No, not aware of it. Thanks for the heads up. I'll check it out.
Gene On Feb 8, 2014, at 6:34 PM, joel blau wrote: > 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 _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
