The ability of food banks to meet the needs of food insecure Canadians has plummeted just when it is needed most. But food banks have never been able to address the reason people are going hungry.
A universal basic income could provide financially precarious people with the money they need. And it would keep money flowing through the financial system.
Andrew Yang wants to give Americans $1,000 a month.
AP Photo/Nati Harnik
Francis Townsend had a similar if less ambitious idea in the 1930s that never got through Congress but ended up making Social Security a lot more generous.
The cancellation of Ontario’s basic income pilot not only violates our ethical obligations to participants. It also means forfeiting a valuable research opportunity on income security.
The universal basic income movement has a major problem: both critics and even many supporters don’t understand how much it would really cost.
There’s a hue and cry about Doug Ford’s scrapping of Ontario’s basic income project. But the project was a failing experiment with a dearth of high-quality data.
Flickr
Ontario’s basic income project was deeply flawed and cursed by a lack of quality data. It needs a major overhaul.
Lisa MacLeod, Ontario’s minister of children, community and social services, announces an end to the province’s basic income pilot project on July 31, 2018.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Research shows that guaranteed basic income programs spur economies and improve mental and physical health. That’s why Ontario’s decision to scrap the province’s pilot project is such a bad idea.
The Haymarket affair saw workers protesting for a 40-hour working week.
Harper's Weekly [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
It’s time to update the old agenda of the 19th century: less working time and more money for all, in the form of shorter work days and a universal basic income.
Providing citizens with a basic income has shown signs of success in lifting people out of poverty, but more importantly the idea is transforming the way we think about inequality.