What is Basic Income ? Utopia or not ? come and share your knowledge !

What is Basic Income ?

The basic income, or unconditional income, consists of paying each member of a political community with an unconditional income allowing everyone to live above the poverty line. The key word is unconditional. It does not depend on working or not, on age conditions, or even on income conditions. In France, it would represent about 2500 euros per month for a family of two parents and two children and 900 euros per month for an adult. Then, people can supplement this allowance with an additional income which will be subject to general taxation, as all income except basic income.

How much does it cost ?

Very expensive. If we take the example of the French population, and the amounts above, this corresponds to about 650 billion euros per year: that is one third of its total GDP. However, this amount must be considered as a replacement of already existing social spending. The “RSA”, family allowances, the part of pensions up to the basic amount, unemployment benefits, etc. Moreover, this system has the great advantage of being very simple to administer, which would make it possible to realize budgetary savings in relation to all the existing devices. For some of its promoters, this would also considerably increase the flexibility of the economy; It would be possible, for example, to liberalize the functioning of the labor market, to reduce the minimum wage, to eliminate many job-damaging regulations, to eliminate the distinction between activity and retirement, a whole series of employment aid With no harmful consequences for employees who would no longer be subject to the obligation to work for a living. But we must not delude ourselves: this would represent a very important cost, a major extension of the welfare state in a very different form from the current system. That said, it is less radical than it seems, because the current system is already very expensive, for disappointing results compared to its cost.

No one will ever want to work !

This is the main fear of the opponents of the device. Without the pressure of having to work to live, the incentive “to work” for live would disappear. It turns out that this idea has been tested; The basic income is one of the few utopias experimented in the 1970s. By paying people randomly selected an allocation corresponding to the poverty line, a reduction in the working time of from three weeks to one month per year. With this new system few people will accept unpleasant and low-paid jobs if they already receive basic income. For the promoters of the idea, it is a desirable consequence of the system; Offering people the freedom to really choose to work, without the constraint of survival, would actually emancipate them. A basic income at the poverty line. Many people would like to complete this by working full time. Employers should then offer jobs and working conditions that are truly attractive to attract staff.
There is a risk that segments of the population will lose contact with work in a sustainable way over generations. However, the various reforms of recent years, increasing the incentives “to work”, have not had a very convincing effect. Subordinating work allowances effectively leads the poor to work, but
In low-productivity and low-paying jobs, which are very difficult to get out of. The inactivity trap is replaced by a poverty trap, to satisfy questionable ideological a priori. There is also the question of the future of work. Many economists fear that technological change will lead to many people becoming as unemployable as the horses became in the 20th century. These fears are not certain, but it is not useless to think about concrete utopias if work actually disappears little by little, except for a minority. This system would completely disrupt the economy and the way of life of an entire country.

I now ask your opinion, that “universal income” is a system that you imagine viable, yes or not and why.

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