Ontario plans to experiment with giving people unconditional free money (universal basic income)

[wehateporn]

Finland and the Netherlands have already shown their interest in giving people a regular monthly allowance regardless of working status, and now Ontario, Canada is onboard.

Ontario's government announced in February that a pilot program will be coming to the Canadian province sometime later this year.

The premise: send people monthly checks to cover living expenses such as food, transportation, clothing, and utilities ? no questions asked.

It's a radical idea, and one that has been around since the 1960s. It's called "basic income." In the decades since it was first proposed, various researchers and government officials have given basic income experiments a try, to mixed results.

Folks at the Basic Income Canada Network, the national organization promoting basic income, have high hopes.

"We need it rolled out across Canada, and Quebec, too, is in the game," said chair of BICN, Sheila Regehr, in a statement. "So there's no reason why people and governments in other parts of this country need sit on the sidelines ? it's time for us all to get to work."

Continued Ontario announces basic income plan - Tech Insider

[CaptainHowdy]

Gotta move there ...

[MrBottomTooth]

Sounds like a great idea considering we already have the largest debt of any province / state in all of North America. What's a few more billion?

[sandman!]

im interested in moving now

lol

[brassmonkey]

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

Gotta move there ...

[TheSquealer]

Money from ....? Oh yeah, it's taken from those who produce to distribute to those who don't. Sounds perfectly sustainable. Nothing gets an economy moving like disincentivized production

[Spunky]

Good,maybe the refugees will settle there instead

[Helix]

Maybe Obama, Bernie, or Hillary will donate US taxpayer money to fund that fiasco.

[Rochard]

I read about this the other day.... I read an article that said robots will eventually replace humans, and if you think about it it's true - eventually we will not need pilots, taxi drivers, delivery drivers, people to take your order at a restaurant.... If no one works, how do we make money? If no one makes money, how do spend money?

The solution seemed to be giving people money. Those who wanted to work would just make more money.

[BlackCrayon]

wynne has to go. she has done nothing good.

[Freedom6995]

They must have heard I was heading back to ON this fall.

Now if they can have this in place in the UK in a couple of years, I'll have hit the jackpot of jackpots.

[mineistaken]

Fucking awesome, libtardistan! Just take money from working people and hand out to those who does nothing. Brilliant! Which libtard society parasite was the first to come up with this great idea?

[420]

How much will rent increase because of this?

[SilentKnight]

Sounds like communism to me.

I'd like to say more...but I have to head out to work - millions on welfare need me.

[RummyBoy]

This is known as "Helicopter Money" - go look it up.

No matter how good this sounds to everyone, it is TERRIBLE and it is a TOTAL disaster for not only the economy but for humanity in general if the trend were to accelerate, which it most likely will. It's the beginning of the end. If no-one had to ever work and be productive to earn money, then why should we EVER have done so? Think about it.

The problem is that when you tell people "We're going to give you money for nothing" - no-one will ever think this is a bad thing. At the beginning it wont be, but this is a very complex subject that most average dicks like you will never understand it.

And by the way the US has been wanting to do this for ages and Canada is just another stooge in this game. Make canada do it and, if it works, it makes it more acceptable to do it in the US when things really fall apart.

Policies like "Helicopter Money" generally end up with high inflation and eventually it can result in hyper-inflation. This is whole thing is looking more and more like the 1930's IMO.

Helicopter Money Might Be Closer Than You Think - Bloomberg View

[mineistaken]

Originally Posted by SilentKnight

Sounds like communism to me.

Parasites. One of the many examples why I dislike libtards and call them morons. It is impossible to imagine a person who would think stuff like that is a good idea. He/she must be a spineless worthless lefty/commie/libby scum. Parasites of quality citizens, friends of lowest common denominators.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Rochard

I read about this the other day.... I read an article that said robots will eventually replace humans, and if you think about it it's true - eventually we will not need pilots, taxi drivers, delivery drivers, people to take your order at a restaurant.... If no one works, how do we make money? If no one makes money, how do spend money?

The solution seemed to be giving people money. Those who wanted to work would just make more money.

They're testing out driverless lorries, Auto fast food dispensers, etc. Already intricate surgical operations are done by computers. So the future will require far fewer people. Population reduction and a fairer system for sharing the money is inevitable.

[wehateporn]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

...Population reduction...

That jab they're giving to all the girls in secondary school

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HPV_vaccines

It's making periods less frequent and sending some into early menopause, that's deliberate, the huge workforce is not needed anymore

[pimpmaster9000]

free money is worse than cancer...

[EonBlue]

Originally Posted by MrBottomTooth

Sounds like a great idea considering we already have the largest debt of any province / state in all of North America. What's a few more billion?

Ya, Ontari-owe is the most indebted non-sovereign jurisdiction in the world.

At some point the shit is going to hit the fan and it's not going to be pretty.



.

[ilnjscb]

I'm sure it will have an astonishing 500% participation rate

[CDSmith]

This is the forerunner to complete and total automation, which will lead to eliminating the need for a currency altogether. If everything is done by machines, everything can be free. For everyone. Then humanity will be at a crossroads. Do we go Star Trek or Terminator?

[ITraffic]

While one kneejerk reaction is to argue that free money creates a lazy working class, research suggests the opposite is true. Supported by the financial safety net, people in one 2013 study actually worked 17% longer hours and received 38% higher earnings when basic income was given a shot.

[RebelR]

Originally Posted by ITraffic

While one kneejerk reaction is to argue that free money creates a lazy working class, research suggests the opposite is true. Supported by the financial safety net, people in one 2013 study actually worked 17% longer hours and received 38% higher earnings when basic income was given a shot.

I really don't see what the study has to do with what Ontario is proposing. According to the study quoted in the article:

Abstract:
We study a government program in Uganda designed to help the poor and unemployed become self-employed artisans, increase incomes, and thus promote social stability. Young adults in Uganda’s conflict-affected north were invited to form groups and submit grant proposals for vocational training and business start-up. Funding was randomly assigned among screened and eligible groups. Treatment groups received unsupervised grants of $382 per member. Grant recipients invest some in skills training but most in tools and materials. After four years half practice a skilled trade. Relative to the control group, the program increases business assets by 57%, work hours by 17%, and earnings by 38%. Many also formalize their enterprises and hire labor. We see no impact, however, on social cohesion, anti-social behavior, or protest. Impacts are similar by gender, but are qualitatively different for women because they begin poorer (meaning the impact is larger relative to their starting point) and because women’s work and earnings stagnate without the program but take off with it. The patterns we observe are consistent with credit-constraints.

So an unsupervised business grant, to people in a predominantly agrarian society, to pursue a trade, after submitting a written proposal, has what to do with what is being proposed here? Unless they are quoting the wrong study.

[ITraffic]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincome

[PR_Glen]

I THINK the idea is to eliminate welfare, 'free' healthcare and employment insurance and have a basic living income instead, or at least based on what i read quickly about it last night. but i really don't think it's as simple as that. It sounds more like an grenade that will make our already high inflation rates higher than they already are.

Originally Posted by mineistaken

Parasites. One of the many examples why I dislike libtards and call them morons. It is impossible to imagine a person who would think stuff like that is a good idea. He/she must be a spineless worthless lefty/commie/libby scum. Parasites of quality citizens, friends of lowest common denominators.

is this even english?

[Barry-xlovecam]

Money for nothing and chicks for free! Yay!

If the money is in the place of government social and welfare spending than it is an expenditure shift. If this is some form of economic stimulus plan it is probably going to fail because it will be very inflationary.

It could stimulate consumer spending and employment some increasing tax revenue but maybe only by 30% of what is spent. You should look forward to wearing a $500 CAD shirt

[Screwed Up]

Originally Posted by SilentKnight

Sounds like communism to me.

I'd like to say more...but I have to head out to work - millions on welfare need me.

Same her.

Originally Posted by RummyBoy

Policies like "Helicopter Money" generally end up with high inflation and eventually it can result in hyper-inflation. This is whole thing is looking more and more like the 1930's IMO.

Helicopter Money Might Be Closer Than You Think - Bloomberg View

Zimbabwe all over again. Oh no!


On a positive note, maybe some creative people will be less scared to take the plunge to do what they WANT to do and pursue their dreams...



JK, it's all going to hell!

[wehateporn]

If it's anything like this game all that free money eventually goes to the rich

[rowan]

Originally Posted by ITraffic

While one kneejerk reaction is to argue that free money creates a lazy working class, research suggests the opposite is true. Supported by the financial safety net, people in one 2013 study actually worked 17% longer hours and received 38% higher earnings when basic income was given a shot.

One explanation I've seen suggests that overall productivity can improve because people are willing to take more risks. Those that are living week to week in a job they hate are not in a position to move to something better because of the potential downward spiral of their finances if their income stops for more than a few weeks.

I guess the flipside is that people who are working shitty minimum wage jobs would also be able to move on, or perhaps even just stop working altogether.