Basic Income Guarantee (B.I.G.) / Living Wage

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Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) / Living Wage

Are we socially obligated to ensure that people who work can achieve a minimum level of material well-being? Are we socially obligated to provide a basic income or living wage (BIG/LW) to everyone in the society regardless of their ability to work?

• Resource Needs:

• Information about full time workers living on current minimum wage in US
• Information about the costs and claimed benefits of schemes like basic income guarantees and living wage
• Arguments about the theoretical rationale for accepting or rejecting the kind of obligation involved in BIG/LW
• Arguments about specific approaches, experiments, and experience with BIG/LW
• Research on effects of wage and income guarantees on economic activity.

Information

• Post summaries of something you learned about the topic that is important to thinking about it. Consult the resource needs list above for ideas. Use both Google searches leading to authoritative information and online databases, books, and articles linked through Foley Library. Look especially for databases in economics and politics.

• One proposal for how to install BIG, which is a way to guarantee that no one's income falls below a certain level, is to eliminate existing welfare programs and introduce a flat tax rate and "social responsibility tax." These would be used to give income to people who fall below the poverty line. Research on this approach suggests that this IS affordable. This would be an alley for social justice in the modern world. (Citation: Pigeon, M. (2003). The basic income guarantee: Ensuring progress and prosperity in the 21st century. Journal of Economic Issues, 37(4), 1182-1185. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/208848548?accountid=1557) -Jordan Thurston

• Proponents of BIG suggest that it would provide economic security, for example, child poverty could be removed and there would be less homeless people on the streets. It could provide this economic security WITHOUT harm to the U.S. government-- all their spending and current activities could continue as usual. Opponents ask what the effect of a basic income guarantee would be on the economy. According to this article, there would be no negative effect on economic growth because no money is actually being removed from the economy. The money is being redistributed, not taken out. Only certain people would be taxed, removing the money from their hands and placing into a more needing set of hands. Similarly, opponents worry about the effect on the labor market because a BIG would mean people could forgo work and still get paid. From experiments with BIG, however, there is no evidence that people dropped out of the labor market. They may take more time to find a new job after being fired, but people did not just drop out of the labor market because they could. An example experiment this article gave was the Alaska Permanent fund, a very popular government program that covers people's basic needs. (Citation: A BIG idea: A minimum income guarantee. (2009). Multinational Monitor, 30(3), 30-34. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/208862729?accountid=1557) -Jordan Thurston

• Why is living wage particularly a woman's issue? This article takes the topic of living wage and operates on the understanding that women make less than men and therefore are in a different situation and need to be evaluated as their own category. It focuses on what women in particular need for a living wage and the legislation that has been up and coming about creating a living wage for women. Tables highlight what the general living wage would be for women making an important distinction between a subsistence level (barely getting by) and a living wage. This unique distinction between women and men takes into account the pressures on women to have a more varied and elaborate wardrobe to look professional for example. Estimates For a Living Wage For Female Workers (JSTOR) -Maryclare O'Brien-Wilson

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• This article discusses research facts about Basic Income Guarantee and the demographics of the people who it would affect most. According to the article, the idea of raising the minimum wage is widely popular, but getting a plan together that everyone can agree on has been a struggle. Lots of states and cities have taken it into their own hands to establish minimum wages because the federal government hasn't been able to come up with a suitable solution as of yet. The editorial also discusses adjustment for inflation in comparing minimum wage in the US over the years, the ages of workers who are working for minimum pay, and how the restaurant/food service industry is the biggest employer of near minimum wage workers. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/07/23/5-facts-about-the-minimum-wage/ - Tore Kelln

• This paper examines a philosophical definition of exploitation (A exploits B if A is better off and B worse off than either of them would have been had the other not existed) to examine the ethical nature of instituting an unconditional basic income. The paper notes that this can be burdensome through a serious of two person interaction examples, while also noting that the same conclusions could not be made in a world that consists of more than two people. The paper also examines the sociological, economic, and political issues surrounding instituting a guaranteed income, while remaining neutral and thereby allowing the reader to reach their own conclusions. The author does assert, however, the philosophical opinion that all people have the right and responsibility to work and earn income. A download can be found at http://works.bepress.com/widerquist/13/ Widerquist, Karl. "The Ethics and Economics of the Basic Income Guarantee: Does She Exploit or Doesn't She?." (2005). - Johnna Coughlin

Arguments

• Post arguments that you find or want to put forward on this topic. You can research arguments by doing a Google search, but also by consulting databases like Philosopher's Index, Academic Search Complete, and Proquest.

• This news article proposes that the U.S. give each family an income check in order to help the 15% of American citizens living below the poverty line. A bill in the 1970s called Nixon's Family Assistance Plan was never passed but is similar to this idea. The article includes arguments of opponents and supporters of this idea. It also gives examples of where this basic incomes plans similar to this has been implemented; in Switzerland and in the division of oil revenues in Alaska. (http://www.newsweek.com/2014/12/26/how-fix-poverty-write-every-family-basic-income-check-291583.html) -Kate Pratschner

• Michael Tanner, the author of this article, goes through the basics of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) wanting to know “whether UBI offers a better way to fight poverty.” He believes that the current system is “a mess,” the US has spent about 19 trillion since 1965 and not much has been accomplished. Giving a flat income of just $10,000 to every American would cost almost 3 times as we are spending now and that amount would most likely not be sufficient. Some factors for getting the money are abolishing services like Medicare and Social Security, or limiting the payments to just adults. Factors to consider when doing it are: location, politics, and time of implementing the program. There are so many factors to consider and of course it is impossible to say what would work best. Tanner suggests at the end following Britain’s lead with some of their “major welfare programs.” He says, “such a baby step would allow us to realize some, though not all, the upside of a UBI, while giving us time to further investigate the potential problems.” [1] - Alex Bourguignon

Insights

• Post here under your name (or login anonymously and either use your saint name (if you want me to know who you are) or make up your own. Post a brief statement of your views as they are evolving on the topic. What arguments, values, and facts are central (or gaining prominence) in your thinking?

This article is a posting from BasicIncome.org reporting on a recent parliamentary recommendation vote regarding a basic income initiative in Switzerland. The initiative was strongly opposed in parliament but in a poll taken of Swiss citizens in regards to the basic income initiative showed there is strong support for it. Being a recommendation vote there was no decisions actually made in this vote but it does give a good example of how an idea like this one would be handled in a democratic government. (Citation: Jourdan, Stanislas. "Switzerland's Lower House Rejects Basic Income, but Poll Shows Popular Support." BIEN. 2015. Web.) Retrieved from http://www.basicincome.org/news/2015/10/swiss-parliament-opposes-popular-initiative/ - Jack Pearce