Free Republic

inland has decided to end its experiment with a universal basic income, in which people are paid an unconditional salary by the state instead of benefits. The idea of a universal basic income has high-profile champions such as Richard Branson, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. But the Finnish government's enthusiasm for a pilot scheme, a European first which garnered worldwide attention, is petering out. Calls for extra funding for it were rejected and the two year trial will not be extended after next year.

Those who support the idea of a universal basic income are “class clueless,” former Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview Wednesday. Universal basic income, a program that would guarantee a minimum income for all Americans, has been gaining popularity as job displacement due to advances in technology continue. A recent Gallup poll found 48 percent of Americans support a universal basic income for workers who are replaced by artificial intelligence. But Biden, who is rumored to be eyeing a presidential run in 2020, said he does not believe that’s the way “America is built.” Instead, it’s a concept...

If the states are supposed to be laboratories for democracy, where new ideas that reflect regional attitudes can flourish, then cities are like micro-laboratories. Local governments can try out ideas that would never get statewide traction. Unfortunately, some California cities are more like laboratories run by Dr. Frankenstein, where frightening concepts are given life — and local residents have few other choices than to flee to other places. Most conservatives are familiar with the goings-on in San Francisco, where stringent rent-control laws have — I know you’re surprised by this — led to the least affordable rents and most unaffordable...

QUESTION: What is your opinion of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg idea of universal income? ANSWER: The idea of free money being touted by Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg only demonstrates that they know nothing about humanity or economics. They see universal free money as a cushion for workers whose jobs might be replaced by automation or robots. They argue that free money could provide workers with the flexibility to retrain for a new career, pursue creative interests, or start their own business.If we are talking about a temporary benefit during a retraining period, then that is an entirely different...

Advocates of universal basic income believe that the unconditional offer of a regular, though tiny, sum of money could help many get back on their feet, and even encourage them to invest in new business ideas. However, people from both sides of the political aisle have engaged with the proposal, which would cost money upfront but could deliver important savings by replacing unemployment benefits...

Of all the candidates for utopia, Stockton, California would be on the bottom of my list. But a 27-year-old mayor, with the backing of a foundation, is trying for utopia, as seen by supporters of the Mommy State: Universal Basic Income. Futurism.com writes: Stockton, California, is about to become the first city to test government-supported universal basic income in the U.S. The program is the idea of the city's 27-year-old mayor and will be primarily funded by the basic income advocacy group Economic Security Project.

One future-related proposal getting a lot of attention nowadays is the Universal Basic Income. The idea is to give everybody some money every month — typically something like $1,000 a month. That is not enough for everybody to live luxuriously, but enough for everybody to get by without needing to work. Supporters say it’s needed because the robots will take all the jobs, plus they hope it will raise entrepreneurship. While others say robots are a false alarm, that we’ll have a surplus of jobs so why pay people trillions to sit on the couch and refuse to work. It’s...

Hillary Clinton gave consideration to a national basic income program in 2016. •The goal was to raise incomes using “the Alaska model.” •If the chips had fallen in the right places, it could have led to every American getting a monthly check from the government. Most Americans are sick of hearing about Hillary Clinton. Enough people didn’t trust her, didn’t like her, or couldn’t be persuaded to vote for her, which led to Donald Trump’s victory. After that, we expected her to fade away — to ride off into the sunset with Bill and enjoy retirement. She did fade away...

The policy of guaranteeing every citizen a universal basic income is gaining support around the world, as automation increasingly makes jobs obsolete. But can it be funded without raising taxes or triggering hyperinflation? In a panel I was on at the NexusEarth cryptocurrency conference in Aspen September 21-23rd, most participants said no. This is my rebuttal. In May 2017, a team of researchers at the University of Oxford published the results of a survey of the world's best artificial intelligence experts, who predicted that there was a 50 percent chance of AI outperforming humans in all tasks within 45 years....

In perhaps the single most astounding passage of her campaign memoir What Happened, Hillary Clinton reveals a campaign proposal she formulated with staffers but never actually released: a universal basic income for Americans, funded by carbon and financial transaction taxes. "I wanted very much to convey a commitment to trying to figure ways to raise incomes," she said in an interview with Vox's Ezra Klein. "The Alaska model where they write a check to every single Alaskan every year based on a formula about the oil and gas revenues was really intriguing to me.” Here’s the relevant passage of the...

Giving every adult in the United States a $1000 cash handout per month would grow the economy by $2.5 trillion by 2025, according to a new study on universal basic income. The report was released in August by the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute. Roosevelt research director Marshall Steinbaum, Michalis Nikiforos at Bard College's Levy Institute, and Gennaro Zezza at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio in Italy co-authored the study. [snip] These estimates are based on a universal basic income paid for by increasing the federal deficit. As part of the study, the researchers also calculated the effect to the...

I first heard the term “basic income” in the socialist magazine Dissent in 2005. I was a 15-year-old leftist with a taste for weird, radical plans to restructure society: say, having the government buy up majority stakes in every company and then distribute them equally to every American; converting all companies into worker cooperatives; trying a planned economy where the planning is done by decentralized worker and consumer councils rather than a government bureaucracy. Basic income, wherein the government gives everyone enough cash to live on with no strings attached, struck me as an idea in that mold: another never-going-to-happen...

Innovation and forward-thinking may be Hawaii's two biggest exports in 2017. Earlier this month, the state earned the distinction of being the first in the U.S. to formally accept the provisions of the Paris Climate Agreement after President Donald Trump decided to withdraw the nation from it, and now, Hawaii is taking the lead in embracing yet another innovative idea: universal basic income (UBI). On June 15, Hawaii state representative Chris Lee wrote a Reddit post about House Concurrent Resolution 89, a bill he says he introduced in order to "start a conversation about our future." According to Lee, "After...

For many years, Regent Park resident Sam Haque thought the Disney adage: “If you can dream it, you can do it” was advice only for people of privilege. “I thought it was only something rich parents tell their children,” he says. “But I’m proof that everyone can do it. And that’s the message I’m trying to get out there.” Haque, 35, who came to Toronto with his mother from Bangladesh when he was 15, turned his back on an opportunity to go to law school about eight years ago to follow his passion for doodling and design, and created Wise...

As the global economy stares down the barrel of rising inequality and increased automation, more countries are toying with the idea of a universal basic income. But a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is less than enthusiastic, saying that without significant tax hikes, a basic income would do little to reduce poverty and even exacerbate it in some cases. That conclusion is very problematic for a welfare reform that advocates bill as a solution to poverty. A small safety net of cash distributed to everyone regardless of income level or employment status, prevents people...

The potential threat of technological unemployment is one of the most hotly debated economic issues of our times: in boardrooms and trade union offices but also increasingly amongst policy-makers. The catch-all term ‘digital’ may have been added to numerous political concepts in recent years but beyond such branding there has been very little debate of substance about what a comprehensive policy response to this threat should be. We do not know whether some of the more sombre predictions about large-scale job losses will materialize but we do know that governments and others need to be prepared if and when substantial...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has doubled down on his support of a universal basic income as a possible solution for unemployment caused by the rise of machines equipped with artificial intelligence taking over the workforce. A universal basic income would give a standard amount of money to every citizen to cover basic expenses like food and living costs each month. At the World Government Summit in Dubai on Monday, Musk told a crowd that universal basic income is “going to be necessary” in the future. Musk first joined the growing list of tech executives supporting the payment system in November...

Following a devastating election cycle where the American voting public sent a sharp rebuke to the status quo and policies of the Obama Administration, the left is now preparing to push for a universal basic income (UBI). Left-leaning Americans are largely opposed to President Donald Trump’s cabinet picks, all the way from Attorney General Jeff Sessions to the president’s pick to lead the Department of Labor: fast food executive Andy Puzder. Labor unions have blasted Puzder for past comments about the future of low-wage workers in the fast food industry. Puzder warned that the fight for a $15 minimum wage...

EU legislators today (12 January) called for a universal basic income to combat the looming risk of job loss by the onward march of robots, as well as concerns about European welfare systems. Technological progress is no longer seen as safe path toward prosperity. A new generation of robots and the development of artificial intelligence may improve how we manufacture goods or how we spend our leisure time. But this new wave of intelligent gadgets and autonomous robots could also destroy thousands of jobs without creating new ones in the same proportion, warned a non-legislative report adopted by the European...

Ah, socialism. Is there ever a time you fail to amuse us?In Finland we are seeing the launch of an idea which has been popular among liberals for quite some time but hasn’t really caught on anywhere. The government there has launched a pilot program where a select group of unemployed people will be given an assured basic income starting this month with no strings attached, no requirement to work (or do anything else for that matter) and no end to the program even if they go back to work. What could possibly go wrong? (Associated Press) Finland has...