USBIG NEWSLETTER VOL. 8, NO. 44, SPRING 2007

 

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

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.
PHILIPPE VAN PARIJS TO SPEAK AT THE 2008 USBIG CONGRESS
2.
EDITORIAL: THE FATHER OF “WORKFARE” IN THE U.S. ENDORSES BIG! (IN IRAQ)
3. NAMIBIAN BIG PROPOSAL RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL PRAISE
4. POLITICAL SUPPORT FOR BIG IN UK PARLIAMENT
5.
MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT IN URUGUAY ENDORSES BIG
6. SEVERAL SMALL PARTIES AROUND THE WORLD ENDORSE BIG
7. AUSTRALIAN LABOUR MP AND LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE ENDORSES BIG
8. CANADIAN SURVEY SHOWS BIG SUPPORT
9. RECENT EVENTS
10.
UPCOMING EVENTS
11.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
12.
NEW LINKS
13. NEW MEMBERS
14.
NEW DISCUSSION PAPERS
15.
LINKS AND OTHER INFO


1. PHILIPPE VAN PARIJS TO SPEAK AT THE 2008 USBIG CONGRESS


Philippe Van Parijs, of both the Catholic University of Louvain and Harvard University, has agreed to speak at the 2008 USBIG Congress in Boston next February. Van Parijs is a long-term advocate of the basic income guarantee, and one of the founders of the Basic Income European Network, which expanded to become the Basic Income Earth Network in 2004. He has written extensively on the philosophical ground and political feasibility of BIG, and he has presented the idea on every continent except Antarctica.

The 2008 USBIG Congress will be the Seventh Annual Congress of the USBIG Network. It will take place on March 7 - 9 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel at 64 Arlington Street in Boston. The event will be held in conjunction with the Eastern Economic Association’s Annual Meeting.

The Congress is organized by a three-person committee made up of Almaz Zelleke, of the New School; Michael A. Lewis of Stony Brook University, and Eri Noguchi, of Columbia University and the Association to Benefit Children. The Call for papers will be released in June, and the deadline for applications to present at the Congress will likely be sometime in October 2007.

2. EDITORIAL: FATHER OF “WORKFARE” IN THE U.S. ENDORSES BIG! (IN IRAQ)


Republican Presidential Candidate Tommy Thompson has endorsed BIG—at least in a foreign country. On his campaign website, the former Wisconsin Governor calls himself “the reliable conservative in the 2008 presidential race.” The first reason he gives is, “Tommy Thompson is the father of welfare reform.” Thompson has a good claim to that title. Since 1996, welfare reform, also known as “workfare,” replaced conditional cash support for single mothers with work requirements, sometimes for less than minimum wage, without providing daycare. The plan was modeled on an earlier Wisconsin program initiated by then governor Thompson. Workfare is usually motivated by the belief that poor people have a responsibility to take whatever jobs are offered, even if they have substantial childcare responsibilities.

Thompson is literally the last America one might expect to endorse BIG—a plan to provide unconditional cash benefits to every citizen. But Thompson has not only endorsed BIG, he has made it a major initiative in his campaign. He has discussed it in numerous interviews and speeches and at the Republican presidential debates. He hasn’t endorsed BIG for the United States, but as part of his strategy to win the war in Iraq. The BIG element in Thompson’s Iraq strategy is that one-third of Iraqi government oil revenues will be reserved for a fund to provide every Iraqi with a small income guarantee modeled after the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF). USBIG Newsletter readers will recall that the APF was the initiative of another Republican Governor, Jay Hammond. It provides a small but significant income guarantee to every Alaskan resident.

Of course, both the APF and any likely Iraq proposal fall short of the goals of most BIG supporters because they are not large enough to cover the recipient’s needs—a “partial BIG” rather than a “full BIG.” But Alaska experience has show that even a partial BIG can make a great difference to the needy and sets the right precedent.

Thompson’s plan is rather far from implementation, however. To introduce it, the U.S. would have to be continuing its involvement in Iraq two years from now, when a president Thompson would take office. At that point the U.S. will have been at war for nearly six years. Even then, Thompson could only recommend the plan to the Iraqi Parliament, which is formally recognized by the U.S. government as the sovereign government of an independent country. If the whole of Thompson’s plan is adopted, United States would likely remain at war in Iraq for four more years while we find out whether the military elements of his plan work.

Thompson has not discussed extending the Alaska-style plan closer to home, nor does he seem aware of the possible conflict between the goals of an APF-style BIG and his pedigree, Workfare.

What’s the big deal if a politician in one country supports BIG in another country where he may have little influence even if elected? It show that framed in the right context, BIG can have a great appeal even to work-ethic conservatives, and it demonstrates the growing appeal of the APF precedent. The APF is so obviously successful, so popular, and so cost-effective that it appeals even to the father of workfare. Much of the motivation for workfare has been popular American resentment against people who receive direct government payments. But there is little resentment in America for people who receive property income whether or not they work and whether or not they received their property through work. The APF makes some part of Alaska’s oil revenues into part of the personal property of every Alaskan. It’s theirs; they own it. It is quite natural to infer that if it is right for every Alaskan to own a share of their oil, then perhaps every Iraqi should own a share of their oil too. But once you have endorsed that principle it is quite natural to infer that every South African should own a share of their gold. Every Botswanan should own a share of their diamonds. Every Welshman should own a share of their coal. Every Bolivian should own a share of their tin. And the full inference is that everyone should own a share of all natural resources. If we put that principle into practice, single mothers would not need workfare at all.
-Karl Widerquist (Michael Lewis contributing)


3. NAMIBIAN BIG PROPOSAL RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL PRAISE


According to allafrica.com, the UN Commission for Social Development praised Namibia’s basic income grant proposal (BIG), Brazil's Bolsa Familia and India's National Rural Employment Guarantee as some of the several good practices that would alleviate poverty and empower rural households to improve their lives. This follows the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia's Bishop Kameeta's presentation to the United Nations Commission for Social Development in New York in February where he participated in a panel discussion on the topic, "Good practices for promoting employment and decent work". Kameeta, who presented at the Basic Income Earth Network Congress in South Africa last fall, is now in the process of raising private funds for a pilot project to demonstrate the feasibility of the BIG in Namibia. Namibia’s BIG proposal also received praise from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). According to allafrica.com, the LWF urged its member churches to consider poverty reduction initiatives like Namibia's BIG proposal at its meeting in Sweden last month. The LWF also praised Namibian Lutherans for their work promoting the BIG in South Africa. Meanwhile, in Namibia, HIV infected people in the Kavango Regions have made an appeal for BIG to address the lack of basic necessities for people living with HIV and AIDS. For stories go to:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200704100309.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/200704050584.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/200703300176.html


4. POLITICAL SUPPORT FOR BIG IN UK PARLIAMENT


Three years ago, with the help of Dr. Lynne Jones MP and Sir Archy Kirkwood MP the British Citizen's Income Trust distributed a questionnaire to all MPs. Seventy-one completed questionnaires and eleven letters were returned. The level of support for a Citizen's Income was considerable. Forty-one respondents were in favour and only eleven against; and of particular interest was the level of support for a Royal Commission to study the proposal: forty-six in favour, and only sixteen against. (Sir Patrick Cormack MP, one of the respondents, commented in his letter: "I have long advocated a Royal Commission to look at the Welfare State fifty years on".) On its website, the Citizen's Income Trust concludes that "Both the House of Commons and the House of Lords support a Citizen's Income approach to the reform of tax and benefits." For further information, please visit http://www.citizensincome.org/.
-From BIEN


5. MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT IN URUGUAY ENDORSES BIG


BIEN reports, on March 6, Uruguayan member of the Parliament Pablo Álvarez (Frente Amplio - left wing coalition) presented at the Chamber of Representatives of the National Parliament a proposal to create what he called the "Uruguayan National Network for Basic Income". The practically-oriented aim of this initiative was to define the pathways to implement a Basic Income in Uruguay as soon as possible. In a speech in which he first referred to More, Paine, Fourier, Russell and Meade, as well as to BIEN and Philippe Van Parijs's work, Pablo Álvarez presented Basic Income both as a right and as a way to rationalize the current Uruguayan system of cash transfers and to avoid the problems of conditional subsidies. The Parliament approved the creation of a Committee to study the political meaning and feasibility of Basic Income.


6. SEVERAL SMALL PARTIES AROUND THE WORLD ENDORSE BIG


Several small parties around the world have endorsed BIG in their party platforms. The Green Party of Manitoba, which is contending the provincial elections on May 22nd, 2007, advocates a Universal Basic Income that would ensure that all Manitobans have adequate income to meet their needs, according to wordpress.com. The Peace and Freedom Party (USA), a socialist party with plans to mount a nationwide campaign for the 2008 elections, has already qualified for the ballot in California. One of the candidates for the Peace and Freedom Party’s nomination for president, Stewart Alexander, supports a basic income for everyone 50 and over sufficient to cover their basic needs of food, housing, clothing, transportation and utilities, and some level of universal basic income, according to the candidate’s website http://www.salt-g.com/. The Scottish Green Party has announced that Citizen’s Income (another name for BIG) large enough to eliminate the psycho-social stress of poverty is at the heart of their strategy “to create a society in which the means of production is harnessed to the good of all in society,” according to the party’s website, http://www.syg.scottishgreens.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=32.


7. AUSTRALIAN LABOUR MP AND LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE ENDORSES BIG


John McDonnell has been an MP for the Australian Labour Party since 1997. He is leading a campaign demanding a democratic election for the party leadership and an open debate about the policies that a Labour Government should implement. He is also considered a more left-oriented member of the party who has resisted the party’s rightward “New Labour” movement. His leadership campaign has endorsed establishing social rights to a Citizen’s Income (or BIG) along with affordable housing, free education, childcare, healthcare, and care in older age. The next Labour leader may be poised to become the Prime Minister of Australia in the next general elections. The candidate’s website is on line at http://www.john4leader.org.uk/.


8. CANADIAN SURVEY SHOWS BIG SUPPORT


According to the Livable Income For Everyone Network, the [Canadian] National Council on Welfare online survey Oct-Dec. 2006 of 5,457 individual Canadians. Participants in the survey ranked the Guaranteed Livable Income (another name for BIG) number one for action to permanently reduce poverty rates in Canada. The survey results are available as a PDF on the home page of the National Council’s website under What's New at http://www.ncwcnbes.net/en/home.html


9. RECENT EVENTS


Guy Standing spoke at the Jobs and Justice Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, March 29, 2007.
Guy Standing, co-chair and founding member of the Basic Income Earth Network and former Director of Socio-Economic Security, International Labour Organization, gave the Keynote address of the "Jobs & Justice Conference" in Vancouver, and was interviewed by the Georgia Straight News in a piece entitled "Labour expert leads call for basic income" (By Charlie Smith, March 29, 2007). Information on the conference can be found at: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/jobsconference/. The interview is on line at: http://www.straight.com/article-77814/labour-expert-leads-call-for-basic-income


10. UPCOMING EVENTS


REGINA (CA), 6-8 June 2007: Economic Security for All in Saskatchewan: Weaving an Unbreakable Social Fabric.
This conference is organized by the Department of Justice Studies of the University of Regina (Saskatchewan, Canada) and the Regina Anti-Poverty Network. Themes and topics will include: re-establishing a strong social safety net, re-committing to the principle of universality in income support, health care, and access to education, ensuring a living wage for working people, moving toward a guaranteed annual income or "basic income" in Saskatchewan and Canada. For further information contact Prof. Jim Mulvale: jim.mulvale@uregina.ca or justice.studies@uregina.ca. Registration forms and further information are available on the provisional conference website: http://tinyurl.com/28qmmo/esc/
-From BIEN


11. RECENT PUBLICATIONS


Income inequality.
Carter, V. J., & Howard, M. W.
In G. L. Anderson & K. G. Herr (Eds.), Encyclopedia of activism and social justice (Vol. 2, pp. 733-737). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (2007).
This encyclopedia entry focuses on the extent and causes of income inequality with a brief discussion of policies to decrease inequality including basic income.

An Emergency Program of Monetary Reform for the United States
by Richard C. Cook
This article makes a social credit case for monetary reform including a basic income guarantee called the national dividend. The social credit national dividend is a BIG tied to production and consumption data and may vary from year to year. Thus although everyone is guaranteed to get it they are not guaranteed to get the same amount every year, but the first guarantee is sufficient to fall within the usual definition of BIG. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=COO20070426&articleId=5494

Australasian Social Credit Journal
May-June, 2007
The latest issue of this bi-monthly journal includes an article by V.J. Bridger on Basic Income. However, it defines basic income differently than most of its advocates, defining it somewhat closer to the minimum wage or a wage supplement. It can be found online at: http://www.ecn.net.au/~socred/.

"Solving Poverty: Four cornerstones of a workable national strategy for Canada"
The [Canadian] National Council on Welfare Report (Winter 2007)
This report mentions the Guaranteed Livable Income as part of a solution to poverty on pages 16-18, concluding that it merits “further attention.” The report is available as a PDF on http://www.ncwcnbes.net/en/home.html. For further information: www.ncwcnbes.net (also in French).

Hubbert's Prescription for Survival, A Steady State Economy
by Robert L. Hickerson
Energy Bulletin.net, Feb. 27, 2007
Originally published on December 29, 2004 by Hubbertpeak.com this article discuses the work of geophysicist M. King Hubbert, who is best known for being one of the first persons to predict (in 1949) the short duration of the fossil fuels era. He was widely ridiculed in 1956 for predicting that U.S. oil production would peak in 1970, but gained new respect when that prediction came true. Even the opening of the Alaska pipeline in the late 1970s did not reverse that trend. One of Hubbert’s proposals for dealing with energy issues was essentially a BIG in the form of Income in Units of Energy. That is, he proposed giving each individual a nonnegotiable certificate for the right to consume one share of the maximum allowable energy consumption for the nation. The article is on line at: http://www.energybulletin.net/3800.html.


12. NEW LINKS


Charles Murray discussed his basic income proposal, known as “the Plan” on UK radio last month. Audio of the broadcast is on line at: http://www.vivant.org/site/fileadmin/DocEN/News_items/2007/talking_politics.ra.

13. NEW MEMBERS


Six new members have joined the USBIG Network since March. The USBIG Network now has 133 members from 29 U.S. states and 22 foreign countries. Membership in USBIG is free and open to anyone who shares its goals. To become a member of USBIG go to www.usbig.net, and click on “membership.”

Two new members have also joined the USBIG board of advisors, William DiFazio, professor at St. John’s University in New York, and Annie Miller, founding member of the Basic Income European Network (now the Basic Income Earth Network) and trustee of the Citizens Income Trust.

The current members of the USBIG Network are:

Karl Widerquist, Cassopolis, MI; Eri Noguchi, New York, NY; Fred Block, Davis, CA; Michael A. Lewis, New York, NY; Steve Shafarman, Washington, DC; Brian Steensland, Bloomington, IN; Al Sheahen, Van Nuys, CA; Philippe Van Parijs, Brussels, Belgium; Stanley Aronowitz, New York, NY; Carole Pateman, Los Angeles, CA; Frances Fox Piven, New York, NY; Eduardo Suplicy, Sao Paolo, Brazil; J. Philip Wogaman, Washington, DC; Chris LaPlante, Blacksburg, VA; John Marangos, Fort Collins, CO; Fransisco Sales, Carretera Mexico City, DF, Mexico; Manuel Henriques, Lisbon, Portugal; Amelia Baughman, Williams, AZ; Robert F. Clark, Alexandria, VA; Jason Burke Murphy, Saint Louis, MO; Joel Handler, Los Angeles, CA; Glen C. Cain, Madison, WI; Timothy Roscoe Carter, San Fransisco, CA; John Bollman, Bay City, MI; George McGuire, Brooklyn, NY; Adrian Kuziminski, Fly Creek, NY; Hyun-Mook Lim, Seoul, Korea; Kelly D. Pinkham, Kansas City, MO; Michael Murray, Clive, IA; Josep LI. Ortega, Santa Coloma, Andorra; Michael Opielka, Königswinter, Germany; Brenden Miller, Cambridge, MA; Myron J. Frankman, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Frank Thompson, Ann Arbor, MI; Harry F. Dahms, Knoxville, TN; Buford Farris, Bastrop, TX; Roy Morrison, Warner, NH; Robley E. "Rob" George, Manhattan Beach, CA, Almaz Zelleke, Brooklyn, NY; Gonzalo Pou, Montevideo, Uruguay; Elisabetta Pernigotti, Paris, France; Ross Zucker, New York, NY; Sean Owens, La Mirada, CA, Dean Herd, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Hugh Thompson, London, UK; Jan van Knippenberg, Kinrooi, Belgium; Adam Csillag, Berlin, Germany; Steve Gazzo, Pittsburgh, PA; Mike Cottone, Weaverville, CA; Brigitte Sirois, Quebec, Quebec, Canada; Guy Standing, Geneva Switzerland; G. W. Putto, Den Haag, the Netherlands; Anonymous, Berkeley, CA; Pete Farina, Washington, DC; Robert Wirengard, Fair Share, Florida; Urban Boljka, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Ronal Cohen, Bennington, Vermont; H.T.L. Quan, Chicago, Illinois; Lourdes Maria Silva Araujo; Espirito Santo, Brazil; Patrick S. O'Donnell, Santa Barbara, California; Stephen Nathanson, Boston, Massachusetts; Jerey Vogt, Washington, DC; Justine Lam, Arlington, Virginia; Ricardo A. Bunge, San Antonio, Texas; Aziz Akgul, Ankara, Turkey; Judith A. Kaluzny, Fullerton, California; Leonard Butters, Spokane, Washington; Peter Christiansen, San Francisco, California; Kyle Patrick Meredith, Chattanooga, Tennessee; Benjamin Hyink, LaGrange, Illinois; Nancy Folbre, Amherst, Massachusetts; Noaki Yoshihara, Kunitachi, Tokyo; Bernard Mueller, Torrance, California; Zool (Paul Zulkowitz); Woodmare, New York; Amanda Reilly, Wellington, New Zealand; Adam Sacks, Lexington, Massachusetts; Mark Levinson, New York, New York Kathy Fitzpatrick, Grand Rapids, MI; Stephen C. Clark, Port Hueneme, CA; Cristian Pérez Muñoz, Sauce, Uruguay; Richa, Grand Rapids, MI; Floyd Robinson, Ann Arbor, MI; Bradley Nelson, Portland, OR; Mark Ewbank, Coventry, United Kingdom; Bernard Cloutier, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Mark Erickson, Skokie, IL; Dale Carrico, Oakland, CA; Joseph Meyer, St.Vith, Belgium; A.R. Rowe, Brooklyn, NY; Pius Charles Murray, Somersworth, NH; John D. Jones, Milwaukee, WI; Troy Davis, Williamsburg, VA; William E Fraser, Santa Cruz, CA. Twelve new members have joined USBIG since December 18, 2005. They are Luke Mead, Astoria, OR; Ori Lev, Baltimore, MD; Ralph Rostas, Chester, VA; Laura Cornelius, Woodbridge, VA; Dylan Matthews, Hanover, NH; John (Jack) O'Donnell, Millville, NJ; Stefano Lucarelli, Ancona, Italy; Richard Lippincott Biddle, Philadelphia, PA; Alanna Hartzok, Scotland, PA; Hank Delisle, Fukuoudai, Japan; Michael LaTorra, Las Cruces, NM; Mike Roberts, Rochester, NY, Anson Chong, Fen Forest, HI; Michele Lewis, Washington, DC; Heather Boushey, Washington, DC; Nicolaus Tideman, Blacksburg, VA; John Carroll, Edinburgh, IN; Rosalind Diana, Seaside Heights, NJ; W. Robert Needham, Waterloo, ON, Canada; Cedric Neill, Orlando, FA; Richard Cook, College Park, MD; Miroslav Turcinovic, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; William DiFazio, Brooklyn, NY; Angel Garman, Hugo OK; Karin Nyquist, Emmaboda, Sweden; Larry Dansinger, Monroe, ME; Richard G. Wamai Cambridge, MA; Melissa Farrell, Staten Island, NY; Bill McCormick, Grand Junction, CO; Rashida Ali-Campbell, Yeadon, PA; Lenny Krosinsky, Albuquerque, NM; Rachel Crutcher, Allen, TX; Julie Hendrix, Little Rock, AR; Annie Miller, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.


14. NEW DISCUSSION PAPERS


A Dilemma for Libertarians
Karl Widerquist
USBIG Discussion Paper No. 175
May 2007
Abstract: This article presents a dilemma for libertarianism. It argues that libertarian principles of acquisition and transfer without regard for the pattern of inequality do not support a minimal state, but can lead just as well to a monarchy with full the full power of taxation without violation of self-ownership. The article considers and rejects several ways in which libertarianism might try to argue against a monarchy. Once the government ownership of property is shown to be consistent with just acquisition and transfer of property rights, monarchy, socialism, or state-managed capitalism can be seen as patterns of the distribution of property rights. Libertarian advocacy of a minimal state is simply a preference for one pattern of the distribution of property rights over another. Thus, libertarians must choose between the principles and the state they advocate.

The Physical Basis of Voluntary Trade
Karl Widerquist
USBIG DISCUSSION PAPER NO.
176
May 2007
Abstract: The article discusses the conditions under which can we say that people enter economic interactions as free individuals. Section 1 defines status freedom as effective control self-ownership, which requires that individuals have the effective power to make or refuse interaction with other willing people. This status requires some level of economic independence so that a person is not forced to serve others to survive. Section 2 considers the treatment of effectively forced interaction in economic and political theory. Section 3 discusses theories of human need by Nussbaum and Doyal and Gough to determine the capabilities a person has to have to maintain independence. Section 4 considers what form access to that level of capability should take—in cash, kind, or raw resources. Section 5 concludes that an unconditional basic income is the most effective method to ensure that individuals in a modern, industrial economy enter the labor market voluntarily and as free individuals.


15. LINKS AND OTHER INFO


For links to dozens of BIG websites around the world, go to http://www.usbig.net/links.html. These links are to any website with information about BIG, but USBIG does not necessarily endorse their content or their agendas.

The USBIG Network Newsletter
Editor: Karl Widerquist
Research: Paul Nollen
Copyediting: Mike Murray and the USBIG Committee

The U.S. Basic Income Guarantee (USBIG) Network publishes this newsletter. The Network is a discussion group on 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.

You may copy and circulate articles from this newsletter, but please mention the source and include a link to 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.

Thank you,
-Karl Widerquist, USBIG Coordinator.
Karl@Widerquist.com