> On Sat, 23 May 1998, Mr J C Greenwood wrote:
>
> > I also think some form of Citizens Income should be high up on the Third Way
> > agenda. As well as being a respectable, well developed idea, with cross party
> > support,
>
> > it could provide a mechanism for the redistribution of wealth with
> > reduced interference in the lives of individuals by the state.
>
> Handing out money regardless of need, regardless of effort, reduces state
> interference? The priority for government should be to end social
> exclusion not to subsidise an underclass, who won't even be expected to
> look for work.
Not only that, but is anti-redistributive, according to most studies. Even
Alan Duncan thought it too favourable to rich people (Saturn's Children),
redistributing to the poorest tenth and the richest six tenths, but away
from three of the four poorest deciles, if I remember correctly. This
research then led to the absurd suggestion of having a means-tested CI.
However I see the political attraction, if it could be sold to the
"Guardian" as putting up taxes, increasing benefits and ending
means-tests, and at the same time sold to the "Daily Mail" as putting an
end to scroungers by giving everyone the same amount.
> > [snip the bit about not letting people starve]
> > If the answer is no, then every citizen is going to have an income
> > somehow, so why not provide this by a better route?
>
> I think expecting people to earn it, enabling them to get the opportunity
> to earn it, and providing handouts only for those in genuine need, is a
> better route than handing money out regardless.
Once again, I come back to the point about the assumptions made concerning
poverty; in particular the view that it is purely economic / financial. In
fact there is a lot more to being unemployed than merely not having enough
money. Looking back to the times during each of the Conservative recessions
when my father was unemployed, I can say that he had no worse a time
during the first one, when money was a problem, than he did during the
second, when it wasn't.
jdcxxx
John Courouble, Room 4012, Keble jdc@feeble.ml.org
President, Oxford Uni. Fabian Society
Messages only : 01865 272727 The best way to predict
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kebl0613 the future is to make it.
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