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Re: Basic income as an option? (was: Re: [ox-en] New economic model for free technology?)



Ahoy,

On Tuesday 04 Oct 2005 07:48, Stefan Merten wrote:
I guess you got FranzN wrong. That a basic income that is worth
mentioning is weakening the capitalist system is clear anyway. If
you'd have a basic income which guarantees a decent life style then
why work? Especially why work under conditions many people are forced
to work under today? No, the threat of poverty is the only thing which
can force people to work under alienated conditions. 

Well most proponents of basic income (particular when unconditional) put the 
level of the income around subsistence level. At that level or below it would 
still be in anyone's interest to work since you'd then have a disposable 
income for luxuries, and because people generally want to do something 
productive with their time.

Then you get the benefits of reducing the power of employers over low-wage 
workers, escaping the poverty trap (where conditional welfare income 
encourages people to make themselves worse off and to not get a job), 
empowering women who really suffer when taking time off work for raising a 
child, reducing the dominance of the formal economy in people's life 
decisions, and plenty of other benefits. If anyone wants a good, clear and 
short guide to the issues I'd recommend "What's wrong with a free lunch?", a 
collection of articles published by the New Democracy Forum.


FranzN is arguing that any depending on a basic income is not an
option because basic income is based on a well working labor system -
which as I said above on the decline anyway. So to say the least it is
not a sustainable alternative.

Well that's not necessarily true. Philippe Van-Parijs has maintained that an 
unconditional basic income would actually help the unemployment and labour 
market problems in Europe without resorting to the US approach (make the 
market more precarious and wages lower). I'm not too hot on the details, so 
I'd suggest anyone interested checks out his 'Arguing for Basic Income' or 
any of the latest literature.

I hope that helps the discussion that I've not followed up until now!

Regards,
Tom 

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