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Finland is considering giving every citizen $1000 a month
The Telegraph ^

Posted on 12/06/2015 12:35:23 PM PST by bigdaddy45

Authorities in Finland are considering giving every citizen a tax-free payout of €800 (£576) each month.

Under proposals being draw up by the Finnish Social Insurance Institution (Kela), this national basic income would replace all other benefit payments, and would be paid to all adults regardless of whether or not they receive any other income.

Unemployment in Finland is currently at record levels, and the basic income is intended to encourage more people back to work. At present, many unemployed people would be worse off if they took on low-paid temporary jobs due to loss of welfare payments.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: basicincome; delusionalsystem; europeanunion; finland; income; miltonfriedman; minimumwage; nato; negativeincometax; obamarecession; obamataxhikes; socialism; ubi; universalbasicincome
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To: bigtoona

Welfare moms would have to wait for children to turn 18 to benefit from the child’s monthly check. So I think this would end the massive amount of single moms pumping out kids so they can stack benefits! There are definitely some positive things here, I promise I’m not a commie but this could be better than what we have today..


61 posted on 12/06/2015 1:36:55 PM PST by bigtoona (Lose on amnesty, socialism cemented in place forever! Trump is the only hope.)
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To: slickdain; bigdaddy45

Perhaps he was referring to all those SS programs that are giveaways to those that had not contributed and was not addressing his comment to the payee deserving of his SS check.


62 posted on 12/06/2015 1:42:44 PM PST by Hulka
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To: bigdaddy45

Here, you would receive a $1,000 check every month and the only way to cash it would be to pay your Obamacare premium.


63 posted on 12/06/2015 1:48:16 PM PST by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O�Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: bigdaddy45

Actually, some variant of this plan should have been adopted in America in 2008-— rather than giving the trillions to big business. People would have spent and paid down their debt, and spurred the economy, rather than the bolstering of Wall Street which only benefited the few and did nothing for growth.


64 posted on 12/06/2015 1:50:56 PM PST by VinL (It is better to suffer every wrong, then to consent to wrong.)
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To: bigdaddy45

That was why Milton Friedman advocated a negative income tax in Chapter 12,”The Alleviation of Poverty,” in his famous book, Capitalism and Freedom. He wanted such a program to help people who had relative low incomes, regardless of race,occupation,or age. But then he would eliminate the Social Security Administration, HUD, price supports for farmers etc.


65 posted on 12/06/2015 1:58:21 PM PST by Maine Mariner
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To: bigdaddy45

I’m trying to be open-minded about this. We’re at a point where computers and robots are taking over most jobs, so we actually don’t need as many people doing the stuff they used to do. The old argument is that everyone can just move up-scale, getting a diploma, a bachelors degree, a masters degree, and eventually a Ph.D. so they can remain competitive in the workplace. But there’s also a limit to high-level jobs: how many Ph.Ds do we need to further accelerate the decline in all jobs?

Are people soft because they don’t need to pay for the air that they breathe? Are people soft because they don’t have to pay for the space they personally occupy as they walk down the street? Are people soft because water is essentially free (compared with having to scoop it out of a creek bed)? Are people soft because energy is essentially free (compared to using your own muscles)? Will people be less motivated to do things helpful to their fellow man if all their “basic” needs are satisfied? I don’t know, but I’m interested to see the experiment.

Although concealed by government inflation, the real price of everything is declining as we find increasingly efficient ways to create and distribute products and services. By the standards of a thousand (or even a hundred) years ago, most things are essentially free. (Since they’re so cheap, we use far more of them than we used to, but that’s another story.)

The problem then is that without jobs there’s no way for people to make money to pay for products and services even at today’s prices. But we need something to keep the wheels of production turning, even if those wheels are turned by robots. Where does the money come from if (most) people don’t have jobs? I don’t know.

Whatever happens, it’s going to be a major shift from what we’re doing now. What’s the goal, and what’s the path for getting there?


66 posted on 12/06/2015 2:01:04 PM PST by AZLiberty (No tag today.)
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To: bigdaddy45

Charles Murray has proposed this. Per year, $7000 per person, plus $3000 voucher for health care. Zero out all bureaucracy.

If the function was transferred to a red state, that is how’d they do it.

On the other hand, that’s over $3T. I guess if it was added to taxable income, it might work.


67 posted on 12/06/2015 2:10:07 PM PST by ReaganGeneration2
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To: Rusty0604

[See my post 22.]

I don’t want to go all the way back up there.


68 posted on 12/06/2015 2:11:34 PM PST by RetSignman (Obama is the walking, talking middle finger in the face of America)
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To: bigdaddy45

Well, I understand your point, but it’s the idea of why taxpaying citizens should be on the hook for those that aren’t or don’t regardless of the amount. Once you grant that deadbeats should get a check at all, the sky’s the limit.


69 posted on 12/06/2015 2:12:53 PM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: bigdaddy45

Well.....let’s run a simulation and see what happens.

Every household gets 1,000 a month.

Do the taxpayers get that, too?

They have good jobs AND they are getting $1,000 a month from the government?

No no no. That’s not fair.

That means some government employee will have to keep track of this. Lots of government employees.

Net result: more government employees.

People are already receiving more than $1,000 a month in government benefits. They will lose money?

No no no. That’s not fair.

That means some people’s benefits will be “grandfathered”.

Net result: no immediate decrease in benefits paid out.

People in Libya hear that you can get $1,000 a month for moving to Finland?

Net result: more unemployed in Finland.

People are clever and greedy and lazy.

Good luck Finland!


70 posted on 12/06/2015 2:13:44 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: bigdaddy45

EBTs for everyone!


71 posted on 12/06/2015 2:22:43 PM PST by bgill (CDC site, "We still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: 4rcane

LOL!


72 posted on 12/06/2015 2:22:53 PM PST by lewislynn ( You know you're a Muslim if everything offends you.)
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To: editor-surveyor
From whence will the cash come to do this?

You. Obamy will write them a check.

73 posted on 12/06/2015 2:23:43 PM PST by bgill (CDC site, "We still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: fruser1

You know because! :-D


74 posted on 12/06/2015 2:30:40 PM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: bigdaddy45
Just for the heck of it, I figured out how much it would cost to do that here based on 120 million households.

$1,000/mo for every household would come to $120 billion a month which would come to $1.44 trillion a year.

That's probably half as much as what we are paying for "entitlements" today.

75 posted on 12/06/2015 2:32:32 PM PST by SamAdams76 (It's time we sent a junkyard dog to Washington to run the low life out)
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To: bigdaddy45

I’d agree with others that this isn’t the ideal setup... but where I disagree and take heat for doing so...

I think this would be a fantastic first step back towards less government and a more capitalistic system.

Less government (than what they have now), more incentive to work (than what they have now), less room for fraud (just make sure that each person gets the benefit one time).


76 posted on 12/06/2015 2:37:18 PM PST by csivils
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To: blueunicorn6

Oops!

$1,000 per citizen, not household.

Quadruple all projections.


77 posted on 12/06/2015 2:40:54 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: bigdaddy45

This might work... the guy who wrote The Bell Curve came up with the same idea... forgot the name of the book he put it in... but the idea was interesting.


78 posted on 12/06/2015 2:45:55 PM PST by GOPJ (You don't stop bad guys by taking away our guns. You stop bad guys by using our guns - Ted Cruz)
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To: bigdaddy45

$1000.00 per month to every citizen is such a nice gesture. I am curious though, where will they generate the revenue to finance this fantasy?


79 posted on 12/06/2015 2:51:13 PM PST by Blue Collar Christian (Ready for Teddy, Cruz that is.)
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To: America_Right

“Cutting out the bureaucracies involved and even cutting a LOT of bennies the gibmedats are getting now would be awesome.”

The rub is, that’s the part that won’t happen. Government is not in the business of getting out of business.


80 posted on 12/06/2015 3:01:03 PM PST by Blue Collar Christian (Ready for Teddy, Cruz that is.)
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