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posted by on Wednesday January 04 2017, @10:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the now-we-wait-and-watch dept.

Basic Income is a subject that regularly surfaces in Soylent discussions, so here's a story about Finland's impending experiment with it:

Finland has become the first country in Europe to pay its unemployed citizens a basic monthly income, amounting to 560 euros ($587 US), in a unique social experiment which is hoped to cut government red tape, reduce poverty and boost employment.

Olli Kangas from the Finnish government agency KELA, which is responsible for the country's social benefits, said Monday that the two-year trial with the 2,000 randomly picked citizens who receive unemployment benefits kicked off Jan. 1.

Those chosen will receive 560 euros every month, with no reporting requirements on how they spend it. The amount will be deducted from any benefits they already receive.

The average private sector income in Finland is 3,500 euros per month, according to official data.

Also at The Guardian and swissinfo.ch.


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  • (Score: 2) by TheRaven on Thursday January 05 2017, @10:57AM

    by TheRaven (270) on Thursday January 05 2017, @10:57AM (#449725) Journal

    Now allow me to inform you what the rich really do with their money: they invest it.

    This is true, but the important question is where they invest it. The bit of 'free trade' that no one talks about so much is free movement of capital. If you have a lot of money to invest, then you're not in any way limited to investing it locally, and if you can get better returns investing it in companies in India or China then you will. This often doesn't benefit any of the people in the places where the rich made their money.

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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday January 05 2017, @01:19PM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday January 05 2017, @01:19PM (#449756) Homepage Journal

    I tend to agree. The problem is the very same people who want to steal from the rich are the ones touting globalism for the most part. Sanity is not in their color wheel.

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