Free Republic

Video LinkI thought this was really good.

Chicago Officials Looking at Universal Basic Income Program Cole Lauterbach - Watchdog.org 3 minutes BY: August 11, 2018 4:58 am Officials in Chicago want to test the waters of offering a universal basic income. A majority of city council members are telling Mayor Rahm Emanuel to form a task force to look into Universal Basic Income programs, which is essentially a periodic check from the government with no strings attached. The City Council wants to explore a program that would send at least $500 a month to 1,000 Chicago families. The same families also would get Earned Income Tax Credit...

Chicago may soon become the largest municipality in the U.S. to test a universal basic income program. Chicago alderman Ameya Pawar recently proposed legislation that would provide 1,000 families with a $500 monthly stipend -- no questions asked. The bill already has the backing of the majority of city lawmakers, and Pawar hopes to soon work with Mayor Rahm Emanuel to implement the pilot program, The Intercept reported. “Nearly 70 percent of Americans don’t have $1,000 in the bank for an emergency,” Pawar told the outlet. “UBI could be an incredible benefit for people who are working and are having...

Warning: Autostart video Just 80 miles east of Silicon Valley, one of the wealthiest regions in the country, is Stockton, California — once known as America's foreclosure capital. Soon, the former bankrupt city will become the first in the country to participate in a test of Universal Basic Income, also known as UBI. Stockton will give 100 residents $500 a month for 18 months, no strings attached. The nontraditional system for distributing wealth guarantees that citizens receive a regular sum of money. The goal is to create an income floor no one will fall beneath. The concept of Universal Basic...

(Full Title) CALIFORNIA CITY TO GIVE $500 A MONTH TO ANYONE-BUY DRUGS, BOOZE, GAS FOOD-SOCIALISM WORKS! DAILY MAIL: Stockton, California will become the first city in the country to participate in a test of Universal Basic Income, in which 100 residents will be given $500-dollars-a-month, with no strings attached. The program aims to create a level of income that no one will fall beneath. By providing impoverished residents a regular sum of money that they can use on anything they wish, be it food, clothes, gas, or starting a new venture, those behind the program believe it could go a...

One solution to income inequality is giving out free cash, according to the British billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson. “A basic income should be introduced in Europe and in America,” Branson told David Gelles of The New York Times. Branson was responding to the question, “What do you think those in positions of power should do to address social problems like income inequality?”

Finland's government has decided not to continue its year-old experiment offering citizens a universal basic income -- or money for nothing -- beyond the two year trial. In January 2017, Finland became the first country in Europe to pay some of its unemployed citizens a basic monthly income, amounting to 560 euros ($587), in the unique social experiment aimed at cutting government red tape, reducing poverty and boosting employment. On Tuesday, it emerged that the government had decided to stop making the payments to the 2,000 randomly picked citizens chosen as subjects in the experiment from January 2019. The government...

As automation and AI destroy millions of middle-income jobs, permanently forcing (primarily male) workers from the workforce, Americans are beginning to reconsider their attitudes toward a radical policy tool that’s popular among some segments of the left: Universal Basic Income. According to CNBC, a recent poll conducted by Northeastern University and Gallup found that 48% of Americans support the measure. In an association that’s hardly a coincidence, the poll also showed that three-quarters of Americans believe machines will take away more jobs than they’ll generate… Unsurprisingly 65% of Democrats want to see a universal basic income and 54% of people...

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...

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 Government is being urged to pause the mass roll-out of its new benefits system next week as charities warn it is forcing people into poverty. Since 2013, Universal Credit has been introduced relatively slowly to around five selected job centres a month. The system is designed to simplify the way claimants are paid merging six existing benefits, including housing benefit and jobseeker's allowance, into one monthly payment. Sky News went to one of their centres in Oldham to find out if that was the case. In the two days I was there I met people like Debbie and Steven...

Startup incubator Y Combinator is expanding their research into the benefits of universal basic income (UBI). In a new blog post published on the company’s website this week, they reveal their plans to pick 3,000 individuals from two states at random to receive a monthly cash handout. 1,000 participants will receive $1,000 per month for a period up to five years, while the other 2,000 will receive $50 per month, serving as the control group. Y Combinator hopes to find out how basic income can help people respond to economic instability and uncertainty, or perhaps even find alternatives to UBI...

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...

Mire Ibrahim waves the Finnish flag during a demonstration against racism where an estimated 15,000 people attended in Helsinki, Finland July 28, 2015. Reuters/Vesa Moilanen For the next two years, 2,000 unemployed people in Finland will share a special bond: Thanks to a new federal program, they'll each receive a free $600 per month, no questions asked. Even if people get a job, the money will keep coming in. The program, put on by the country's social security agency, Kela, is testing out a modified version of basic income. Under basic income, every citizen gets a regular allowance regardless...

It's been a while since I've written about the idea of a universal basic income. So I figure an update is in order. The typical UBI proposal you see picks a certain dollar amount and then declares that it should go equally to all adults. I disagree with this in two ways. First, I think that children should also receive a basic income (paid to their parents). Second, I think that UBI payments should vary based on age. Neither of these additions negates the chief administrative advantages of the UBI because they don't introduce means-testing. It's trivially easy to vary...

Scott Santens has been thinking a lot about fish lately. Specifically, he’s been reflecting on the aphorism, “If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he eats for life.” What Santens wants to know is this: “If you build a robot to fish, do all men starve, or do all men eat?” Santens is 37 years old, and he’s a leader in the basic income movement—a worldwide network of thousands of advocates (26,000 on Reddit alone) who believe that governments should provide every citizen with a monthly stipend big...

The federal government can easily afford a job guarantee program, becoming our employer of last resort.Involuntary unemployment is barbaric. In the wealthiest country in history, almost 30 million people wish they had full-time work. But, as always, there aren’t enough jobs. And because economic security requires decent work, it’s unsurprising that 50 million people are poverty-stricken and 16 million children are hungry. This is a disgrace and an economic error: the US government can easily afford a Job guarantee (JG) program, becoming our employer of last resort. A right to a job may sound outlandish, but it’s common sense. You...