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Is a Lack of Data Holding Back Universal Basic Income Programs? (technologyreview.com)
An anonymous reader quotes MIT's Technology Review:
Silicon Valley loves the idea of universal basic income. Many in the tech elites tout it as the answer to job losses caused by automation, if only people would give it a chance.... Getting people on board with basic income requires data, which is what numerous tests have been trying to obtain. But this year, a number of experiments were cut short, delayed, or ended after a short time. That also means the possible data supply got cut off.
Back in June we declared, "Basic income could work -- if you do it Canada style." We talked to the people on the ground getting the checks in Ontario's 4,000-person test and saw how it was changing the community. Then, just two months later, it was announced that the program is ending in the new year rather than running for three years. The last checks will be delivered to participants in March 2019.
The article complains that in addition, Finland's test program ended this year after its initial trial period, while Y Combinator's experiment "has also faced more delays, pushing the experiment into 2019," saying these programs illustrate the three basic issues faced by basic income tests. First, there's political disagreements. ("The Ontario program was shut down by the province's newly installed Conservative government.") Then there's also concerns about funding -- "As you might imagine, giving away free money is expensive" -- and also fears about disrupting existing benefits "To avoid that, they've had to work with municipal and state agencies to get waivers for pilot recipients. But getting those waivers takes a lot of time and bureaucracy....
"The only way the idea can ever be embraced on any sort of large-scale, meaningful level is with more data and bigger tests. Without that, no matter how much support it gets from Silicon Valley, it seems unlikely that the public, at least in the US, will ever come around."
Back in June we declared, "Basic income could work -- if you do it Canada style." We talked to the people on the ground getting the checks in Ontario's 4,000-person test and saw how it was changing the community. Then, just two months later, it was announced that the program is ending in the new year rather than running for three years. The last checks will be delivered to participants in March 2019.
The article complains that in addition, Finland's test program ended this year after its initial trial period, while Y Combinator's experiment "has also faced more delays, pushing the experiment into 2019," saying these programs illustrate the three basic issues faced by basic income tests. First, there's political disagreements. ("The Ontario program was shut down by the province's newly installed Conservative government.") Then there's also concerns about funding -- "As you might imagine, giving away free money is expensive" -- and also fears about disrupting existing benefits "To avoid that, they've had to work with municipal and state agencies to get waivers for pilot recipients. But getting those waivers takes a lot of time and bureaucracy....
"The only way the idea can ever be embraced on any sort of large-scale, meaningful level is with more data and bigger tests. Without that, no matter how much support it gets from Silicon Valley, it seems unlikely that the public, at least in the US, will ever come around."
The ruling class can't pay for it. Every one of these harebrained schemes will come right out of the hide of the middle class. Don't believe me? Watch and learn.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
That's actually not true. Rates were doubling many times more than inflation pre-Obama care. The costs have gone down. The problem was shitty junk plans were scrapped and those angry folks blamed Obama.
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Stop lying corporations pay 40% of the taxes, and about 60% of the remaining income taxes are corporate profits passed through LlLCs and C corps, that are taxed higher than the corporate tax rate. You lie, but you were told that, and you wanted to believe the lie.
Give me a break. trump lead the "birther" movement that was the nastiest "protest" ever against a president, claiming that Obama wasn't even legitimate. Nothing anyone says about trump is remotely as bad as what the Republicans were saying, or for that matter the Republicans refusing to carry out their constitutional duty and hold hearings on a Supreme Court appointment.
Rates were never doubling and only government plans (Medicare/Medicaid) were doing poorly.
Employer insurance costs were going up by ~$300/family/year between 1998 and 2010, with some bumps of $700 during the the recession. ACA kicked in and they jumped up $750 the first and $1500 the year after that (as ACA went fully into effect) and increased consistently at $700-something every year since.
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Stop lying corporations pay 40% of the taxes, and about 60% of the remaining income taxes are corporate profits passed through LlLCs and C corps, that are taxed higher than the corporate tax rate. You lie, but you were told that, and you wanted to believe the lie.
Citation needed. Quoting this document:
Enigma