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reformist2

(9,841 posts)
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 08:09 AM Apr 2013

We need to start thinking BIG - We need Basic Guaranteed Income, in addition to SS.



What is Basic Income? It's a minimum level of income that every citizen deserves, regardless of whether he/she works or not. As it becomes increasingly clear that today's modern hi-tech society does not need all working-age adults to work full time, it's kind of ridiculous to expect all of us to find full-time work at a decent wage. Basic Income has been around as a theoretical concept for over 200 years (Thomas Paine was an advocate), but it is an idea whose time has finally come.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income
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We need to start thinking BIG - We need Basic Guaranteed Income, in addition to SS. (Original Post) reformist2 Apr 2013 OP
At least stuff like this is moving the Overton window back towards djean111 Apr 2013 #1
Even freaking Milton Friedman understood that the reason people are poor... unrepentant progress Apr 2013 #2
I found myself wanting to call it BIG. ananda Apr 2013 #3
Basic guaranteed income ... in other words, a citizenship dividend ... dawg Apr 2013 #4
 

djean111

(14,255 posts)
1. At least stuff like this is moving the Overton window back towards
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 08:20 AM
Apr 2013

the left. Or humanity.
Obama seems to be a one man Overton-towards-the-right task force.
Starting from a position of guaranteed income, raising the cap, increasing COLAs, etc. seems, to me, to have been the best place to start if one was being truthful about compromise.
Obama seems to be following a cynical King Solomon approach - offering to cut the baby in half to the side who has no real problem with that.

2. Even freaking Milton Friedman understood that the reason people are poor...
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 09:31 AM
Apr 2013

...is because they have no money. Friedman was in favor a guaranteed income in the form of a negative income tax. It was Friedman, and Nixon, and Moynihan's championing of the negative income tax which ultimately led to the Earned Income Credit.

The problem with Friedman and Nixon's plan though was that it would have eliminated all other transfer programs -- no more welfare, no more Social Security, no more Food Stamps, etc. At the same time, Friedman's negative income tax would not have been enough to support single person.

dawg

(10,609 posts)
4. Basic guaranteed income ... in other words, a citizenship dividend ...
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 09:36 AM
Apr 2013

could effectively replace all non-medical safety net programs, tons of labor laws, and thousands of tax code provisions aimed at helping the working poor.

Essentially, enough money for basic needs would be provided to everyone. Want more? Go hunt a job, pay taxes on what you are able to earn, and use the rest however you wish.

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