Archive for the ‘Social Security Debates’ Category
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A Stronger Safety Net
Thursday, April 27th, 2017
… filing a tax return would automatically trigger a “no-strings-attached” cash grant for anyone whose income falls below the poverty line. Less of the money earned above the $1,320 would be clawed back, providing a greater incentive for claimants to work, says Segal. The proposed program is far easier to administer, less paternalistic and allows people to spend their money as they choose…
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Why free money is a hard sell in tough times
Thursday, April 27th, 2017
The go-go growth of four decades ago was not an ideal incubator for an idealistic income support program. Critics might have said, back then (if not now): Get a job… Today it’s possible to get a job, but harder to keep a job, because jobs for life turned out to be short-lived… Pick your poison: globalization, automation, artificial intelligence or information technology… Against that backdrop, the guaranteed minimum payout has been rebranded a basic income.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Three Ontario cities to test basic income in three-year pilot project
Monday, April 24th, 2017
Residents of Hamilton, Lindsay and Thunder Bay will be the first Ontarians to receive a guaranteed minimum income as part of a new provincial pilot project… Premier Kathleen Wynne… said the level of support starts at just under $17,000 a year for single people, and while that isn’t extravagant, she says it will make a real difference in people’s lives.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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Basic income will cut costs
Monday, April 24th, 2017
… we can’t depend on human compassion to motivate us to help the poor, or we would have done it long ago… The Danes researched the cost of poverty in association to mental and physical health care, crime and incarceration, underachievement in education and employment and sheer human misery. It far exceeded the cost of paying people a modest living wage or providing the needed assistance to reach a basic income.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Don’t make ‘basic income’ an excuse for inaction
Wednesday, April 19th, 2017
The stark reality of that is shoddy housing, bad health, poor nutrition, social exclusion and petty crime — all the social ills that come with entrenched poverty. The government doesn’t need a five-year project to figure that out… “basic income” could be a game-changer — if it is designed properly”… In this area, the devil really is in the details… it could lead to a more generous, more efficient and more modern system. Or it could result in its opposite — a meaner, more constrained approach that puts public services at the mercy of the marketplace.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, featured, Health, homelessness, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Toronto residents pin hopes on basic income
Tuesday, April 18th, 2017
Although a basic income could provide financial stability while younger workers get established, workers’ rights advocates caution the initiative must not be used to prop up precarious work and low wages. “Any basic income program must be accompanied by strong employment standards legislation, increased access to unionization and a minimum wage that brings people above the poverty line,” says Pam Frache, an organizer with the Workers’ Action Centre.
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Ontario embraces no-strings-attached basic income experiment
Tuesday, April 18th, 2017
Housing Minister Chris Ballard, responsible for Ontario’s poverty reduction strategy, says basic income “has captured people’s imaginations.” “It’s a rare opportunity to make some real change… There has been so much talk, so much written. A little bit of study here, a little bit of study there. A lot of theory. We’re going to have an opportunity to do a rock-solid pilot that is either going to prove or disprove it.”
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, featured, Health, homelessness, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation, poverty, standard of living
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A short history of the poverty-busting power of basic income
Tuesday, April 18th, 2017
The idea of a minimum or basic income has been around for almost 500 years… But, now it’s the international darling once again. Pilot projects are planned or underway in almost a dozen countries in both the developed and underdeveloped world in response to concern that globalization and technological advances are leaving large swaths of the population behind.
Tags: crime prevention, economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Benefits of basic income will be felt by everyone
Sunday, April 16th, 2017
Public resistance to basic income is largely rooted in the notion people who are paid to “do nothing” won’t be motivated to get a job, a supposition Segal says is completely unsupported. “There’s not a scintilla of evidence to back that up,” he told CBC’s The Current in November. Rather, freeing people from the unremitting stress and “time poverty” of constantly scrambling to make ends meet can give them a chance to better their situation — whether through employment, or upgrading their skills — without constantly proving their eligibility for benefits.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Guaranteed minimum incomes could be an election issue in Nova Scotia
Saturday, April 15th, 2017
A guaranteed annual income has been defined as a single, cash payment that would replace all current social programs, such as welfare and employment insurance. It would create a minimum income below which no Canadian would fall. Statistics Canada now sets a “low-income line” at about $22,200 for a single person and $47,000 for a family with three children. Sen. Segal contends that such a policy would be affordable because it would be funded with the dollars available from the elimination of other social programs and the savings from avoiding poverty’s immense costs.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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