Means testing is the camel's nose in the public sector rent-seeking tent. However, what they are doing is completely understandable given that they are trying to maintain public sector rent seeking in an economic environment that would normally result in populist uprising kicking out all immigrants and, quite possibly, killing off leaders in government, business and academia.
On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 2:32 PM, H Veeder <[email protected]> wrote: > CYPRUS: President announces “Guaranteed Minimum Income” program > > > > http://binews.org/2013/08/cyprus-president-announces-%E2%80%9Cguaranteed-minimum-income%E2%80%9D-program > > > The president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, has announced the creation of > a “Guaranteed Minimum Income” for all citizens. The president said, > “Beneficiaries will be all of our fellow citizens who have an income below > that which can assure them a dignified living, irrespective of age, class > or professional situation.” According to Cyprus Mail, the policy will begin > in June 2014. The exact level of the grant will be determined between now > and then, but every citizen would be guaranteed “the minimum needs for a > dignified living in a European Country.” > > If the program goes into affect as described, it will be the world’s first > full “Basic Income Guarantee” (BIG) as defined by the U.S. Basic income > Guarantee Network: “government ensured guarantee that no one’s income will > fall below the level necessary to meet their most basic needs for any > reason.” However, the details of the program available so far indicate that > it will be the negative income tax version (NIT) and not the basic income > (BI) version of BIG. The difference is that NIT gets everyone to the > minimum by paying only those whose incomes are below some minimum level, > while BI gets everyone to the minimum, pay paying all citizens regardless > of means. What will actually happen remains to be seen. > > For more information, see “President announces ‘Guaranteed Minimum Income’ > program,” Cypress Mail, July 26, 2013 >
