Following Europe's lead on the basic income for all

Folks in Europe are currently campaigning for a basic income, which would provide a livable income directly to everyone as a human right, paid for by taxing the rich, financial transactions, carbon pollution etc. and eliminating old fashioned, expensive welfare programs. This videoprovides a good explanation.

If the European Citizens’ Initiative for an Unconditional Basic Income collects a million signatures in the EU, "the European Commission will have to examine our initiative carefully and arrange for a public hearing in the European Parliament."

A hearing may not sound like much, but it's a start. Now it's time for us to start pushing for a basic income here in the US too.

One of the things that the Right does well is to promote crazy right wing ideas, like massive tax cuts for the rich to stimulate the economy or that global warming is a hoax, to push the debate toward the right.

When it comes to economic issues, there is no similarly well-funded and staffed effort to promote radical left wing ideas to move the debate to the left. Labor and lefty groups spend most of their time and effort on mainstream issues, and our president advocates a "middle-out economics" that apparently includes reducing cost of living increases for seniors on Social Security.

We need a bold new progressive economic philosophy to drive the conversation to the left. We need labor and progressive groups and elected officials to promote Rise Up Economics--the opposite of right wing Trickle Down Economics and way more progressive than the president's weak Middle Out Economics.

In addition to progressive basics like investing in jobs, education and health care and reforming our labor laws, Rise Up Economics could include a basic income for all as a way to eradicate poverty, reduce income inequality, and change the nature of work and the economy.

By seriously taxing the rich, Wall St. financial transactions, and carbon pollution and closing tax loopholes that allow rich guys like Mitt Romney to pay less in taxes than his secretary, we can invest directly in people, who will spend the money and truly stimulate the economy.

If we gave everyone just above a poverty-level income--about $12,000 in the US--then we'd lift millions out of poverty and provide much-needed economic security to the working poor.

A basic income would change work as we know it: many folks would be able to work less and spend more time with family and friends, freeing up some work for the unemployed and under-employed. Others who still want to work as much as possible could invest the money and improve their standard of living and maybe start their own businesses.  

Everybody would have the economic security and freedom only enjoyed right now by the rich.

Advances in technology will only lead to greater automation at work, as robots replace human workers and lower-paid workers from across the globe are able to do work currently done by higher-paid American professionals. Establishing a basic income is one way of sharing the wealth created by automation and outsourcing.

Right now we have the absurd situation where the vast majority of people on the planet are in competition with each other for a diminishing number of jobs. We are reliant on work as our only source of income, so employers can have us bidding against each other in a race to the bottom.

The results of this race to the bottom can be seen when Ipad assembly workers jump off of the roofs of their factories, or Mexican peasants risk life and limb to cross the desert into America, or Thai girls get sold into prostitution by their families. It doesn't have to be this way.

We can keep everything that is great about the free enterprise system: all the ingenuity and innovation that comes from being free to use your imagination as you see fit to create the inventions, products and services that can thrive in the marketplace. All that would stay the same. The only changes would be higher taxes for the very rich, and more consumers with more money to spend.

A simple basic income would be easy to administer and could replace a plethora of more expensive and bureaucratic public programs, including welfare, Section 8 housing, food stamps, unemployment insurance etc. All of those programs are all-or-nothing programs: if you make too much money, you aren't eligible for those programs anymore. Get a part time job, and you lose your unemployment. All of those programs are based on a 20th Century view of work: you keep the same job for the rest of your life and then you retire and move to Florida.

Today's economy is changing so rapidly, and we need our social programs to change too. Providing everyone with $1,000 a month tax free would be a simple way of boosting the economy and providing a level of economic security that we used to get from our jobs. The truth is that we can't rely on a job the way we used to. We can't rely on corporations or the government to create jobs: just ask the tens of thousands of teachers who got laid off or the construction workers who lost their jobs during the recession.

A basic income would be an ace up the sleeve of working people. It could be like a national strike fund: it would be a lot easier for workers to step out onto a limb and take on their boss at work if they knew they had a basic income to fall back on.

Providing a consistent source of income that we can all rely on would provide the American people with a sense of economic security in this crazy changing 21st Century economy. And it would provide progressives with an issue that drives the conversation way out to the left.

Let the conservatives explain why we can't provide economic freedom and security for all by simply sharing the wealth.

We only need to look to the LGBT community to see how successful they have been in pushing hard to the left. Ten years ago the idea of gay marriage was about as far left as any issue in America. But after pointing toward a vision of how the world should be that was as progressive as possible and fighting as hard as they could, they have made that crazy lefty issue a mainstream issue. We can do the same with a basic income.

Give the (oil, gas, lithium) revenues directly to the people

An interesting story this morning on NPR about an idea to make sure the people in Afghanistan and Africa benefit from lithium, oil, and other natural resources that have been found there: give the revenues directly to the people.

From the NPR piece:

Afghanistan's big deposits of lithium, copper and gold have some economists worried. As we noted earlier this week, the discovery of natural resources often leads to conflict and corruption, which in turn hurt economic growth.
But a handful of economists are pushing an idea they say could break the natural resource curse.
Take all money that comes in from foreign companies — for lithium in Afghanistan, oil in Nigeria, natural gas in Bolivia — and give it to the citizens. Literally have a government official sit down with piles of cash, maybe with some international oversight, and divvy it up.

A similar program has been successful in Alaska, where the state's oil revenues are put into a "Permanent Fund" which pays out a dividend to the state's residents each year. It has helped make Alaska the state with the most economic equality in the nation.

This is a great idea for people in third-world nations where big foreign corporations are digging up the land to support the western way of life and our need for gasoline, cell phones, and laptops.

But it's also a great idea for re-balancing the American economy and providing real social justice. We could create such a fund nationally in the US, with all the oil companies paying into it. Let's include natural gas, coal, and nuclear as well.

Then let's create a CEO surtax on those making more that $5 million a year, and put that money into the fund. And close the loophole that allows hedge fund managers to pay less in taxes than their secretaries, and put that money in there. Crack down on the offshore tax havens, corporate welfare, etc.

I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to make the rich pay their fair share into this fund. Let's get creative with this. Since we've become more of a nation of consumers than producers, maybe a small tax on advertising. That would add up quickly, and bring in revenue from foreign companies like Lexus and BMW and Sony that will gladly pay a small fee to gain access to American consumers.

While we're at it, end the wars and put that money in there too. And eventually, throw in the money that we are currently spending on welfare, food stamps, unemployment, housing programs, and other bureaucratic, 20th Century social programs. Just give money directly to the people.

Consider it a trust fund for working people. Maybe have people pay into it for 5 years or so before they can get a monthly check, so they will have to earn it.

We have enough resources and wealth for everyone, but our economy isn't structured rationally, and usually benefits mostly the people at the top, where wealth tends to pool. Creating a trust fund for working people gives us the best of both worlds: all of the freedom and entrepreneurship of capitalism that allows people to use their talents to become rich, with a basic level of economic security for regular workers.

Imagine a world where, if you work hard and pay your taxes for five years, you get a basic income, a monthly check or direct deposit from the trust fund for working people. Enough to at least cover the most basic of human needs, maybe $1,000 a month to start with. You are free to continue to work and earn money; just like those rich kids, your trust find provides you with income each month that you can count on.

Consider it a permanent stimulus program that will help small businesses, as people have more spending money. That would mean more jobs, alleviating the high levels of unemployment in a sustainable way, not like the temporary jobs created by last year's stimulus package. It could lead to an economy that works for everyone, not just the people at the top.

It could also subtly change work as we know it. We would have an independent source of income, above and beyond what we earn at work. Work then becomes less of an all-or-nothing situation. We could afford to work a little less and spend more time with family and friends. Or take some classes and develop our talents without all the pressure of having to make a living doing just one thing. Think of all the frustrated artists and poets and musicians freed up from having to work 40 hours a week doing something that has nothing to do with their true talents and passions.

A movement is building for a basic income for all. The Basic Earth Income Network has groups in Germany, Italy, Brazil, South Africa, Ireland, Canada, and many other nations. The US Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG) has an annual conference where academics and activists gather to discuss policy, theory, and action.