(Dean Capone is a declared 2016 presidential candidate seeking the Socialist Party USA nomination. The following was posted on his campaign website.)
The National Basic Income Guarantee is not a new idea, and it’s not a radical idea. A form of the principles of the BIG was proposed during by Republican PresidentRichard Nixon in August 1969. The concept of a Basic (or Guaranteed) Income is not to deliver ‘welfare’, nor to eliminate incentives for work while increasing the tax burden and national debt.
Rather, the provision of a guaranteed income that is available to all adults, not restricted by means testing and not dependent on employment status provides a foundation in the evolution of an equitable economy.
The Basic Income would be sufficient to address the basic needs of most adults while also providing natural incentives to add to that income. The Basic Income would replace most existing entitlements other than Veterans Benefits and other selected programs, resulting in transformation of Federal entitlements and potential cost savings and simplification.
The Alaska Permanent Fund is an example of a model program at the state level.
Please let us know if you get a response, Julieanna!
Thank you for this info! I wrote to economist Richard D. Wolff as a result:
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Hello Prof. Wolff:
It would be great to hear you address this:
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2014/07/dean-capone-national-basic-income-guarantee/
http://www.usbig.net/index.php
Your opinion?
I think it sounds practical, compassionate, socially caring and supportive.
The video tells how it indeed can be budgeted for… Maybe a minimal amount of work should be necessary for it, if healthy…and if not healthy, then the person should receive it anyway. Work, though, could include something like environmental assistance — for at least a couple hours per weekday…community service…then maybe a report about job searching / training – to make a life beyond only the poverty level–which most people want, anyway.
Indeed your opinion?
For KPFK radio?
Thank you!
Julieanna in
Los Angeles