On Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 11:14 AM, James Bowery <[email protected]> wrote:
To be fair, Ed, the left wing fights the solution too. The solution being > the unconditional basic income. It was the last thing Martin Luther King, > Jr. recommended as the proper solution to inequality -- just before he was > assassinated. > I consider myself pretty liberal, and I think a basic income would be a good thing, if the unintended consequences could be anticipated and managed. (First one: if it's handled at the state level, how do you deal with the internal migration problem?). I do not believe a basic income should be accompanied by a flat tax, as one sometimes hears. I do like some of the ideas you've mentioned about experimentation at the local level. I wonder if states could be selectively given block grants to carry out these types of experiments in lieu of obligations under existing federal programs. I do not consider a basic income a realistic outcome in the US anytime soon, because of political gridlock. Eric
