Archive for the ‘Social Security Debates’ Category
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Proposed basic income pilot would provide monthly payments of at least $1,320
Thursday, November 3rd, 2016
The no-strings-attached payments would be non-taxable and participants would be allowed to keep a portion of any additional income earned through employment, Segal suggests in “Finding a Better Way: A Basic Income Pilot Project for Ontario.” Participation would be voluntary and no one would be financially worse off as a result of the pilot, which would include adults between the ages of 18 and 65.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 2 Comments »
Have Patience Policy Analysts, Souls are Stirring [GAI/Basic Income]
Thursday, November 3rd, 2016
Interest in Basic Income is spreading all over the world, including Canada. A Guaranteed Annual Income (an earlier descriptor) is now federal Liberal party policy. Ontario is moving forward with a Basic Income pilot under the design of longstanding champion, retired Senator Hugh Segal… Spirits are rising. People want to shake things up. They are tired of a welfare system that keeps people poor and provides little hope and no dignity.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Basic income is coming to Ontario: now what?
Friday, October 7th, 2016
… the evolution of our welfare state has not kept pace with demographic and economic change and the transformation of our labour market: the impact of technological change on work, the instability of the labour market, and the rise of income inequality, which privileges a few at the expense of the many… Canadian policy makers seem to have viewed the welfare state largely as a “cost,” a threat to balanced budgets and fiscal health. While many countries were testing new social models, our focus was on keeping benefits low, targeting more narrowly, privatizing delivery where possible, and lowering public expectations.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 3 Comments »
More jurisdictions need to experiment with ways of delivering a guaranteed income
Wednesday, September 7th, 2016
… Leftists like it because, theoretically, it eliminates abject poverty. Techie utopians see it as a solution to the displacement of humans by machines. Intellectuals appreciate state support for creative endeavours with an unclear commercial potential. Libertarians see an opportunity to shrink government… Academic experiments, however, have been too piecemeal and small-scale, so it’s hard for most people to imagine how basic income would work.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Basic income would solve so many problems
Sunday, August 21st, 2016
If everybody had enough money to keep healthy and avoid the stresses of poverty, we would save huge amounts of money on medical care, and we would see our expensive prison population drop. Children would do better at school, and the pool of well-qualified citizens, anxious and ready to make their contribution to society, would increase… too many people with jobs find themselves in a highly precarious stuation, with intermittent or temporary work, wages unpaid or insufficient to live on, and an insecure future.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, homelessness, housing, ideology
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
The reality of health care and homelessness
Friday, August 12th, 2016
Mr. Levy costs the health-care system thousands of dollars. He is what we call in medicine the “social admission:” a patient whose care and discharge are complicated not by medical factors, but by factors such as difficult living situation or financial condition… If we cannot adequately care for our city’s most vulnerable members, then we must accept responsibility for their enormous care costs. Otherwise, we can choose to invest in more homeless shelters, tackling the issue at its core.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Canadians think guaranteed income good, but too expensive and it makes people lazy: survey
Thursday, August 11th, 2016
… 67 per cent of respondents backed a guaranteed income set at $30,000, provided that the payment would “replace most or all other forms of government assistance.” … 66 per cent said they would not be willing to pay more taxes to support such a program, and 59 per cent said it would be too expensive to implement… Canadians are generally not satisfied with the status quo on the country’s current welfare system. Three quarters of respondents said that Canada’s system of employment insurance and income assistance is “ineffective.”
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Poverty has drastic impact on health, especially in rural Ontario
Tuesday, August 9th, 2016
Years of government consultations on housing and poverty, along with marginal changes to social policy, have done little to mitigate the detrimental effect of rising income inequality in Ontario… While a basic income guarantee, currently being studied in Ontario, could reduce poverty, the province needs to take immediate action, such as increasing social assistance and minimum wage, addressing housing and food insecurity, and ensuring equitable access to health and social services across the province.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, housing, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Basic income? How about basic services?
Tuesday, July 19th, 2016
Could a provincial basic income approach federal levels of income support, knowing even $15,000 a year is far below the poverty line for a single person? Basic math shows this is unlikely… how could we use this initiative to create a policy win? By expanding the public services from which anyone can benefit, irrespective of the amount or source of income… a basic income and a basic service model put more money in people’s pockets, one with a cash transfer, one by offsetting the costs of necessities.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Province aims to boost support for low-income residents
Monday, June 27th, 2016
… when we say income security, we are talking about all low-income people, not just the welfare wall and the disincentives to getting off social assistance.” … Former Conservative senator Hugh Segal… was appointed last Friday to help design the pilot, including possible test sites, delivery models and evaluation methods. Segal’s discussion paper is due at the end of the summer… Income security reform and the basic-income pilot are happening in parallel because “one needs to inform the other”
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, Health, housing, ideology, mental Health, participation, poverty, standard of living
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