Test of Finland's basic income: It creates happiness but not jobs

MSN.com ^ | Feb. 8, 2019 | JAN M. OLSEN

[Hadean]

It's still living in poverty. But hey, at least they feel good about it! Problem solved!

[Blood of Tyrants]

Feeling good about useless, failed, and even harmful programs is what liberalism is all about.

[max americana]

“but their general well-being seems to have increased, a report said Friday.”

It’s good to know they have their priorities straight. Get it over with and let the ragheads conquer these clowns..

[Professional]

Many of these people, and here in the USA too, they are “unemployed” but working under the table in either illegal industries or they work under the table.
So, sure, they love getting something for nothing, they are rewarded for being bums or tax cheats. What a country!

[TigersEye]

Experimenting with this policy on 2,000 people is meaningless. Try it nationwide and let’s see how happy people are in ten years.

[Secret Agent Man]

And when 100% of the population is on this and only 10% half ass it into “work”?

Well why cant 100% of people be on this? Its only fair.

Wheres the money coming from then.

How are they gonna trade with other countries for goods?

[Secret Agent Man]

I mean because Finland is such a massive economic powerhouse now.

[adorno]

Proponents say it can empower people to start new businesses, knowing that they would continue to receive monthly income no matter how well their new venture does. Naive. Idealistic. Stupid to the max.

Idealists, mostly liberals and progressives, fail to understand human nature.

The vast majority of people are not self-starters. The vast majority are not innovative. The vast majority are not leaders.

The vast majority only want a paycheck and a comfortable life. Give them a paycheck and a comfortable life, and they'll be more than glad to just watch others make the world better.

The few that are motivated and have leadership skills and the innovative spirit and skills, will be the ones that pay for the paychecks and the comfortable life of the majority. Without the investment and creative and leadership class, what results is vast poverty, aka: the ones that would've received the comfortable life with their adequate paychecks.

That's the simple definition of trickle-down. It's also the explanation of why socialism is a killer of any economy and the killer of jobs and paychecks. If Finland were to expand that guaranteed monthly income program to cover just 1/4 of their people, Finland would end up poorer than Venezuela in no time. Why would any innovative entrepreneur work his butt of to support the free-loaders?

[truth_seeker]

When it has clearly failed, they will want to do it even more.

Minority women in the US with college degrees in law, women’s’ studies and sociology will urge adoption here, too.

[KarlInOhio]

where about 2,000 randomly selected, unemployed people aged 25-58 got tax-free income of 560 euros ($636) a month with no questions asked.

Did they select 2,000 randomly selected employed people to jack up their income taxes by an average of 560 euros per month? The money has to come from somewhere and since they are part of the Eurozone they can't just print it to pay for their social programs through inflation.

[cdcdawg]

Maybe in Finland it’s cold enough to do this without attracting the entire third world $h!thole population, but I doubt it. Somebody still has to pay for it. Choosing poverty indicates a spiritual crisis, not an economic problem.

[NorseViking]

If not for the weather Finland would have been probably the best country in the World for overall quality of life. And that while being far from being nominally the wealthiest. Last thing they need are social experiments. You better work to keep that you already has.

[dfwgator]

“Finland has it all!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baHsoEAAMZU

[ArtDodger]

It’s amazing how much money a country can fritter away on useless projects.. when another country pays for their nuclear umbrella.

[NorseViking]

It fact they are self-reliant on defence. Not a part of any alliance.

[dfwgator]

It fact they are self-reliant on defence. Not a part of any alliance.

Wasn't that a part of their "Peace Agreement" with the Soviet Union, that they couldn't join any alliance?

[skr]

From haves/have-nots to have-tos/will-nots

[Phillyred]

Jeeeez if the founding fathers only knew about Finland!!

[NorseViking]

Peace agreement is barely relevant, just like Soviet Union now.

[raisetheroof]

And for the ones who are self-starters, once they figure out that they’ll get their income no matter what they do, they’d have no incentive to try to make their newly created businesses run better.