Basic income

Unconditional basic income

(also: subsistence endowment, civic endowment, base income)

Why have a basic income ?

The issue has been under discussion for decades: The payment from birth of an unconditional basic income to all citizens. Die Violetten have decided, for the following reason among others, in favour of the introduction of a basic income:
Due to the utilisation of computers and machines (manufacturing robots, etc.), the productivity of our existing economy is so effective that we only require a fraction of the human working capability to produce the essential things that we need (to live).

Here are some examples:

The productivity of the American economy, for instance, doubled between 1950 and 1990. In the USA, the car it took one hour to produce in 1958 could be produced in the year 2000 in under 18 minutes. And the computers manufactured in 1987 in an hour were already being made in 2000 in less than 3 minutes.  [*]

This was outlined even more drastically by a participant at a world conference held in San Francisco in September, 1995: Without consistent counteraction, we are moving toward a 20:80 society in which only 20% find work, and where 80% are simply surplus to requirements. This conference was organised by nobody less than Mikhail Gorbachev; present at the conference were 500 politicians, economic leaders and scientists from all over the world.

 

Today, we are therefore not confronted by the problem of having to create new jobs, but we stand before the task of distributing our wealth more evenly and finding a new definition of work. ...

Benefits of a basic income
•  Greater equal opportunity, more social justice and quality of life for all.
•  The system once again serves the people (instead of vice-versa). Thus the individual can decide whether to take on an unethical job or piece-work, for example.
•  People have more opportunity to develop their creativity and find their true vocation. Nobody is forced to work for the sake of it. This also holds advantages for employers and the system: Contented employees are more productive and less frequently ill.
•  The basic income can replace many social benefits and special payments (child benefit, housing subsidies, student grants, etc.), and in doing so save administrative costs and the associated material costs. The payment of the basic income can take place through the tax offices; in conjunction with tax reforms that downscale bureaucracy, this would not result in any permanent additional expenditure.





zitiert nach Christian Jakob Kraus-Institut für Wirtschafts- und Sozial-philosophie der FernUniversität in Hagen, mit Verweis auf: H. Arendt -
»Vita activa oder vom tätigen Leben«, 2. Aufl. München 1981, p. 11

 

 

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