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from the handouts-instead-of-gov't-jobs-or-worker-owned-cooperatives dept.
Common Dreams reports
As a way to improve living standards and boosts its economy, the nation of Finland is moving closer towards offering[1] all of its adult citizens a basic permanent income of approximately 800 euros per month.
[...] The monthly allotment would replace other existing social benefits, but is an idea long advocated for by progressive-minded social scientists and economists as a solution--counter-intuitive as it may first appear at first--that actually decreases government expenditures while boosting both productivity, quality of life, and unemployment.
[...] The basic income proposal, put forth by the Finnish Social Insurance Institution, known as KELA, would see every adult citizen "receive 800 euros ($876) a month, tax free, that would replace existing benefits. Full implementation would be preceded by a pilot stage, during which the basic income payout would be 550 euros and some benefits would remain."
[...] Under the current welfare system, a person gets less in benefits if they take up temporary, low-paying or part-time work--which can result in an overall loss of income.
[...] As Quartz reports, previous experiments with a basic income have shown promising results:
Everyone in the Canadian town of Dauphin was given a stipend from 1974 to 1979, and though there was a drop in working hours,[PDF] this was mainly because men spent more time in school and women took longer maternity leaves. Meanwhile, when thousands of unemployed people in Uganda were given unsupervised grants of twice their monthly income, working hours increased by 17% and earnings increased by 38%.
[1] Link to The Independent in TFA was redundant IMO.
...and, before anyone shouts SOCIALISM!, this is actually Liberal Democracy (of the Bernie Sanders type).
An actual move toward Socialism would subsidize the formation of worker-owned cooperatives. An initiative to do that was floated in 1980. 5 percent of taxes would have gone into a pool (kinda like USA's Social Security fund). The Finns rejected it. Source: Prof. Richard Wolff
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 08 2015, @09:41PM
A Conservative believes that things are pretty much OK the way they are.
He believes in fair play and slow, measured change if the status quo is to be altered.
A huge percentage of those who call themselves "conservative" are actually of the radical Right (Authoritarian Plantation Capitalists); the term for that is Reactionary.
A Progressive believes things are currently messed up and wants change to come faster.
A Liberal believes in these kind of giveaway programs being discussed here in order to keep the masses somewhat contented.
Liberals are Right-Center.
People who are of the you're-on-your-own, pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps variety are Right-leaning Libertarians.
A word often used to describe them is Randian. [xkcd.com]
The tooltip is the nugget there.
If you don't have tooltips enabled (nothing pops up when you hover over the image), check out the Properties for the image.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday December 08 2015, @11:14PM
Is, not was. Hence my qualification. Yes, today I fall somewhere in the libertarian camp. Any time before Bush Jr., I would have been considered a liberal socially and any time before FDR's socialist ass I would have been considered a liberal fiscally.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.