Citizen’s Basic Income discussed in a new Compass publication

The new Compass report, The Causes and Cures of Brexit, contains a chapter on Citizen’s Basic Income by Barb Jacobson:

… Basic income assumes the best – that people can decide for themselves how best to use their money, and how best to use their time. Indeed, when asked what people would do if they had a basic income, the response that comes up most often is that they’d spend more time with their families and volunteering in their communities.

In the arguments for or against UBI on economic or moral grounds, what is rarely considered is the symbolic power of everybody getting the same basic amount of money from the state. We live in a society which measures human worth in terms of money. …

… let’s not underrate the symbolic value of universal basic income. If everyone gets an equal token of freedom, society can move towards the unity it needs to solve our many other problems together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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