Try it in developing countries. You can see vastly different outcomes, and generally the quality of life will increase in these places. It's an irony that the countries that need this the most don't have the funding, and the countries that do have the funding, report it isn't working.
Free Money Didn’t Help People Find Jobs, Finland Says
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Re: Free Money Didn’t Help People Find Jobs, Finland Says
#12"The Nordic social welfare champion spent the last two years handing out 560 euros ($635) per month to a randomly selected group of 2,000 jobless people aged between 25 and 58."
They were selected from a group of people who received a form of unemployment benefit called "työmarkkinatuki". Without going into too much details, it meant that almost all of them had been unemployed for at least two years. And that means that huge chunk of them (I would guess that overwhelming majority) are basically unemployable because they have some limitations (physical of mental) or they do not have any education.
Re: Free Money Didn’t Help People Find Jobs, Finland Says
#13Can anyone explain to me, with basic income, why wouldn't I want to sit at home all day and play videogames?
Re: Free Money Didn’t Help People Find Jobs, Finland Says
#14Well that's missing the point. Basic income is not supposed to help them find jobs that can sustain them so they no longer need it, but make it optional. Stop make it mandatory to have a well paying job to be able to afford rent and food. Which, by the way, only applies to middle and lower classes anyway because people from higher classes can live off their investments and don't have to work.
Agreed
And it did help improve well-being! I'd say it's a success
Re: Free Money Didn’t Help People Find Jobs, Finland Says
#15I find this title a good example of framing. From the article: "On the basis of an analysis of register data on an annual level, we can say that during the first year of the experiment the recipients of a basic income were no better or worse than the control group at finding employment in the open labor market" So you can say "free money didn't help people find jobs", or you could say "free money didn't discourage pe…
It's even better than that! The title the authors of the study put on their press release is: "Preliminary results of the basic income experiment: self-perceived wellbeing improved, during the first year no effects on employment"[0] So not only does Bloomberg frame it like the doomsday prediction that everyone would turn into idlers never happened, the significant increase in mental health is just quietly sidestepped…
THAT is exactly the problem:
OUR SYSTEM doesn't care how happy you are, as long as you're productive enough for some people to get rich.
No one cares if you have a job, if you are homeless or have to suffer poverty.
OUR SOCIETY values power and wealth (at least here in the west, I heard about other countries who don't do this so dedicated). If you're poor, sick or have no job than there is even people who'd argue for mercy killing you as not being strong enough for our good society.
I think the report about this experiment shows how far away we moved from humanity.
Re: Free Money Didn’t Help People Find Jobs, Finland Says
#16But are there jobs available in Finland? 560 euros is not much in Finland; I don't expect people to willingly stay home and live off this amount.
Re: Free Money Didn’t Help People Find Jobs, Finland Says
#17Can anyone explain to me, with basic income, why wouldn't I want to sit at home all day and play videogames?
Can someone explain to me, with varying job wages, why I wouldn't just take a low effort shelf stacking or cleaning job?
Is it obvious yet?
Re: Free Money Didn’t Help People Find Jobs, Finland Says
#18I find this title a good example of framing. From the article: "On the basis of an analysis of register data on an annual level, we can say that during the first year of the experiment the recipients of a basic income were no better or worse than the control group at finding employment in the open labor market" So you can say "free money didn't help people find jobs", or you could say "free money didn't discourage pe…
Yep. It reads like one of those nutrition "studies" that conclude with "none of the participants in the Brocoloy juice diet group developed any signs of cancer".
Re: Free Money Didn’t Help People Find Jobs, Finland Says
#19I find this title a good example of framing. From the article: "On the basis of an analysis of register data on an annual level, we can say that during the first year of the experiment the recipients of a basic income were no better or worse than the control group at finding employment in the open labor market" So you can say "free money didn't help people find jobs", or you could say "free money didn't discourage pe…
It's even better than that! The title the authors of the study put on their press release is: "Preliminary results of the basic income experiment: self-perceived wellbeing improved, during the first year no effects on employment"[0] So not only does Bloomberg frame it like the doomsday prediction that everyone would turn into idlers never happened, the significant increase in mental health is just quietly sidestepped…
You're right, that headline is awfully cynical! Who ever said that giving out free money helps people get a job? I think its proponents have a more utopian view and see it as a way to compensate for future trends in automation which could make many jobs obsolete.