Do you know about the North American BIG coalition? They are having their 15th annual meeting in Montreal this summer. [see http://www.usbig.net/index.php]
Joel Blau Eugene Coyle wrote: > "Leaving Work Behind" is the title of a 2/8/2014 NYT essay by the > conservative columnist Ross Douthat. The URL for the column is: > > http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/opinion/sunday/douthat-leaving-work-behind.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss > > Douthat uses the flap about Obamacare's supposed work disincentive as a > departure point. > > The thrust of the column is to open a discussion of providing a Basic Income > Guarantee (BIG) or Negative Income Tax to replace other parts of the welfare > state. > > This emerging advocacy of a BIG on the right is troubling. You'll find this > paragraph in the Douthat piece: > > >> But it’s also possible to argue that as a rich, post-scarcity society, we >> shouldn’t really care that much about whether the poor choose to work. The >> important thing is just making sure they have a decent standard of living, >> full stop, and if they choose Keynesian leisure over a low-paying job, >> that’s their business. >> > > In a book I am reviewing, THE TROUBLE WITH WORK (a terrific book) the > author, Kathi Weeks of Duke, proposes a work week of 30 hours, with NO cut in > pay AND a Basic Income Guarantee --- based on a 1998 manifesto by Stanley > Aronowitz and others. That's a proposal from the Left, obviously, and in > Weeks case you can infer the income level would be significantly higher than > what a conservative might deem appropriate. > > Perhaps you've noticed that on the Right there are today noticable supporters > of a BIG. Douthat mentions them but is himself unsold. He thinks work is > essential to dignity, mobility and social equality. (Of course WAGED work is > not essential to all that but Douthat overlooks that.) > > My point in calling this Douthat essay to your attention is to spur a > discussion of the BIG as opposed to alternatives. Weeks points out that a > dominant strain of Marxist/socialist ideas is to promote more work -- better > work but work nevertheless. Kathi Weeks supports less work or no work. > > When Occupy or its lineal offspring once more takes the stage, the discussion > we might now have could be useful. > > Gene > > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > > _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
