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Finland's Universal Basic Income Called 'Useless' By Trade Union Economist (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Bloomberg:
Finland's basic income experiment is unworkable, uneconomical and ultimately useless. Plus, it will only encourage some people to work less. That's not the view of a hard core Thatcherite, but of the country's biggest trade union. The labor group says the results of the two-year pilot program will fail to sway its opposition to a welfare-policy idea that's gaining traction among those looking for an alternative in the post-industrial age. "We think it takes social policy in the wrong direction," said Ilkka Kaukoranta, chief economist of the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions, which has nearly one million members.
Since January, a group of unemployed Finns aged between 25 and 58 have been receiving a stipend of 560 euros ($600) per month. The amount isn't means-tested and is paid regardless of whether the recipient finds a job, starts a business or returns to school... Advocates say it eliminates poverty traps and redistributes income while empowering the individual and reducing paperwork... While limited in scope (it's conditional on the beneficiary having received some form of unemployment support in November 2016) and size (it's based on a randomly-selected sample of 2,000 jobless people), the Finnish trial may help answer questions like: "Does it work"? "Is it worth it"? And the most fundamental of all: "Does it incite laboriousness or laziness...?"
The trade union argues this UBI program would cost 5% of Finland's entire gross domestic product, making it "impossibly expensive."
Since January, a group of unemployed Finns aged between 25 and 58 have been receiving a stipend of 560 euros ($600) per month. The amount isn't means-tested and is paid regardless of whether the recipient finds a job, starts a business or returns to school... Advocates say it eliminates poverty traps and redistributes income while empowering the individual and reducing paperwork... While limited in scope (it's conditional on the beneficiary having received some form of unemployment support in November 2016) and size (it's based on a randomly-selected sample of 2,000 jobless people), the Finnish trial may help answer questions like: "Does it work"? "Is it worth it"? And the most fundamental of all: "Does it incite laboriousness or laziness...?"
The trade union argues this UBI program would cost 5% of Finland's entire gross domestic product, making it "impossibly expensive."
The amount of noise an individual makes about "the Good of Society" will always be in inverse proportion to the amount of good that individual contributes to society himself.
Progressivism: Parasites helping parasites to help themselves - to other people's stuff.
To describe UBI as a "right-wing concept" is a little like describing Obamacare as a "right-wing concept".
IE, 100% accurate.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
It is illegal to be unemployed.
Some people will prefer their own line of employment rather than a make-work government job. Some will stand by the off-ramp with a cardboard sign*. Some will break into your house or car and steal your shit. Some will hold you up at knife or gun point. And some will sell meth or heroin to the above listed sole proprietors.
*Not a bad living, actually. I ran into one of the cardboard sign hobos one morning in a local parking garage near his favorite corner. He was taking his sign out of the trunk of a Lexus that is far nicer then my shitbox car. Keep in mint that this is a 100% cash, no reported income business. If you aren't penalized by the income tax system, a little bit of money can go a long ways. Something for all the lefties to think about.
Have gnu, will travel.