On Mon, Feb 15, 2016 at 10:57 AM, a.ashfield <a.ashfi...@verizon.net> wrote:
> > > > Many prominent European social scientists have now come out in favor of > basic income - among them two Nobel laureates in economics. Alaska has a > modest UBI instituted by a Republican governor, based on the profits from > oil from Prudhoe Bay. This amounts to $300 - $2000 a year for every > resident of more than six months. Switzerland will have a referendum on > whether to have a $2,400/month UBI in 2015 that looks unlikely to pass. > Perhaps > a full UBI could be tried experimentally in a State or even a city, > substituting for all welfare payments, to find out the problems. > > If you haven't heard already, the Netherlands and Finland are going to conduct basic income trials in the near future. > The main objection to UBI is how to pay for it. Savings could come from > replacing > the present 80 government welfare departments, that has the advantage of > requiring little administration. Legalizing drugs to drop the prison > population. A one payer medical system and of course, getting out of the > habit of wars. That alone will not provide enough money, so perhaps > changing the sales tax to manufacturers, rather than sellers, would capture > some of the profits from advanced technology instead of it being winner > takes all. > > > Covering the cost of a BI program will likely require a variety of methods, but they can be divided into two main approaches. The funding approach is usually considered first. This involves various cost saving measures and taxation schemes for the redistribution of wealth. However there is also a finance approach which would involve the reform of the central banks. See _Economic Sustainability of Basic Income Under a Citizen-centered Monetary Regime_ http://www.basicincome.org/bien/pdf/munich2012/Inoue.pdf Abstract: This paper outlines the historical transformation from “administration-centered monetary regimes” to “bank-centered monetary regimes.” It reveals three defects in the latter: (1) difficulty overcoming recessions, (2) a tendency to create bubbles, and (3) opaque distribution of seigniorage. This study proposes a “citizen-centered monetary regime” and confirms that providing citizens a basic income financed by seigniorage is sustainable under the citizen-centered regime. Harry
