The latest poll in our Underground Knowledge discussion group on Goodreads.com has struck a chord with most respondents indicating they believe a universal income for all citizens would be beneficial.
We put the following question to group members: Do you believe your country would prosper from having a Universal Income aka “Basic Income” (i.e. a bare minimum wage unconditionally granted to all citizens)?
Interim results show: 57% say YES / 38% say NO / 5% are UNSURE.
A random selection of poll respondents’ comments follow:
As someone who believes in Capitalism, I previously would have voted NO on this subject. But having now researched it in depth and seen the success stories of trials done in Canada and EU countries, I can see the merits and therefore voted YES.
I think being able for a country/state/city to provide citizens with basic needs is an excellent idea. ..and who knows. ..it may end up cutting down welfare costs in the long run.
I would never be in favor of a minimum income if welfare didn’t go away. It’s double dipping. You have income. Ok, need more? You are responsible to go get it. This is separate from charitable efforts if someone is medically challenged. This has always been an aspect of society–to take care of the helpless.
Countries/states/cities that have trialed the basic income idea have found cases of domestic violence, petty crime, drug addiction and ill-health caused by poverty have all dropped by a significant amount.
Finland is doing it. We’ll have direct evidence of its effects. Beside, Finland analysts have shown how the maneuver will actually SAVE money for the State. At the same time, they will remove a costly bureaucratic apparatus to manage unemployment benefits, requests and their processing, paperwork, and much more.
To live people need enough money to do so. If you remove all income from people then they have no choice but to turn to crime, to survive. Therefore it is insane not to have a basic income for the lowest of the low but those actually working should earn more as an incentive to do so.
I can see the value in doing a minimum wage to every American. If we simplified the tax code, we could use it also to substitute for the many tax credits like “earned income” which is essentially a refund for taxes NOT paid. There would be a lot of saving on complexity.
I’ve recently had this discussion on Linked In at the following, albeit with a slightly different op ed introduction to the issue. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/univer…
I voted no because the question did not say anything else would go away, so I had to assume this redistribution of income would be IN ADDITION to programs that already exist. Now, if the question was worded to say it would replace those programs, then I’d have to rethink my answer but it would likely not change because people need to have the support especially among those who are inept.
These days I tend to think a smart nation should be generous with social welfare and assume that there will be a small element (maybe 5-10%) who “free load”.
This poll was inspired by this excerpt of INTERNATIONAL BANKSTER$: The Global Banking Elite Exposed and the Case for Restructuring Capitalism posted in this discussion thread here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/…
A good summary of the basic income model can also be found on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_i…
Poll ends January 13.
To view all comments, or better still to have YOUR say, go to: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/142309-underground-knowledge—a-discussion-group?type=group
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