Thomas:
One of things I have always like about Galbraith is that he accepts that the
poor are entitled and deserve some joy and comfort and security in their
lives. Something which the majority of the moderate and overly affluent want
to deny. It is as if poorness is not enough, a little suffering is good for
the soul, especially if it someone elses suffering.
You know, being poor is not so bad, and most of us who experience it find
ways to still enjoy our lives. However, it is the constant pressure from
those more fortunate that somehow if we have sex, go to a movie, have a
picnic in the park we are violating our status in life. Give us a basic
income and get off our back, I think would be endorsed by the majority of
the poor. Allow us to have dreams for our children and we will live
modestly.
Respectfully,
Thomas Lunde
----------
>From: "S. Lerner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]@dijkstra.uwaterloo.ca
>Subject: FW JK Galbraith and Basic Income
>Date: Tue, Jul 6, 1999, 9:52 AM
>
> Much to my delight, the following appeared in today's Toronto Globe and
> Mail: A13 ("J.K.Galbraith, who is 90, delivered this lecture last week on
> receiving an honorary doctorate from the London School of Economics. It is
> reprinted from The Guardian." )
>
> Excerpt: "I come to two pieces of the unfinished business of the century
> and millenium that have high visibility and urgency. The first is the very
> large number of the very poor even in the richest of countries and notably
> in the U.S.....
> The answer or part of the answer is rather clear: Everybody should
> be guaranteed a decent income. A rich country such as the U.S. can well
> afford to keep everybody out of poverty. Some, it will be said, will seize
> upon the income and won't work. So it is now with more limited welfare, as
> it is called. Let us accept some resort to leisure by the poor as well as
> by the rich."
>
>
>
>
