USBIG NEWSLETTER VOL. 8, NO. 44, SPRING 2007
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 a subsistence-level
income for everyone. If you would like to be added to or removed from this list
please email: Karl@Widerquist.com.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. PHILIPPE VAN PARIJS TO SPEAK AT THE 2008 USBIG
CONGRESS
2. EDITORIAL: THE FATHER OF “WORKFARE” IN THE U.S. ENDORSES BIG! (IN
IRAQ)
3. NAMIBIAN BIG PROPOSAL RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL PRAISE
4. POLITICAL SUPPORT FOR BIG IN UK PARLIAMENT
5. MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT IN URUGUAY ENDORSES BIG
6. SEVERAL SMALL PARTIES AROUND THE WORLD ENDORSE BIG
7. AUSTRALIAN LABOUR MP AND LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE
ENDORSES BIG
8. CANADIAN SURVEY SHOWS BIG SUPPORT
9. RECENT EVENTS
10. UPCOMING EVENTS
11. RECENT PUBLICATIONS
12. NEW LINKS
13. NEW MEMBERS
14. NEW DISCUSSION PAPERS
15. LINKS AND OTHER INFO
1. PHILIPPE VAN PARIJS TO SPEAK AT THE 2008 USBIG CONGRESS
Philippe Van Parijs, of both the Catholic University of Louvain and Harvard
University, has agreed to speak at the 2008 USBIG Congress in Boston next
February. Van Parijs is a long-term advocate of the basic income guarantee, and
one of the founders of the Basic Income European Network, which expanded to
become the Basic Income Earth Network in 2004. He has written extensively on
the philosophical ground and political feasibility of BIG, and he has presented
the idea on every continent except Antarctica.
The 2008 USBIG Congress will be the Seventh Annual Congress of the USBIG
Network. It will take place on March 7 - 9 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel at 64
Arlington Street in Boston. The event will be held in conjunction with the
Eastern Economic Association’s Annual Meeting.
The Congress is organized by a three-person committee made up of Almaz Zelleke, of the New School;
Michael A. Lewis of Stony Brook University, and Eri Noguchi, of Columbia
University and the Association to Benefit Children. The Call for papers will be
released in June, and the deadline for applications to present at the Congress
will likely be sometime in October 2007.
2. EDITORIAL: FATHER OF “WORKFARE” IN THE U.S. ENDORSES BIG! (IN IRAQ)
Republican Presidential Candidate Tommy Thompson has endorsed BIG—at least in a
foreign country. On his campaign website, the former Wisconsin Governor calls
himself “the reliable conservative in the 2008 presidential race.” The first
reason he gives is, “Tommy Thompson is the father of welfare reform.” Thompson has
a good claim to that title. Since 1996, welfare reform, also known as
“workfare,” replaced conditional cash support for single mothers with work
requirements, sometimes for less than minimum wage, without providing daycare.
The plan was modeled on an earlier Wisconsin program initiated by then governor
Thompson. Workfare is usually motivated by the belief that poor people have a
responsibility to take whatever jobs are offered, even if they have substantial
childcare responsibilities.
Thompson is literally the last America one might expect to endorse BIG—a plan
to provide unconditional cash benefits to every citizen. But Thompson has not
only endorsed BIG, he has made it a major initiative in his campaign. He has
discussed it in numerous interviews and speeches and at the Republican
presidential debates. He hasn’t endorsed BIG for the United States, but as part
of his strategy to win the war in Iraq. The BIG element in Thompson’s Iraq
strategy is that one-third of Iraqi government oil revenues will be reserved for
a fund to provide every Iraqi with a small income guarantee modeled after the
Alaska Permanent Fund (APF). USBIG Newsletter readers will recall that the APF
was the initiative of another Republican Governor, Jay Hammond. It provides a
small but significant income guarantee to every Alaskan resident.
Of course, both the APF and any likely Iraq proposal fall short of the goals of
most BIG supporters because they are not large enough to cover the recipient’s
needs—a “partial BIG” rather than a “full BIG.” But Alaska experience has show
that even a partial BIG can make a great difference to the needy and sets the
right precedent.
Thompson’s plan is rather far from implementation, however. To introduce it,
the U.S. would have to be continuing its involvement in Iraq two years from now,
when a president Thompson would take office. At that point the U.S. will have
been at war for nearly six years. Even then, Thompson could only recommend the
plan to the Iraqi Parliament, which is formally recognized by the U.S.
government as the sovereign government of an independent country. If the whole
of Thompson’s plan is adopted, United States would likely remain at war in Iraq
for four more years while we find out whether the military elements of his plan
work.
Thompson has not discussed extending the Alaska-style plan closer to home, nor
does he seem aware of the possible conflict between the goals of an APF-style
BIG and his pedigree, Workfare.
What’s the big deal if a politician in one country supports BIG in another
country where he may have little influence even if elected? It show that framed
in the right context, BIG can have a great appeal even to work-ethic
conservatives, and it demonstrates the growing appeal of the APF precedent. The
APF is so obviously successful, so popular, and so cost-effective that it
appeals even to the father of workfare. Much of the motivation for workfare has
been popular American resentment against people who receive direct government
payments. But there is little resentment in America for people who receive
property income whether or not they work and whether or not they received their
property through work. The APF makes some part of Alaska’s oil revenues into
part of the personal property of every Alaskan. It’s theirs; they own it. It is
quite natural to infer that if it is right for every Alaskan to own a share of
their oil, then perhaps every Iraqi should own a share of their oil too. But
once you have endorsed that principle it is quite natural to infer that every
South African should own a share of their gold. Every Botswanan
should own a share of their diamonds. Every Welshman should own a share of
their coal. Every Bolivian should own a share of their tin. And the full
inference is that everyone should own a share of all natural resources. If we
put that principle into practice, single mothers would not need workfare at
all.
-Karl Widerquist (Michael Lewis contributing)
3. NAMIBIAN BIG PROPOSAL RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL PRAISE
According to allafrica.com, the UN Commission for Social Development praised
Namibia’s basic income grant proposal (BIG), Brazil's Bolsa
Familia and India's National Rural Employment
Guarantee as some of the several good practices that would alleviate poverty
and empower rural households to improve their lives. This follows the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia's Bishop Kameeta's presentation to the United Nations Commission for
Social Development in New York in February where he participated in a panel
discussion on the topic, "Good practices for promoting employment and
decent work". Kameeta, who presented at the
Basic Income Earth Network Congress in South Africa last fall, is now in the
process of raising private funds for a pilot project to demonstrate the
feasibility of the BIG in Namibia. Namibia’s BIG proposal also received praise
from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). According
to allafrica.com, the LWF urged its member churches
to consider poverty reduction initiatives like Namibia's BIG proposal at its
meeting in Sweden last month. The LWF also praised
Namibian Lutherans for their work promoting the BIG in South Africa. Meanwhile,
in Namibia, HIV infected people in the Kavango
Regions have made an appeal for BIG to address the lack of basic necessities for
people living with HIV and AIDS. For stories go to:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200704100309.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/200704050584.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/200703300176.html
4. POLITICAL SUPPORT FOR BIG IN UK PARLIAMENT
Three years ago, with the help of Dr. Lynne Jones MP and Sir Archy Kirkwood MP the British Citizen's Income Trust
distributed a questionnaire to all MPs. Seventy-one completed questionnaires
and eleven letters were returned. The level of support for a Citizen's Income
was considerable. Forty-one respondents were in favour
and only eleven against; and of particular interest was the level of support
for a Royal Commission to study the proposal: forty-six in favour,
and only sixteen against. (Sir Patrick Cormack MP,
one of the respondents, commented in his letter: "I have long advocated a
Royal Commission to look at the Welfare State fifty years on".) On its
website, the Citizen's Income Trust concludes that "Both the House of
Commons and the House of Lords support a Citizen's Income approach to the
reform of tax and benefits." For further information, please visit
http://www.citizensincome.org/.
-From BIEN
5. MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT IN URUGUAY ENDORSES BIG
BIEN reports, on March 6, Uruguayan member of the Parliament Pablo Álvarez (Frente Amplio - left wing coalition) presented at the Chamber of
Representatives of the National Parliament a proposal to create what he called
the "Uruguayan National Network for Basic Income". The
practically-oriented aim of this initiative was to define the pathways to
implement a Basic Income in Uruguay as soon as possible. In a speech in which
he first referred to More, Paine, Fourier, Russell and Meade, as well as to
BIEN and Philippe Van Parijs's work, Pablo Álvarez
presented Basic Income both as a right and as a way to rationalize the current
Uruguayan system of cash transfers and to avoid the problems of conditional
subsidies. The Parliament approved the creation of a Committee to study the
political meaning and feasibility of Basic Income.
6. SEVERAL SMALL PARTIES AROUND THE WORLD ENDORSE BIG
Several small parties around the world have endorsed BIG in their party
platforms. The Green Party of Manitoba, which is contending the provincial
elections on May 22nd, 2007, advocates a Universal Basic Income that
would ensure that all Manitobans have adequate income to meet their needs,
according to wordpress.com. The Peace and Freedom Party (USA), a socialist party
with plans to mount a nationwide campaign for the 2008 elections, has already
qualified for the ballot in California. One of the candidates for the Peace and
Freedom Party’s nomination for president, Stewart Alexander, supports a basic
income for everyone 50 and over sufficient to cover their basic needs of food,
housing, clothing, transportation and utilities, and some level of universal
basic income, according to the candidate’s website http://www.salt-g.com/. The
Scottish Green Party has announced that Citizen’s Income (another name for BIG)
large enough to eliminate the psycho-social stress of poverty is at the heart of
their strategy “to create a society in which the means of production is
harnessed to the good of all in society,” according to the party’s website, http://www.syg.scottishgreens.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=32.
7. AUSTRALIAN LABOUR MP AND LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE ENDORSES BIG
John McDonnell has been an MP for the Australian Labour
Party since 1997. He is leading a campaign demanding a democratic election for
the party leadership and an open debate about the policies that a Labour Government should implement. He is also considered a
more left-oriented member of the party who has resisted the party’s rightward
“New Labour” movement. His leadership campaign has
endorsed establishing social rights to a Citizen’s Income (or BIG) along with affordable
housing, free education, childcare, healthcare, and care in older age. The next
Labour leader may be poised to become the Prime
Minister of Australia in the next general elections. The candidate’s website is
on line at http://www.john4leader.org.uk/.
8. CANADIAN SURVEY SHOWS BIG SUPPORT
According to the Livable Income For Everyone Network, the
[Canadian] National Council on Welfare online survey Oct-Dec. 2006 of 5,457
individual Canadians. Participants in the survey ranked the Guaranteed Livable
Income (another name for BIG) number one for action to permanently reduce
poverty rates in Canada. The survey results are available as a PDF on the home
page of the National Council’s website under What's
New at http://www.ncwcnbes.net/en/home.html
9. RECENT EVENTS
Guy Standing spoke at the Jobs and Justice Conference, Vancouver, British
Columbia, March 29, 2007.
Guy Standing, co-chair and founding member of the Basic Income Earth Network
and former Director of Socio-Economic Security, International Labour Organization, gave the Keynote address of the
"Jobs & Justice Conference" in Vancouver, and was interviewed by
the Georgia Straight News in a piece entitled "Labour
expert leads call for basic income" (By Charlie Smith, March 29, 2007).
Information on the conference can be found at: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/jobsconference/.
The interview is on line at: http://www.straight.com/article-77814/labour-expert-leads-call-for-basic-income
10. UPCOMING EVENTS
REGINA (CA), 6-8 June 2007: Economic Security for All in Saskatchewan: Weaving
an Unbreakable Social Fabric.
This conference is organized by the Department of Justice Studies of the
University of Regina (Saskatchewan, Canada) and the Regina Anti-Poverty
Network. Themes and topics will include: re-establishing a strong social safety
net, re-committing to the principle of universality in income support, health
care, and access to education, ensuring a living wage for working people, moving
toward a guaranteed annual income or "basic income" in Saskatchewan
and Canada. For further information contact Prof. Jim Mulvale:
jim.mulvale@uregina.ca or justice.studies@uregina.ca. Registration forms and
further information are available on the provisional conference website:
http://tinyurl.com/28qmmo/esc/
-From BIEN
11. RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Income inequality.
Carter, V. J., & Howard, M. W.
In G. L. Anderson & K. G. Herr (Eds.), Encyclopedia of
activism and social justice (Vol. 2, pp. 733-737). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage. (2007).
This encyclopedia entry focuses on the extent and causes of income inequality
with a brief discussion of policies to decrease inequality including basic
income.
An Emergency Program of Monetary Reform for the United States
by Richard C. Cook
This article makes a social credit case for monetary reform including a basic
income guarantee called the national dividend. The social credit national
dividend is a BIG tied to production and consumption data and may vary from
year to year. Thus although everyone is guaranteed to get it they are not
guaranteed to get the same amount every year, but the first guarantee is
sufficient to fall within the usual definition of BIG. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=COO20070426&articleId=5494
Australasian Social Credit Journal
May-June, 2007
The latest issue of this bi-monthly journal includes
an article by V.J. Bridger on Basic Income. However,
it defines basic income differently than most of its advocates, defining it
somewhat closer to the minimum wage or a wage supplement. It can be found
online at: http://www.ecn.net.au/~socred/.
"Solving Poverty: Four cornerstones of a workable national strategy for
Canada"
The [Canadian] National Council on Welfare Report (Winter 2007)
This report mentions the Guaranteed Livable Income as part of a solution to
poverty on pages 16-18, concluding that it merits “further attention.” The
report is available as a PDF on http://www.ncwcnbes.net/en/home.html. For
further information: www.ncwcnbes.net (also in French).
Hubbert's Prescription for Survival, A Steady State
Economy
by Robert L. Hickerson
Energy Bulletin.net, Feb. 27, 2007
Originally published on December 29, 2004 by Hubbertpeak.com this article
discuses the work of geophysicist M. King Hubbert,
who is best known for being one of the first persons to predict (in 1949) the
short duration of the fossil fuels era. He was widely ridiculed in 1956 for
predicting that U.S. oil production would peak in 1970, but gained new respect
when that prediction came true. Even the opening of the Alaska pipeline in the
late 1970s did not reverse that trend. One of Hubbert’s
proposals for dealing with energy issues was essentially a BIG in the form of
Income in Units of Energy. That is, he proposed giving each individual a nonnegotiable
certificate for the right to consume one share of the maximum allowable energy
consumption for the nation. The article is on line at: http://www.energybulletin.net/3800.html.
12. NEW LINKS
Charles Murray discussed his basic income proposal, known as “the Plan” on UK
radio last month. Audio of the broadcast is on line at:
http://www.vivant.org/site/fileadmin/DocEN/News_items/2007/talking_politics.ra.
13. NEW MEMBERS
Six new members have joined the USBIG Network since March. The USBIG Network
now has 133 members from 29 U.S. states and 22 foreign countries. Membership in
USBIG is free and open to anyone who shares its goals. To become a member of
USBIG go to www.usbig.net, and click on “membership.”
Two new members have also joined the USBIG board of advisors, William DiFazio, professor
at St. John’s University in New York, and Annie Miller, founding member of the
Basic Income European Network (now the Basic Income Earth Network) and trustee
of the Citizens Income Trust.
The current members of the USBIG Network are:
Karl Widerquist, Cassopolis, MI; Eri Noguchi, New York, NY; Fred Block, Davis,
CA; Michael A. Lewis, New York, NY; Steve Shafarman, Washington, DC; Brian Steensland, Bloomington, IN; Al Sheahen, Van Nuys, CA;
Philippe Van Parijs, Brussels, Belgium; Stanley Aronowitz, New York, NY; Carole
Pateman, Los Angeles, CA; Frances Fox Piven, New
York, NY; Eduardo Suplicy, Sao Paolo, Brazil; J. Philip Wogaman,
Washington, DC; Chris LaPlante, Blacksburg, VA; John
Marangos, Fort Collins, CO; Fransisco Sales, Carretera Mexico City, DF, Mexico; Manuel Henriques, Lisbon, Portugal; Amelia Baughman, Williams, AZ;
Robert F. Clark, Alexandria, VA; Jason Burke Murphy, Saint Louis, MO; Joel
Handler, Los Angeles, CA; Glen C. Cain, Madison, WI; Timothy Roscoe Carter, San
Fransisco, CA; John Bollman,
Bay City, MI; George McGuire, Brooklyn, NY; Adrian Kuziminski,
Fly Creek, NY; Hyun-Mook Lim, Seoul, Korea; Kelly D. Pinkham, Kansas City, MO; Michael Murray, Clive, IA; Josep LI. Ortega, Santa Coloma, Andorra; Michael Opielka, Königswinter, Germany; Brenden
Miller, Cambridge, MA; Myron J. Frankman, Montreal,
Quebec, Canada; Frank Thompson, Ann Arbor, MI; Harry F. Dahms,
Knoxville, TN; Buford Farris, Bastrop, TX; Roy Morrison, Warner, NH; Robley E. "Rob" George, Manhattan Beach, CA, Almaz Zelleke, Brooklyn, NY;
Gonzalo Pou, Montevideo, Uruguay; Elisabetta
Pernigotti, Paris, France; Ross Zucker,
New York, NY; Sean Owens, La Mirada, CA, Dean Herd, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;
Hugh Thompson, London, UK; Jan van Knippenberg, Kinrooi, Belgium; Adam Csillag,
Berlin, Germany; Steve Gazzo, Pittsburgh, PA; Mike Cottone, Weaverville, CA; Brigitte Sirois,
Quebec, Quebec, Canada; Guy Standing, Geneva Switzerland; G. W. Putto, Den Haag, the Netherlands; Anonymous, Berkeley, CA;
Pete Farina, Washington, DC; Robert Wirengard, Fair
Share, Florida; Urban Boljka, Ljubljana, Slovenia;
Ronal Cohen, Bennington, Vermont; H.T.L. Quan, Chicago, Illinois; Lourdes Maria Silva Araujo; Espirito Santo, Brazil; Patrick
S. O'Donnell, Santa Barbara, California; Stephen Nathanson,
Boston, Massachusetts; Jerey Vogt, Washington, DC;
Justine Lam, Arlington, Virginia; Ricardo A. Bunge,
San Antonio, Texas; Aziz Akgul,
Ankara, Turkey; Judith A. Kaluzny, Fullerton,
California; Leonard Butters, Spokane, Washington; Peter Christiansen, San
Francisco, California; Kyle Patrick Meredith, Chattanooga, Tennessee; Benjamin Hyink, LaGrange, Illinois; Nancy Folbre,
Amherst, Massachusetts; Noaki Yoshihara, Kunitachi, Tokyo; Bernard Mueller, Torrance, California; Zool (Paul Zulkowitz); Woodmare, New York; Amanda Reilly, Wellington, New Zealand;
Adam Sacks, Lexington, Massachusetts; Mark Levinson, New York, New York Kathy
Fitzpatrick, Grand Rapids, MI; Stephen C. Clark, Port Hueneme,
CA; Cristian Pérez Muñoz, Sauce, Uruguay; Richa,
Grand Rapids, MI; Floyd Robinson, Ann Arbor, MI; Bradley Nelson, Portland, OR;
Mark Ewbank, Coventry, United Kingdom; Bernard Cloutier, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Mark Erickson, Skokie,
IL; Dale Carrico, Oakland, CA; Joseph Meyer, St.Vith, Belgium; A.R. Rowe,
Brooklyn, NY; Pius Charles Murray, Somersworth, NH; John D. Jones, Milwaukee,
WI; Troy Davis, Williamsburg, VA; William E Fraser, Santa Cruz, CA. Twelve new
members have joined USBIG since December 18, 2005. They are Luke Mead, Astoria,
OR; Ori Lev, Baltimore, MD; Ralph Rostas,
Chester, VA; Laura Cornelius, Woodbridge, VA; Dylan Matthews, Hanover, NH; John
(Jack) O'Donnell, Millville, NJ; Stefano Lucarelli, Ancona, Italy; Richard Lippincott
Biddle, Philadelphia, PA; Alanna Hartzok,
Scotland, PA; Hank Delisle, Fukuoudai,
Japan; Michael LaTorra, Las Cruces, NM; Mike Roberts,
Rochester, NY, Anson Chong, Fen Forest, HI; Michele
Lewis, Washington, DC; Heather Boushey, Washington,
DC; Nicolaus Tideman, Blacksburg, VA; John Carroll, Edinburgh, IN; Rosalind
Diana, Seaside Heights, NJ; W. Robert Needham, Waterloo, ON, Canada; Cedric
Neill, Orlando, FA; Richard Cook, College Park, MD; Miroslav
Turcinovic, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; William
DiFazio, Brooklyn, NY; Angel Garman, Hugo OK; Karin Nyquist,
Emmaboda, Sweden; Larry Dansinger,
Monroe, ME; Richard G. Wamai Cambridge, MA; Melissa
Farrell, Staten Island, NY; Bill McCormick, Grand Junction, CO; Rashida Ali-Campbell, Yeadon, PA;
Lenny Krosinsky, Albuquerque, NM; Rachel Crutcher, Allen, TX; Julie Hendrix, Little Rock, AR; Annie
Miller, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
14. NEW DISCUSSION PAPERS
A Dilemma for Libertarians
Karl Widerquist
USBIG Discussion Paper No. 175
May 2007
Abstract: This article presents a dilemma for libertarianism. It argues that
libertarian principles of acquisition and transfer without regard for the
pattern of inequality do not support a minimal state, but can lead just as well
to a monarchy with full the full power of taxation without violation of
self-ownership. The article considers and rejects several ways in which
libertarianism might try to argue against a monarchy. Once the government
ownership of property is shown to be consistent with just acquisition and
transfer of property rights, monarchy, socialism, or state-managed capitalism
can be seen as patterns of the distribution of property rights. Libertarian
advocacy of a minimal state is simply a preference for one pattern of the
distribution of property rights over another. Thus, libertarians must choose
between the principles and the state they advocate.
The Physical Basis of Voluntary Trade
Karl Widerquist
USBIG DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 176
May 2007
Abstract: The article discusses the conditions under which can we say that
people enter economic interactions as free individuals. Section 1 defines
status freedom as effective control self-ownership, which requires that
individuals have the effective power to make or refuse interaction with other
willing people. This status requires some level of economic independence so
that a person is not forced to serve others to survive. Section 2 considers the
treatment of effectively forced interaction in economic and political theory.
Section 3 discusses theories of human need by Nussbaum and Doyal
and Gough to determine the capabilities a person has to have to maintain
independence. Section 4 considers what form access to that level of capability
should take—in cash, kind, or raw resources. Section 5 concludes that an
unconditional basic income is the most effective method to ensure that
individuals in a modern, industrial economy enter the labor market voluntarily
and as free individuals.
15. LINKS AND OTHER INFO
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
Research: Paul Nollen
Copyediting: Mike Murray and the USBIG Committee
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.
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, USBIG Coordinator. Karl@Widerquist.com