Basic income is having a moment. First Finland announced it would launch an ambitious experiment to see if it would work to give everyone in a given area is given a set amount of cash every year from the government, no strings attached. Now the Silicon Valley seed investment firm Y Combinator has announced it wants to fund a basic income experiment in the US. http://www.vox.com/2016/1/28/10860830/y-combinator-basic-income What do you think, is world (society) ready for basic income?
It is like a negative income tax as the bottom tax rate or need based welfare, but more expensive if all get it. What needs to end is huge pay for bad results, like these: IBM Chief Executive Virginia Rometty is getting a $4.5M performance bonus for 2015, despite 15 straight quarters of plummeting revenues and other ongoing financial struggles. Rometty's total earnings for the year won't be clear until IBM discloses the value of certain equity grants, but her bonus was $900K more than the $3.6M she earned last year. Her base pay for 2016 remains unchanged at $1.6M, with $13.3M in long-term incentive stock awards. I don't think she needs funds from the government - a basic income grant.
The UK Labour Party is considering universal basic income as part of its new economic policy. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said the Labour Party would not rule out unconditional pay for all members of society during a talk at the London School of Economics on Tuesday night. "It's an idea we want to look at. Child benefit was a form of basic income so it's not something that I would rule out," he said. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...ur-party-shadow-chancellor-john-a6878856.html
