Posted on 01/03/2017 8:19:22 AM PST by Signalman
Finland has started a radical experiment: It's giving 2,000 citizens a guaranteed income, with funds that keep flowing whether participants work or not. The program, which kicks off this month, is one of the first efforts to test a "universal basic income." Participants will receive €560 ($587) a month -- money that is guaranteed regardless of income, wealth or employment status. The idea is that a universal income offers workers greater security, especially as technological advances reduce the need for human labor. It will also allow unemployed people to pick up odd jobs without losing their benefits. The initial program will run for a period of two years. Participants were randomly selected, but had to be receiving unemployment benefits or an income subsidy. The money they are paid through the program will not be taxed.
If the program is successful, it could be expanded to include all adult Finns.
The Finnish government thinks the initiative could save money in the long run. The country's welfare system is complex and expensive to run, and simplifying it could reduce costly bureaucracy.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Gee, what could go wrong with ‘free’ money?
Crud, the US has been doing this for decades on a massive scale.
Welfare programs are not new.
Well, it boggles MY mind, I’ll tell you THAT !
They’re already ON welfare and/or unemployment !
Randomly selected my right buttock.
I would wager there are quite a few newly minted “Finns” in that group.
Have to keep the invaders happy or they will hurt somebody.
I think we already started that program here in the US.
Look up the Earned Income Credit in US tax code.
The difference is that from an operational standpoint just cutting them a check each month is far cheaper.
Programs like Section 8 and Food Stamps employ thousands of teet-sucking bureaucrats just to make the wheels go round.
Cut to the chase with a direct cash payment and you get to lay them all off.
Ideal world we wouldn’t be doing ANY welfare....but you KNOW that’s not gonna happen.
Those who make more than $587/month use the extra money to buy online stuff from out of the country. Those who make less, will work less and be happy with the make-up income, until they get fired for not working enough to be of any value to an employer.
A very old (and failed) policy with a new name
The article does not make it clear whether this income is a replacement for all other government-supplied benefits of any kind. The theory of the guaranteed basic income is that it would replace all other programs (and all the employees that administer them.) However, unless there are no other government programs, no matter how bad the individual outcomes are, then all you’d get is an extra handout on top of the mess that’s already there.
Hell. Why not give every citizen a guaranteed income of $60,000 or $70,000 per year. Then no one would have to work!!!
Every time I try to imagine those who work for state unemployment offices across the country, having to file for unemployment, the intrusive thought of one hand clapping always distracts me.
Didn’t Milton Friedman support something like this? That is, if you’re going to have government payouts anyway, just give people a sum and let them use it “how they see best”, vs. giving them X for housing, X for food, etc. IOW cut out all the departments and let people make their own choices how to spend the money.
Another idea I have seen overseas is this: money deducted from your paycheck for unemployment “insurance” is logged against your name. When and if you lose your job, the entire amount is given you on your last day at work.
You don’t “apply” for unemployment, you don’t have to justify yourself to anyone to get it. Its yours. If you find another job right away, good for you, use it to buy a car or a down payment on a house. If you need money to relocate to another job, there you go. If you want to blow it on liquor and video games instead of finding work, you’re a big boy, its your money.
You can’t fix stupid. This is why we don’t “feed the bears”, idiots!
Limiting it to citizens, are they. And they call themselves progressive.
What is there, 20,000 Finns??
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