replace a lost salary. Rather, it
replaces all
inferior income support (unemployment benefit, pensions, family
allowance,
student grants, disability payments). How will it be financed?
Through direct
taxation of income and wealth, indirect taxation on consumption
(VAT), taxing
financial transactions, and most especially through the
reallocation of
resources currently allotted to financing state pensions and
unemployment
payouts, social security and other welfare payments lower than the
amount of
the basic income.”
On his blog, Fred Hubleur makes the point [in French translated
here]:
“The
important thing is
that this revenue is fixed for everyone without there being a
requirement to
work; that's right, it is income without employment. This might
seem shocking.
But at its heart it is an entirely defensible idea. On the one
hand, we are
fighting against poverty and insecurity, there will no longer be
a need for
social security to bolster other incomes, and dozens of
different
and unwieldy benefits. This unconditional income is equally good
news
for innovation and creativity. (…) We have also made a paradigm
shift that
dyed-in-the-wool capitalists might find alarming: the liberation
of working
man, returning him to his status as homo sapiens over that of
homo travaillus
(ed's note: Homo travaillus is a play on word to describe the
working
man) which holds such sway in our society.”
The original French version of this article is online at:
http://fr.globalvoicesonline.org/2012/05/05/107126/
The text of the initiative [in French] is online at:
http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/ff/2012/3905.pdf
Another article (in English) on the Swiss BI initiative is online
at:
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Initiative_launched_for_guaranteed_income.html?cid=32468670
[BIEN - April 16, 2012]
As BI News earlier reported, Switzerland is starting a petition
for a
referendum on basic income with a big party in Zurich. [1] BI News
also
reported that, last year in June, the National Council of
Switzerland rejected
a parliamentary initiative on unconditional basic income. [2] On
12th April
2012, a press-conference on launching the basic income petition
was held in
Bern. After this the media response in Switzerland has been huge.
Even TV
broadcasted news and reports which mentioned the petition for BIG
referendum.[3] Some articles are also available in English.[4]
Obviously, not all articles argued that the idea is reasonable,
but some did,
and some reported neutral while providing pro and contra
positions. However,
some articles were not well researched, and gave the impression
that
journalists had not properly understood some basic facts.[5]
It remains to be seen if the initiative will accomplish at least
100,000 valid
signatures within 18 months, and if further reports are published
in the
international press.
[1]
http://binews.org/2012/03/switzerland-petition-drive-for-a-referendum-on-a-basic-income/
[2]
http://binews.org/2011/06/switzerland-national-council-rejects-basic-income-initiative/
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NIxmqD2GTw (German) and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r-5Cs5mT9M (German)
[4]
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Initiative_launched_for_guaranteed_income.html?cid=32468670
[5] In a illustrative article, for instance, BIEN-Switzerland is
presented as
BIEN itself, whereas it is only one of the numerous recognized
national
networks: http://www.thelocal.ch/national/20120412_3074.html
An article from Inside
Zurich
discussing the initiative is online at: News from Switzerland:
http://www.zurich4you.ch/radicals_call_for_unconditional_basic_income_for_all.html
[BIEN – April 2012]
Finland’s basic income network has just
launched a campaign
for a citizens’ initiative for a universal basic income on March
28th, 2012, in
Helsinki. The Citizens’ Initiative Act came into force in Finland
at the
beginning of March 2012, but since appropriate online service for
collecting
signatures is still missing, only preliminary supporters are being
gathered.
Citizens’ initiatives can be sent for parliamentary handling if
they are signed
by 50,000 people. The citizens’ initiative asks for a basic income
which
corresponds to the minimum level of current basic social security
benefits, to
be granted on an individual basis to all adult permanent residents
in Finland.
The initiative was drafted by a working group of people from
different
political parties and NGO’s. Due to this initiative and other
campaigns, basic
income has recently become a hot topic in the Finnish media and
political
activism.
See also;
Basic income network Finland: http://perustulo.org/
A newspaper article (in English) on this initiative:
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Lack+of+appropriate+online+services+waters+down+new+Citizens%E2%80%99+Initiative+Act+/1329103710144
Basic Income becomes a growing demand in the
Occupy movement
[USBIG – May 2012]
According Daniel Raventos and Julie Wark, of the Spanish Basic
Income Network,
the demand for a universal basic income is growing quickly, and
the Spanish Occupy
movement is now working hard to explain its principles to the
public. For
example, on Sunday May 13th, 1,000 people attended a
workshop on the
theme of basic income. Pablo Yanes of the Basic Income Earth
Network believes
that this is an indication of growing acceptance and massive
support for basic
income in Spain. According to Yanes, “I think basic income
actually is in that
country not just an academic issue but increasingly a social and
political
one.”
15-M movement (“indignados”) anniversary
[Red Renta Básica - May 22, 2012]
Given the gravity of the present social situation, an increasing
number of
activists from different social movements, unionists and citizens
are coming to
the conclusion that Basic Income is a proposal to be taken
seriously. An
outstanding example of this is the 15-M movement in Spain (in
reference to the
first massive demonstration of May 15th, 2011; also known as
“indignados”
movement).
Within the framework of the activities celebrating its first
anniversary, a
five-point programme was formulated: 1) not a single euro more to
be spent on
rescuing banks; 2) decent public education and health services; 3)
rejection of
job insecurity and austerity measures; 4) decent, guaranteed
housing; and 5)
universal basic income.
Many people have helped to organise talks on Basic Income given by
some members
of the Red Renta Básica (Edgar Manjarín, David Casassas and Daniel
Raventós) as
part of the 15-M anniversary activities in Barcelona. Basic income
was
presented as a measure not only to combat poverty, but also to
foster
bargaining power and therefore effective freedom of all working
populations.
These took place in the Plaça de Catalunya with very large
audiences, exceeding
one thousand people in some cases.
For further information about the BIG movement in Spain, see:
http://www.nodo50.org/redrentabasica/index.php
And the following article by Raventos and Wark:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/14/taking-it-to-the-streets-in-spain/
[USBIG – May 2012]
The 14th Congress of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) will
take place on
September 14 to 16, 2012 in Munich, Germany. The website is :
http://www.bien2012.de/en. The deadline for proposals has passed,
but it is
still possible to register to attend. The conference program will
be on the
website soon. Confirmed speakers include:
Baptiste Mylondo, a French philosopher and political scientist;
Bruna Augusto
Pereira, activist and coordinator of ReCivitas (Brazil); Claus
Offe, professor
of sociology, Hertie School of Governance (Germany); Guy Standing,
professor in
the department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath
(United
Kingdom); Min Geum; founder of the Basic Income Korean Network;
Philippe Van
Parijs; professor of philosophy at Universite catholique de
Louvain (Belgium);
and Tereza Campello, Minister for Social Development and Combating
Hunger
(Brazil).
The debate about an unconditional basic income has attracted
public attention
in a number of countries in recent years. Financial, debt, and
ecological
crises are causing growing numbers of people to look for political
alternatives
to the existing economy and the way income is distributed within
it. With the
debate entering this crucial phase, the 2012 BIEN Congress will
discuss
possible pathways and barriers towards establishing and
implementing Basic
Income.
The conference will focus on the following questions: What could a
specific
roadmap to Basic Income look like, nationally and internationally?
What
contribution could pilot projects make towards the implementation
of Basic
Income? Which reforms would need to be prioritized? What barriers
need to be
overcome, and how? Is there evidence for broader public support
for a basic
income? What are current Basic Income debates and social movements
focusing on?
What political and civil society alliances are possible and
potentially
productive? How do Basic Income debates relate to the current
financial and
debt crisis? Could a Basic Income contribute to combating the
effects of this
crisis and prevent future crises? What criteria would the concept
of Basic
Income have to meet to make such a contribution? How does Basic
Income relate
to the ecological crisis? How could it contribute to an
alternative, more
sustainable economy and way of life? Which conceptual design would
be most
appropriate from that perspective? Which versions of Basic Income
are viable
(with respect to the ecological, social and economic crises),
affordable, and
politically feasible? What is the normative justification for
Basic Income, and
what goals does it aim to achieve? How do these goals respond to
current
economic, environmental and social problems?
The conference aims to present an opportunity for an open,
interdisciplinary
discussion of the problems and questions surrounding Basic Income.
The above
questions are not intended to set strict boundaries, but to
facilitate open and
thematically wide-ranging discussions.
Further information on the conference fee, accommodation, and
travel can be
found on the website:
http://www.bien2012.de/en
[BIEN - May 15, 2012]
The European Foundation Centre (EFC) is holding its 23rd
annual general
assembly and conference in Belfast this year, and the topic of the
conference
is “Peace for Social Justice – A Role for Foundations?” As one of
236 EFC
members from 40 countries around the world, the Koerber Foundation
is
organizing a session about social justice and basic income:
“Justice through
unconditional basic income? A debate on European Social Policy”
Massive protests against growing social inequality and
unemployment have
erupted all across Europe lately. Young Europeans in particular
are calling for
radical political change and a new strategy for social justice. At
the same
time, the EU has set five ambitious objectives to be reached by
2020 – reducing
the number of people in poverty by 20 million is at the top of
this agenda. How
can Europe reach this ambitious goal and further foster social
justice?
This session aims to discuss whether the unconditional basic
income can be a
means of European social policy, a way to reduce social imbalance
throughout
Europe and a possibility to save expenditure within the European
social welfare
systems. More generally the session will focus on the
effectiveness within the
EU to develop and implement a common strategy and common standards
in the field
of social policy.
The session will allow for interaction between an outstanding
social policy,
social partnership and socio-economic expert and young citizens
from several
European countries, who are affiliated to FutureLab Europe, an
initiative of
the European Alliance for Democratic Citizenship, coordinated by
the Körber
Stiftung, and to the young European online magazine Europe&Me.
Further information:
http://www.efc.be/AgaConference/Pages/2012SessionDescriptions.aspx#social
[BIEN – April 2012]
This conference took place at the Maison Franco-japonaise in
Tokyo. Two
speakers dealt with the issue of the potential of a basic income
in times of
economic crisis, and in the aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake
in Japan.
Yannick Vanderborght (Professor of Political Science at Louvain
University and
Facultes Saint-Louis, Brussels, Belgium) gave a talk entitled ‘Le
revenu
d’existence: une reponse adequate aux crises et catastrophes?’
Fumio Iida
(Professor of Political Theory at Kobe University, Japan) talked
about “Basic
income: a Japanese version?” The conference was organized by
Thierry Ribault
(CNRS, Institut francais de recherche sur le Japon, Maison
franco-japonaise
Tokyo), in cooperation with Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research,
Scientific
Research A, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Project
Title: A
Comparative Analysis of the Needs-Participation Oriented Welfare
Systems in the
Era of Aging Society. Chief Investigator: Yutaka Tejima, Professor
of Medical
Law, GraduateSchool of Law, Kobe University).
Further information (in French and Japanese) at
http://www.mfj.gr.jp/agenda/2012/01/28/.
[BIEN – April 2012]
At the
initiative of several
green movements, this event (among other things) included a
projection of
“Basic Income”, the documentary by Daniel Hani et Enno Schmidt,
and a debate
between basic income supporter Philippe Defeyt (former leader of
the green
party Ecolo) and basic income critic Bernard Friot (French
sociologist and
expert in issues of social protection). This event took place in
Namur, Belgium
on March 17, 2012 between 2:30PM and 10PM. Location:
Faculté de
médecine, Place du Palais de Justice, 5000 Namur.
Further information:
http://objecteursdecroissance.be/IMG/pdf/revenu_de_base_mpoc_leger_2_.pdf
Or contact: Michèle Gilkinet <michele.gilkinet@base.be>
On March
31, 2012, a collective called POURS (“Pour un revenu social” –
“for a social
income”) organized a large conference on basic income as a
guaranteed right to
existence. Details : 9h30-18h, 31 March 2012, La Maison
de l’Arbre – 9,
rue François Debergue – 93100 Montreuil (Métro 9- Croix de
Chavaux).
See also www.pourunrevenusocial.org.
Raventos, Daniel & Wark, Julie (2012),
‘Taking It to the
Streets in Spain. Indignation, Basic Income and the First Social
Law’,
Counterpunch, May 14th, 2012
[BIEN - May 16, 2012]
This new paper by Daniel Raventós and Julie Wark is published by
the
influential left-wing political newsletter Counterpunch (USA).
According to
Raventós and Wark, the Spanish citizens have taken to the streets
and squares
in great numbers to demand their rights. In this context, the idea
of a basic
income is now widely discussed. “The demand for a universal basic
income”, the
authors write, “is growing so fast that the Occupy movement is now
working hard
to explain its principles to the public. For example, the
Barcelona Acampada
has a program of twenty workshops to be held in the plaça de
Catalunya and
three of these are devoted to basic income, understood as a human
right. On
Sunday afternoon (13th May) 1,000 people attended a workshop
precisely on this
theme.”
The article is online at:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/14/taking-it-to-the-streets-in-spain/
Daniel
Raventos and Julie Wark, “General strike in the kingdom of
Spain: the political
economy and basic income”
OpenDemocracy.net, 30 March 2012
[BIEN – April 2012]
On March 29, 2012, a general strike was organized in Spain. At
this occasion,
Daniel Raventos and Julie Wark published a short document in
which they link
the demands of Spanish workers to the idea of a basic income.
The authors ask:
“Would it be madness, in these times, to propose that every
member of the
population should have his or her material existence guaranteed
by means of a
completely unconditional cash transfer? By a basic income?”
The full English version is available at:
http://www.nodo50.org/redrentabasica/textos/index.php?x=967
This paper was
also published
at:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/daniel-raventos-julie-wark/general-strike-in-kingdom-of-spain-political-economy-and-basic-income
Lovett, Frank (2010), A General Theory of
Domination and
Justice, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[BIEN - April 30, 2012]
In this book, Frank Lovett (Political Science, Washington
University in St.
Louis, USA) argues that “societies are just to the extent that
their basic
structure is organized so as to minimize the expected sum total
domination
experienced by their (present and future) members, counting the
domination of
each member equally” (p.190). Chapter 7 of the book explores the
implications
of such a conception of justice. Among them, the idea of an
unconditional basic
income is carefully discussed by the author. In particular, Lovett
tackles the
issue of the optimal level of the grant, “a more difficult problem
than one
might expect” (p.200).
Publisher’s page:
http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199579419.do
De Wispelaere, J. and Stirton, L. (2012), ‘A
disarmingly
simple idea? Practical bottlenecks in the implementation of a
universal basic
income’, International Social Security Review, 65: 103–121.
[BIEN - April 16, 2012]
This article by Jurgen De Wispelaere (Université de Montréal,
Québec, Canada)
and Lindsay Stirton (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom)
considers the
implementation of a universal basic income, a neglected area in
basic income
research. The authors identify and examine three important
practical bottlenecks
that may prevent a basic income scheme from attaining the
universal reach
desired and proclaimed by its advocates: i) maintaining a
population-wide
cadaster of eligible claimants ensuring full takeup; ii)
instituting robust
modalities of payment that reach all intended beneficiaries; and
iii) designing
an effective oversight mechanism in a policy context that actively
opposes
client monitoring. De Wispelaere and Stirton argue that the
implementation of
universal basic income faces unique challenges that its proponents
must
consider carefully.
The ariticle is online:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-246X.2012.01430.x/abstract
Healy, Sean, Sandra Mallon, Michelle Murphy and
Brigid
Reynolds. (2012) Socio-Economic Review 2012, Shaping Ireland’s
Future: Securing
Economic Development, Social Equity and Sustainability. Dublin,
Social Justice
Ireland. ISBN No. 978-1-907501-06-7 First Published April 2012
In its latest Socio-Economic Review (2012) entitled Shaping
Ireland’s Future:
Securing Economic Development, Social Equity and Sustainability,
the NGO Social
Justice Ireland shows that over 700,000 people (among them, 200,00
children)
are living in poverty in Ireland. The report was released on April
10, 2012,
and one of its co-authors, Sean Healy, was interviewed by the
daily The Irish
Times. The newspaper briefly focuses on the fact that this new
report
recommends that Irish policy makers “introduce a basic income
system to replace
social welfare and income tax credits”. According to the report, a
basic income
system “would guarantee an income above the poverty line for
everyone. It would
not be means tested. There would be no “signing on” and no
restrictions or
conditions. In practice a basic income recognises the right of
every person to
a share of the resources of society.” (p.93). The full report is
available in
PDF at:
http://www.socialjustice.ie/content/shaping-irelands-future-socio-economic-review-2012-full-text
The Irish Times article:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0410/breaking18.html
DEUTCHE WELLE: Basic Income in the German
Web-TV Deutsche Welle,
“A Basic Income for All:
Can We Afford It?”
[Wolfgang Müller – BI News – May 2012]
Basic Income was a recent topic in the German Web-TV network
"Deutsche
Welle." Herbert Wilkens, economist and an advocate of the basic
income,
took the opportunity and presented the idea of an unconditional
basic income.
The show – in English – can be found online at:
http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/9798/0,,15879017,00.html
The part about Basic Income starts at 00:17:30.
BIRNBAUM, Simon (2011), ‘Should surfers be
ostracized? Basic
income, liberal neutrality, and the work ethos’
Politics,
Philosophy,
and Economics, November 2011, vol. 10, no. 4, 396-419. See:
http://ppe.sagepub.com/content/10/4/396.abstract
Neutralists have argued that there is something illiberal about
linking access
to gift-like resources to work requirements. The central liberal
motivation for
basic income is to provide greater freedom to choose between
different ways of
life, including options attaching great importance to non-market
activities and
disposable time. As argued by Philippe Van Parijs, even those
spending their
days surfing should be fed. This article by Simon Birnbaum
(Department of
Political Science, Stockholm University) examines Van Parijs’ dual
commitment
to a ‘real libertarian’ justification of basic income and the
public
enforcement of a strong work ethos, which serves to boost the
volume of work at
a given rate of taxation. It is argued (contra Van Parijs) that
this alliance
faces the neutrality objection: the work ethos will largely offset
the liberal
gains of unconditionality by radically restricting the set of
permissible
options available. A relaxed, non-obligatory ethos might avoid
this
implication. This view, however, is vulnerable to the structural
exploitation
objection: feasibility is achieved only because some choose to do
necessary
tasks to which most people have the same aversion. In light of
these
objections, the article examines whether there is a morally
untainted
feasibility path consistent with liberal objectives.
Hansen, James, “Game Over for the Climate,”
The Opinion Pages, the New
York Times,
May 9, 2012.
[USBIG – May 2012]
This opinion piece endorses the Tax-and-Dividend approach to
global warming
without using that name for it. The author writes, "We should
impose a
gradually rising carbon fee, collected from fossil fuel companies,
then
distribute 100 percent of the collections to all Americans on a
per-capita
basis every month." This strategy, obviously, includes a basic
income. The
full text is online at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/opinion/game-over-for-the-climate.html?hp
Hyslop, Katie “What About Just Guaranteeing
Everyone a Basic
Income?”
15 May 2012, TheTyee.ca
[USBIG – May 2012]
This opinion piece argues that a BIG could almost erase poverty in
Canada. It
presents evidence from the Negative Income Tax experiments and
from the history
of the guaranteed income movement. It’s online at:
http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/05/15/Guaranteed-Basic-Income/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=150512
Storlund, Vivan (December 2011) “Basic Income:
How it fits
in the Policy Framework for Green Jobs” in Saviour Rizzo (ed.) Green Jobs From A Small State
Perspective.
Case Studies From Malta, Belgium: the Green European
Foundation, pp. 55-66.
[BI News – May 2012]
The basic argument in this paper is based on the premise that when
green is the
qualifying criterion for work rather than profit or economic
growth, the world
of work and the economic scenario in which it has to operate
assume a different
dimension. The focus of this new dimension is here placed on work
performed in
the intersection between employment and entrepreneurship. This is
a grassroots
level hibernation sphere for innovation and thus also a fertile
breeding ground
for green jobs. A green job in this context is being associated
with meaningful
work. What makes work meaningful is its potential to enable the
worker to
participate meaningfully and creatively in the life of society in
less
materialistic ways. This does not however mean that the
instrumental value of
work has to be ignored. In whatever perspective work is perceived
it ultimately
has to assure one’s survival and well being. Herein lies the
principle of basic
income. This paper challenges the conventional economic theory of
pay and
argues that a national and/or macro policy of basic income can be
very
conducive to the creation and sustenance of green jobs.
The book can be downloaded as a PDF at:
http://gef.eu/publication/green-jobs-from-a-small-state-perspective-case-studies-from-malta/
A review of the book is online at:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120513/books/It-s-up-to-us-to-green-the-economy.419752
Woolsey, Robert. Interview with Cliff Groh:
Alaska’s
Dividend a policy of plenty
KCAW Radio, May 8, 2012
[USBIG – May 2011]
Cliff Groh is an expert on the Alaska Permanent Fund and one of
the authors of Alaska’s
Permanent Fund Dividend and Exporting the Alaska Model
(both
Palgrave-Macmillan 2012). The text and audio of the interview are
online at:
http://www.kcaw.org/2012/05/08/groh-alaskas-dividend-a-policy-of-plenty/
Smith, Jeffery J. (2011) “What is a Citizens
Dividend?”
Progress.org Geonomics: The Citizens Dividend
Liberates
Everyone
[USBIG – May 2011]
This web page provides an introduction to the Citizens Dividend—a
resource rent
tax financed basic income. It’s online at:
http://www.progress.org/geonomy/Dividend.html
Glaeser, Edward (2012) “Cash Is Better Than
Food Stamps in
Helping Poor”
Bloomberg.com, February 28, 2012
[USBIG – May 2012]
In an opinion piece on Bloomberg.org, prominent
Harvard
economist Edward Glaeser writes, “Redistribution has costs . . .
but it also
has benefits, particularly by creating a society with less painful
poverty. . .
. I won’t try to convince you that the U.S. should do more or less
for its
poorer citizens. I am interested in a better-designed welfare
system.” Glaeser
concludes, “By combining our aid programs and primarily giving
cash, we can
have a more efficient welfare system that provides more freedom
and better
incentives for aid recipients.” The article is online at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-28/cash-better-than-food-stamps-in-helping-poor-commentary-by-edward-glaeser.html
Graham, Larry (2012) “We should get a direct
dividend from
boom”
The West Australian, April 10, 2012
[USBIG – May 2012]
Larry Graham, a form member of the Western Australian State
Parliament, states
in this opinion piece that the burning political question facing
Western Australia
right now is how to share the benefits of the coming resource
boom. He argues
that Western Australia could do no better than to imitate Alaska
by creating a
sovereign wealth fund to finance a yearly dividend for everyone in
the state.
The piece is online at:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/opinion/post/-/blog/13382710/we-should-get-a-direct-dividend-from-boom/
Coren, Michael (2012) “Should Companies Pay To
Use Our
Common Resources?”
Co.Exist, March 8, 2012
[USBIG – May 2012]
This opinion piece argues for a resource dividend on the grounds
that even the
poorest among us own a share of the Earth’s resources, which are
commonly
claimed as private wealth. The article cites Peter Barnes’s work
on this issue.
It’s online at:
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679424/should-companies-pay-to-use-our-common-resources
Citizen’s
Income
Newsletter 2012, issue 2.
London: Citizen’s Income Trust
[USBIG – May 2012]
The Citizen’s Income Trust (BIEN’s affiliate in the United
Kingdom) has release
its second issue of the year. The issue includes news, editorials,
and reviews.
It is online in html, PDF, and MS Word formats at:
http://www.citizensincome.org/resources/newsletter%20issue%202%202012.shtml
Harrop, Andrew (2012) The Coalition and
Universalism: Cuts,
targeting and the future of welfare.
United Kingdom: the Fabian Society
[Citizens Income Trust – May 2012]
The Fabian Society has published The Coalition and Universalism:
Cuts,
targeting and the future of welfare, by Andrew Harrop. ‘Universal
provision
funded by proportionate or progressive taxation actually leads to
a transfer
from richer families to poorer ones. ... on average the amount
redistributed to
the poor actually decreases as welfare states become more
targeted. Any
increase in redistribution from an increase in targeting is
clearly outweighed
by the smaller expenditure that is associated with the lower
willingness to pay
of targeted welfare states. This confirms the hypothesis that
strategies of
targeting result in welfare states that do less redistribution to
the poorest
than strategies of universalism’ (pp.2, 9).
www.fabians.org.uk/publications/publications-news/the-coalition-and-universalism.
Namibian Basic Income Grant Coalition (2012)
“The Basic
Income Grant (BIG) is Government’s Responsibility”
Namibian Basic Income Grant Coalition, March 1, 2012
[Citizens Income Trust, May 2012]
On the 1st March the Namibian Basic Income Grant Coalition
published a press
release [entitled “The Basic Income Grant (BIG) is Government’s
Responsibility”] relating to the recent two year Citizen’s Income
pilot project
in two Namibian villages (reported in the Citizen’s Income
Newsletter, issue 2
for 2009): ‘Despite the positive results, the Namibian government
has still not
committed itself to the introduction of a BIG [Basic Income Grant:
Citizen’s
Income] in Namibia. Instead, senior government leaders have raised
concerns
that the grant would make people lazy and dependent on hand-outs.
Such
perceptions are rooted in prejudices rather than being based on
the evidence
provided by Otjivero! We wish to point out that the BIG Coalition
arranged for
many Namibians, including Members of Parliament (MPs), to visit
Otjivero and to
witness the developments there first-hand. The honourable MPs were
free to
assess the impact of the BIG themselves and they were impressed
with the
results achieved in Otjivero. However, they preferred to express
their views in
private instead of speaking out publicly in support of a national
BIG.’
http://bignam.org/Publications/Press_release_March_2012_to_Government.pdf.
Brewer, Mike, James Browne and Wenchao Jin,
(2012)
“Universal Credit: A Preliminary Analysis of its Impact on Incomes
and Work
Incentives”
Fiscal Studies, vol. 33, no. 1, 2012, pp. 39-71
[Citizens Income Trust – May 2012]
Research published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that
‘Universal
Credit will strengthen financial work incentives for some people,
as intended,
but weaken them for others. In general, incentives to work will be
strengthened
for the main earner in a family who works part-time or has low
earnings, and
will be weakened for those with higher earnings and for second
earners in
couples’ and that ‘moving from the current system of benefits and
tax credits
to a single benefit will require major administrative and IT
changes. It is
noteworthy that the government is attempting this at a time when
spending on
benefit administration (and public service spending generally) is
being cut;
the fact that such a major reform is being attempted at a time
when benefit
entitlements are being cut, overall, rather than increased, also
increases the
political risks to its implementation.
Lyssandra Sears (2012) “Give everyone a state
income:
proposal,” The Local:
Switzerland’s news
in English, 12 April 2012 09:57
[USBIG – May 2012]
This newspaper article reports on the Swiss effort to raise enough
signatures
to trigger a referendum on basic income. The effort is supported
by high-level
politicians as well as by BIEN-Switzerland. The movement needs
100,000
signatures to put the referendum on the ballot.
The article is online at:
http://www.thelocal.ch/national/20120412_3074.
BI News publishes regular opinion pieces at:
http://binews.org/category/opinion/.
The opinions expressed here are those of the authors. They do not
represent
positions endorsed by BIEN or its affiliates. Below are the
headlines of the BI
News opinion pieces that have come out since March. Links to the
full text are
included:
OPINION: Iran’s Citizen’s Income Scheme and its
Lessons
[CIT by Hamid Tabatabai - May 21, 2012]
In December 2010, Iran became the first country in the world to
establish a
nationwide Citizen’s or Basic Income scheme. Interestingly, the
scheme did not
emerge by design but by default: it was the by-product of an
effort to reform
an outdated system of price subsidies that concerned primarily
fuel products. A
basic income proved to be the most practical way of compensating
the population
for the loss of subsidies that had been costing some US$100-120
billion a year.
[…]
http://binews.org/2012/05/opinion-iran%e2%80%99s-citizen%e2%80%99s-income-scheme-and-its-lessons/
OPINION: Universal and Guaranteed Income? A
Matter of Basic
Rights
[BIEN by Emanuele Murra - April 30, 2012]
The idea of a regular income that allows people to plan and
fulfill a life
project is a certainly linked to the topic of job market reform.
However, these
two issues do not overlap. The reform of job contracts, new
economic
incentives, liberalization and tax exemptions can make the job
market more efficient,
but all [...]
http://binews.org/2012/04/opinion-universal-and-guaranteed-income-a-matter-of-basic-rights/
OPINION: BRICS should evaluate cash transfers
[BIEN by Guy Standing & Eduardo Matarazzo
Suplicy - April
9, 2012]
The BRICS Heads of State Summit in Delhi this week presents
an excellent
opportunity to launch some joint initiatives that would help
promote the aims
of the meeting, security and stability. Among those, one stands
out that could
easily be sidelined. The leaders of India, Brazil, China, Russia
and South
Africa face a common challenge [...]
http://binews.org/2012/04/opinion-brics-should-evaluate-cash-transfers/
OPINION: The Sad But Predictable Downfall of
the Cato
Institute
[USBIG by Almaz Zelleke - April 2, 2012]
The Cato Institute, a non-partisan Washington, D.C. think tank
founded in 1977
to promote and disseminate libertarian views, is in danger. Due to
a highly
unusual and, in hindsight, highly unfortunate shareholder
structure for a
non-profit, it finds itself at risk of a hostile takeover by two
of its
co-founders, billionaire businessmen Charles and David Koch [...]
http://binews.org/2012/04/opinion-the-sad-but-predictable-downfall-of-the-cato-institute/
Opinion: Resistance against Basic Income
[BIEN by Joerg Drescher - March 26, 2012]
Most readers here will agree, that Basic Income would be a good
way to solve
many problems which exist in our societies, but why is the idea
not supported
by the populace? Even worse! It seems there is a strong resistance
against.
Isn’t it strange, that an idea, which suggest to benefit every
individual,
cannot [...]
http://binews.org/2012/03/opinion-resistance-against-basic-income/
Rall, Ted (2012)“You’re Not Underemployed.
You’re Underpaid:
The Case for Shiftlessness”
The Rall Blog, March 7th, 2012
[USBIG – May 2012]
In this blog, Ted Rall endorses a Basic Income
Guarantee.
It’s online at:
http://www.rall.com/rallblog/2012/03/07/syndicated-column-youre-not-underemployed-youre-underpaid
FOR A LIST OF HEADLINES OF AND LINKS GO BLOGS DISCUSSING BIG, go
to:
http://binews.org/blogs/
[Wolfgang Müller - April 11, 2012]
A small group of individuals active in art, design, film
and politics
has launched a new webpage with the idea of introducing the idea
of an
unconditional basic income to its visitors interactively. More
than 40 clips
cover various aspects and answer questions about the unconditional
basic
income. The webpage is only available in German so far, but any
clip can be
watched with English subtitles. Click “CC” (Subtitles) in the
menu-bar of the
clip to watch them with English subtitles.
The webpage can be found online at:
http://www.bge-interaktiv.de/
[USBIG – May 2012]
The Ecovaproject has webpages in 6 different languages examining
“a green path
towards a future of peace, leisure & abundance.” Founded by
Rafael Staelens
in 2008, the website begins with an endorsement of an
unconditional basic income,
which it calls a “springboard for human dignity.” It is online at:
http://www.ecovaproject.org/basic-income-human-dignity.htm
[BI News – May 2012]
A group of individuals (calling themselves BGEinteraktiv) in
Frankfurt, Germany
have finished an interactive documentary about the basic income
guarantee
(BIG). This project allows the viewer to explore 45 different
video clips, each
containing answers to a question that the creators have asked
different people.
The videos are in German, but English subtitles are available.
The trailer is at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv0wBJVmK7M&context=C483ce50ADvjVQa1PpcFMXeJ3ctW9_Csj-N6-lSTapygfPextO5H4=
The full documentary is will be online at: www.bge-interaktiv.de
For more information contact Caspar Priesemann at: caspar.priesemann@laposte.net
[USBIG - May 7, 2012]
Klaus Sambor, coordinator of the Attac group
for an
unconditional basic-income (UBI) guarantee, talks about the
campaign to qualify
a European Citizens’ Initiative that would implement such a
program in the
European Union, recorded from Austria on May 6, 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fykXzMGVcWs
[USBIG, link posted April 10, 2012]
James Robertson talks frankly about democratising our money
supply. Money as
debt is not sustainable.
[USBIG – March 2012]
This online slideshow proposes basic income as a solution to what
it calls
“crapitalism,” the use of resources to produce crap products and
services. It’s
produced by Livable Income For All (livableincome.org). It’s
online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbALjK4__GE
Volunteers are need to write for BI News, the
BIEN
NewsFlash, and the USBIG Newsletter. The news you read here is all
written by a
group of volunteers. We need more writers for our team. As a
writer you get:
byline, feedback on your writing, and a chance to help the global
basic income
movement. If you’re interested, please email Karl@widerquist.com
For links to dozens of BIG websites around the
world, go to
http://www.usbig.net/links.html. These links are to any website
with
information about BIG, but USBIG does not necessarily endorse
their content or
their agendas.
The USBIG Network Newsletter
Editor: Karl Widerquist
Copyeditor: Mike Murray and the USBIG Committee
Research: Paul Nollen
Special help on this issue was provided by: Tim Widerquist, Jeff
Smith, Steve
Shafarman, Myron Frankman, and Claudia and Dirk Haarmann.
The U.S. Basic Income Guarantee (USBIG) Network publishes this
newsletter. The
Network is a discussion group on basic income guarantee (BIG) in
the United
States. BIG is a generic name for any proposal to create a minimum
income
level, below which no citizen's income can fall. Information on
BIG and USBIG can
be found on the web at: http://www.usbig.net. More news about BIG
is online at
BInews.org.
You may copy and circulate articles from this newsletter, but
please mention
the source and include a link to http://www.usbig.net. If you know
any BIG
news; if you know anyone who would like to be added to this list;
or if you
would like to be removed from this list; please send me an email:
Karl@Widerquist.com.
As always, your comments on this newsletter and the USBIG website
are gladly
welcomed.
Thank you,
-Karl Widerquist, editor
Karl@Widerquist.com