Basic Income and Transforming a Generation

THE CONCEPT OF A BASIC INCOME ISN’T ONE simple construct but a wide range of ideas of which all or some could end up in a final policy proposal. Even its name isn’t a sure thing. In recent years it has been labeled a Guaranteed Annual Income, a Guaranteed Income Supplement, Basic Income Guarantee, a Social Wage, or even a Citizen’s Dividend.While many have fought for such an initiative for various reasons, it has been primarily its potential for eliminating poverty that has become the focus for recent Basic Income activity. The ability to provide low-income Canadians with a guaranteed level of funding, proponents say, would eliminate the need for the heavy programming and bureaucratic expenses related to administering initiatives to help the needy. Some maintain that the sheer savings on programming alone would be sufficient to get Canadians out of poverty. There is much debate on this at present, but the possibility of lifting so many Canadians to a secure economic level through one comprehensive initiative has proved remarkably appealing.Proponents from the Left say it will eradicate poverty; those from the Right maintain it will save governments money. Yet the potential of a Basic Income is intriguing in other ways perhaps far more compelling. Since Canada’s founding a woman’s economic status has been directly linked to that of her father or her spouse. As philosopher Carole Pateman writes: “A basic income would, for the first time, provide women with modest life-long independence and security.” For new Canadians the possibilities of starting from a secure economic base would provide them great potential for settling in a community, accessing educational opportunities, and provide them some status.Experimentation with Basic Income initiatives have been going on around the world in places like Germany, Brazil, France, Britain, and even Mexico and Columbia. And it’s happening in all the places for the same reason that it’s gaining traction in Canada: poverty is systemic, growing, and won’t go away. In tomorrow’s post we’ll deal with the negative implications of what it all means, but for the present support for a Basic Income is compelling. Outside of changing the entire financial order, transforming the flow of funds between political jurisdictions, or permitting Canadians cities and communities to have more powers of taxation, it would be challenging to find another initiative so all-encompassing and comprehensive as a Basic Income initiative.By way of possibilities, consider what took place in the appointing of the new federal cabinet yesterday in Ottawa. Advocates have been saying for decades that we should be reaching gender equality by now in our politics, but the sheer dominance of the male-dominated political order was content to eke its way towards such a target over the course of many years. Justin Trudeau’s appointment of a 50-50 cabinet showed just how inured we had become to political and gender renewal. In a welcome instant he turned the possibilities of politics on its head.As we tinker increasingly with inter-generational poverty, what is to keep us from alleviating it in one broad sweep of creativity, legislation, and civil society support? Nothing, except our own lack of resolve and the paltriness of our expectations. Trudeau’s cabinet selection reminds us that history is of little use to us if can’t transcend its barriers to find a better place. Crippling poverty can be vanquished but only if we resolve within ourselves to finally do it. In such a setting, the Basic Income might be the way forward.