Universal/Unconditional Basic Income - European Commission starts collection of signatures

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Now it is happening - from 25 September European Commission is gathering signatures for the official (constitutionally determined) Europe’s Citizens Initiative that requests for research and introduction of Universal/Unconditional Basic Income in the European Union (Union of 28 or so countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy).

The question is - will you sing this Initiation? Is this initiative the form to express the charity towards neighbour? Is UBI compatible or even the best implementation of the Church Social Teaching?
  • UBI is the common good, because it redistributes the income from the capital that is unjustly/partially justly acquired during the history. We can be almost sure, that there are such properties and belonging to the individual persons that are acquired unjustly and forwarded to the future generations. There is also capital which comes from the unfair wages (e.g. unfair remuneration to the workers, to the scientists and artists value of whose work only emerges after their death)
  • UBI is solidarity measure. No doubt about it, no further explanation is required, it is obvious.
  • UBI is subsidiarity measure, because it gives larger freedom to the individual to make choices - e.g. there is no removal of this UBI when the recipient starts new work, work with higher income, acquired additional work beside the main one, etc. UBI enables one to decide about distribution of the time between work, cultural activities, learning, skills building, voluntary work, charitable work.
I know that this will not be fair discussion. Many have some imagined assumptions about UBI and they will fiercely represent them and they will not delve in the essence of UBI, in the true concept of UBI.

That is why I am listing here some warning about false assumptions and I am explaining there some features of UBI:
  • UBI is possible only in late-industrial societies, late-capitalists societies where the phenomenon of decreasing wage share Wage share - Wikipedia can be observed - when machine and software (i.e. capital) generated more value and wealth than the human labor. I.e. UBI is the redistribution of the income from the work of software and machines and not the redistribution of the income from human work, hence - no human being is being exploited for the sake of others
 
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… continued
  • UBI expects that people will follow (according to the Maslov pyramid from the psychology) their need to self-realise themselves and people will naturally want to work, to create value, to contribute to the society. So - UBI will push automation of the low-value, hard jobs and UBI will enable the move of the people to more rewarding, creative and intelligence and more wealth-value generating works. UBI is not about laziness, as laziness is against the human nature and desire to create and to help others. Of course, no all are understanding this, but it is so according to the psychology of the healthy man/women;
  • UBI is not about equality - there is no limit what one can achieve, what value can generate and retain; UBI is about eradicating the most gravest poverty;
  • UBI is the necessity of our times - when digitalisation eradicates normal-full-time jobs, when job security ir scarce, when people work from project-to-project, when seasonal and innovation effects changes the demand, when skill building is must, when industries goes bust and new industries emerge, when one must change jobs more frequently, when zero-hours contracts and precariat emerges;
  • UBI gives bargaining power to the workers and makes workers independent both - from the employees and union bosses.
  • UBI boost entrepreneurship - many more people will be ready to try create new businesses if they are sure that the basic of their life is covered and that they are risking with their future wealth and not with their complete life, destruction and family.
  • UBI is strongly Pro-life policy, it givers resources and security to carry and educate children.
  • UBI can (and should) be complemented with policy measures for accessible healthcare, education and for additional support in case of special needs.
 
Here https://eci-ubi.eu/ are online data about the status of the petition. Currently 1.6% signatures are already gathered. One year to go and hope that Europe will become more Christian and more Catholic by adopting UBI.

My best wishes for the United States and Andrew Yang who tries to introduce UBI in US. My best wishes to the Green Party of the United Kingdom which tries to introduce UBI in UK.

I pray God for UBI in Europe!
 
Could really do with a TLDR to summarise this. Interesting idea, don’t know a whole lot about it but if it improves the lot of lower paid workers then I don’t see the problem. Will it be applied to those on the Dole (Unemployment Benefit)? Also as long as those on higher wages aren’t affected.
 
I’d sign it if I could, but I’m not an EU citizen (unfortunately). Both my German and my Irish ancestry are much too remote, to be able to claim any citizenship by descent.

Is there a minimum age to sign the petition? My son, 13 years old, is an EU citizen, through his mother. I’m sure he’d be up for it.
 
Xarto said:
Will it be applied to those on the Dole (Unemployment Benefit)? Also as long as those on higher wages aren’t affected.
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Usually - unemployment benefits consist from the 2 parts (they are not explicitly stated, but still - they are there): 1) payment of the insurance as percentage from the paid social insurance tax; 2) social assistance.

So - I guess, that 1) will remain, because it is insurance but 2) will is naturally replaced by UBI.

So - high-grade unemployment benefits will remain, but they will be reduced a bit to remove the social security part from them. But then - all will receive UBI. So - it helps and empowers the poor and it doesn’t hurt the wealthy.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
Is there a minimum age to sign the petition? My son, 13 years old, is an EU citizen, through his mother. I’m sure he’d be up for it.
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Unfortunately, there is the minimum age requirement Data requirements that respects the usual voting requirements for each member country.

Well, as American, you can support Andrew Yang, but… well… there is this Pro-Life issue and I am not sure about Andrew Yang position on it. But I have heard that some right wing politicians support it too, e.g. https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/negative-income-tax?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2 Google can say more.

World Economic Forum in Davos have many favourable articles about it.
 
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arvo said:
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HomeschoolDad:
Is there a minimum age to sign the petition? My son, 13 years old, is an EU citizen, through his mother. I’m sure he’d be up for it.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, there is the minimum age requirement Data requirements that respects the usual voting requirements for each member country.

Well, as American, you can support Andrew Yang, but… well… there is this Pro-Life issue and I am not sure about Andrew Yang position on it. But I have heard that some right wing politicians support it too, e.g. https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/negative-income-tax?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2 Google can say more.

World Economic Forum in Davos hava many favourable articles about it.
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I tried to sign it on his behalf just now, but he does not yet have a PESEL number (kind of like the Polish equivalent of a social security number), and he will not have one until he is 16 years old. I may end up taking one more trip to Warsaw at that time, to get it for him. I know that city like the back of my hand, and speak just enough Polish to stay out of trouble, or to get myself in trouble, as the case may be 😙 :poland:

And if you’ve ever dealt with Polish bureaucracy, which ranks somewhere between a colonoscopy and a root canal in terms of the fun factor, you will know that you can have all your ducks in a row, have all your papers in order, then some functionary tells you “yes, but there is also this one additional thing…”.

Better leave it at that, lest the “off-topic police” turn on their flashing red lights… 🚨
 
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That is a very dangerous slippery slope. When the people depend 100% from the government for their wages that signals the end of their freedom.
They (Those is government) will impose what you can and can’t do, where you can and can’t go.
Also a man that does not need to work is not a free man is a slave.
And it will kill entrepreneurship. We are not enlightened as some snake charmers want us to believe. It is all about control by the evil one. The battle is on.

Peace!
 
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HomeschoolDad said:
I tried to sign it on his behalf just now, but he does not yet have a PESEL number (kind of like the Polish equivalent of a social security number), and he will not have one until he is 16 years old.
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No, please, don’t do it! I know that some countries allow to make signature both with eID (in which case the verification is automatically enforced) and with simple provision of number/name/surname (in which case the verification usually does not happen). So - the petition will end up with messy data that will be revealed in some time anyway. I am sure that all the data will be double-checked, that always happen with official petitions. Petition will expire in 25.09.2021, so, there is no chance for your son to contribute to this. But the world is wide and there are other ways to contribute.
 
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I support Universal Basic Income as it is practiced in Alaska: Citizens receive a dividend funded by royalties from the extraction of natural resources (oil, in Alaska’s case) and the investment returns those royalties produce. Those who deplete the commons for private gain must pay for the privilege, and the proceeds belong to the people.
 
mythbuster1 said:
I support Universal Basic Income as it is practiced in Alaska:
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The Permanent Fund dividend is not UBI; it is a dividend that Alaskans receive essentially as stakeholders in the Permanent Fund (oil production revenue).

The scant amount paid every year (and less every year lately - all the oil production left the state about 10 years go) is barely an offset to the high cost of living there. I just checked the average gas price in Anchorage - $2.50/gallon. Where I live it’s $2.25 on average (I paid $1.95 at a cheap gas station yesterday). At $.25/gallon more it doesn’t take too long for that dividend to be spent.
 
I’d support the expansion of Social Security into a UBI program, effectively taking all welfare programs (food stamps, WIC, regular social security, etc…) under its umbrella, so fewer programs.
 
Yes UBI is a sweet idea but I believe it just causes inflation from what I have read.
 
I’m aware of that. It’s mathematically impossible to have a Universal Basic Income sufficient for everyone’s necessities. Even petrostates like Saudi Arabia find that population growth eventually swamps your ability to subsidize a population that doesn’t produce anything.
 
Xarto said:
Will it be applied to those on the Dole (Unemployment Benefit)
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This issue has come up before, but it appears w=you were not part of the conversation.

Unemployment benefits are not “DOLE”. they are an insurance program adopted by both the Federal Government and the States, and are funded per employee by employers, paying into to program; it is an insurance program.

Dole implies a benefit not earned and is provided to those who for whatever reasons have not worked, or whose insurance benefit has expired. The insurance is a benefit based on employment is based at least to some degree on the salary level of the employee; if they lose their job (as opposed to being fired for cause) they are provided a benefit at a reduced amount of their previous salary for a specific period of time (usually up to 6 months) and are required, as part of receiving it, to be searching for employment. Failure to search, or r=failure to take a job offered may result in termination of the benefits.
 
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