Saturday, February 16, 2019

Ed Conway, unusually has blinkers on. About Basic Income.

Horses are sometimes given blinkers around their eyes to prevent them from being spooked by their surroundings. Ed Conway in a recent Times article  (Feb 15 2019) Shiny new toys are beginning to look tarnished investigates recent researches on universal basic income (aka; citizen's income; citizen's royalty) which he says is growing in appeal 'a darling of both the hard left and libertarian Silicon Valleys types'. But he comes out against the idea for poverty alleviation, quoting the International Monetary Fund and following their assumption of UBI 'Bolted on top of the current [welfare benefits] set-up'.  Apart from this simplistic reform he does not investigate how UBI might work along with other changes.

But Ed Conway can get quite far-seeing. Recently he suggested land value tax in place of business rates and a negative income tax to make work pay.  Times Oct 26 2018: Here's the radical bucket-list budget we need. So why the blinkers now? Try looking at land value tax / income tax reform along with UBI?   It is easy to put down UBI as John Kay did some time ago, see this blog , if you choose a narrow focus and don't allow your mind to wander. But isn't this what we need our commentators to do? A deeper look is needed at why the wealth of our society is getting out of balance over the generations. A more holistic solution is needed than picking off individual reforms as unworkable alone. 


See this 2 minute video for more information from the Citizen's Income Trust.  
posted by Charles Bazlinton. Author: The Free Lunch- Fairness with Freedom. An investigation into citizen's income and other reforms to empower people. 

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