An interesting article reviewing the book here:
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/reviewofbooks_article/10136/
The first half of the review I go along with, pretty much. The second
half seems, to me, a sort of logical travesty. Non sequitur in great
abundance. But worth a read to see the weird forms that reactions to
Basic Income take.
*Forgot to add the original German title and authors:
'1.000 Euro für Jeden: Freiheit. Gleichheit. Grundeinkommen', by Götz
W Werner and Adrienne Goehler
Taking everything this "PR" guy tries to argue against the idea in the second half of the article, let him speak for himself: plenty of us would love the crushing moral turpitude of accepting a basic monthly cash flow.
Hell, I'd love even a crap job, but American isn't making those anymore, and I made the horrible mistake of never getting an "education." Further: I'm over 40, so I'm basically screwed from here on out unless the US decides to DO something about its citizens' basic human needs.
Meanwhile none of the bankers who wrecked the economy are in jail. Rather: QUITE the reverse.
Raising the taxes on the rich just to Clinton-era levels? Pretty much dead in the water.
Robert Gates (!) recently begged the American public to have a robust debate on military spending. Don't hold your breath on that one.
Publicly-financing all federal elections? Seems like a no-brainer and way to get a lot of the corporate money out of the system: not even discussed.
Ending the War on Certain People Who Use Certain Drugs? That's not going very well, either.
"Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS
crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in
TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in
bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither." - (Paul Ciszek?).