On Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 12:20 AM, James Bowery <[email protected]> wrote:
> Martin Luther King, Jr. recommended Henry George's citizen's dividend. > But that's the last thing he ever did. They killed him and I believe it > was because of that recommendation as it would have eliminated the need for > the welfare bureaucracy and would have replaced the entire civil rights > paradigm founded on "protected groups" with a completely neutral "general > welfare". > > The American Enterprise Institute scholar and prominent libertarian > theoretician Charles Murray pretty much recommended the same thing recently > in his book "In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State". He was > roundly ignored by MLK's supposed supporters, libertarians and > conservatives. > > The interests arrayed against this on all sides of the political divides > are enormous: Basically, anyone that uses the word "populist" with a sneer. > > > The situation is improving. There are an increasing number of voices with diverse political leanings, albeit still in the minority, who express support for some sort of a universal "unearned" basic income. Why you have the right to a $5K dividend from Uncle Sam http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/right-5k-dividend-uncle-sam/ <<Need-based benefits necessarily divide society into two camps, higher-income payers and lower-income receivers. The former resent that money is taken from them, while the latter resent being viewed as welfare recipients. No one is happy with the arrangement. Dividends from common wealth, by contrast, unite society by putting all its members in the same boat. The income everyone receives is a right, not a handout. This changes the story, the psychology and the politics.>> Even the Council on Foreign Relations Is Saying It: Time to Rain Money on Main Street http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25932-even-the-council-on-foreign-relations-is-saying-it-time-to-rain-money-on-main-street <<The September/October issue of Foreign Affairs features an article by Mark Blyth and Eric Lonergan titled “Print Less But Transfer More: Why Central Banks Should Give Money Directly To The People.” It’s the sort of thing normally heard only from money reformers and Social Credit enthusiasts far from the mainstream. What’s going on?>> Harry
