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Unexpected News that nobody could have foreseen.
Since the beginning of last year, 2000 Finns are getting money from the government each month – and they are not expected to do anything in return. The participants, aged 25–58, are all unemployed, and were selected at random by Kela, Finland's social-security institution.
Instead of unemployment benefits, the participants now receive €560, or $690, per month, tax free. Should they find a job during the two-year trial, they still get to keep the money.
While the project is praised internationally for being at the cutting edge of social welfare, back in Finland, decision makers are quietly pulling the brakes, making a U-turn that is taking the project in a whole new direction.
and . . .
Entrepreneurs who have expressed support for UBI include Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, and Google's futurist and engineering director Ray Kurzweil.
These tech moguls recognize that UBI, as well as [combating] poverty, could also help solve the problem of increased robotization in the workforce, a problem they are very much part of creating.
and . . .
The existing unemployment benefits were so high, the Finnish government argued, and the system so rigid, an unemployed person might choose not to take a job as they would risk losing money by doing so – the higher your earnings, the lower your social benefits. The basic income was meant as an incentive for people to start working.
This article gives me serious doubts about whether a program like this can work and whether other countries will try it.
Previously: Finland: Universal Basic Income Planned for Later in 2016
Finland Launches Basic Income Experiment With Jan. 1 Cheques for Those in Pilot Project
(Score: 5, Informative) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday April 20 2018, @01:59PM (2 children)
A) It wasn't Universal. This could be regarded in two different forms. First, it was a pilot so it did not apply to an entire population. I'm sure certain things can be learned by limited studies, but to get the full effect you have to allow it to apply to all persons and not a limited subset. Second, what little bit of UBI I know (mostly from 60s/70s sci-fi, so I'm ignorant) always had this as a minimum benefit paid to ALL persons, not just the unemployed, and not as a safety net if your income passes below subsistence level. (There was another system I read of a "negative income tax" from Mack Reynolds that sounds much like this.) But such a UBI requires strict price controls so that the added income stream isn't soaked up in inflation. So would a NIT if it become common enough - I don't see how you could give 4-10% of the population a subsistence wage without having the market instinctively react by raising prices by the same fractional amount on everyone to soak up the money.
Anyhow, it was a pilot, sure. But not a Universally applying program.
B) It wasn't Basic. As in, from this website [expatistan.com], my best thumbnail calculation says that just on survival mode a person is paying somewhere between $1000-$1500 per month to exist (studio apartment, food, clothing, minor miscellaneous expenses). So $690 isn't basic, it is subsidiary income. Dunno, maybe if someone lives out in the country they could make do, but even a studio apartment in normal area in Helsinki was reported as $1,000 per month.
And while it was Income, I suppose (and therefore not a triple lie), this was very roughly .007% of Finland's GDP (33.1 million to 245 billion annual GDP but over two years). Doing this experiment was going to break nobody's back.
As to the submitter's opinion..... I completely disagree that a program like this can work. But no, no country will dare try it on any large scale - beneficial or not (depending on how beneficial is defined) it would upset the status quo too much. A miracle plan tomorrow that found a way around conservation of energy such that all people would immediately have food and adequate shelter for life at zero cost would be rejected as well - people are too wedded to what we have and radical ideas are rejected.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Friday April 20 2018, @06:04PM
Probably not a large scale, but Canada is also doing a similar experiment [theguardian.com].
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday April 20 2018, @06:19PM
Also, ending a 2-year project at the end of 2 years doesn't really meet the definition of "killing" to me.