[P2P-F] [NetworkedLabour] who is for and who is against basic income

[Michel Bauwens]

hi orsan,

if the basic income is in the interest of capital, you would suspect that
pro-capitalist forces would be in favour, and pro-social forces would be
opposed

policy is always preceded by ideological discussions, for example, as you
yourself indicated, the neoliberal policies were prepared by the long
journey of the mount pelerin society

the evidence suggests the contrary, it suggests that the UBI proposals were
largely prepared within progressive forces, and that is where the support
for the UBI largely resides

the one right wing party that mostly supports the basic income, is Geert
Wilders, but this is because they have the support of working class
neighborhoods which feel abandoned by left neoliberalism ..

the polls suggest that the idea that the UBI is a neoliberal plot is
empirically false,

at the most you could say that some of the proposals of UBI may come from
neoliberal circles as well

you would then have to argue that these forces want the UBI to destroy
social security, but if you read the discussions in silicon valley, it is
much more against the fear of precarisation , i.e. that automation destroys
the possibility to 'realize' capital

capital needs workers to create surplus value, and consumers to realize
that surplus value through their buying ... while individual capital is
interested in diminishing costs, including labor costs, capital as a whole
needs a minimum amount of buying power, hence the more advanced system
thinkers of capital are very concerned with that loss of purchasing power
through the diminishing of the number of workers, hence the speculation
around the basic income in these circles

the shape a UBI would take, depends on the balance of power in society, but
the incipient growth of support amongst progressive forces, suggests that
this may become one of the big social battles of the future, and hence,
much more likely to be adhered too as a necessary compromise by capital to
save the system as a whole

there is no reason to see UBI as linked to a destruction of the social
state,

it can be seen as a new advance in the long historical struggle of the
working class,

Michel

On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 6:41 PM, Orsan Senalp <orsan1234 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Michel, what does the out comes tell in your opinion?
>
>
> On 10 Aug 2016, at 13:35, Michel Bauwens <michel at p2pfoundation.net> wrote:
>
> Some people suggest that the basic income is a campaign by capital , that
> it is a neoliberal proposal,
>
> yet it would seem that the sociological reality is entirely contrary to
> that claim,
>
> here is research from the netherlands, which clearly correlates support
> for the UBI to progressive forces, and opposition to it from the right:
>
> "*National poll: 40 percent in favor; 15 percent don’t know; 45 percent
> against basic income*
>
> In a recent national poll, 40 percent of the Dutch population declared
> themselves to be in favor of a basic income, with 45 percent against and 15
> percent expressing uncertainty. The voters of the three left wing parties
> are in favor, with their endorsement breaking down as follows: GreenLeft 60
> percent, the Socialist Party 54 percent, and PvdA 53 percent.
>
> The votes of Democrats 66 are divided, with 44 percent in favor and 45
> percent against. The followers of the right wing parties, by contrast, are
> quite clearly against basic income: 73 percent against in People’s Party
> for Freedom and Democracy, and 61 percent against in CDA. It is interesting
> to note that voters of the populist right wing Party for Freedom, headed by
> Geert Wilders, are also divided, with 37 percent in favor, 46 percent
> against and 17 percent uncertain. The Party for Freedom is the biggest
> party in current polls."
>
> (http://basicincome.org/news/2016/08/basic-income-post-
> social-democratic-economic-pathway-21st-century/)
>
> --
> Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at:
> http://commonstransition.org
>
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>
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>
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>
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