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 at least a
subsistence-level income
for everyone. If you would like to be added to or removed from this
list please
email: Karl@Widerquist.com.
1. USBIG Congress takes place later this
week
2. Conservative U.S. presidential
candidate
endorses a small BIG
3. Editorial: A Basic Income Supporter’s
view of
the sales tax movement
4. BIG News from Around the World
5. Upcoming Events
6. Recent Events
7. Basic Income Studies releases its
fourth issue
8. New Publications
9. New Discussion Papers
10. New Members
11. New Links
12. Links and Other Info
The basic income guarantee has been a small issue
in the
U.S. Presidential primaries. Republican candidate Mike Huckabee,
proposes
replacing the income tax with a sales tax and providing everyone with a
monthly
tax rebate “for taxes on purchases up to the poverty line, so that
we're not
taxed on necessities, [and] people below the poverty line won't be
taxed at
all,” according the Huckabee’s website. The emphasis of the plan is on
the
sales tax. The rebate is quietly mentioned almost as an afterthought—a
way to
cushion the blow to the poor. But that rebate is a
small basic income, set at some fraction of the poverty line.
Huckabee’s
website does not specify the tax rate. Advocates of the national sales
tax
usually prefer a figure under 25 percent, but to maintain current
government
spending the tax rate might have to be more than 30 percent. At 2006
poverty
rates, the 25 percent rate would imply a basic income of $2500 per year
for a
single person and $5000 for a family of four. The 35 percent tax rate
would imply
basic incomes of more than $3500 for a single person and $7000 for a
family of
four. It is not a full basic income, but remember that Huckabee is one
of the most
conservative politicians of the 2008 race; yet he quietly endorsed
one-fourth
to one-third of what basic income supporters want.
The unexpected success of Mike Huckabee in the
Republican
primaries has given a substantial boost to the small movement to
replace all
federal taxes with a national sales tax with an accompanying tax rebate
in the
form of a partial basic income (see story above). The basic income
movement has
been almost an entirely left-of-center movement since the 1980s, made
up of
mostly of people who want a more equal society with much better, freer
lives
for the poor. I believe that most basic income supporters would like to
have an
ally on the other side of the political divide. Is the sales tax
movement such
an ally? Although I have no doubt that a basic income as small as the
one
proposed by the sales tax movement would be better than no basic income
at all,
there are two main reasons why the sales tax movement promotes
something that
is very difficult for most basic income supporters to endorse.
First, the stress of the sales tax movement is almost entirely on the
benefits
of income tax relief. The tax rebate is included almost as an
afterthought to
cushion the blow on the poor, who currently pay little or no income
taxes and
would stand to lose significantly by a shift to sales taxes. Any
motivation to
help provide basic economic security is left out of the movement’s
literature. The
poor are expected to work, and adequate work is assumed to be available
in the job
market. As the sales tax movement sees it, the poor only have one
problem—the
government makes them pay taxes. If the government rebates their taxes,
private
employment provides everything they need. Even if we disagree with the
motives
of sales tax advocates, and even if their basic income is far too
small, it is
better to get some of what we want than nothing. That is, as long as
the cost
is not too high, which brings me to the next reason.
Second, sales tax advocates would only support a small basic income as
part of
a shift to the national sales tax, which supporters call “the fair
tax.” But the
sales tax has significant problems. The three most obvious measures of
an individual’s
economic standing are income, wealth, and consumption. Any one of these
measures
could provide a base for taxation: an income tax is obviously a tax on
income;
capital gains, wealth, and inheritance taxes fall on wealth; and a
sales tax falls
on consumption. What difference would it make to base federal taxation
on
sales? Savings (i.e. the accumulation of wealth) is the difference
between
income and consumption. If you make $30,000 and save $3,000, you spend
$27,000.
An income tax would tax you based on how much money you make; a sales
tax would
tax you based on the portion of that money you spend that year. Sales
tax
advocates call this fair because it encourages savings and because it
supposedly taxes people how what they actually consume rather than on
what they
are able to consume.
For most of us, there is no a big difference between income and
savings. The
poorest people tend to spend all of their income, and members of the
middle
class are lucky if they can put away 10 percent. But at higher levels
of
economic well-being, there is an enormous difference. The richer one
is; the
less one spends as a percentage of income. Therefore, the “fair” tax is
regressive, making after tax incomes between the middle class and the
wealthy
less equal than before tax incomes. Supporters argue (fairly) that it
will be
no more regressive than the current system with all of its exemptions,
but the
sale tax is simply not a mechanism capable of making the system
progressive. A
government financed by a national sales tax will allow families to
accumulate
more and more wealth and the power that goes with it. They will be able
to pass
that wealth down for generations and generations with no interference
from income
or wealth taxation.
Sales tax advocates say that it is fair to tax people on what they
actually
consume rather than their potential to consume. Yet, the holding of
wealth
takes up resources that other people might as much as consumption does.
If my
family holds land as wealth, we block anyone else from using that land,
but we
would pay no sales tax on it. Under a sales tax, if a middle class man
spends $50
to buy his son a baseball glove, he pays tax. But if a wealthy man
spends $50
million to buy his son a professional baseball team—that’s investment
spending,
not consumption—he pays no tax. This is the “fair tax” in name only.
Even so, a national sales tax could be part of an overall progressive
system if
it was accompanied by a substantial basic income and some kind of tax
that hits
large dynastic family accumulations of wealth. Inheritance taxes and
capital
gains taxes don’t actually do that job very well, but there are two
taxes that
could, a tax on land value or a tax directly on wealth holdings (see Top Heavy by Ed Wolff). However, I fear
that sales tax advocates would resist any changes in their preferred
system
that would make it progressive.
-Karl Widerquist
Reginald Stackhouse, a former Progressive
Conservative
Member of Parliament and emeritus professor at University of Toronto,
endorsed
BIG in an editorial in the Toronto Star on February 17. Stackhouse
endorses a
full basic income with the goal of eliminating all poverty in Canada.
He
concludes, “What you and I can be sure of is the present system is not
working.
Canada is one of the most financially sound countries in the world –
but we
still have enough poor people to populate one of our largest cities.
Don't you
think that we should be looking for an alternative?” Ann Lukits,
writing in the
Kingston Whig-Standard, reports that Conservative Senator Hugh Segal
has
recently called for a feasibility study on guaranteed income in the
form of a
negative income tax. Lukits writes, "Canadian politicians have tried
without success for close to 40 years to introduce a guaranteed annual
income
for poor people. Kingston Senator Hugh Segal is hoping he's the one who
can
finally make it happen."
The Toronto Star editorial is online at:
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/304074
The Whig-Standard article is online at:
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=894149%20
Senator Eduardo Suplicy is one of the
hardest-working
advocates for BIG in the world. He sponsored the bill, which became law
in
2004, authorizing the gradual phase-in of a BIG in Brazil. He has met
with
politicians, researchers and heads of state around the world to
advocate for
the introduction of basic income. Last month he spent several days in
Iraq meeting
with senior Iraqi officials and encouraging them to introduce basic
income as
part of the effort to pacify their country. He will speak at the USBIG
Conference in Boston on Sunday March 9 and present a 20-minute video on
his
visit to Iraq. Senator Suplicy’s first-hand account of his visit to
Iraq is
online at: http://www.usbig.net/papers/182-Suplicy--Iraq.doc.
Residents of the village of Omitara, Namibia
received their
first payments of a basic income grant of 100 Namibian dollars this
January.
More than 900 residents will receive the grants (worth about US$13.32)
each
month for the next two years. The payments are part of a pilot project
being
conducted by the Namibian BIG Coalition and supported by private
donations. A
baseline study on the living conditions of Omitara residents was
carried out at
the end of last year. Follow up studies will be carried out every six
months
over the next two years to scientifically document the concrete impact
of the
BIG in Omitara. The findings of these studies will be made available to
the
media. The BIG Coalition hopes the project will demonstrate the
feasibility of
BIG, and the coalition plans to resume its lobbying efforts once the
project is
complete.
Several source article for this report can be found online;
January 16, Denver Isaacs, the Namibian Windhoek:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200801160515.html
January 18, Wezi Tjaronda, New Era Windhoek:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200801180384.html
February 18, Denver Isaacs, The Namibian (Windhoek)
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802180688.html
See also: http://www.bignam.org/
And: http://www.cdhaarmann.com/
On October 15th, 2007, Bolivian president Evo
Morales proposed
the creation of the Universal Lifetime Basic Income for Dignified
Aging, which
will consist of a universal and unconditional monetary transfer of
around 26
US$ for all people aged 60 and above in the country. This amount is a
starting
point taking into account the poverty line in Bolivia. Evo Morales
described
basic income as a long dream and warned that should it not be approved
by
parliament he will put out a decree putting it into action immediately.
In
Latin America, through diverse pathways, the proposal for universal,
unconditional income recognized as a right is making progress. In
particular the
Bolivian proposal reinforces the universal citizen's pension of Mexico
City,
active since 2001. Such a pension is now completely universal in the
City, each
month 420,000 persons get it, its amount is around US$70 and has been
granted
as a right in the Law, that means is demandable to the Government of
Mexico
City.
The Partei für Soziale Gleichheit (PSG—
Socialist Equality
Party) endorsed a substantial BIG of 1500 Euros per month in its
platform for German
regional elections held on the January 27. The party platform is online
at:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jan2008/mani-j02.shtml
Roland Duchâtelet, the founder and President
of Vivant,
became a member of the Belgian Senate on December 21, 2007. The core
program of
Vivant includes an unconditional basic income, direct democracy and a
tax shift
from labor taxes toward consumption tax. In the Senate Roland
Duchâtelet
succeeds Guy Verhofstadt of Open Vld, the coalition partner of Vivant,
who has
agreed to lead an interim government until March 23, 2008. Vivant now
has two
representatives in the Senate: Roland Duchâtelet and Nele Lijnen.
BIEN reports: The French Secretary of State for
Prospective
Studies and the Evaluation of Public Policies, Eric Besson, has been
asked by
Prime Minister François Fillon to explore possible ways of
implementing a
so-called "Universal Dividend", or basic income, in France. In 2002,
Christine Boutin, currently Minister for Housing and City Planning, had
published a report on poverty and exclusion, in which she advocated the
idea of
an income by right for all French citizens. In his letter to Besson, PM
François Fillon explicitly refers to this report, and asks for a
cost-analysis
in the light of foreign experiences. The new report on basic income
should be
finished at the end of March 2008.
For further information: http://www.frs-ladroitehumaine.fr/
BIEN reports: On October 2, 2007 a debate on Basic
Income
took place in a plenary session of the Spanish Parliament, following a
bill
presented by two political parties: the Republican Left of Catalonia
(Esquerra
Republicana de Catalunya, ERC, a left-wing pro-independence party that
is
currently a member of the coalition that rules the Catalan government)
and the
United Left (Izquierda Unida - Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds, IU-ICV,
the main
organisation at the left of the Socialist Party, PSOE). The
parliamentary
debate had many repercussions in the press. The interventions made by
the
representatives of the parties in Parliament can be read in the
parliamentary
report (Diario de Sesiones), which can also be downloaded from
http://www.nodo50.org/redrentabasica/textos/index.php?x=657.
An article responding to the debate is online at:
http://www.nodo50.org/redrentabasica/textos/index.php?x=658
BIEN reports: BRUSSELS (BE), 19 December 2007:
“Everyone
deserves a decent life”: The European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN)
kicked off EU
wide campaign for Adequate Minimum Income schemes. On December 19,
2007, EAPN launched
an EU wide campaign for Adequate Minimum Income schemes. 24 out of 27
Member
States have minimum income schemes in place at this present time, but
there are
serious flaws with their accessibility and their adequacy. It is time,
EAPN
argues, to state clearly that adequate Minimum Income schemes are a
fundamental
prerequisite for an EU based on social justice and equal opportunities
for all.
The campaign was launched in Brussels in presence of NGO
representatives,
Members of the European Parliament, European Commission officials as
well as
national representations and social partners (ETUC, EPSU, etc.)
representatives.
For further information: http://www.eapn.org/
On January 25, 2008, the Government of "Regione
Lazio" (the Region which includes the province of Rome) approved a
“guaranteed social income.” In the coming weeks this proposal will be
discussed
in a Regional Commission, as well as in the Regional General Council,
where it is
expected to be approved. The proposal entails an income support of 450
Euros
per month, and a package of free services (free transport, electricity,
free
entrance in art centers, etc.). It is means-tested and targeted at
individuals
whose earnings are below a threshold of 7,500 Euros per year, such as
precarious workers and the unemployed. This proposal was made by
Alessandra
Tibaldi (Partito della Rifondazione Comunista), after discussions with
representatives of social movements, trade unions, and political
parties. The
proposed funding is approximately 30,000,000 Euros for the first stage
of
experimentation, during the next three years. Some proponents of a
basic income
in Italy see this event as an important first step towards a true basic
income
for all. For further information:
http://www.regione.lazio.it/web2/main/.
BIEN reports: Andrew Glyn, fellow of Corpus
Christi College,
Oxford, died of a brain tumor at the age of 64. He was one of the most
respected and most loved left-wing political economists. He was also,
as the
Times obituary put it (January 8, 2008), "an ideological radical who
proved himself to be one of the finest exponents of the most
traditional of all
teaching methods - Oxford's Socratic tutorial system" and "one of the
most inspiring and giving of Oxford's teachers".
His last book, Capitalism Unleashed,
he wrote, "the campaign in support of Basic Income eventually notched
up
one more adherent". The top priority, he wrote in the final chapter,
should be to establish "the basis for a new balance between work and
other
activities". How? "the most innovative policy suggestion to encourage
moves in this direction is the proposal of a Basic Income". It "would
involve a recasting of elements of the welfare state in an egalitarian
direction which would be extremely worthwhile".
See “In Memoriam Andrew Glyn”, online at:
http://www.uclouvain.be/8611.html
See also the obituary in “Socialist Unity”:
http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=1417
And in “The Guardian”:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/politicsobituaries/story/0,,2233842,00.html
The 12th International Congress of the Basic
Income Earth
Network (BIEN) will be held on 20-21 June 2008 in Dublin, Ireland. The
theme of
this World Congress is: Inequality and Development in a Globalised
Economy -
The Basic Income Option. This two-day event involving participants from
all the
continents of the world will be preceded by a one-day event (June 19,
2008)
which will focus on Basic Income in Ireland and will be open to all
participants in the World Congress. Details about the Congress are
online at:
www.basicincomeireland.com. The organizing committee can be reached at
info@basicincomeireland.com
BASEL, Switzerland October 5-7, 2007:
BIEN Reports: More than 300 participants from Germany, Switzerland and Austria attended the second German-speaking BI congress "Securing everybody´s existence and Unconditional - BI as a human right" which was held at the University of Basel, Switzerland, Oct. 5-7, 2007. "This congress has linked the debates on BI in our three countries and stressed the European dimension of this debate" said Avji Sirmoglu, member of the organizing committee. "Combating poverty is one important issue in the debate on BI, since the aim of a BI is social integration and participation in the society". Scientists and persons e.g. from social initiatives and organizations of unemployed shared their insights and visions regarding current developments such as social security, labor markets as well as unpaid work. They discussed the introduction of an unconditional BI which must be high enough to secure everybody’s existence as well as special aspects like how to finance a BI.
One central question was whether BI is a human
right. There
was common sense that every human being must receive his/her fair stake
of the
existing wealth. BI was called a very good way to make this reality.
The
congress was organized by the BI-networks of Austria, Germany and
Switzerland
together with ATTAC Germany and Switzerland and the BI-group within
ATTAC
Austria. The congress was held in participation with the Institute of
Sociology
(University of Basel), Initiative BI Basel and others. This event was
followed
by the Third (National) German Basic Income Congress in Berlin on
October24-26,
2008.
The program and articles on the Basel congress (in German) is online
at:
www.grundeinkommen2007.org Some of the workshops were recorded. Audio
CDs (all
German) can be ordered: www.grundeinkommen.at. Further information on
the
Berlin conference is available online at: http://www.grundeinkommen.de.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, December 13, 2007
BIEN Reports: The Citizen Income Network in
Argentina
(Redaic (Red Argentina de Ingreso Ciudadano)) organized together with
the
Centre of Labour Studies and Research ((Ceil-Piette (Centro de Estudios
e
Investigaciones Laborales - Programa de Investigaciones
Económicas sobre
Tecnología, Trabajo y Empleo)) a workshop on "Income or
Employment
Guarantee? An Argentinean discussion between Basic Income and Employmer
of Last
Resort.” It took place on Thursday December, 13th. For further
information;
Corina Rodríguez Enríquez, Conicet - Ciepp, Buenos Aires
- Argentina,
www.ciepp.org.ar.
BIEN reports: On October 17, 2007 (the
International Day for
the Eradication of Poverty), several faith leaders from Greater
Victoria held a
press conference and called for a livable income for all Canadians.
This press conference
focused on Victoria and British Columbia, where poverty is on the
increase. In
spite of a booming economy, the gap between the rich and the poor has
never
been larger, activists say. "A crisis-based approach to dealing with
the
complex problems of poverty and homelessness does not work" said Rev.
Harold Munn, rector at St. John the Divine Anglican Church and a member
of
Victoria's Mayor Taskforce on Homelessness. "Building shelters and
keeping
income assistance and disability rates so low and so difficult to
access that
shopping at food banks is a necessity- these strategies do not end
poverty but
perpetuate it. Faith communities, in particular, are aware of the
impacts that
these approaches have had on the lives and the dignity of poor people."
Besides Rev. Harold Munn, speakers included Fr. Dean Henderson
(St.Andrew's
Cathedral), Kathy Hoodikoff (Christ Church Cathedral), Ross White
(Cadboro Bay
United), Alan Saunders (First Metropolitan United) as well as speakers
from St.
Vincent de' Paul society, 9-10 Club and Faith in Action. Speakers
emphasized
that people of faith long for the day when poverty is indeed
eradicated, and
the food banks, clothing exchanges, and soupkitchens they are currently
operating, close their doors forever. For poverty to end, they argued,
governments at every level must support through their policy and
funding
commitments: affordable and/or supportive housing options, addiction
and mental
health treatment programs, and a livable income for all Canadians.
For further information, contact Rev. Harold Munn at 250-383-7169, or
Rev. Al
Tysick at 250-388-0343.
VALLES OCCIDENTAL (ES), 15-16 December 2007: The
Educational
Section of Catalonia’s Socialist Party at Vallès Occidental (one
of the most
politically active regions in Catalonia) held a two-day course on
December 15
and 16 which gathered many politicians from PSC (Catalan Socialist
Party) and
other Catalan left-wing parties, as well as members of unions and
independent
experts. Sessions dealt with issues such as work conditions in
present-day
Spanish labour markets, a general assessment of Zapatero’s turn of
office
(General Election at Spanish Parliament will take place in March 9
2008), and
included a lecture given by Daniel Raventós, President of Red
Renta Bàsica, on
“The Feasibility of Basic as a Right Promoting Social Justice”.
-From BIEN
BIEN reports: 19 January 2008: Asturia’s Section
of
Izquierda Unida, the main Spanish left-wing party to the left of
Spanish
Socialist Party, organised a very well-attended Conference on the
philosophical
justification of Basic Income, its political feasibility and its
possible
financial schemes. Daniel Raventós and Jordi Arcarons (both
members of Red
Renta Básica) gave background lectures and conducted vivid
discussions with
practitioners working at municipal and regional public agencies,
members of
social and political movements and Izquierda Unida’s politicians. Many
papers,
radio stations and TV channels covered the event, which proves that
Basic
Income keeps going deeper into Spanish social and political debate.
OXFORD, United Kingdom, February 9, 2008: The
Green
Economics Institute organized a one-day conference on "Social aspects
of
Green Economics: basic income, women and debt poverty, pensions,
trafficking in
women, and women’s access to economics". Karl Widerquist, of the
University of Reading, gave a keynote lecture entitled “An Introduction
to
Citizens Capital Accounts.” Clive Lord, one of the founders of the
British
Green Party, discussed basic income as a Green social policy. Pascal
Chandran,
editor of the Alternative Economics Journal (in French), discussed the
place of
basic income in the manifesto of the French Green Party. Judith
Dellheim, of
the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, examined, “Five considerations for
inclusion in
the discussion of social security systems in general and an
unconditional basic
income in particular.” Brian Heatley, of the British Green Party,
reported on
“Costing Citizen’s Income and associated benefit and income tax
changes.”
For further information: http://www.greeneconomics.org.uk/
ERMUA, Spain, February 20-22, 2008: Ermua’s City
Council
organized a Conference on Social Welfare Program for mid-size cities
(20,000
inhabitants) as the result of its willingness to provide politicians
and
practitioners a broad and election-independent picture of the main
challenges these
program are expected to face. This interdisciplinary Conference will
deal with
issues like social participation and political responsibility in the
provision
of welfare services, welfare schemes and migration, and the debate on
the
(un)conditionality of these welfare schemes, among others. Speakers
included,
Joan Subirats (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), Imanol Zubero
(Universidad
del País Vasco), Josep Ramoneda (Centre de Cultura
Contemporània de Barcelona),
Daniel Raventós (Universitat de Barcelona and Red Renta
Básica), and Gemma
Zabaleta (Member of Basque Socialist Party).
Basic Income Studies (BIS) released Volume 2,
Issue 2 in
December 2007. It features several research articles, research notes,
book
reviews, and a debate, guest-edited by David Casassas, Civic
Republicanism and
basic income. All current and past issues of BIS are available free
online at
http://www.bepress.com/bis. Click the required article and follow the
instructions to get free guest access.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
David Purdy "Is Basic Income Viable?".
ABSTRACT: The debate about Basic Income (BI) has hitherto been
preoccupied with
questions of desirability. To correct this imbalance and to throw light
on the
problems of winning political support for BI, this article considers
whether BI
is viable. At this stage, the exercise is necessarily speculative, but
can be
useful as long as care is taken to specify institutional arrangements
and to
take into account the way social agents are likely to respond to the
introduction of BI. Accordingly, I develop a theoretical model of the
interaction between tax-transfer policy and economic performance to
explore the
options facing the citizens of an imaginary state, who are
contemplating radical
reform but espouse divergent moral values. Initially, to fix ideas, I
assume
that their options are independent of the prevailing normative climate.
In the
end, however, I show that this assumption is untenable, and I draw
conclusions
for BI as a political project.
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art4
Manos Matsaganis and Maria Flevotomou "A Basic Income for Housing?
Simulating a Universal Housing Transfer in the Netherlands and Sweden".
ABSTRACT: The gradualist approach towards an unconditional basic income
for all
involves the introduction or extension of universal benefits in place
of
current income-tested ones. Such a policy shift might cause higher
fiscal costs
or adverse distributional effects, at least in the short run. However,
this
need not always be the case. Using the tax-benefit model EUROMOD, the
article
simulates the introduction of a universal housing transfer – that is
flat rate,
tenure neutral and budget neutral – in place of mortgage interest tax
relief
and housing benefits in the Netherlands and Sweden. As it turns out,
the
regressive effect of mortgage interest tax relief thwarts the
progressive
effect of housing benefits. In view of that, replacing both by the
universal
housing transfer (equivalent to a partial basic income for housing)
would
enhance tax progressivity and reduce income inequality at no extra
fiscal cost.
Policy implications and possible objections are discussed in the
concluding
section.
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art5
Johannes Hohlenberg, Simon Birnbaum and Erik Christensen
"Anthroposophical
Reflections on Basic Income".
ABSTRACT: In the 1930s Danish author and painter Johannes Hohlenberg
(1881–1960) published several essays in defense of an unconditional
income for
all. These original writings, strongly influenced by Rudolf Steiner's
anthroposophy, are not widely known. This article makes two of
Hohlenberg's
essays on this topic available in English translation for the first
time. The
first part of this article introduces Hohlenberg's ideas, followed in
section
two by English translations of the two Hohlenberg essays: Samfundsarven
(The
Heritage of Society) (1934) and Dersom nogen ikke vil arbejde, så
skal han
heller ikke have føden (He who Does not Work, Neither Shall He
Eat) (1937).
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art6
RESEARCH NOTES
Bill Jordan "Basic Income and Economic Integration".
ABSTRACT: This article addresses some of the issues raised for the
Basic Income
(BI) principle by global economic integration; especially the argument
that a
new model of reciprocity between affluent and developing economies does
not
require, and might be undermined by, this approach. In that view,
complementarity between an Anglophone version of capitalism and an
Asian model
of human development can supply a more reliable route to eliminating
world
poverty and advancing global well-being.
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art7
Lily L. Batchelder and Fred T. Goldberg, Jr. "Reforming Tax Incentives
Into Uniform Refundable Tax Credits".
ABSTRACT: Each year the US federal individual income tax delivers over
$500
billion worth of tax incentives intended to encourage socially
beneficial
activities. Currently the vast majority operate through deductions or
exclusions, which link the size of the subsidy to the taxpayer's
marginal tax
bracket. This article argues that uniform refundable credits are a more
efficient approach for tax incentives intended to correct for positive
externalities, absent evidence that positive externalities exist or
that
externalities or elasticities associated with the subsidized activity
vary by
income class. Moreover, some type of refundable credit should almost
always be
the most efficient subsidy even if externalities or elasticities rise
with
income. Their efficiency benefits are further magnified by their
tendency to
automatically smooth household income and macroeconomic demand. This
article
thus proposes a dramatic change in how the government provides tax
incentives
for socially valued activities: the default for all such tax incentives
should
be a uniform refundable tax credit.
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art8
DEBATE: “BASIC INCOME AND THE REPUBLICAN LEGACY”
David Casassas brings together several political theorists examining
the role a
basic income could play in republican political thought. The main
motivation
for a debate section on “Basic Income and the Republican Legacy” is to
offer
readers a glimpse of the debate within republican political thought on
the
importance of granting individuals an independent socio-economic status
as a
precondition for ensuring a concomitant political status of free
citizens.
David Casassas (University of Oxford), Philip Pettit (Princeton
University),
and Antoni Domènech and Daniel Raventós (University of
Barcelona) all defend
the right to a basic income on the grounds that republican freedom
requires a
strong form of material independence as a means to abolish the myriad
of
relations of domination that make up contemporary societies. Carole
Pateman
(Cardiff University) and Stuart White (University of Oxford), while
acknowledging that the republican case for basic income is a strong
one,
question whether the republican conceptual framework offers a
convincing
account of the reasons why we might be interested in pushing for basic
income.
Pateman suggests that a comprehensive theory of democracy based on
individual
self-government would offer a more plausible case for basic income,
rendering
the republican analysis of freedom partially superfluous. White's “plea
for
difficulty” suggests the republican case for basic income moves too
fast by
giving insufficient attention to the virtues of active citizenship.
Despite
these disagreements, the discussion of republican freedom and its
account of
nondomination, freedom from independence and so on clearly offers ample
room
for the consideration of basic income.
Links to the individual articles in the debate are below.
David Casassas "Basic Income and the Republican Ideal: Rethinking
Material
Independence in Contemporary Societies".
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art9
Philip Pettit "A Republican Right to Basic Income?"
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art10
Antoni Domènech and Daniel Raventós "Property and
Republican Freedom: An
Institutional Approach to Basic Income".
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art11
Carole Pateman "Why Republicanism?"
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art12
Stuart White "The Republican Case for Basic Income: A Plea for
Difficulty".
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art13
BOOK REVIEWS
Monika Wallmon "Review of Harvey and Boyle (eds.), Basic Income
Guarantees
and the Right to Work”.
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art14
Adam Whitworth "Review of “Guy Standing and Michael Samson, A Basic
Income
Grant for South Africa".
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art15
Gerard Cotterell "Review of Tony Fitzpatrick, New Theories of Welfare”.
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art16
Wim Van Lancker “Review of Erik Olin Wright (ed.), Redesigning
Distribution”.
http://www.bepress.com/bis/vol2/iss2/art17
To submit an article to Basic Income Studies, visit
http://www.bepress.com/bis,
and click "Submit Article". If you like to discuss your contribution
informally, contact editors Jurgen De Wispelaere or Karl Widerquist at
bis-editors@bepress.com.
It's All About You:
Citizen-centred welfare
Edited by Jim Bennett and Graeme Cooke, September 2007
The Institute for Public Policy
Research
According to the Citizens Income trust, the new Institute for Public
Policy
Research has published a new report endorsing streamlining of British
Income
maintenance programs. 'We propose moving towards a single income
replacement
benefit for people of working age. The benefit would be based on a
single set
of rules, paid at a standard basic rate and remain the same over time
(so there
would be no higher, long-term rates). It would replace Jobseeker's
Allowance
(JSA), Incapacity Benefit (IB) and Income Support (IS) and could also
incorporate Carer's Allowance. There are a range of advantages to this
proposal
and they deal with some of the problems of the current benefits (and
particularly the links between them). … The problems associated with
moving
between benefits would disappear. There would be no risk to a person's
benefit
if they tried going to work because the benefit would be the same
before and
after a period in work. Importantly, there would be no financial gain
to be
made from claiming one benefit over another or from remaining in
receipt of
benefit for a long period.' The system would be simple to administer
and easy
to understand, and it would reduce stigma. The report suggests that the
individual and not the household should be the benefit unit, and that a
non-means-tested benefit should be paid for 12 weeks and a means-tested
benefit
thereafter.
This article is available at www.ippr.org/publicationsandreports.
Eight Challenges for Basic Income
By Tony Fitzpatrick, The Citizens Income
Newsletter, Issue 1, 2008
Returning to the subject of basic income after 10 years on other
topics, Tony
Fitzpatrick assesses the state of the debate, and finds that it has
grown
enormously and gone global. He identifies 8 challenges in the current
debate.
1. “How do we disseminate information and coordinate efforts
effectively about
worldwide debates and developments?” 2. “How to maintain enthusiasm
when many
(or most?) in government are indifferent or dismissive; how to
translate casual
interest/support into something more?” 3. How do we persuade
governments of the
need for research? 4. “How do we keep up with political changes … and
continue
to demonstrate the potential relevance of BI?” 5. How do we present
those with
sympathetic beliefs alternatives to mainstream thinking? 6. How do we
get
people to think against what is 'common sense' or 'public opinion'? 7.
How do
we “read and respond to contemporary social changes?” 8. How do we
“plough on,
encouraging, navigating and utilising the BI community's diversity?”
The
article is on line at:
http://www.citizensincome.org/resources/newsletter%20issue%201%202008.shtml
The utility - or otherwise - of being employed for a few hours a week
by Malcolm Torry, The Citizens Income
Newsletter, Issue 1, 2008
This short research not argues that only the Citizen's Income net
income line
allows people with any shape of preferences to experience incentives to
seek
employment of any given number of hours. The article is on line at:
http://www.citizensincome.org/resources/newsletter%20issue%201%202008.shtml
Twenty-three Theses on the Unconditional Basic Income
By Theophil Wonneberger
Published in translation by the Portland
Independent Media Center
Wonneberger lists twenty-three ideas on basic income, following
from the
first: “Productivity has continuously increased since the beginning of
industrialization in the 19th century. Successes in automation
accelerated this
process and will accelerate it further in the future. For the first
time in
human history, considerable portions of the population are not needed
any more
to produce the necessary goods.”
This article is on line at:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/02/371801.shtml
This author’s email address is: e-mail: mbatko@lycos.com
The original German version of this article is on line at:
http://www.archiv-grundeinkommen.de/wonneberger/20080124-23ThesenBGE.pdf
PRABHAKAR, Rajiv (2007), 'Attitudes towards the Child Trust Fund: What
do
Parents Think?', The British Journal of Politics and International
Relations, 9
(4), 713–729.
The British government has recently introduced the Child Trust Fund.
This pays
all new babies a £250 (EUR337) or £500 (EUR673.5) capital
endowment (or
'stakeholder grant') from government. This is locked into a special
account
until the child's 18th birthday. Parents are key to the success of this
policy
as they will make many of the key decisions about savings and
investment.
Little is known, however, about what new parents think of this policy.
This
article addresses this question by providing original evidence on what
parents
think of the basic features of this policy; whether the Child Trust
Fund will
make them more likely to save; attitudes towards the responsible use of
the
Child Trust Fund; and whether parents would prefer money spent on
different
forms of assistance rather than the Child Trust Fund.
-From BIEN
The Failed Welfare Revolution: America’s Struggle over Guaranteed
Income Policy
Brian Steensland, Princeton University Press, 2008
This book examines the rise and fall of the Guaranteed Income policy in
mainstream U.S. politics. For a brief period in the late 1960s and
early 1970s,
the Guaranteed Income (a version of BIG) appeared to be the inevitable
next
step in social policy. Then it stalled and disappear. Policymakers in
three
presidential administrations tried to replace the nation's existing
welfare
system with a revolutionary program to guarantee Americans basic
economic
security. Surprisingly from today's vantage point, guaranteed income
plans
received broad bipartisan support in the 1960s. One proposal, President
Nixon's
Family Assistance Plan, nearly passed into law in the 1970s, and
President Carter
advanced a similar bill a few years later. The failure of these
proposals
marked the federal government's last direct effort to alleviate poverty
among
the least advantaged and, ironically, sowed the seeds of conservative
welfare
reform strategies under President Reagan and beyond.
Basic Income: The Material Conditions of Freedom
RAVENTOS, Daniel (2007), London: Pluto Press, 240pp.,
http://www.plutobooks.com/
Daniel Raventós is chair of the Spanish Basic Income Network,
and Professor at
the University of Barecelona. His book is an introduction to basic
income -
what it is, how we can organize it, and how it can benefit the majority
in
different spheres of their lives. According to Philip Pettit, L.S.
Rockefeller
University Professor of Politics and Human Values, Princeton
University,
Raventos' book is 'The best introduction. It offers a first rate
history of the
idea, develops a powerful case in its support, and explores all its
implications'.
The USBIG Discussion Paper series posts
unpublished papers
discussing all aspects of BIG. The series has added 11 new papers so
far this
year. This are:
Basic Income, Effective Control Self-Ownership, and Market Power
No. 178, January 2008, Jubb, Rob
SUMMARY: This note criticizes some aspects of “freedom as Effective
Control
Self-Ownership” recently proposed by Karl Widerquist.
The Rise and Fall of a Basic Income Guarantee Bill in the U.S. Congress
No. 179, February 2008, Sheahen, Al
SUMMARY: On May 2, 2006, the first-ever Basic Income Guarantee bill,
written by
USBIG members Karl Widerquist and Al Sheahen, was introduced in the
U.S.
Congress by California Congressman Bob Filner.
This paper details how the bill (HR 5257) – dubbed “The Tax Cut
For the
Rest of Us” Act – was created, the strategy used to move it forward,
the
support it received, the resistance it faced, its eventual demise in
the 109th
Congress, its revival in the 110th Congress, the current state of the
bill, and
the outlook for a BIG bill in the future.
Cosmopolitanism and Self-Determination
No. 180, February 2008, Howard, Michael
Laying out the Argument for a Public Works Program
No. 181, February 2008, Harvey, Phil
A Basic Income to Democratize and Pacify Iraq
No. 182, February 2008, Suplicy, Senator Eduardo
SUMMARY: This paper reports on Senator Suplicy’s visit to Iraq, and his
effort
to persuade Iraqi officials to adopt an Alaska-style oil dividend to
help
stabilize Iraq.
Civilian Service for Social Security? Basic Income and Labor Sharing in
the
Thought of Arnaud Dandieu
No. 183, February 2008, Roy, Christian
The Little Red Hen Thinks Again
No. 184, February 2008, Clark, Stephen
Compassionate Liberalism as a Frame for a Renewed War on Poverty
No. 185, February 2008, Farris, Buford
SUMMARY: This paper is inspired by the scholarship of Sanford F.
Schram. In his
writings on Social Welfare and Social Policy, he combines Continental Post Modern theory with the best of the
American progressive Pragmatist tradition.
This paper draws particularly on Schram’s recent formulation of Compassionate Liberalism as a way of
framing both Social Work Practice and Social Welfare Policy
(2006:153-180). For Schram, liberal
compassionate practice combines
both direct service and social action and
represents a critique
of the dominant social and economic structure. He uses this same frame
to
formulate social policies such as a Basic
Income and other entitlements. I
view Scram’s Compassionate Liberalism as
a call for the Liberal and Progressive Left to renew its commitment to
the
battle against Poverty. According to Schram, welfare reform has not
been a
success as for as the poor are concerned but it has been successful in
muting
the call for a renewed War on Poverty.
Also, Shram wants to recover the authentic meaning of compassion from its inappropriate use
by Compassionate
Conservatism, which in his view is a form of social control to
impose a
rigid forms of work and family values on the poor.
I also argue that Schram’s positive view of compassionate1 direct service implies that a Renewed
War on Poverty requires a dual approach: one, the establishment of Social and Economic Rights such as a
Basic Income and other entitlements (i.e. Health Care) which provide
resources
for better life chances; and second,
the creation of Inclusive Social
Solidarity for the poor through compassionate
social ties and networks. As a former gang
worker and poverty warrior, Shram’s
framework is similar to ideas that I have worked on for much of my
professional
career and I have found his concept of Compassionate
Liberalism very useful in understanding what work with the poor
involves.
The Guaranteed Adequate Income Debate in Canada: Challenges and
Opportunities
No. 186, February 2008, Mulvale, Jim
The Decent Level Criterion of Justice and Its Competitors
No. 187, February 2008, Nathanson, Stephen
SUMMARY: In this paper, I will defend what I call the decent level
criterion of
justice and show why it should be of special interest to proponents of
a basic
income guarantee. I believe that the decent level criterion and the
basic
income guarantee are linked by a commitment to the abolition of poverty. What is appealing about the basic income
guarantee is the promise of abolishing poverty without embracing a
radical
egalitarian socialist perspective. This feature coincides with the
decent level
criterion, which sets the criterion of justice at the point where all
have the
resources for a decent level of well-being. It does not aim to abolish
income
inequalities entirely and does not attempt to do away with a market
capitalist
system of production and distribution.
If the decent level criterion and the guaranteed income proposal
coincide, then a defense of one is a defense of the other, and views
that
compete with or criticize one must be met by defenders of both views.
Status Freedom
No. 188, March 2008, Widerquist, Karl
SUMMARY: This article attempts to define status freedom, to provide a
theory of
status freedom as person independence, and to argue for the importance
of
freedom as personal independence. Status freedom is a phrase meant to
capture
what people mean when they say that someone is a free person as opposed
to an
unfree person such as a slave, a prisoner, or a victim of oppression.
Part I
puts forward a theory of status freedom as personal independence or
most
exactingly, Effective Control Self-Ownership. That is a free person has
the
effective power to have or to refuse to have active interaction with
other
willing people. To have this effective power, a person must have access
to
enough worldly resources that she is not forced by deprivation to
participate
in projects designated by whoever controls access to resources. Part II
makes
several arguments for the importance of freedom as personal
independence. It
argues that in many cases consent is a constituent part of what makes
interaction just, and that even in cases in which consent is not
centrally
important, personal independence is important for protecting
disadvantaged
individuals from abuse by more powerful people. The claims in this
article are
to some extent separable. One could agree with the need for a theory of
status
freedom while disagreeing entirely with how this article went about it.
One
could instead agree with the importance that the need for personal
independence
to protect the bargaining power of the weak and the disadvantaged
without
agreeing that it captures what it means to be a free person. But
together the
theory hopes to provide an account of the minimum level of decency with
which
society must treat its noncriminal dissenters.
Eleven new members have joined the USBIG Network
in the last
six months. The USBIG Network now has 136 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.”
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; 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;
Michael
Howard, Orono, ME; Rae Amey, Los Angeles, CA; Colleen Chrisinger,
Seattle, WA;
Simon Peter Schooneveldt, Ashgrove, Australia; John Tomlinson, Deagon,
Australia; George Misa, Auckland, New Zealand; Przemyslaw (Peter)
Damian
Maniecki, Longmont, CO; Michael Gene Frazier, Morehead, KY; Nathan W.
Cravens, Woodbury,
TN; Mark Gillespie, Kent, WA; Matthew C. Murray, Cardiff, Wales, United
Kingdom; Alan Holmes, Buffalo, NY; John Jesse Heichert III, Elizabeth
City, NC.
LIVABLE INCOME FOR EVERYONE (LIFE) has made major
updates to
its website. LIFE is "an organization started in 2003 to promote the
implementation of universal guaranteed livable income in every country
in the
world."
Postal address: Box 8441, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, V8W 3S1
Website: http://www.livableincome.org/
Email: gli2020@shaw.ca
ON THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF BASIC INCOME
The Worthwhile Canadian Initiative (economics blog)
This website has some interesting graphs the work through some of the
general
equilibrium implications of a basic income.
http://worthwhile.typepad.com/worthwhile_canadian_initi/2008/02/on-the-politica.html
VIDEO AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET EXPLAINS BASIC INCOME
Jim Mulvale, Head of the Department of Justice Studies at the
University of
Regina and Rhonda Breitkreuez are advocates for guaranteed basic income
for all
in order to ameliorate or eliminate poverty. This video is taken from a
conference presentation at the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives.
Mulvale, in his portion of the video, gives a solid introduction to
basic
income. Breitkreuez gives a critical examination of welfare-to-work
programs.
http://www.thoughtware.tv/videos/show/1522
MICRO-SIMULATION ON BASIC INCOME
French economist Marc de Basquiat has developed a micro-simulation
model for
the financing of basic income in France. His well-designed website can
be viewed
at www.allocationuniverselle.com. Comments and suggestions are welcome
at :
marc@de-basquiat.com
-From BIEN
DEVELOPMENTS ON BASIC INCOME
Within the Vivant (Belgium) website, Paul Nollen posts updates on the
development of the basic income debate in various countries. It can be
found
at:
http://www.vivant.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=64
IMPLEMENTING A GREEN BASIC INCOME
Discussion of a green basic income is going on at the website:
kneel1.googlepages.com/c-change.
THE SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL OF CHURCHES maintains a website with an
extensive
list of publications and initiatives around BIG.
Online at: http://www.sacc-ct.org.za/campaigns.html
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
Special help on this issue was provided by Cindy L'Hirondelle
The U.S. Basic Income Guarantee (USBIG) Network publishes this
newsletter. The
Network is a discussion group on basic income guarantee (BIG) in the
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