[P2P-F] Fwd: Jobs Are NOT the Answer to the Increasing Poverty in the U.S. and the Western World

Tue Oct 1 10:36:59 CEST 2013

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rabbi Michael Lerner <miriam at tikkun.org>
Date: Tue, Jun 11, 2013 at 1:09 PM
Subject: Jobs Are NOT the Answer to the Increasing Poverty in the U.S. and
the Western World
To: Michelsub2004 at gmail.com

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Editor's Note: Ending poverty in the US and globally is an ethical
imperative and, as you'll see in my editorial on the environmental crisis
that will appear in the Fall 2013 issue of Tikkun, also an environmental
necessity ( I know you haven't received the summer issue yet, but it will
come in the beginning of August and the Fall will be received by the
beginning of November). Allan Sheahan argues that the path to ending
poverty is a basic income guarantee (BIG)--an idea which we'd like to see
debated again in the public arena. Unfortunately, neither the Obama
Administration nor Democrats in Congress have put poverty on their agenda,
so ideas about how to solve it are not even being discussed. It's time to
change that!--Rabbi Michael Lerner

*Jobs Are Not the Answer*
by Allan Sheahen

The current unemployment rate of 7.5% percent means close to 20 million
Americans remain unemployed or underemployed.

Nobody states the obvious truth: that the marketplace has changed and there
will*never* again be enough jobs for everyone who wants one -- no matter
who is in the White House or in Congress.

Fifty years ago, economists predicted that automation and technology would
displace thousands of workers a year.  Now we even have robots doing human
work.

Job losses will only get worse as the 21st century progresses.  Global
capital will continue to move jobs to places on the planet that have the
lowest labor costs.  Technology will continue to improve, eliminating
countless jobs.

There is no evidence to back up the claim that we can create jobs for
everyone who wants one.  To rely on jobs and economic growth does not work.
 We have to get rid of the myth that "welfare-to-work" will solve the
problems of unemployment, poverty, and homelessness.

"Work" and jobs are not the answer to ending poverty.  This has been the
hardest concept for us to understand.  It's the hardest concept to sell to
citizens and policy makers.  To end poverty and to achieve true economic
freedom, we need to break the link between work and income.

Job creation is a completely wrong approach because the world doesn't need
everyone to have a job in order to produce what is needed for us to live a
decent, comfortable life.

We need to re-think the whole concept of having a job.

When we say we need more jobs, what we really mean is we need is more money
to live on.

*Basic Income Guarantee*

One answer is to establish a basic income guarantee (BIG), enough at least
to get by on -- just above the poverty level -- for everyone.  Each of us
could then try to find work to earn more.

A basic income would provide economic freedom and income security to
everyone.  We'd have the freedom to work less if we wanted to, or work the
same amount and save or spend that money.

It would provide a direct stimulus to the economy, which would help create
more jobs.

In 1972, Democratic Presidential candidate and Senator George McGovern knew
the economy was changing. He proposed a $1000 annual "demogrant" for every
American.  The grant would act as a kind of cushion against the loss of a
job or other misfortune.

We could pay for a Basic Income Guarantee by eliminating most of the
20th-century programs like unemployment insurance, welfare, Social
Security, Section 8 housing, etc., and by having the wealthy pay their fair
share in taxes.

Billionaire Warren Buffett admits he pays a lower tax rate than his
secretary.  Mitt Romney said he paid only 13.9 percent in federal income
tax in 2010, despite earning $22 million.  Average-income Americans pay
about 20 percent.

A BIG would be cheaper than a jobs program.  President Obama's 2009
stimulus plan promised to create 3 to 4 million jobs at a cost of $862
billion.  That's over $200,000 per job.

Such a basic income would recognize that with productivity as high as it is
today, too many workers get in each other's way.  Those who don't have to
work shouldn't be required to do so.  Instead, they can create, do
volunteer service, or work at low-paying jobs which are still socially
needed, such as teaching or the arts.

Think of it as the opposite of trickle-down economics, where we give huge
tax breaks to the rich in the false hope that something will trickle down
to the rest of us.

*Not a New Idea*

Basic income is not a new idea.  It's been debated among policymakers in
several nations since the 1970s.   Economist Milton Friedman said: "We
should replace the ragbag of specific welfare programs with a single
comprehensive program of income supplements in cash -- a negative income
tax."

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., said: "I am convinced that the
simplest solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a guaranteed
income."

BIG's most recent American advocate is welfare critic Charles Murray.  In
his book: *In Our Hands,* Murray agrees with Friedman and King, and
proposes a $10,000 yearly grant paid to every adult.  Murray and others
argue it would save money.  There would be no bureaucracy to support and no
red tape to manage.

Opponents claim we shouldn't pay people not to work.  But the duty to
pursue work is based on the mistaken assumption that there is work to be
had.

In the post-industrial age, the USA will provide ever fewer opportunities
for low-skilled workers. Policies in pursuit of full employment make no
sense.

*Basic Income Can Work*

In 1982, the state of Alaska began distributing money from state oil
revenues to every resident.  The Alaska Permanent Fund gives about $1000 to
$2000 each year to every man, woman, and child in the state.  In 2012, the
amount fell to $878.  There are no work requirements.  The grant has
reduced poverty and the inequality of income in Alaska.

A 10-year, 7800-family, U.S. government test of a basic income in the 1970s
found that most people would continue to work, even when their incomes were
guaranteed.  A test in Manitoba, Canada produced similar results.

In 2005, Brazil created a basic income for the most needy.  When fully
implemented, the plan will ensure that all Brazilians, regardless of their
origin, race, sex, age, social or economic status, will have a monetary
income enough to meet their basic needs.

A two-year, basic income pilot program just concluded in Otjivero, Namibia.
 Each of 930 villagers received 1000 Namibian dollars (US$12.40) each
month.  Malnutritition rates of children under five fell from 42% to zero.
 Droupout rates at the school fell from 40% to almost zero.  It led to an
increase in small businesses.

Most Americans are six months from poverty.  Middle-class people who worked
all their lives, then lost their jobs and saw their unemployment benefits
expire, are now sleeping in parks and under bridges.

America hasn't seen full employment in decades.  Even a full-time job at
the minimum wage can't lift a family of three from poverty.  Millions of
Americans -- children, the aged, the disabled -- are unable to work.

A basic income guarantee would be like an insurance policy.  It would give
each of us the assurance that, no matter what happened, we and our families
wouldn't starve.

*Allan Sheahen is the author of the new book,* Basic Income Guarantee: Your
Right to Economic Security*. He is a board member of the U.S. Basic Income
Guarantee (USBIG) Network. email: alsheahen at prodigy.net. Web sites:
www.basicincomeguarantee.com<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=LJz5wyb4tyoIFOYu2lITMSBr5Cg34gAt>
, www.usbig.net<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=9Loxj6yP9Tq8QKsCynmtHSBr5Cg34gAt>
, www.basicincome.org<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=xIJSWrqEO31g%2FCztDXuICyBr5Cg34gAt>
.*
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