Posted on 04/24/2018 4:12:26 PM PDT by blam
Finland's government has decided not to continue its year-old experiment offering citizens a universal basic income -- or money for nothing -- beyond the two year trial. In January 2017, Finland became the first country in Europe to pay some of its unemployed citizens a basic monthly income, amounting to 560 euros ($587), in the unique social experiment aimed at cutting government red tape, reducing poverty and boosting employment.
On Tuesday, it emerged that the government had decided to stop making the payments to the 2,000 randomly picked citizens chosen as subjects in the experiment from January 2019. The government denied a request from its own social benefits agency, KELA, to expand the program.
The experiment will have run its full, two year intended course when the payments stop at the beginning of next year.
"The government is making changes taking the system away from basic income," a KELA official told the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, according to Britain's Guardian.
Some at KELA were clearly disappointed in the decision to end the experiment, with one of the researchers, Olli Kangas, telling public broadcaster YLE that even the two year trial was "too short a period to be able to draw extensive conclusions from such a big experiment. We should have had extra time and more money to achieve reliable results."
Those chosen 2,000 participants have received the monthly payments without any reporting requirements on how they spend it. The amount was deducted from any benefits they were already receiving.
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(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
OK, how is paying someone not to work going to boost employment?
Wow, who thought this would ever come crashing down?
Leftist logic:
Why should we stop this test? The public hasn’t run out of 100% of their money yet.
Gee I wonder what went wrong?
Gee I wonder what went wrong?
The trial aimed to discourage people’s fears “of losing out something,” he said, explaining that the participants would continue to receive the 560 euro payments even if they found jobs.
The thinking was that a jobless person might refuse a low-income or short-term job in the fear of having their financial benefits reduced drastically under Finland’s generous but complex social security system.
Swiss voters last year rejected a proposal that would have guaranteed that all residents receive roughly $2,560 per month to help cover their basic needs.
“OK, how is paying someone not to work going to boost employment?”
In other schemes the idea was they would buy stuff; cars, apartments, food, TV’s. Having dealt in the rental business I can tell you that people in this position will spend their money on cigarettes, beer and pot before they buy even food.
the way to reduce poverty and boost employment is to give businessmen a positive environment by reducing taxes, cutting regulations, increasing security of property by protecting property rights, and providing a stable monetary system by controlling inflation.
For those old enough to remember, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was demanding the same thing in 1968 although then it was called a “guaranteed annual income.” A massive “Poor People's Campaign” was being planned for Washington D.C. at the time the civil rights leader died in Memphis.
The “Poor People's Campaign” was to feature a tent city in Washington with tens of thousands of demonstrators and continuous urban disruptions until demands were met.
Someone inform Bernie please. Calling Bernie Sanders.
Free Sh*t works just fine here.
Look at the millions who have flooded the USA for free sh*t.
100%!!!
...but if we do it here, we’ll do it right. I PROMISE !!!!
“Having dealt in the rental business I can tell you that people in this position will spend their money on cigarettes, beer and pot before they buy even food.”
You forgot lottery tickets.
“The “Poor People’s Campaign” was to feature a tent city in Washington with tens of thousands of demonstrators and continuous urban disruptions until demands were met.”
Isn’t that today’s Los Angeles?
Dr. King was ahead of his time.
The theory from liberals:
* they’ll go to school and become better prepared for work!
* the parents can stay home until childcare isn’t an issue, cheaper than standard welfare
* those with disability will recover and then go to work
* we assume they’ll improve themselves like taking low paying jobs and classes because they don’t have to hunt for a degrading high paying job
* maybe they’ll be able to start a business that they couldn’t when afraid of how they’d pay the bills
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