USBIG NEWSLETTER
Vol. 12, No. 62 Fall 2011
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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. CALL FOR PAPERS: Eleventh North American Basic
Income Guarantee Congress
2. EDITORIAL:
No Time for Austerity
3. ALASKA makes thirtieth annual dividend
payment
4. OCCUPY WALL STREET sparks interest in policies like
BIG
5. BIEN recognizes its 25th anniversary
6. KUCINICHS NEED ACT calls for a
Citizens Dividend plan
7. INDIANA GOVERNOR endorses BIG
8. SURVEY asks Americans about BIG
9. BIG NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
10. BASIC INCOME STUDIES releases new issue
11. RECENT PUBLICATIONS
12. UPCOMING EVENTS
13. RECENT EVENTS
14. BASIC INCOME NEWS needs writers and volunteers
15. NEW LINKS
16. LINKS AND OTHER INFO
1. CALL FOR PAPERS: Eleventh North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress
Toronto, Canada, May 3-5, 2012
The Eleventh Annual North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress will
take place May 3-5, 2012 at the University of Toronto on the theme of Putting
Equality Back on the Agenda: Basic Income and Other Approaches to Economic
Security for All. Featured Speakers include Richard Wilkinson (Co-Author of The
Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better) and Armine
Yalnizyan (Senior Economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives).
Over the past 30 years, Canada,
the United States, and many other OECD countries have grown increasingly
unequal. While the rich pull
farther and farther ahead, the poor and the middle class are struggling just to
maintain their income level.
Evidence regarding economic disparity suggests that income inequality is
accompanied by a range of significant negative consequences, and that these
consequences are present in greater numbers at every income level of a less
equal society when compared with a more equal society. In January, the World Economic Forum
named economic disparity one of the most significant global risks.
Putting Equality Back on the Agenda will consider three central questions:
1. To what degree is there a common public good
in reducing economic disparity among all citizens?
2. Is a basic income the best way to provide
this public good?
3. How could a basic income best be structured
and funded to meet these goals?
The Eleventh North
American Basic Income Guarantee Congress is organized by Basic Income Canada Network
in cooperation with the USBIG Network. These North American affiliates of the
Basic Income Earth Network promote the option of a basic income, an
unconditional government transfer that would provide a basic but decent
standard of living to all. The congress brings together academics, students,
activists, policy analysts, government officials, low-income people, and others
interested in exploring the merits of this proposal.
Plenary Speakers Include:
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;
Armine Yalnizyan, Senior Economist with the
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives;
John Rook, Chair of the National Council of
Welfare, Senior
Associate with Housing Strategies, Inc;
Evelyn Forget, Professor, University
of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine; and
Trish Hennessey, Director of
Strategic Issues for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Scholars, activists, and others are invited to propose papers or presentations,
organize panel discussions, or submit posters. Proposals are welcome on the
following topics:
What are the costs of economic disparity
(economic, social and political)?
What are the implications for pursuing (or
not pursuing) basic income options?
What are possible models for generating
revenue to sustain a basic income and what are their implications for economic
disparity?
What are the practical issues for
implementing a basic income policy and what are their implications for economic
disparity?
What communication and engagement strategies
are necessary to raise awareness about economic disparity and basic income in
the public sphere?
All points of view are welcome. Anyone interested in presenting, organizing a
panel, or displaying a poster should submit an abstract of their proposal to
the chair of the organizing committee at basicincome2012@gmail.com.
Please include the following information with your proposal:
1. Name(s)
2. Affiliation(s)
3. Address
4. City, Province/State, Postal/Zip Code, and Country
5. Telephone
6. Email Address(es)
7. Paper/Presentation/Panel/Poster Title
8. Abstract of 50-150 words
DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: January 13th, 2012
Proposals for panel discussions should include a title, topic, and description
of the panel and the information above for each participant. If the
participants are not presenting formal papers, the title of the paper and
abstract may be omitted. Panels should be limited to four presentations.
More info email: basicincome2012@gmail.com.
2. EDITORIAL: No Time for Austerity
I
cant believe the news. We are in the midst of the worst global depression in
70 years, and the governments of almost every major industrialized country are
talking about austerity. Theyre cutting government services; laying off public
sector workers; cutting pay, pensions, and benefits for public
employees—all in the name of austerity and balanced budgets.
This
astounds me because weve been through it before. Weve seen what works; and we
know that austerity is not the way out of a major depression. Austerity makes
depressions worse. To get out of a depression, the government needs to spend
money and lots of it. The lessons of history are clear, and the reading of
history Im going to discuss to make my point is not terribly controversial
among economists. Let me explain.
In
a depression (or a deep recession or whatever you want to call it), we get
stuck at the bottom. People cant spend as much because theyre not making as
much, but people arent making as much, because people arent spending as much.
Debt is a related problem, and so, I believe, is the real estate market, but
theres no room in this editorial for a full explanation. If you understand the
idea of getting stuck at the bottom because of the feedback between spending
and income, you get the essence of it. This kind of unemployment is pure waste.
Human resources (not to mention idle shops and factories) are simply going to
waste unused. We can wait for all that to work itself out on its own—as
Japan has been waiting since 1989—or the government can take action.
We
learned how to take action in a big way at the outset of World War II. I wrote
a few years ago about the economic lesson of 1938. Todays editorial could as
well be called the economic lesson of 1941. The following graph shows U.S. per
capita GDP for the years 1929 to 1947—from the stock market crash at the
beginning of the Great Depression to the bottom of the post-war recession. Per
capita GDP is the income of the average American. The figures are in
inflation-adjusted 2008 dollars, meaning theyre adjusted to show the
purchasing power that the incomes of the time would have at todays prices. No
inflation adjustment is perfect, but it gives you a rough idea. In general the
graph shows we were much poorer then than we are now, but it shows much more
about the times.
U.S. per capita GDP in
inflation-adjusted 2008 dollars, 1929-1947
SOURCE:
authors plot of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
The
austerity years were 1929 to 1933. In addition to many other mistakes, the
government responded to reduced tax revenue caused by declining economic
activity by reducing its own activity to match. Average income went down from
over $11,000 to less than $8,000—a loss of more than 25 percent. You can
think of everybody getting a 25 percent pay cut at the same time or of 75
percent of people keeping their entire income while 25 percent of people lose
their entire incomes. What actually happened was somewhere in between, a little
bit of both. Unemployment went up to 20 percent, so the depression was roughly
twice as bad as what were going through now.
In
1933, Franklin Roosevelt was elected and we started spending money to stimulate
the economy. He called it priming the pump. He took what, at the time, looked
like a big action, spending money trying to help people, to get the economy
moving again. And he had several years of success until he returned to
austerity measures in 1937 and 1938, suddenly trying to balance the budget. I
wrote about that problem in my earlier editorial. Except for that year progress
was slow but steady. Yet, by 1941 unemployment was still at 9.67%. After 12
years of waiting for an end to the depression more Americans were unemployed
then than they are now in the third year of our depression.
But
in 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The United States entered World War
II. And the depression ended virtually over night. We went from a 10-percent
labor surplus to a labor shortage in
a matter of months. The demand for labor was so great that women entered the
labor force in unprecedented numbers. They found good high-pay jobs waiting for
them. Income shot up to $20,000 per year, double what it was in the austerity
year of 1938.
The
depression disappeared because the government spent money and massive amounts
of it. The government hired the idle labor (and more) mostly as soldiers. The
government hired the idle shipyards to build boats, the automobile plants to
build jeeps and tanks, and so on. It was good for people, and it was good for
business. The entire New Deal—it turned out—was far too small.
There
are dangers to stimulating the economy in the wrong way, at the wrong time, or
in the wrong amounts. You can end up with unacceptable debt, inflation, or a
delayed depression. But none of these dangers manifest themselves in this case.
Except for the obvious losses to war, the spending was good for people. After
the war people got married and used the money they saved during the war to make
down payments on houses, start families, and build better lives than they had
in the 1930s.
The
depression never came back. This is why I end the graph in the recession year
of 1947. That year was as bad as the economy got after the war, but yet, per
capita income was still nearly $15,000, not quite twice what it was after four
years of austerity in 1933 and still 25 percent higher than it was in the boom
year of 1929. After 1947 we got good healthy growth punctuated by short,
forgettable, recessions. It was one of the best periods of economic growth in
American history. Government spending worked, and there was no post-stimulus
hangover. The most massive government stimulus weve ever had—perhaps the
largest in world history—did not cause any significant problems with
debt, inflation, or delayed depression.
You
can look at the income and unemployment figures for almost every
industrialized, capitalist nation at the time, and you will see the same
pattern: as soon as they began massive war spending, the depression ended in
their country. But we dont need a war to stimulate the economy. We just need
to break the political obsession with austerity and start spending some money.
Without
the need to spend a stimulus on war, we can spend on schools, road,
infrastructure, or on services to help the needy through a basic income
guarantee or something else. What we spend it on is less important right now
than the need to stimulate. The basic income guarantee movement now needs to be
part of broader movement around the world against the austerity craze. This is
why I am fully behind movements such as Occupy Wall Street in the United States
and the anti-austerity protests in Europe. We must focus the worlds attention
on the need for government to spend money to help people. Once we open that
door the possibilities are great. But until then, we practice austerity against
the lessons of our history.
-Karl Widerquist (karl@widerquist.com), the Second Cup Caf, Doha, Qatar,
December 2011
3.
ALASKA makes thirtieth annual dividend payment
USBIG
Alaska paid its 30th annual Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) this
October. The PFD is Alaskas small and irregularly sized Basic Income. It has
been paid to all citizens who meet the residency requirement since 1982. This
years payment of $1174 went out to 647,549 eligible residents on October 6,
2011. A few PFD applications are still pending, and so the final number of
recipients might increase.
The dividend is a bit smaller than usual thanks to the weak stock market over
the last few years. The size of the dividend depends on the average returns to
the Alaska Permanent Fund over the previous five years. The dividend of $1174
translates into $4,896 for a family of four. The poor performance of the fund
has continued this year. After recovering to over $40 billion, it now stands at
$38.2 billion, according to the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. The weakness
of the funds investments over the past few years will necessarily affect the
dividend for years to come. Some editorials have applauded the funds
performance for being able to deliver a dividend of $1174 during such difficult
economic times.
The dividend has been credited with helping the state maintain one of the
lowest poverty rates in the United States, with helping Alaska become the most
economically equal of all U.S. states, and even with lowering the foreclosure
rate on homes. Yet, as a recent Alaska Public Radio report discusses, little
good data exists about how Alaskans spend their dividends. They often buy big
things when they get the dividend, but in many cases they buy things they would
have bought at some time during the year anyway. It is very hard to tell just
how their spending differs from what it would be if there were no dividend.
The Alaska Public Radio report (by Annie Feidt, October 6, 2011) is online at:
http://www.alaskapublic.org/2011/10/06/few-studies-track-pfd-impact/
For articles on this years dividend see:
http://www.ktva.com/home/top-stories/Alaska-Permanent-Fund-Dividend-130214183.html?m=y
http://www.alaska-native-news.com/article/State_News/State_News/Alaska_Permanent_Fund_Takes_a_31_Billion_Hit/23580
http://juneauempire.com/local/2011-11-03/permanent-fund-takes-early-beating#.Trl4QnKApck
http://www.ktoonews.org/2011/10/05/alaskans-pfd-checks-will-be-in-the-bank-tomorrow/
http://www.adn.com/2011/10/06/2107280/permanent-fund-deposits-1174-in.html
For an article on Alaskas relative low poverty rate, go to:
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/despite-expense-alaskas-poverty-rate-among-lowest-us
An editorial (Scott Woodham, the Alaska
Dispatch) on how individuals ought to spend their dividends is online at:
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/concerned-whats-so-permanent-about-alaska-permanent-fund
An editorial (by the Fairbanks News-Minter) against the dividend is online at:
http://newsminer.com/bookmark/15669221-Dividend-debates-Alaskans-should-recall-permanent-fund%E2%80%99s-origin-
4. OCCUPY WALL STREET sparks interest in policies like BIG
USBIG
The Occupy Wall Street movement has spread around the country and around the
world in the last few months. It is made up of a diverse group of people with
diverse goals, united by one simple idea: to reverse the last 30 years of
increasing inequality. The increase in inequality has not only been relative
but also absolute. The top 1 percent of the U.S. income distribution has seen
enormous growth in income and wealth over the last 30 years, while the bottom
80 to 90 percent have seen almost no real growth in income, wealth, or standard
of living.
Within that general focus Occupy Wall Street protestors are talking about many
different specific policies, and among them is the Basic Income Guarantee. One
blog, which managed to get quoted in Forbes Magazine listed BIG as one of the
key demands of protestors. This appears to be an exaggeration, but a lively
discussion of BIG is underway on the Occupy Wall Street website.
For the BIG discussion on the OWS Website, go to:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/basic-income-guarantee-for-the-us/
The blog post mentioned above is, "Parsing the Data and Ideology of the We
Are 99% Tumblr:"
http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/parsing-the-data-and-ideology-of-the-we-are-99-tumblr/
The Forbes article about the protestors demands is, "Understanding What
the Occupy Wall Street Protesters Want":
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/10/11/understanding-what-the-occupy-wall-street-protesters-want/
5.
BIEN recognizes its 25th anniversary
USBIG
The Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) was founded on September 6, 1986 under
its original name, the Basic Income European Network. Therefore, it marked its
25th Anniversary last September. Guy Standing, one of the honorary
Presidents and someone who has been involved in the organization since it was
founded, wrote an editorial for Basic Income News reflecting on BIENs first 25
years.
Standing writes, Anniversaries are
poignant human moments, points on a journey, never an end in themselves.
Twenty-five years ago, on September 4-6, 1986, a small group of us held a
workshop on basic income, and on September 6 decided to set up a network, BIEN.
The memory is blurred; the documentation is scattered. However, this 25th
anniversary is a testament to several aspects of BIEN, and it is perhaps
acceptable to reflect on the journey so far.
Read the full editorial at:
http://binews.org/2011/09/anniversary-note-biens-25th/
6. KUCINICHS NEED ACT calls for a Citizens Dividend plan
USBIG
Representative Dennis Kucinich
introduced the NEED Act into the U.S. House of Representatives several months
ago. The act is mostly aimed at reforming the U.S. banking system, but it
includes a provision for outlining a plan to create a Citizens Dividend
(another name for Basic Income). The exact wording of the relevant section of
the bill is, . . . the Secretary
[of the Treasury], in cooperation with the Monetary Authority, shall make
recommendations to the Congress for payment of a Citizens Dividend as a
tax-free grant to all United States citizens residing in the United States in
order to provide liquidity to the banking system at the commencement of this Act,
before governmental infrastructure expenditures have had a chance to work into
circulation. . . . The Secretary shall maintain a thorough study of the effects
of the Citizens Dividend observing its effects on production and consumption,
prices, morale, and other economic and fiscal factors.
An article about the act is online at:
http://www.progress.org/2011/hueylong.htm
The text of the bill is online at:
kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/NEED_ACT.pdf
7.
INDIANA GOVERNOR endorses BIG
USBIG
Mitch Daniels, the Conservative Republican governor of Indiana, has endorsed
BIG. An entire chapter of his new book, Keeping
the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans, is dedicated to the
negative income tax. The governor defended the idea to skeptical conservatives
saying, "If you believe as I do that Americans — whether poor, or
minority, or young — are capable of making their own decisions and that
society will work better if we treat them that way, then the negative income
tax, it seemed to me, is a real good example of that,"
An article about Daniels book is online at:
http://www.nwitimes.com/business/jobs-and-employment/article_73fac313-af44-5bd3-a2b3-638a4da92405.html#ixzz1fOEX8T6k
The books website is:
http://keeping-the-republic.com/
8. SURVEY asks Americans about BIG
USBIG
A telephone survey finds 11 percent of U.S. voters favor a Basic Income Grant.
The survey was conducted by Rasmussen Reports and published on Thursday,
September 1, 2011. Rasmussen found that 82 percent of respondents opposed the
idea. Rasmussen surveyed 1000 people and claims a margin of error of plus or
minus 3 percent with 95 percent confidence.
The exact question was, Another proposal has been made for the federal
government to provide every single American with a basic income grant. The idea
would be to provide enough money for everyone to enjoy a modest living
regardless of whether or not they choose to work. Do you favor or oppose having
the federal government provide every single American with a basic income grant?
Although the percentage is very small, 11 percent of Americans is 33 million
people, who answered yes to question asked out of the blue about a policy that
has been no part of the public discussion in U.S. politics for 30 years. One
surprising fact is that someone is actually surveying Americans about this
issue.
The same survey found that 49% of American adults think government programs
increase the level of poverty in the United States. Adding to that 19 percent
who believe government programs do nothing to help poverty shows that nearly as
many Americans (68 percent) oppose nearly anything the government is doing to
fight poverty as oppose BIG (80 percent). Only 20 percent of respondents said
that current government programs decrease the poverty.
-USBIG
For the Rasmusson report on the survey go to:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/august_2011/11_think_government_should_provide_basic_income_grant_for_all
9. BIG NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
GERMANY: Party with Basic Income Platform wins 15 Seats in Berlin State Parliament
Wolfgang Muller - BI News
On September 18th, 2011, the German Pirate Party gained 8.9 percent in their
first participation in the Berlin state election and far surpassed the required
five percent to receive representation in the state parliament. They finished
in fifth place and received 15 seats. In their election manifesto they promoted
an unconditional basic income as part of their economic and social policy.
According to the Pirate Party, basic income should secure the existence of any
citizen with permanent residence or unrestricted right of residence in Germany
without any further requirements. Post-election polls have attributed much of
the Pirate Partys success to its social policy agenda.
The Pirate Party was founded in 2006 on the basis of a claim for internet
freedom. Direct democracy and transparency have developed as further parts of
its themes. Since its foundation the Pirate Party has been growing and
participated in several German state elections as well as in the German federal
election and European Parliament election in 2009. This achievement marks the
first time the Pirate Party will participate in a state parliament.
Another party that participated in Berlin state election and stands for an
unconditional basic income is the Socialist Equality Party (Partei fr Soziale
Gleichheit, PSG). Its candidate Christopher Vandreier underpinned the party's
claim for an unconditional basic income of 1.500 as a requirement for equal
participation in society in an election broadcast shown during the election
according to the World Socialist Web Site. The PSG got only 0.1 percent in the
election and therefore clearly missed the required five percent.
For more information about Berlin state election, Pirate Party and Socialist
Equality Party see:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/sep2011/pira-s10.shtml
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,787044,00.html
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/sep2011/berl-s06.shtml
http://berlin.piratenpartei.de/ (German only)
http://www.gleichheit.de/ (German only)
http://www.wahlen-berlin.de/wahlen/BE2011/ergebnis/karten/zweitstimmen/ErgebnisUeberblick.asp?sel1=1052&sel2=0651
(German only)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/sep2011/pira-s10.shtml
http://falkvinge.net/2011/03/18/should-pirate-parties-include-the-swarm-economy/
GERMANY: Pirate Party endorses Basic Income in its national campaign
Joerg Drescher - BI News
According to the press release of the Pirate Party from the December 3, 2011,
the party argued about and adopted a resolution in support of Basic Income and
minimum wages at its party convention in Offenbach.
After a debate, which took about two hours, the motion Unconditional Basic
Income and Minimum Wages was carried by 66.9 percent and reached the necessary
supermajority. The result shows the long, engaged and controversial discussion.
Now the motion is part of the election manifesto for the next federal elections
in 2013 in Germany.
The party understands the Unconditional Basic Income as: Insurance for the
existence and social participation, as well as a guaranteed individual legal
title without means test, compulsion to work or any other reward. Because its
implementation will be a change of the paradigm in welfare policy, the launch
of a public discussion beforehand is necessary. For that reason, the Pirate
Party wants to fund an enquiry commission within the German Bundestag to
workout new and evaluate existing models. One of the models should be elected
by a national referendum. Until the implementation of an Unconditional Basic
Income, the Pirate Party endorses a federal legal minimum wage.
According to GoogleNews more than 600 articles were published on this topic,
including by leading nationwide newspapers. One of them, the Sddeutsche, spoke
with Sebastian Nerz, the party leader, about Basic Income. He said, he was not
convinced, even if he know, that it might be possible. But he wished, that the
Party would have dealt with a more concrete model beforehand.
This article says further that Nerz is not alone with his opinion, because a
few other members were concerned that the motion was too universal. On the one
hand, it says nothing about the amount of the Basic Income (could be 500 or
2.000 Euro). On the other hand, it is not clear how to fund the scheme and
which influence it would have on the political economy.
In another interview with Christian Engstrm, Member of the European Parliament
for the Swedish Pirate Party, from the 15th November 2011 with EurActiv.com he
was asked, which issues are especially important to be addressed on a
supranational level and which issues are more relevant for the national level.
He answered, that topics as a Basic Income, possession of soft drugs and free
public transport, are more national and even regional issues of the German
Pirates.
For articles on this topic go to:
Press release of the Pirate Party:
http://www.piratenpartei.de/Pressemitteilung/piraten-sprechen-sich-f%C3%BCr-bedingungsloses-grundeinkommen-und-mindestlohn-aus
Article in the Sddeutsche:
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/piraten-votieren-fuer-grundeinkommen-vage-statt-gewagt-1.1225882
Interview with Christian Engstrm:
http://www.euractiv.com/infosociety/pirate-mep-expect-party-grow-interview-508952
GERMANY: Movement toward a basic pension?
BIEN
Old age poverty increasingly becomes a political issue in Germany. All
scientific forecasts predict rising old age poverty in Germany. The Federal
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Ursula von der Leyen just presented a
proposal for a minimum pension. However the access to the proposed minimum
pension shall be limited to people who have been insured in the pay-as-you-go
pension insurance for 45 years and have paid additionally for 35 years into a
funded pension scheme. While the socialist party Die Linke proposes a
means-tested minimum pension, the BIEN life member and member of parliament for
the Greens, Dr. Wolfgang Strengmann-Kuhn, followed the Swedish example and
proposes a guaranteed basic pension for all who have been insured for 30 years
in the pay-as-you-go pension insurance. Years dedicated to child-rearing or
care of relatives count just as well as attendance of school.
Proposal of the Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs:
http://www.bmas.de/DE/Service/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/regierungsdialog-rente-2011.html
Proposal of the Greens:
http://www.strengmann-kuhn.de/2011/09/15/die-grune-garantierente/
ITALY: Demonstration in Bologna turns into riot
BIEN
On October 12, 2011, hundreds of protesters demonstrated in Bologna within the
framework of the Indignados movement, against the effects of the financial
crisis. Among the claims was the idea of a guaranteed income (Reddito per
tutti). Most participants were precarious workers. The demonstration turned
violent with the intervention of police forces, as several protesters were
beaten and even injured.
Further information: http://www.bin-italia.org/
ITALY: BIN-Italia open letter to Italys President and Welfare Minister
USBIG
The Basic Income Network of Italy (BIN-Italia), has released an open letter to
the President of Italy Mario Monti and the Minister for Welfare. The letter is
entitled, "Hurry!" It calls for the introduction of an unconditional
guaranteed income. In the letter, BIN-Italia appeals for haste in implementing
effective measures to fight the social emergency in Italy. BIN-Italia argues,
to avoid the risk of default of citizenship rights and to allow Italy to
adapt to European standard protection of human dignity it is essential to
realize an individual basic income.
The full text of the letter (in English and in Italian) is on the BIN-Italia
website:
http://www.bin-italia.org/UP/pubb/Pamphlet%20Labour2_low%20res.pdf
FRANCE: Young leaders in favour of basic income
BIEN
Founded in 1938, the Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants (Centre for young
leaders) is Frances oldest representative organization for employers. With
its 4000 active members, it remains an influential group. It recently published
a document entitled Okos, which contains several reform proposals to be
submitted to the candidates at Frances next Presidential election (2012).
Among the proposals is the idea of an unconditional universal grant
(allocation universelle).
For further
information:
http://www.comitebastille.org/2011/10/objectif-oikos-le-livre-blanc-2012-du.html
BELGIUM: Philippe Van Parijs Recives Belgian Ark Award
BIEN
The Belgian Ark Award for Free Speech was created in 1951 by Flemish
intellectuals who were opposing restrictions to freedom of expression. In the
past decades, it was awarded to several prominent intellectuals, mainly Flemish
writers and artists. On May 25, the 2011 Prize was awarded to Philippe Van
Parijs (UCLouvain), one of the most prominent advocates of basic income, and a
founder of BIEN. In his "Laudatio", Professor Rik Coolsaet (Ghent
University) mentioned Van Parijs's defence of basic income as one of the best
examples of his lifelong commitment to social justice.
Coolsaet's "Laudatio" was published in the Flemish daily 'De
Standaard':
http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=GP3AI60C
Van Parijs's speech (in Dutch) is available at:
http://www.uclouvain.be/8611.html
The list of past laureates is at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_Prize_of_the_Free_Word
BRAZIL: Suplicy campaigns for basic income.
USBIG
Senator Eduardo Suplicy spent three months campaigning as a pre-candidate for
the Workers Party nomination for Mayor of Sao Paulo. He based his campaign
almost entirely on the idea of creating a Basic Income at the municipal level.
On November 6, 2011 he secured a promise from another pre-candidate Fernando
Haddad, the current Minister of Education, that he would incorporate some of Suplicys
proposal into his own plan. Although Haddad did not offer any specifics,
Suplicy, who has three years left to go in his Senate term, agreed to drop out
of the race and endorse Haddad.
FRANCE: Three Presidential Candidates to propose Basic Income
Stanislas Jourdan - BI News
The idea of basic income seeps slowly into the French political scene. Following
former prime minister Dominique De Villepins announcement that he will propose
a citizen income to the next presidential elections, two others candidates are
preparing their own proposals.
Christine Boutin still favors basic
income
Last week, Christine Boutin, president of the Christian Democratic Party,
renewed her support for a basic income, in the move of her campaign towards the
next presidential elections in 2012. She said at a meeting that she supported a
basic income for all the French from birth to replace the hundreds of
benefits to which no one understands anything. She claims a basic income at
400 Euros for every adult while 200 Euros would be given to children. This is
not a sacrament for idleness or a poverty trap, but an asset to escape
poverty, she added. Back in 2006, Christine Boutin was the first major
political figure to propose a universal dividend. Very inspired by Yolland
Bressons work, she even filed a bill at the French National Assembly (which
was never debated in the end).
Key measure of the Green Party
More encouraging news is coming to us that Europe Ecologie – Les
Verts (Former Green Party) is currently working on its own proposal for a basic
income. According to internal sources from the Party, this will be a key measure
of their election campaign. Eva Joly, the leader of the party who will be
running the election, yet made allusions that she favors a subsistence
income, and the basic income was already in their political platform in the
last elections back in 2007 and 2009. But some doubts remained among observers,
still waiting for a concrete proposal in view of the next election.
Villepin under fire
Meanwhile, Villepins proposal has been highly criticized by his opponent,
arguing that the measure was demagogic or unrealistic. Even some of his own
supporters were destabilized by the idea and left his movement. Other French
basic income supporters heavily criticized the nature of the proposal. Indeed,
while he suggests a high-valued citizen income of 850 Euros a month, this grant
could not be drawn concurrently with other income. But Villepin keeps the line.
On his blog he answers critics from President Sarkozy, arguing that This so
called thing is no magic nor demagogy, this is simply citizenship.
For more info about BIG in France go to:
Yolland Bresson's envision of the basic income:
http://owni.fr/2011/03/18/yolland-bresson-revenu-existence/
Christine Boutin's statements:
http://www.lepoint.fr/fil-info-reuters/christine-boutin-pour-un-revenu-de-base-11-09-2011-1372084_240.php
One critic of Villepin's proposal:
http://www.creationmonetaire.info/2011/04/revenu-citoyen-attention-danger.html
LIBYA: CNN editorial suggests Alaska Solution to the resource curse
USBIG
Libya has been a classic case of the resource curse: enormous resource wealth
(even on a per-person basis), but instead of prosperity, the windfall has
coincided with poverty and political oppression. The new government now has the
job of finding a way to lift the curse on Libya. A recent editorial by Kevin
Voigt of CNN suggests that one of the best ways to do so would be to embrace,
what he calls, the Alaska solution: distribute some of the oil revenue
directly to the people. The article examines other cases such as Norway,
Mongolia, and Bolivia to find lessons for how to avoid the resource curse and
to bolster the case for the Alaska solution.
The editorial, The 'resource curse': An Alaskan solution for Libya? by Kevin
Voigt of CNN
September 6, 2011, is online at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/09/05/libya.oil.resource.curse/index.html
SENEGAL: Presidential candidate in favour of basic income
BIEN
Presidential elections will take place in Senegal in February 2012. One of the
candidates, Abdoulaye Taye, has announced that his electoral platform would
include a strong plea in favour of the implementation of an unconditional basic
income in Senegal.
For further information:
Dedicated website (in French): http://www.rbg-amo.com/
Email address of the candidate: layetaye@yahoo.fr
The 44 proposals of Tayes platform summarized at
http://www.nettali.net/Les-44-propositions-du-Docteur.html (in French)
CANADA: Prince Edward Island Green Party Endorses BIG
Wolfgang Muller - BI News
Sharon Labchuck, the leader of the Green Party of Prince Edward Island, finds
interest on the idea of a "guaranteed liveable income". According to
the Canadian Guardian, she described it as "a bold idea but one worth
pursuing". The Green Party and their tax suggestions became subject of
discussion in an all-candidates debate for the election in the beginning of
October 2011. In particular Robert Ghiz, leader of the winning Liberals, found
some of the suggested tax policies interesting and considerable. The Green Party, however, could not
gain any of the seats in October.
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Decision-11/Decision-11/2011-09-19/article-2753391/Ghiz-endorses-Green-Party-tax-suggestions-/1
http://results.electionspei.ca/
CANADA: Manitoba Green Party Leader endorses BIG
USBIG
The leader of the provincial Green Party of Canada has endorsed BIG. According
to CARP online, the leader writes, If elected we would work towards the
creation of a universal basic income for all Manitobans. An article about the
statement is online at:
http://www.carp.ca/2011/09/29/green-party-of-manitoba-leader-james-beddomes-statment/
EUROPEAN UNION: EU-Wide Initiative for an Unconditional Basic Income
USBIG
At the world action day, an international initiative group announced plans to
prepare and launch a European Citizens Initiative on the implementation of an
unconditional basic income in Europe. Hosted by the Internationaler Runder
Tisch Grundeinkommen (international German-speaking round table on basic
income), the symposium was held in Vienna on 14/15th October 2011. In the end,
60 scientists, activists and representatives from NGOs adopted a declaration in
favor of this initiative. For more information on the initiative, please
contact:
Klaus Sambor <klaus.sambor@aon.at> and
Ronald Blaschke <blaschke@grundeinkommen.de>
UNITED NATIONS: UN Report Calls for Social Protection Floor
USBIG
On October 27, 2011, a high-level United Nations panel released a report
calling for guaranteeing basic income and services for all. The report,
entitled Social Protection Floor for a
Fair and Inclusive Globalization, did not specifically call for basic
income but the floor would guarantee basic income in the form of social
transfers in cash or kind, such as pensions, child benefits, employment
guarantees and services for the unemployed and working poor, while providing
universal access to essential affordable social services in health, water and
sanitation, education, food, housing, and other services defined according to
national priorities.
UN Story on the report with a link to the full text of the report is online at:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40218&Cr=social+protection&Cr1
GERMANY (CORRECTION): Basic Income Facebook in German obtains 50,000 followers
USBIG
Bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen, a Facebook page in German, obtained its 50,000th
follower in the summer of 2012. The page was created by Daniel Hni and
Benjamin Hohlmann in Basel, Switzerland. The popularity of this site is just a small sign of the extent to which
the BIG movement is taking off in German-speaking countries from the grass
roots to the highest levels. Five of the six major parties in Germany have
Basic Income factions. Dozens of members of the German Parliament have endorsed
Basic Income. The national German BIG network is a large and growing organization,
which has regular events often in cooperation with Swiss and Austrian groups.
The German BIG Network will host the 2012 BIEN Congress in Munich.
German-speaking countries have something that few other countries have: local
Basic Income groups with regular activities in many German cities. Daniel Hni
and Enno Schmidt founded a Swiss group in 2006 in Basel. They produced the
documentary "Basic Income. A Cultural Impulse" (released in 2008),
which is the most popular movie about BI in Germany and Switzerland
The Bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen Facebook is online at: http://www.facebook.com/bedingungsloses.grundeinkommen.
For information (in German) about the German BIG network, go to their website:
http://www.grundeinkommen.de/
An English (dubbed) version of "Basic Income. A Cultural
Impulse" is online at:
http://dotsub.com/view/26520150-1acc-4fd0-9acd-169d95c9abe1
CORRECTION: The original version of this article misidentified the page as
being created by the German BIG Network
10. BASIC INCOME STUDIES releases New Issue
USBIG
Basic Income Studies (BIS), the only
academic journal focused entirely on Basic Income, has released volume 6, issue
1, 2011. BIS issues are available for free sampling at http://www.bepress.com/bis.
Research Articles
The Basic Income Road to Reforming Iran's Price Subsidies
Hamid Tabatabai
ABSTRACT: Iran has become the first country in the world to provide a de facto
basic income to all its citizens. This article reviews the development of the
main component of Irans economic reform plan – the replacement of fuel
and food subsidies with direct cash transfers to the population – and
shows how a system of universal, regular and unconditional cash transfers
emerged almost by default as a by-product of an attempt to transform an inefficient
and unfair system of price subsidies. The main features of the cash subsidy
system are compared with those of a basic income; then some lessons from this
experience are drawn that may enhance the prospects of basic income as a
realistic proposition.
Overcoming Dividend Skepticism: Why the World's Sovereign Wealth Funds
Are Not Paying Basic Income Dividends
Angela L. Cummine
ABSTRACT: More than 50 states around the world now possess a Sovereign Wealth
Fund (SWF), yet only the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) directly distributes
profits to national citizens. SWFs are government-owned investment vehicles,
more than two-thirds of which have been established since the year 2000. This
article seeks to discover why this recent proliferation of SWFs has not been
matched with a similar increase in their use as a financing source for Basic
Income schemes.
Pathways to a Universal Basic Pension in Greece
Manos Matsaganis and Chrysa
Leventi
ABSTRACT: Although basic pension had failed for years to catch the imagination
of policy makers in Greece, the severe crisis raging since November 2009 has
caused it to be quickly put on the agenda. In May 2010 the government committed
to a harsh austerity programme, aimed at fiscal consolidation, in return for a
rescue package easing the sovereign debt crisis. The July 2010 pension reform,
a key provision of the austerity programme, provided for the introduction of a
near-universal basic pension starting in 2015. This paper explains why,
paradoxically, the crisis made a universal basic pension in Greece more
realistic. We argue, first, that social insurance pensions may be ripe for
path-breaking reform if heavily subsidised in a non-transparent way, and,
second, that any progress towards basic income is likely to be gradual, uneven and
specific to the national policy context.
Basic Income From the Bottom Up? Allocating Jobs and Incomes With the
Job Sharing Doodle
Manfred Fullsack
ABSTRACT: The paper presents a proposal for allocating jobs and incomes through
using an internet auction that is based on the idea of tradable job quotas.
Auction participants are enabled to self-organize for a BI. A smart phone
application for conducting the auction is presented, and some results of
experiments with multi-agent simulations are discussed.
Research Note
The Case for a Global Pension and Youth Grant
Robin Blackburn
ABSTRACT: This research note argues that, in the age of globalisation, the old
age pension should be installed at a global level, by means of a pension paid
at a modest rate to all older persons on the planet, to be financed by a light
tax on global financial transactions and corporate wealth.
Book Reviews
Review of Peter Baldwin, The
Narcissism of Minor Differences: How America and Europe Are Alike
Tord Skogedal Lindn
Review of Joseph Hanlon, David Hulme and Armando Barrientos, Just Give Money to the Poor: The Development
Revolution From the Global South
Cecilia T. Lanata Briones
11. RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Gosseries, Axel & Vanderborght, Yannick (editors), Arguing About Justice: Essays for Philippe Van Parijs
Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain (2011).
USBIG
Publishers description: A collective volume, entitled Arguing About Justice, has just been published on the occasion of
Philippe Van Parijss 60th birthday. The book was launched on October 28th,
2011, during the celebrations of the Hoover Chair (Louvain University) 20th
anniversary, and remained a complete surprise for Van Parijs himself. The
editors Axel Gosseries and Yannick Vanderborght had managed to convince almost
50 authors from all over the world, who all respect Philippes ideas and like
him as a person, to join this secret project. The authors were asked to write
pieces trying out new ideas, taking risks if possible, without knowing anything
about who the other authors were, their number, the publishers name, the venue
for the gift-giving, etc.
The
diversity of Van Parijss research interests is reflected in the volume, with
contributors from various disciplines covering a wide array of issues. Papers
on basic income are of course well represented. They consider how and to what
extent such a basic income can be justified (Christian Arnsperger & Warren
A. Johnson, Samuel Bowles, Paul-Marie Boulanger, Ian Carter, Robert van der
Veen, and Karl Widerquist) as well as the prospects of its implementation,
based on experiences from France (Denis Clerc), the United Kingdom (Bill
Jordan), Brazil (Eduardo Suplicy), or at a more general level (Almaz Zelleke).
Among the other authors are Anne Alstott, Bruce Ackerman, John Baker, Joshua
Cohen, Jon Elster, Robert Goodin, Claus Offe, John Roemer, Erik Olin Wright,
and many others.
The
endorsement by Amartya Sen reads as follows: A book of quick and sharp
thoughts on a grand theme is a novel way of paying tribute to a leading
philosopher. But it has worked beautifully here, both as a stimulating book of
ideas on justice, and as a fitting recognition of the intellectual
contributions of Philippe Van Parijs, who is one of the most original and most
creative thinkers of our time.
Further details about the book (including all abstracts) and how to order it
online are available at: http://www.uclouvain.be/394650.html
Alstott, Anne, Marriages as assets? Real freedom and relational freedom
In Gosseries, Axel & Vanderborght, Yannick (editors), Arguing About Justice. Essays for Philippe
Van Parijs. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain (2011).
USBIG
Abstract: In Real Freedom for All,
Ph. Van Parijs characterizes jobs as scarce, external resources that may justifiably
be taxed in order to fund a basic income. Surprisingly, Van Parijs notes,
in passing, that a tax on scarce marriage partners might possibly be justified
on similar grounds. This essay revisits the analogy between jobs and marriages
and concludes that marriage partners are not in principle scarce, although in
practice they are. It follows that the first-best course of action is for the
state to take measures (including basic income, national service, online dating
regulation, and liberalization of marriage laws) to ensure fair access to
marriage partners for those who wish to marry. In the absence of such reforms,
a tax on marriage partners might be a defensible second-best measure.
Carter, Ian, Distributing freedom over whole lives
In Gosseries, Axel & Vanderborght, Yannick (editors), Arguing About Justice. Essays for Philippe
Van Parijs. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain (2011).
USBIG
ABSTRACT: Many egalitarians, among whom "real libertarians"
like Ph. Van Parijs, wish to assess distributions of freedom in a way that
takes into account each person's whole life. Is the policy outcome of such a
normative stance basic income (an income allocated at regular intervals during
each person's life), or basic capital (a lump sum allocated only once to each
person, at the beginning of her life)? The former answer depends on an
"end state" interpretation of the concept of "freedom over whole
lives"; the latter depends on a "starting gate" interpretation
of that concept. On the basis of a reductionist conception of the person (due
to D. Parfit), together with a particular idea of respect for persons (called
"opacity respect"), it is possible to justify a combination of these
two interpretations, and with this, the libertarian prescription of a
combination of basic capital and basic income.
Clerc, Denis Why big ideas never change society
In Gosseries, Axel & Vanderborght, Yannick (editors), Arguing About Justice. Essays for Philippe
Van Parijs. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain (2011).
USBIG
ABSTRACT: Ph. Van Parijs has shown that basic income allows to combine
social justice and individual freedom, two goals that are often considered to
be incompatible. Why, then, does it remain so low on the political agenda?
Probably because its implementation would generate such a big bang in our
complex societies, a risk that no government is ready to take. This is why we
should rather try to approach this goal gradually, be it through very small
steps.
Jordan, Bill Prospects for basic income: a British Perspective
In
Gosseries, Axel & Vanderborght, Yannick (editors), Arguing About Justice. Essays for Philippe Van Parijs. Louvain-la-Neuve:
Presses universitaires de Louvain (2011).
USBIG
ABSTRACT: As the idea of Basic Income becomes more of a practical
possibility, the political basis for its implementation grows in importance.
Among the available rationales for its introduction are to combat the
polarisation of incomes through globalisation and to curb the perverse effects
of tax-benefit interactions. This paper argues that the proposal should be
linked with a global social movement to address the precarious future of the
young generation.
Suplicy, Eduardo Matarazzo, Towards an unconditional basic income in Brazil?
In Gosseries, Axel & Vanderborght, Yannick (editors), Arguing About Justice. Essays for Philippe
Van Parijs. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain (2011).
USBIG
ABSTRACT: In this chapter, I reflect on the history of basic income in
Brazil, based on first hand political experience. First, I detail how basic
income came to inspire concrete policies in my home country. Second, I focus on
the main social assistance program in Brazil today, the Bolsa Famlia, which is
widely regarded as one of the examples to be followed by other developing
countries. Third, I explain why I think that a Citizens Basic Income (CBI)
remains superior, in many ways, to such a conditional scheme. Finally, I try to
show how we can move towards a true CBI in Brazil.
van der Veen, Robert, Why auntie's boring tea parties matter for the fair distribution of gifts
In Gosseries, Axel & Vanderborght, Yannick (editors), Arguing About Justice. Essays for Philippe
Van Parijs. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain (2011).
USBIG
ABSTRACT: Van Parijss case for the highest unconditional basic income
asserts that the benefits of unequally held gifts - such as inheritances and
scarce jobs - should be redistributed by means of taxation, to serve the goal
of maximizing the real freedom of the least advantaged. Invoking Dworkins
egalitarian auction model, Van Parijs argues that the fairest way of sharing
the tax yield is to give all an equal share, regardless of willingness to work.
In this chapter, however, I show that some gifts command auction prices which
reflect a reward for the work required to obtain their benefits. If this
outcome of the auction is properly taken aboard, then a fair redistribution of
the tax yield must - at least in part - be conditional on peoples willingness
to work.
Widerquist Karl, Why we demand an unconditional basic income: the ECSO freedom case
In Gosseries, Axel & Vanderborght, Yannick (editors), Arguing About Justice. Essays for Philippe
Van Parijs. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain (2011).
USBIG
ABSTRACT: This essay argues that Van Parijss notion of real freedom
does not capture the most important reasons why an adequate social protection
system must include an unconditional income. Real freedom, the freedom to do
whatever one might want to do, is neither the most important freedom for people
to have nor a freedom that necessarily explains why benefits must be
unconditional and large enough to meet a persons basic needs. It might not be
possible to determine what kind of redistribution plan gives people the most
real freedom. Instead society must focus on protecting the most important
freedoms, especially the freedom of voluntary interaction and the freedom to
refuse involuntary interaction: the power to say 'no'. This understanding of
freedom provides a compelling reason why basic income must be unconditional.
Zelleke, Almaz, The capitalist road to communism: are we there yet?
In Gosseries, Axel & Vanderborght, Yannick (editors), Arguing About Justice. Essays for Philippe
Van Parijs. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain (2011).
USBIG
ABSTRACT: Twenty-five years after the publication of Van Parijs and van
der Veens provocative Capitalist Road to Communism, the global economy has
achieved the abundance necessary for communism. The means and relations of
production have evolved in a way that makes the elimination of the division of
labor, private property, and class divisions—conditions critical to
Marxs vision of communism—possible. A basic income in the context of a
global, networked economy, championed by a new and unexpected vanguard class,
could fulfill Van Parijs and van der Veens original and ambitious claim.
Robert Auerbach: The U. S. Government's Largest Means-Tested Anti-Poverty Program Has Severe Problems
In The Huffington Post
Politics, September 12, 2011
USBIG
This opinion piece discusses the relevance for todays politics of the
Negative Income Tax proposal, as discussed in the 1970s by Milton Friedman and
Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The author is Professor of Public Affairs, The
University of Texas at Austin.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-auerbach/the-u-s-governments-large_b_958329.html
Gareth Morgan, Tax revamp not about pulling rich down and Battle lines drawn over NZ economy
In The New Zealand
Herald, September 13 and November 8, 2011
USBIG
In two editorials, economist Gareth Morgan defends his proposal for what he
calls the Big Kahuna, a proposal for comprehensive reform of New Zealands
tax and welfare system, including a basic income.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10751357
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10764433
West, Johnny, Iraqs Last Window: Diffusing the Risks of a Petro-State
Center for Global Development Working Paper. Washington,
D.C.: Center for Global Development.
http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1425433/
USBIG
ABSTRACT: Although Iraqs oil industry is 80 years old, it has an
opportunity to introduce an oil dividend based on the expansion of production
currently being undertaken. Even assuming a conservative price for crude, the
resulting predicted rise in revenues will allow the government to allocate a
significant dividend which halves poverty, helps diversify the economy by
creating demand at all income levels for goods and services, and stimulates
capital formation—all without cutting into the governments capital
spending plans. A dividend, starting at $220 per capita in October 2012 and
rising with expanded production, could also cement the affiliation of all
citizens to Iraqi territorial integrity, act as a powerful disincentive to
secession in oil-producing regions, and create popular pressure among all
sections of the population to discourage acts by the ongoing insurgency which
disrupt economic reconstruction. Logistically, dividends could be mapped onto
the nationwide and universal rationing system, as the electoral roll has been,
and combined with Iraqs ubiquitous mobile phone networks and new biometric ID
cards. A partial dividend would create a strong domestic political constituency
for transparency to reinforce international technical efforts to help the
government manage oil revenues and create efficient management structures. It
would also help Iraq develop an alternative economic model to a future, which
the countrys present trajectory now threatens, of a bloated state as the
countrys only significant employer, with all the attendant problems of
patronage networks, politicization of the civil service, and outright
corruption. Support for an oil dividend policy is growing among some
politicians, notably those seeking votes among the Iraqi poor such as the
Sadrists and Fadhila party. International support could help the government
structure a dividend which functions well and in the public interest.
Johnny West is a former journalist for Reuters in the Middle East and the
founder of OpenOil, a consultancy which advises the UN on the public policy
implications of the oil industry in the Middle East, and which seeks market
solutions to resource-curse issues.
MacDonald, Lawrence, Oil 2 Cash in Iraq: Johnny West
Global Prosperity Wonkcast, September 12, 2011
USBIG
This website has a written introduction and an half-hour interview with Johnny
West who discusses the possibility of an Alaska-style oil dividend for Iraq.
According to West, if one takes into account the potential oil revenue of Iraq, the country is capable of generating
a much larger dividend than most observers have realized. The reason is that
Iraqi oil fields are underexplored and under exploited. It has far more
potential to drill than has currently been realized. A livable dividend might
well be possible.
Daniels, Mitch, Keeping the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans
New York: Sentinel HC, September 20, 2011.
USBIG
This book, by the Conservative Republican governor of Indiana, includes an
entire chapter on the negative income tax. The publishers website for the book
is online at:
http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781101552148,00.html?Keeping_the_Republic_Mitch_Daniels
Kundig, Bernard, The Basic Income in a Crisis
In Economics NewsPaper,
USBIG
In this article, Bernard Kundig, makes a diagnosis of the Greek crisis and
shows how Basic Income can be used to help rationalize and clean up public
finance in Greece without stifling economic activity.
http://economicsnewspaper.com/economics/the-basic-income-in-a-crisis-67068.html
Tarifi, Mohamad, A Better System of Economics
In Institute for
Ethics & Emerging Technologies, September 8, 2011
USBIG
In this article, Mohamad Tarifi argues for a Basic Income Guarantee as part of
a wider social reform meant to deal with the emergence of new technologies.
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/tarifi20110908
Belik, Vivian, A Town Without Poverty?
In The Dominion: news
from the grassroots. September 5, 2011
USBIG
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/4100
This newspaper editorial reports and comments on Evelyn Forgets reexamination
of Canada's Negative Income Tax Experiment in Dauphin, Manitoba in the 1970s.
Smith, Jeff, Its August. Do You Know Where Your Vacation Is? and The Jobs Mirage: How Much More Work Do Humans Really Need?
In TruthOut, Op-Ed
page, August 26 and September 5, 2011
USBIG
In these two successive articles,
Jeff Smith argues that Americans need to learn from Europeans to work to live
rather than to live to work. He argues that U.S. leisure time is squeezed and
that BIG in the form of a Citizens Dividend would help. Jeffery J. Smith in the
editor of The Progress Report and The Geonomist.
http://www.truth-out.org/its-august-do-you-know-where-your-vacation/1314291256
`Khariseb Petrus, BIG still the best option
Informante (Namibia), September 28, 2011
USBIG
This opinion piece discusses the state of poverty in Namibia and argues that
Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition is still convinced that the BIG remains the
best option and the best tool to lighten the burden of the increasing rate of
unemployment and to change the ugly face of poverty in Namibia.
Its online at:
http://www.informante.web.na/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8781&Itemid=102
12. UPCOMING EVENTS
BELFAST, Northern Ireland, 2012: Justice through unconditional basic income?
USBIG
The 2012 European Foundation Centre conference will hold a session entitled,
Justice through unconditional basic income? A debate on European Social
Policy The conference website describes the session as follows:
The social question and the issue of solidarity are among the core issues of
the European agenda. The European Commission has focused its Europe 2020
strategy almost exclusively on them and a whole civil society movement on
equality and social justice has emerged during the last couple of years
throughout the continent. The session will deal with the issue of an
unconditional basic income as a possible perspective on European social policy.
Should every citizen get the amount of 700 Euro a month with few or no
conditions attached? Is that simply utopia? Or is it a real European idea that
could lead to the abolishment of other official political welfare systems? And
if the unconditional basic income is not the solution for inequality and
injustice that exists throughout Europe, what other strategies do we have to
improve the economic perspectives of European citizens and explicitly the young
generation? Which answers and solutions can we provide in order to achieve
social justice, taking into account the historical youth unemployment and the
sovereign debt that the young generation will inherit? And what is the role of
foundations, i.e. the third sector, in all this?
More information about the conference is online at:
http://www.efc.be/AgaConference/Pages/2012SessionDescriptions.aspx
MUNICH, Germany, September 14-16, 2012. Fourteenth BIEN Congress
USBIG
The Fourteenth BIEN Congress will take place in Munich Germany in September
2012. The call for papers and more information will appear on BIENs website
soon.
http://www.basicincome.org/bien/
13.
RECENT EVENTS
ROME, Italy November 24th 2011 Precarity and guaranteed income
USBIG
A public meeting about Precarity and guaranteed income was held in Rome on
24th of November 2011. It was organized by Confederazione Generale Italia
Lavoro (the Italian general confederation of work) of the Lazio region.
Participants included Tina Bali (Secretary of CGIL Roma and Lazio), Sandro
Gobetti (Bin Italy) and Michele Raitano (La Sapienza University, Rome) took
part at the meeting. Meeting Coordinator was Martha Bonafoni (Director of Radio
Popolare Roma). The meeting started at 5 pm and took place at the Detour Urban
Oasis, Via Urbana 107 Rome.
The discussion focused on Precarity condition and the need for a guaranteed
income in Italy within a broader context such as the European social model. The
connection between precarity and guaranteed income has become a focal point in
the debate especially for Italy, a country where more than 2.5 million young
people are out of work and without any kind of income support.
More information (in Italian) about the meeting is online at:
http://www.bin-italia.org/informa.php?ID_NEWS=313
PISA, Italy, November 26th, 2011 Welfare and guaranteed income.
BIN-Italia
An organization called Tilt Camp held a public meeting, entitled "Welfare
and guaranteed income for tomorrow's Italy," in Pisa from 3 to 6pm on
Saturday 26th of November. Speakers included: Giulio Marcon (Sbilanciamoci),
Luca Santini (BIN Italy), Arturo di Corinto (journalist), Claudia Pratelli (Il
nostro tempo adesso. La vita non aspetta), Roberto Ciccarelli (Manifesto),
Maria La Porta (Sportello Donna), Vincenzo Bavaro (labor law, University of
Bari), Ylenia Daniello (Million Marijuana March), Michele DePalma (FIOM CGIL),
Lorenzo Misuraca (Ass. DaSud), Jacopo Pisacreta (Experience-Lab), Valentina
Meconi (Fabbrica di Nichi - Fermo). This event is part of a three-day meeting
called "Money makes you happy.
More info in Italian and a link to the Tilt camp meeting is online at:
http://www.bin-italia.org/informa.php?ID_NEWS=314
BRUSSELS (Belgium), 30 November 2011: European Congress for Change
BIEN
This Congress is organized by European Alternatives at the European
Parliament. It will bring together activists, citizens and organisations active
throughout the continent and sharing a common vision for rebuilding Europe. The
Congress aims to clearly spell out that real alternatives to Europes social,
economic, and political status quo exist, and to work towards the construction
of a platform of transnational coordination to better bring those alternatives
to fruition over the course of 2012 through a series of transnational
campaigns, forums, and assemblies. Basic Income will be among the alternatives
to be discussed by the participants.
Further information: http://www.euroalter.com/ppp/events/424/
Important note: It is necessary to register by November 27th for this event to
receive a pass to access the European Parliament.
DUBLIN, Ireland, September 14, 2011: Social Justice Irelands annual Social Policy Conference
BIEN
This one-day conference addressed the issue of Sharing responsibility in
Shaping the Future. The full text of the book containing the papers
underpinning the presentations at this conference may be accessed free of
charge at:
http://www.socialjustice.ie/content/sharing-responsibility-shaping-future-full-text
Each individual paper may also be downloaded separately. Basic Income is named
in a number of these papers as being an essential component of a viable,
sustainable future.
VIENNA, Austria October 14-15, 2011: International Symposium From a compensatory to an emancipatory social policy in Europe
BIEN
This conference was organized by Internationaler Runder Tisch Grundeinkommen
(basic income networks in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy), and Attac
(BI-groups in Austria and Germany). It was held at the Haus der Europaischen
Union. For further information please contact: grundeinkommen@ksoe.at
COLOGNE, Germany: Conference: "Basic Income at the Elections for the German Parliament on 2013"
BIEN
Organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Cologne University of
Applied Sciences and the local Basic Income Association in Cologne on Saturday
November 12, 2012. Participants discussed whether the success of the Pirate
Party will make Basic Income a central topic. According to polls, 45% of those
who voted for the Pirate Party did that because of the social fairness. The
Pirate Party is the first party in a German parliament, that has a "Right
to a safe existence and participation" in their party manifesto.
Additional information (in German) is available online at:
http://bgekoeln.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fachtagung
RIVIERA MAYA, Mexico, September 20, 2011 "Seeing Through the Illusion of Money: From Barter to the Gaia Plan"
USBIG
This session at the International Reciprocal Trade Association at the Aventura
Spa Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico featured Richard Cook discussing, in part, a
proposal for a worldwide BIG to be administered by the UN and IMF. Cook argued
that a Basic Income Guarantee is necessary not only for humanitarian, social, and
political reasons, but it is also needed to inject consumer purchasing power
into a world economy where it has collapsed due to a fatally flawed monetary
system. For more information see:
www.richardccook.com.
14. BASIC
INCOME NEWS needs writers and volunteers
The USBIG Newsletter is now a part of BI News. Most of our
stories are posted on the BI News website, and many of stories that begin on BI
News are reposted here. BI News was founded only a few months ago. It has a
growing body of news reports on Basic Income—reports originating all
around the world. We are in great need of volunteers to write for BI News and
to do other work to keep it growing. If you are interested, contact BInews at:
desk@binews.org, or simply contact me: Karl@widerquist.com
-Karl Widerquist, USBIG
15. NEW LINKS
WEB DISCUSSION OF BIG
The TED website, which includes web discussions on various topics, has begun a
discussion of BIG. Its online at:
http://www.ted.com/conversations/6479/basic_income_guarantee_1.html
WORD MOB VIDEO FOR BIG
During the international week for BIG in September 2011 the
local Basic Income Network in Hamburg Germany (www.grundeinkommen-hamburg.de)
created a special performance they call "WortMob" (Word mob). The
group spelling the words "BIG" and "human dignity". It ends
by asking "what kind of work would you choose if you'd get BIG?"
It can be found online at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i53m63yplRs
BIG KAHUNA Basic Income Plan for New Zealand
The Big Kahuna website outlines a detailed proposal for reform
of New Zealands tax and welfare system. The proposal includes a basic income.
http://www.gmi.co.nz/bigkahuna/
OCCUPY WALL STREET discussion forum on BIG
A discussion of BIG on the Occupy Wall Street Website, go is
online at:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/basic-income-guarantee-for-the-us/
INDIAN BIG PILOT PROJECTS introductory slideshow
Gwang-eun Choi has created a slide show introducing the
Basic Income pilot projects that have been taking place in India since January
2011:
http://prezi.com/-n3ms0jriljj/two-basic-income-pilot-projects-in-india/
NEW VIDEO: Large demonstration for BIG in Rome, 2003
The BIN-Italia website has a short video of a demonstration
on November 22, 2003 when more than 50.000 people in Rome demonstrated for a
guaranteed income. According to BIN-Italian, Usually in all the demonstration
the guaranteed income are one of the request from the people, social movement,
precarious worker etc. But this short movie shows the largest demonstration in
Italy just for a guaranteed income.
http://www.livestream.com/binitalia/video?clipId=flv_1ce0092c-3f5d-434b-840b
-6a1d44ec7387
16. 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
Copyeditor: Mike Murray and the USBIG Committee
Research: Paul Nollen
Special help on this issue was provided by: Michael W. Howard, Jeff Smith,
Felix Coeln, Grundeinkommen-Hamburg, and Jim Mulvale
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