More Dutch Cities to Experiment With Universal Basic Income

[marmar]

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/more_dutch_cities_to_experiment_with_universal_basic_income_20150814


via truthdig:



Taking the lead from the city of Utrecht, other Dutch cities are considering social experiments with basic income—an income unconditionally granted to all its residents on an individual basis, without a means test or work requirement.

As the Basic Income Earth Network explains, basic income is “a form of minimum income guarantee that differs from those that now exist in various European countries in three important ways: it is paid to individuals rather than households; it is paid irrespective of any income from other sources; and it is paid without requiring the performance of any work or the willingness to accept a job if offered.”

From Quartz:

Tilburg, a city of 200,000 habitants close to the border with Belgium, will follow Utrecht’s initiative, and the cities of Groningen, Maastricht, Gouda, Enschede, Nijmegen and Wageningen are also considering it.
Supporters of basic income say it is a good mechanism to alleviate poverty and social exclusion. A recent study conducted in 18 European countries concluded that generous welfare benefits make people likely to want to work more, not less.

Ralf Embrechts, director of the Social Development Association of Tilburg and one of the promotors of the program, said that’s the theory the program is designed to test.

“We want to discover, if you trust people and give them a basic income without any rules or obligations—so, unconditionally—that they will do the right thing,” he explained in an email to Quartz.

If Tilburg’s basic income project gets the green light from Netherland’s state secretary of social affairs, the town will provide an extra paycheck to a pilot group of 250 people starting in January 2016, said Tillburg officials said. The city has not confirmed the amount of the stipend, but in Utrecht checks will range from around €900 ($1,000) for one adult to €1,300 ($1,450).

Although the classic basic income theory proposes universal payments across the population, the two Dutch experiments will only focus on residents who are already recipients of social assistance. Those in the program will be exempt from the severe job-seeking requirements and penalties in Dutch law.

Authorities aim to test how citizens react without that sword of Damocles over their heads. Will the money encourage them to find a job or will they sit in their couches comfortably?

Several cities across the world have experimented with basic income, from India to Canada, where the famous Mincome program took place in the 1970s, in the town of Dauphin, Manitoba.

Read more here.

—Posted by Roisin Davis

[marmar]

1. Afternoon kick

[musiclawyer]

2. The Guataneed a Minimum income will happen in the lifetime of millennials.

Watch. I won't be around but it will happen. There is no other option when we don't make anything in this country anymore. We're becoming almost a pure service economy and there will never be nough of those jobs for full employment. And we can't have millions upon millions with nothing. Every penny spent on the GMI will come back into the economy .....

[libdem4life]

3. A humane experience and hopefully a successful one.

[seveneyes]

4. What if nobody takes the job of writing the free pay checks?

Will the non working still get paid?

[musiclawyer]

6. Yes that's the point

People with nothing can't rent from a 1% landlord. They can't buy food. They can't by Christmas gifts for their kids. Guess what they'll do. They will take it from you and those who have it. The GMI gets everyone into shelter and enough for basic food and clothing and ...yes...cable. Bread and circuses. Think it's far fetched?

Think again. That's where we are headed unless things change dramatically --like in free university and a fully funded public sector etc. Think of it as firearms welfare. As in to prevent the 99% who are well armed from turning on the 1%

[ncjustice80]

5. Do they have a maximum income to go with it? n/t