UBI: Guaranteed Income for NOT Working!
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, July 7, 2017 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
Will Georgia go from a guaranteed minimum wage for workers to a universal basic income (UBI) for everyone who has a job or doesn’t work at all? UBI is an emerging issue in other countries and has reared its head in the U.S.A., as well. Hawaii, recently, passed a bill to study the possibility of implementing UBI there.
In the General Assembly this year, three minimum wage bills were introduced, along with two other bills concerning equal pay for males and females. While H.B. 339 attempts to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 – a $2.10 hourly raise – H.B. 315 and S.B. 28 almost triple the current minimum wage to $15.00 per hour. Plus, S.B. 28 would have added an annual cost-of-living increase, beginning January 1, 2019. All those bills were left in committee for consideration next session.
It’s nothing new for minimum wage bills to be introduced or adopted in the U.S., but Finland adopted the UBI concept on January 1st, thereby guaranteeing 2,000 citizens $630 per month whether they work or not. Similar projects, also, exist in Canada, Holland and Italy.In April, Ontario, Canada launched a UBI pilot program for 4,000 residents who will receive an annual 16,989 Canadian dollars ($12,616 U.S.) for qualified limited income applicants between ages 18 and 64. Invitation letters are mailed to potential participants.
In the U.S., Hawaii passed legislation that creates a “basic economic security working group” to study the future of jobs as technology replaces people in the workforce. The resolution states: “The legislature declares that all families in Hawaii deserve basic financial security and it is in the public interest to ensure economic sustainability for our people.”
Although the Hawaii group is the first legislation-driven study of UBI in the U.S., the issue was pitched to Harvard graduates during commencement May 25th. The speaker was Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the sixth richest billionaire in the world, who said, “We should explore ideas like universal income to make sure that everyone has a cushion to try new ideas.”
Hawaii is concerned about the potential loss of jobs when autonomous vehicles need no drivers for taxis and delivery trucks, when self-checkout replaces retail workers, and IBM’s Watson computer can give basic legal advice faster and more accurately than human lawyers. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.