Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Monday September 12 2016, @03:31AM   Printer-friendly
from the here,-take-my-money dept.

The idea of giving people free money is so radical, even some recipients think it's too good to be true.

Later this year, roughly 6,000 people in Kenya will receive regular monthly payments of about a dollar a day, no strings attached, as part of a policy experiment commonly known as basic income.

People will get to use the money for whatever they want: food, clothing, shelter, gambling, alcohol — anything — all in an effort to reduce poverty.
...
But instead of accepting the cash transfers with open arms, many Kenyans have recently been saying "No, thank you." It's a legitimate concern: As GiveDirectly moves into its larger basic income experiment, the last thing it wants is for people to turn down the money.

Basic Income is a concept often mentioned on SN, and this is an experiment to do exactly that. Many potential recipients of the basic income are skeptical about the goals of the experiment, though, and rumors have arisen that it's tied to a cult or devil worship.

Opponents of such wealth transfers argue they lead to indolence, while another school of thought believes they would reduce poverty and directly produce economic stimulus because the poor would immediately spend the money.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Monday September 12 2016, @12:26PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 12 2016, @12:26PM (#400660)

    your peers will still judge you as if you are lazy.

    AC either misses the point that we've implemented this and called it the "academic world" or is participating in a semi-subtle troll that the academic world is useless.

    Lets be honest here, "most of" the SN community, if unable to get a job due to economic shrinkage, would probably end up as life long grad students.

    I know I'd go back and get that useless chemistry BS degree, then do I indulge my recreational interest in math and physics and history with a BS in any or all, or continue my CS/EE stuff with a masters?

    Something interesting to think about is the world gets $X of value out of my lifestyle now, but maybe giving me 20 years off to collect the physics, math, and chemistry doctorates will result in my finally inventing the warp drive or WTF such that the world gets $1e6*X of value out of a basic income lifestyle. So even if 900K other people just drink beer and watch ESPN on cable, the world still runs a net profit. And you only need a couple hundred people like that in a country this small to run that net profit.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 12 2016, @08:06PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 12 2016, @08:06PM (#400905)

    Lets be honest here, "most of" the SN community, if unable to get a job due to economic shrinkage, would probably end up as life long grad students.

    You're conveniently forgetting that you have to pay tuition to be a grad student. You can't wave your hands and get a tuition waiver just because you want one. When there are more students than opportunities for funding, you have to pay your own way, which will ultimately become impossible without some form of income.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Tuesday September 13 2016, @01:23AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 13 2016, @01:23AM (#401049) Journal
      Allah will provide us with 72 students who never learn anything. We'll never run out of work!