USBIG NEWSLETTER VOL. 5 NO. 26 MARCH-APRIL 2004

 

This is the Newsletter of the USBIG Network (http://www.usbig.net), which promotes the discussion of the basic income guarantee (BIG) in the United States--a policy that would unconditionally guarantee a subsistence-level income for everyone. If you'd like to be added to or removed from this list please email: Karl@Widerquist.com.

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. QUEBEC WELFARE SYSTEM INCORPORATES ELEMENTS OF BIG

2. VAN PARIJS AND RATHKE TO SPEAK AT USBIG 2005

3. BIG DISCUSSION IN SOUTH AFRICA

4. REPORT FROM THE THIRD USBIG NETWORK CONGRESS

5. BELGIAN RULING PARTY FORMS COALITION WITH BASIC INCOME PARTY

6. UPCOMING EVENTS

7. RECENT EVENTS

8. NEW DISCUSSION PAPERS

9. RECENT PUBLICATIONS

10. NEW LINKS

11. LINKS AND OTHER INFO

 

 

1. QUEBEC WELFARE SYSTEM INCORPORATES ELEMENTS OF BIG

 

Sources as diverse as the large national newspaper the Globe and Mail, and the small progressive website Indymedia are calling Quebec’s new welfare policy a “guaranteed minimum income.” But, “It’s only a wage supplement,” according to Francois Blais, of the University of Laval (Quebec City), author of “Ending Poverty: A Basic Income for All Canadians,” It is a very small guarantee, and a small addition to the existing welfare system in Quebec, but it represents an important change in direction. According to the Globe and Mail, “Coercive measures that require welfare recipients to either find work or face penalties will be abolished.” It instead includes bonuses for welfare recipients who reintegrate into the workforce or who engage in training or volunteer work. A single person on welfare who now receives C$6,893 (Canadian dollars) per year will get only C$36 more when the program comes into effect in 2005. A single parent with two children who now receives C$15,603 a year will get C$1,186 more. And the new program can mean up to C$5,500 for a family with four children. In Canada, the provinces are primarily responsible for social welfare policies, giving more opportunities for experimentation. To see articles on the new program from both Indymedia and the Globe and Mail, go to: http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/24415.php.

 

 

2. VAN PARIJS AND RATHKE TO SPEAK AT USBIG 2005

 

The Fourth Congress of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network will be held in New York City at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in Midtown Manhattan, Friday March 4 to Sunday March 6, 2005. Confirmed speakers include Philippe Van Parijs and Wade Rathke. Van Parijs is a philosopher and social scientist at the Catholic University of Louvain in Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium. His 1995 book, “Real Freedom for All: What (if anything) can justify capitalism?,” made a strong case for a basic income guarantee and has been hugely influential in political philosophy. He is the secretary of the Basic Income European Network, and has been a leader of the growing movement for BIG in Europe for the last twenty years. Wade Rathke is union organizer and activist and a prominent leader in the living-wage movement. He is the director of the Tides Foundation; the Chief Organizer of Local 100 of the Service Employees International Union (New Orleans), AFL-CIO; and Founder and Chief Organizer of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), which is the nation's largest community organization of low and moderate-income families, with over 250,000 member organized into 750 neighborhood chapters in more than 60 cities across the country. A call for papers will be released in May. For more information see the USBIG website or contact Karl Widerquist (Karl@Widerquist.com).

 

 

3. BIG DISCUSSION IN SOUTH AFRICA

 

The basic income grant, as BIG is known in South Africa, has received considerable press attention in connection with this year’s South African elections. The opposition Democratic Alliance party made BIG part of its platform. Although the program has some support within the ruling ANC, some powerful members have criticized it as unaffordable. After the landslide ANC victory, BIG is not likely to be on the government’s agenda in the coming year. But South Africa remains the only country in the world with a significant grassroots movement pushing for BIG, and it has picked up high-profile endorsements including Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane. Recently, George F. R. Ellis, a theoretical cosmologist at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, announced that he will donate half of his $1.4 million winnings from this year’s Templeton Prize to social causes including the campaign for BIG in South Africa.

 

 

4. REPORT FROM THE THIRD USBIG NETWORK CONGRESS

 

About one hundred scholars and activists gathered in Washington DC, February 20-22 to discuss the basic income guarantee. Philip Wogaman, a leader of the guaranteed income in the 1960s and 70s, began the conference with a reflection on the development of the debate in the 35 years since the publication of his book, “Guaranteed Annual Income: the Moral Issues.” To him, the central objection to BIG asks, “Is it moral to give people things they haven’t earned?” He argues that we all receive things we haven’t earned, from childhood on. He points to the selectiveness of people who believe they earned everything they have, ignoring all the unearned advantages they have received. Highlights of the conference included a discussion of the possibility of an oil dividend for Iraq, and the first meeting between the fathers of the first two basic income guarantees in the word. Governor Jay Hammond created the Alaska Permanent Fund—the world’s first basic income guarantee—which since 1986 has distributed an oil dividend to every Alaska resident. Brazilian Senator Eduardo Suplicy proposed the bill, which has now become the law, to begin phasing-in the world’s first national basic income in Brazil in 2005. Although the two have both fought for BIG for decades, they had not met until now, and their meeting was an emotional moment for everyone present.

 

Several articles appeared in the media on the conference, including the following:

The Associated Press ran a 500-word story on February, 22^nd about Jay Hammond’s speech his effort to increase the size of the Alaskan basic income guarantee. Diane Pagen wrote an editorial on the conference entitled “Wanted: a BIG Change is U.S. Social Policy” for the newsletter: Currents of the New York City Chapter, National Association of Social Workers Volume 48, No. 6. p. 8 (April 2004). Pagen argues that BIG is a policy especially in line with the Social Work profession’s Code of Ethics. James Hughes wrote an extensive summary of the conference for Cyborg Democracy, which is on line at: http://cyborgdemocracy.net/2004_02_22_archive.html#107754680936779579

 

 

5. BELGIAN RULING PARTY FORMS COALITION WITH BASIC INCOME

PARTY

 

The Flemish Liberal Party of ruling Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (VLD) has decided to form an electoral coalition with VIVANT, a small party whose political platform is partly devoted to a defense of an unconditional monthly basic income of EUR 540. VIVANT was started in 1997 by high-tech businessman and life-member of BIEN Roland Duchatelet. In national (1999, 2003) and local (2000) elections, it attracted between 1 and 2% of the votes. The VLD-VIVANT cartel is running for the regional and European elections of 13 June 2004 in Flanders (Flemish-speaking) and Brussels (bilingual). In a joint interview with the weekly magazine Humo (16 March 2004), Verhofstadt and Duchatelet discuss some of the VIVANT proposals. While Duchatelet stresses the advantages of his version of basic income, Verhofstadt recalls that the Flemish liberals were already advocating a negative income tax in the early eighties. Even though he does not explicitly endorse the VIVANT basic income scenario, he argues that some of the reforms which were implemented since 1999 by his two governments, in particular the refundable tax credit for the low-paid, are “incremental steps into the right direction.” More info: http://www.vivant.org

-From BIEN

 

 

6. UPCOMING EVENTS:

 

TENTH CONGRESS OF THE BASIC INCOME EUROPEAN NETWORK:

The Right to a Basic Income: Egalitarian Democracy

Barcelona, Spain, September 19-20, 2004

The 10^th BIEN Congress will be held within the framework of the Universal Forum of Cultures, as part of the Dialogue on "Human Rights, Emerging Needs and New Opportunities" organized by Catalonia's Institute of Human Rights. Confirmed plenary speakers include Gosta Esping-Andersen, Nancy Fraser, Desmond King, Angelika Krebs, Stuart White, Christine Boutin, Katja Kipping, Ricard Gomà, Eduardo Suplicy, Rubén Lo Vuolo, Ingrid van Niekerk, and Claus Offe, Guy Standing and Philippe Van Parijs. The possibility of a closing speech by Brazil's President Lula da Silva is still being negotiated. Prominent Catalan and Spanish politicians are being contacted for the opening and closing sessions, including Jordi Sevilla, Spain's new minister for Public Administration, known to be very sympathetic towards basic income. Other panel sessions include Basic Income and the Right to Work, Basic Income and Democratic Republicanism, Basic Income as a Trade Union Policy, Basic Income as a Policy for Fighting Against Child Labour, Innovative and Sustainable Financing for Basic Income, From Aspiration to Policy Implementation: Introducing a Basic Income System Category by Category, After Workfare, and Simulations and Experiments.

-From BIEN

 

EXPLORATORY WORKSHOP TOWARD A EUROPEAN BASIC INCOME EXPERIMENT

September 18, 2004, 9:00am to 6:00pm, Barcelona, Spain

The day before, and in the same location as the BIEN Conference, the European Science Foundation will sponsor a one-day workshop on designing a Basic Income experiment for Europe. Participants will discuss the lessons from the U.S. Negative Income Tax experiments of the 1970s, and they will consider how to adapt the experiment model for the needs of an experiment in the context of the European social welfare system and testing Basic Income rather than the Negative Income Tax. Speakers include Harold Watts, Loek Groot, Karl Widerquist, Axel Marx, and Hans Peeters. Participation is by invitation only, but discussion of this issue will continue in public at the BIEN session on “Simulations and Experiments.” For information contact the workshop organizer Loek Groot at: LGroot@siswo.uva.nl.

 

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA: MEETING ON LIVABLE INCOME FOR EVERYONE

7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Thursday April 29, 2004, Cornerstone Church, 1161 Princess Street.

This event is part of the “Voices On” series organized by the Victoria Progressive Electors Association. Presenters will be: Cindy L’Hirondelle from the Livable Income For Everyone (gli2020@shaw.ca) who will show a presentation on the history and rationale for a Guaranteed Livable Income; Matt Fair, a multi-media artist who has produced a 6 CD “associational documentary” called The World Owes You A Living (a 20-year project) which has been getting some international attention; Robert Arnold, president of the National Anti-Poverty Organization who has spent the last 29 years advocating for poor people and against poverty. An article related to the meeting appeared in Victoria’s “Indy Media.” You can find it on the web at: http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2004/03/23659.php.

 

LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE, 13 May 2004: LES SYNDICATS CONTRE L'ALLOCATION UNIVERSELLE?

A workshop (in French) on the problematic relationship between basic income and the Trade Union movement, with the participation of Sabine Wernerus, author of a thesis on the subject at the Open Faculty of Louvain University, Jean-Pierre Thorel, Swiss Trade Unionist and former Chairman of Switzerland's Economic and Social Council, Thierry Bodson, regional secretary of Belgium's socialist Trade Union Federation (FGTB) and Paul Palsterman, senior researcher at Belgium's Christian Trade Union Federation (CSC). The workshop is organised by Yannick Vanderborght, researcher at the Chaire Hoover and author of a doctoral thesis on the political feasibility of basic income. Registration: Free of charge but required, no later than 6 May 2004, with Therese Davio, Chaire Hoover, +32 10 473951 (davio@etes.ucl.ac.be).

-From BIEN

 

PARIS, 24 June 2004: LE DIVIDENDE UNIVERSEL

A conference on the "universal dividend", organised at the Assemblee nationale by Christine Boutin, the French deputy and chair of the Forum des Republicains sociaux (a component of Jacques Chirac's right-of-centre presidential majority) who authored in 2003 a report advocating the introduction of a universal basic income. A background paper for this conference is available (Le Dividende Universel: conjuguer le respect des personnes et la croissance economique. Paris, Forum des Republicains sociaux, 2004, 30p.). It advocates the introduction of a monthly basic income of Euro 300 in France. It refers to several normative and pragmatic arguments, and deals with key objections (work ethic, reciprocity...). The document also includes a short scenario for the concrete implementation of the "universal dividend". For further information: Lucy Nairac <l.nairac@frs-online.org>

-From BIEN

 

FREIBERG (DE), 25 June 2004: PROSPECTS FOR BASIC INCOME IN GERMANY

An expert meeting, followed by a public panel, on basic income in the context of Germany's present social policy debate is being planned in the mining town of Freiberg in former East Germany, with a view to developing a German basic income network. For further information: Ronald Blaschke and Jens-Eberhard Jahn <jahnjepw@freenet.de>

-From BIEN

 

 

7. RECENT EVENTS

 

BERGEN (NORWAY), 27 February 2004: BASIC INCOME VERSUS WORKFARE

A one-day workshop organised by Nanna Kildal, senior researcher at the Rokkan Institute, with the participation of economists, political scientists and sociologists from the Universities of Oslo and Bergen and other research institutions. Guest speaker Philippe Van Parijs (Universite catholique de Louvain) opened the morning session with a talk on "Basic Income and Workfare: Two versions of the active social state". The afternoon session started with commentaries by Hilde Bojer (Oslo) and Alexander Cappelen (Oslo). For further information: "Nanna Kildal" <Nanna.Kildal@rokkan.uib.no>.

-From BIEN

 

MADRID (SPAIN), 10 & 24 March 2004: LAS PROPUESTAS DEL INGRESO BASICO

A two-part seminar organised by the Financial and Tax law section of the Faculty of Law of Madrid's Jesuit University (Universidad Comillas), with the participation of Evaristo Palomar Maldonado, Leopoldo Gonzalo Gonzalez,

Jose Luis Rey Pérez, and Javier Alonso Madrigal, all from the Law Faculty of Comillas University. For further information: "Jose Luis Rey Perez" <jlrey@der.upco.es>

-From BIEN

 

BERLIN, GERMANY, 16 April 2004: MODELLE DER GRUNDSICHERUNG

This is the first of a series of seminars on alternative social policy organised by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (linked to the PDS, itself heir to the East-German communist party), with a special interest in basic security / basic income models. For further information:brangsch@rosalux.de or "Kipping, Katja" <Katja.Kipping@slt.sachsen.de>

-From BIEN

 

 

8. NEW DISCUSSION PAPERS

 

JOB OR INCOME GUARANTEE?

USBIG Discussion Paper No. 79, February 2004

Pavlina R. Tcherneva, University of Missouri, Kansas City

ABSTRACT: This paper evaluates the strategies of providing unconditional basic income support and those of guaranteeing employment.  It begins with a cursory examination of the key ideas behind job guarantee (JG) and income guarantee (IG) proposals.  Since much discussion has centered on whether we can afford either program and how much each may cost, we address the issue of financing head-on.  A clear understanding of modern money and the functional operation of sovereign currencies reveals that there are no financial constraints to implementing either a JG or an IG. Therefore, questions of whether we can “afford” these policies can be addressed more adequately by distinguishing between financial expenditures and real costs, as both high unemployment and deficient household income bring about substantial economic, social and political real costs.  

 

ENDING POVERTY IN AMERICA: THE FIRST STEP

USBIG Discussion Paper No. 80, February 2004

Charles M. A. Clark, Vincentian Center for Church and Society, St. John’s University

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to look at a basic income system as a means to eliminate poverty as it exists in the United States at the beginning of the 21st Century.  The paper starts off with a short review of the persistence of poverty in America, with special emphasis on poverty and economic growth, followed by an overview of poverty’s causes.  In the third section, the paper lays out a simple BI system that would eliminate poverty in America as it is defined by the Federal Government.  In the conclusion we will argue that a basic income system isn’t the magic bullet for solving every problem related to poverty in America, but that it would be an important first step.

 

EMBRACE THE END OF WORK: UNLESS WE SEND HUMANITY ON A PERMANENT PAID VACATION, THE FUTURE COULD GET VERY BLEAK

USBIG Discussion Paper No. 81, March 2004

James Hughes, University of Connecticut

ABSTRACT: In the 20th century the U.S. Left has moved from being the champions of science, technology and industrialization to being their staunchest critics. Some of the factors contributing to this shift are the deep ecology movement and intellectual trends critical of the "master narrative" of progress. The Next Left will need to rediscover a progressive technoutopian vision however, incorporating a democratized but positive approach to robotization, genetic engineering and nanotechnology. The basic income movement will be central to this emergent global, Next Left, suggesting a way to achieve left goals of liberty, equality and solidarity by encouraging the automation of work, rather than by keeping humans toiling.

 

CITIZEN DIVIDENDS AND OIL RESOURCE RENTS: A FOCUS ON ALASKA, NORWAY AND NIGERIA

USBIG Discussion Paper No. 82, March 2004

Alanna Hartzok

ABSTRACT: Citizens of Alaska have been receiving individual dividend checks from an oil rent trust fund since 1982. Norway’s citizens receive substantial social services and invest oil rents in a permanent fund for the future. Nigeria has yet to establish a similar fund for its oil revenue stream. This paper explores the oil rent institutions of Alaska, Norway and Nigeria with a focus on these questions: Are citizen dividends from oil rent funds currently or potentially a source of substantial basic income? Are oil rent funds the best source for citizen dividends or should CDs be based on other types of resource rents? The paper concludes that while oil fund citizen dividends are a significant source of supplementary income, especially for lower income individuals and families in Alaska, citizen dividends in Norway would augment income but possibly at the expense of social benefits, and CDs from oil rent in Nigeria probably would not be a sufficient basis for ending impoverishment. Additionally, the paper recommends that state constituted oil rent funds should both facilitate the transition to sustainable economies based on renewable energy sources and themselves transition to funds based on surface land site values and other permanent and more environmentally benign resource rents as a future source of citizen dividends for basic income.

 

HOW IT FEELS TO BE HOMELESS

USBIG Discussion Paper No. 83, April 2004

Paula Dyan, Takoma Park, Md

ABSTRACT: The following paper comes in three parts: I. How Does It Feel to Be Homeless?, II. What to Do If You Become Homeless, III. How to Rejoin the Community

 

THE ETHICS OF BASIC INCOME GRANTS

USBIG Discussion Paper No. 84, April 2004

Nicolaus Tideman, Virginia Polytechnic Institute

ABSTRACT: The ethics of three possible reasons for a basic income grant are explored: the requirements of morality, the requirements of justice, and the preferences of the citizenry.

 

 

9. RECENT PUBLICATIONS

 

BEYOND LUDDISM: EMBRACING A FULL-AUTOMATED FUTURE

In Better Humans

By James J. Hughes

This article, which Dr. Hughes presented at the February USBIG Congress, has been published by Betterhumans. Dr. Hughes, a sociologist at the University of Connecticut, argues that the current “job-loss recovery” in which economic growth picks up while employment continues to stagnate is evidence that automation is reducing the need for workers and making employment less necessary. The article can be found on the web at: http://www.betterhumans.com/.

 

ECONOMIC SECURITY FOR ALL: THE BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE

In The Free Liberal Magazine

By Steve Shafarman

This large two-page spread supplemented by an editorial cartoon on overwork (by Too Much Coffee Man) argues for basic income to a libertarian audience. Shafarman presents his argument to this audience with arguments such as, “When politicians promise to create jobs, it’s time for us to say, ‘No thanks. Give everyone a basic income and we can find or create our own jobs.’ When politicians talk about the economy…It’s time to tell them, ‘I’ve heard enough about the economy. Give everyone a basic income and I’ll take care of MY economy.’”

 

ON LIMITING THE DOMAIN OF INEQUALITY: THE LEGACY OF JAMES TOBIN

In the Eastern Economic Journal, Fall 2003, Vol. 29, No. 4; Pg. 559-564

By Robert Dimand, Department of Economics, Brock University, Ontario dimand@brocku.ca

ABSTRACT: James Tobin (1918-2002) is best known as an outstanding "Old Keynesian" economist whose contributions were recognized by the 1981 Bank of Sweden Prize in Memory of Alfred Nobel. His keen devotion to the reduction of poverty, inequality, and discrimination is less well known. Beyond working for Keynesian macroeconomic policies that would diminish poverty by encouraging economic growth and low unemployment, Tobin presented an ambitious program for social policy. In "It Can be Done! Conquering Poverty in the U.S. by 1976" (1967), Tobin held that R. Sargent Shriver's goal of eliminating poverty by the Bicentennial could be achieved, not by reliance on the programs of Shriver's Office of Economic Opportunity (programs to improve health, education, vocational training, and community development) but rather by macroeconomic policies for general prosperity combined with means-tested cash transfers such as a negative income tax. This paper examines Tobin's legacy in limiting the domain of inequality.

 

IT’S ABOUT POWER and AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE

In Daily News Online 3/23/2004 and 3/30/2004

By Adedon Carol (acarol@dailynewsonline.com).

These two articles ran in Daily News Online (which is not affiliated with the New York Daily News) in consecutive weeks, asking the questions “what if everyone was rich?” and “What if no one was poor?” The author discusses BIG in the context of the 1960s movement and the possibility of a revival of interest. The article concludes that people would not work at the crummy jobs so many people accept today, but that they would work in jobs that prove to be really worth doing. The two articles can be found online at:

http://www.dailynewsonline.com/founder_carol_avedon/2004_03_23_archive_article.php#108006958537630345

and

http://www.dailynewsonline.com/founder_carol_avedon/2004_03_30_archive_article.php#108062164129693802

Or simply go to www.dailynewsonline.com and search Avedon Carol.

 

DOWDING, Keith, DE WISPELAERE, Jurgen & WHITE, Stuart eds. The Ethics of Stakeholding. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

(First editor's address: k.m.dowding@lse.ac.uk.)

A major contribution to the academic debate on unconditional grants, this collection of essays explores the idea of a “stakeholder society” and related policies from an ethical perspective. In their introductory chapter, the editors distinguish (at least) four different types of stakeholder policy: universal basic income, universal basic capital, targeted asset-building, and universal asset-building. The bulk of the book addresses the challenge of competing normative principles underpinning such proposals. These principles include the entitlement argument (each individual has a right to an equal share of scarce external assets, such as natural resources or job assets), the idea that stakeholding represents an emancipatory strategy (the "individual freedom" argument), that it promotes equality of opportunity, democratic participation, and even efficiency. The volume provides much food for thought in confronting these various lines of argument, and discussing crucial objections. It is divided into two main parts. The first part charts various stakeholder proposals and tackles the main arguments in favor of them. The second part then takes a critical look at these policies and at the very ideal of stakeholding. It closes with a chapter by Bruce Ackerman, co-author (with A. Alstott) of The Stakeholder Society (Yale U.P., 1999). Royalties will be donated to the UK Citizen’s Income Trust. The other authors are Jurgen De Wispelaere (London School of Economics), Keith Dowding (London School of Economics), Cécile Fabre (London School of Economics), Andrew Gamble (University of Sheffield), Robert Goodin (Australian National University), Gavin Kelly (Institute for Public Policy Research UK), Julian Le Grand (London School of Economics), David Nissan (was research fellow, Fabian Society), Carole Pateman (UCLA), Will Paxton (Institute for Public Policy Research UK), Robert van der Veen (University of Amsterdam), Gijs van Donselaar (University of Amsterdam) and Stuart White (University of Oxford) (http://www.palgrave.com).

-From BIEN

 

VAN DER LINDEN, Bruno. "Active citizen's income, unconditional income and participation under imperfect competition: A normative analysis", Oxford Economic Papers 56(1),  2004, pp. 98-117. (Author's address: vanderlinden@ires.ucl.ac.be.)

Various types of basic income schemes are considered to compensate the allocative inefficiencies induced by unemployment benefits. A dynamic general equilibrium model of a unionised economy is developed in which participation to the formal labour market is endogenous and the budget of the State has to balance. It is shown that basic income schemes reduce the equilibrium unemployment rate. Assuming that job-search is costly to monitor, the normative analysis suggests that only the active population should be eligible to the basic income. Introducing such an "active citizen's income" can be a Pareto-improving reform, i.e. one that makes some better off without making anyone worse off.

-From BIEN

 

WRIGHT, Erik O. ed. Redesigning Distribution: Basic Income and Stakeholder Grants as Cornerstones of a More Egalitarian Capitalism, special issue of Politics & Society 32 (1), March 2004, 126p.

http://www.sagepub.com/journals/00323292.htm

In May 2002, Erik O. Wright organised a conference in Madison (Wisconsin) around two papers: Philippe Van Parijs's "Basic Income: A Simple and Powerful Idea for the Twenty-first century", an earlier version of which had been used as a background paper at BIEN's 2000 Berlin Congress; and a paper by Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott which contrasts basic income with their own proposal, as defended in The Stakeholder Society, a system in which the government gives all citizens a basic capital as they reach adulthood. This special issue of the journal Politics and Society includes these two papers, followed by a revised version of five of the comments presented at the Wisconsin conference. Stuart White's discussion of objections to both proposals leads to the conclusion that we should consider the possibility of an hybrid form of "citizen's stake" that combines basic capital and basic income features. In his own comment, Erik Olin Wright argues that a basic income creates "the conditions under which a stable move toward more equal power within class relations can be achieved" (p.85), and is therefore superior to a basic capital. Carole Pateman also argues that a basic income is to be preferred, because it represents a democratic right which can be compared to universal suffrage: "citizenship and the suffrage are for life, and a basic income is a right that also exists over a citizen’s lifetime, whereas a capital grant is a one-off payment at the beginning of adulthood." (p.94). Barbara R. Bergmann is more cautious: she argues that people on the left, especially in the US, should give priority to the development of a generous Swedish-like welfare state before embarking onto a basic income. The final chapter by Edward N. Wolff considers behavioral responses to the Stakeholding scheme.

-From BIEN

 

 

NEW LINKS

 

JAMESROBERTSON.COM includes three articles on BIG:

1994: “Benefits and Taxes: A Radical Strategy”

2000: “Financial and Monetary Policies for an Enabling State”

2003: “The Role of Money and Finance: Changing a Central Part of the Problem into a Central Part of the Solution.”

His approach is that people should pay for the value of the “common resources” they take from the common pot and that at least part of the resulting revenue should be distributed to every citizen as a rightful income. The basic income would be financed by a “tax shift” away from existing taxes to other sources of public revenue, including: taxes on land, natural resources, and pollution; fees and license charges (e.g. for traffic congestion and use of the radio spectrum for telecommunications); revenue from collective ownership of assets; and the value of money put into circulation as part of the (official currency) money supply. He argues that the same approach should be applied globally as well as nationally; it would result in a more efficient as well as a more just economy, globally and nationally. The articles can be downloaded at www.jamesrobertson.com/neweconomics.htm.

 

NEW SOCIAL CREDIT AND NATIONAL DIVIDEND LINKS

The Social Credit movement promotes a national dividend as part of its wider policy for monetary and fiscal reform. Websites in several countries promote social credit including:

http://www.globaljusticemovement.org

http://www.globaljusticemovement.net/

http://www.cesj.org

http://www.democrats.org.nz/

 

 

11. LINKS AND OTHER INFO

 

FOR LINKS TO DOZENS OF BIG WEBSITES AROUND THE WORLD, go to http://www.usbig.net, and click on "links." These links are to any website with information about BIG, but USBIG does not necessarily endorse their content or their agendas.

 

THANKS TO: Tim Widerquist, Cindy L’Hirondelle, Marc-Andre Pigeon, James Hughes, James Robertson, Paul Nollen, BIEN, and the USBIG Committee.

 

THE U.S. BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE (USBIG) NETWORK, which publishes this newsletter, is dedicated to promoting the discussion of the 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. 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.

 

Thanks,

-Karl Widerquist, coordinator, USBIG.