Basic income

wow, great post flopson

thx trace :)

btw, the saez zucman BPEA piece i linked to is probably the best single thing to read on wealth taxes imho (and hopefully largely accessible)

thank you! that makes sense.

the nordics get huge government revenues with broad-based consumption taxes and VATs. technically speaking these taxes are regressive (since poor people spend a larger share of their income on consumption than the rich), but that regressivity can easily be netted out by a progressive structure in other parts of the tax code

the can, but are they in practice? how?

SWF seems to me to be a good way to get tax-phobic USA to get on board with redistributing wealth

seems like this is demonstrably true given the existence proof of alaska.

i actually followed medlock this week ironically (i am a proposition 13 crank.)

seems like this is demonstrably true given the existence proof of alaska.

alaska a bit of a weird case since they didn't have to raise taxes to buy the SWF, it was just the money from alaska's oil industry. in the kind of SWF the people's policy project are proposing, the government would have to pay the value of the stocks in the first place, which would cost $$$

the can, but are they in practice? how?

in the nordics, a combo of transfers + increasing other progressive taxes; making income tax more progressive, boosting inheritance tax, paying for universal programs, etc.

anita baker’s on board

Some
Good
News
*UBI https://t.co/M1pvb7wmGH

— Anita Baker (@IAMANITABAKER) January 14, 2021

ok Jack but which girl?

Lol. jack seems the least bad of big tech ceos maybe

https://patrickcollison.com/ is probably less bad

i like pat c

No Jack is a Nazi sympathizer

He seems like he might be ecofash

He seems like he might be a) an ideological idiot and b) an idiot

either that or for sure a nazi

luckily he'll still have 2.6 billion to see him through the rough times.

who says that he will actually use the money to provide basic income to poor people? He only says he will "shift the focus" ... like he could follow the example of his buddy at Salesforce and give $30 million to a well-endowed university to "study" UBI

I know this is means-testy but if there was ever a group to single out for BI, it’s foster children.

https://theappeal.org/the-lab/report/guaranteed-income-for-kids-transitioning-out-of-foster-care/

pilot program just launched in St. Paul

https://www.stpaul.gov/departments/mayors-office/peoples-prosperity-guaranteed-income-pilot#:~:text=The%20City%20of%20Saint%20Paul,of%20up%20to%2018%20months.

these people appear to have worked it out

https://livingincome.org.uk

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/04/universal-basic-income-of-1600-pounds-a-month-to-be-trialled-in-england

1600 pounds of what?

I'm sorry.

churned butter. it’s radical but we’re living in extreme times

East Finchley?!

there isn't much to be learned about what impact ubi would have on society by paying it to 30 people, it needs to be nationally trialled, ya bunch of tight gits.

i need all the details before i relocate to Jarrow

at least it would cover a week's rent for a box room with no sink in East Finchley

it's going to have a different psychological impact on the recipients than a national ubi rollout would. With them knowing they are part of a small and quite lucky sample group. Their mentality is going to be that of prize winners. Wahey, I'm going to the bookies and the pub every day this week.

Pretty rough if you sign up for the trial and they stick you in the control group!!

"Sorry, sir, you're getting the placebo."

confirmation on the statement that 1600 HASN'T been credited to their account every month might cause them to have a very negative attitude

Pretty small sample group I thought.

Also, in the end this will just be another piece of data ppl can wave around to show that it's a good idea while the govt answers "no", right?

yup, pretty much like the other trials we've seen

a fascinating waste of time trying to evidence UBI when the counter arguments will all involve red faced journalists shouting about the workshy and magic money trees and the counter arguments will be successful

any idea that you can convince the UK state of is probably not an idea worth having

The fact that the UK is considering a trial of UBI surprises me.

I wonder if the aim is to try it so they can kill it off and say it has been discredited.

Or maybe the internal politics of government are more complicated than that.

I believe that on balance, UBI would be a good thing and could improve our society.

steady on there

I think this latest trial is being run by the Autonomy think tank, so it's not govt sponsored. There has been a three-year pilot of 500 care leavers running in Wales since last summer however. Think it could feasibly be introduces in some limited way by one of the devolved authorities.

Heartbreaking that every time we get media attention for basic income work, the inbox fills up with people desperate to be included in any trial – along with accounts of how a cruel, conditional welfare system has let them down

— Jack Kellam (@Jack_Kellam_) June 5, 2023

for real

Everyone is talking about a universal basic income today.

I think it’s a bad idea, and that we need Universal Basic Services instead (UBS) - where we have free education, healthcare & transport, alongside a massive expansion of social housing.

From my TED talk last year. pic.twitter.com/8rglnOiBHg

— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) June 5, 2023

A rejection of UBI.

But if we can't have UBS, maybe UBI is better than nothing?

if ubi is offered as an alternative to basic services, its bad

It only makes sense as part of a broader network of services and controls on rents and prices, yeah