Humanity's Journey to Life: living income guaranteed

Showing posts with label living income guaranteed. Show all posts

Day 232: Blame Welfare Recipients.. or Implement a Solution?

Think People On Food Stamps Are Eating More Lobster Than You? Think Again

Stories of SNAP recipients using benefits to buy shellfish and junk food abound.
"I have seen people purchasing filet mignons and crab legs with their EBT cards," Rick Bratten, a Missouri Republican who this year proposed prohibiting SNAP recipients from buying seafood or steak, told the Washington Post. "When I can't afford it on my pay, I don't want people on the taxpayer's dime to afford those kinds of foods either."

In Maine and Wisconsin, lawmakers are pushing legislation to restrict SNAP benefits to foods deemed healthy. The Wisconsin State Assembly approved legislation this week to ban junk food and also "crab, lobster, shrimp, or any other shellfish." The bill's sponsor cited "anecdotal and perceived abuses."

Frankly, I don't know how someone could really afford to regularly eat lobster on food stamps. You don't really get enough money to eat comfortably. I mean, sure, you could buy some lobster this week, and maybe go a bit hungry the next. But really, who cares? You can do that with your hard earned wages too if you want. But it really doesn't matter.

For those who would be concerned that individuals on food stamps are eating more luxuriously than you can on work wages, look – the problem of you not being able to afford expensive food on your wages is not caused by someone on food stamps buying lobster. Therefore, the solution is not contained in trying to prevent those on food stamps from buying lobster or what have you. That would actually likely have more of a negative effect. It would take much more bureaucratic oversight to impose stricter limitations on what can be bought with food stamps, requiring more government work, paid by your taxes.

Wages are low because the economy is low because nobody has any money to spend into the economy. It's a vicious cycle that just feeds itself and more and more we feel the squeeze. What boosts the economy is people having money to spend into the economy. At this point jobs can't be counted on to provide enough income to individuals and that's why we have a support system like food stamps. We have a lot of welfare programs in the U.S., taking up a lot of government resources because it is already divided into so many different programs to ensure that it's spent on certain things. So much added bureaucracy and tax money going into a lot of double-work, essentially, filling out and processing applications for each different program.

This is why I support the Living Income Guaranteed Proposal, because it proposes to simplify and streamline the welfare process by providing a basic income to those who need it, to be used to cover all one's primary needs. There doesn't need to be multiple programs with multiple application processes and reporting processes and so on, when it can be done from one platform. And there doesn't need to be restrictions on how/where it is spent. That can be up to the individual, as it is the best way for individuals to learn financial responsibility, by going through the consequences themselves, and studies have shown that when individuals are given the chance they do not generally make poor choices, as some would seem to imply or expect. Certainly deciding for individuals promotes dependency as it does not encourage or provide an opportunity for an individual to learn and develop self responsibility.

So let's make sure that we focus on the real problem and therefore the real solution, and not get caught up in a form of blame game and 'it's not fair' point, like 'if I can't have it then neither can they' I mean, how does that help anything at all? Rather, look at how do we go about creating that which we would like, for everyone, and realize that things don't have to be the way they are. We live in a world where there is plenty, we need to stop getting lost in blaming each other, and focus on bringing about the changes that will actually solve the problems we're experiencing.

Investigate the Living Income Guaranteed Proposal

Day 229: The Math is Simple, We Need a Living Income Guaranteed

So I am going through my college classes, math in particular, so going over things like fractions and rations and linear equations. Being that I am now over 30 and have been living life for a while and not just fresh out of high school, and not still living at home with parents, I have actually practically applied a lot of this math within my day to day living, within things like budgeting mainly. And as I go through the course, this is actually the practical application that is shown for this math – is that it is useful for doing your own personal budgeting and such.

So we have here in this math a really cool and useful tool to be utilized in the distribution of resources and goods to everyone, the things that we need and use on a daily basis in our lives. It has helped me to figure out whether or not I can afford certain things, and just how much I can afford to pay in rent for a place to live for example. The problem comes in however when your numbers just don’t add up to being enough to provide you what you need.

It seems strange that we would allow such problems to exist where individuals can be faced with not having enough to cover all our basic needs, where no matter how you do the math, there is just no solution. You would think that we humans don’t even grasp the simplest of math to see that for so many it doesn’t add up. It’s even stranger still that there are those who would seem to even deny that such a situation exists and would imply that it is simply due to individuals not managing their money properly or living ‘within their means. But there is a bottom line that if your income is below that, you just don’t have enough and no amount of money management is going to solve that.

Interesting that we are taught this math in school to help us with finances but not really taught that hey- you might end up not actually having enough to pay all your bills though. I mean, maybe I would have geared up and gone to college right after high school instead of taking my chances with the ‘real world’ and trying to go straight into getting a job, if I’d had any idea that pretty much the only jobs I would have access to would be those that don’t pay enough. At the time, I was afraid to incur a huge college tuition loan, when I didn’t really even yet know what I wanted to do with my life. But if I had known that in the end I would be no better off than I was 10+ years ago, maybe I would have had a different perspective.

However, even then, it is still a numbers game. Even if you have a degree, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you won’t still end up in one of those jobs that doesn’t pay enough. Because over time, those types of jobs have been increasing, and the better paying jobs decreasing. The ones that provide better pay, decent benefits, paid leave, or any leave at all, and maybe some kind of retirement, or even pay raises. When we have heard politicians say they are making more jobs, we should have asked what kind of jobs? Ones that actually will support us? Or treat us as cheap labor?

Our economy is screaming for a Basic Income program like the Living Income Guaranteed. Just look at the numbers. I see more and more homeless on the streets literally every day. I am approached more and more frequently by individuals asking for some money. I see more and more shops closing and vacant buildings. The signs are all around and I don’t want to wait to see how bad it gets. If we are not going to make sure that we have enough jobs that pay enough, then we need a proper support system to make sure everyone has enough for a decent life. It only costs us more to try and help individuals once they aren’t being effectively supported by the system. We have so many costly programs that only exist to try and help the problem after it’s already been created, that often still aren’t enough to keep people on their feet. It is much more cost effective to prevent causing problems that need to be cleaned up. The numbers don’t lie so it’s really time we listened to them and make sure that everyone really is in a position to effectively work out a proper budget.

Day 218: When Our Jobs Don't Pay, We Need A Living Income Guaranteed

Here's a great article that in a lot of ways sums up what is going on in our labor system for the millions who are working low-wage jobs that don't pay enough to properly live: SeaTac’s minimum wage workers might not get their raise after all

One of the arguments against raising the wage is the businesses that won't be able to afford it, or may have to lay off one or a few employees.

But really – should businesses that can't afford to pay a living wage even exist? Otherwise what we've got is slave labor. And that is where the LIG comes in that provides the support buffer so that if you're out of a job for even just a moment, you're covered, and covered Far Better than Most Low Wage employees today, who earn far below a living wage, because the LIG will cover all your costs of living, whereas low wage even does not do that.

So you can start to see how having a buffer of a basic income can actually really take the pressure off of all aspects of our labor system, which currently is literally a life or death game. And this would take the pressure off of those who would want to have a business, because if it doesn't work out, which the vast majority of businesses fail within the first year, then it's not a problem, you're not going to wind up on the street.

And, if you really want to do something whether it makes money or not, you could, and still have enough to live effectively.

This would obviously result in aligning more people with what they'd really like to be doing. You could really follow your passion and have choice to do what suits you. I mean, do we really want people doing things that they really don't want to be doing? What kind of service do we get from that? The worst quality. This is why we have so many malpractice lawsuits, because so many of our doctors are in it for the money, and not because it's what they'd really like to do.

There's argument that having a basic income though would be a disincentive to working. But we are viewing this from the eyes of what is already here. I mean, what would you call disincentive? Being severely underpaid to the point where you have to take multiple jobs and still can't pay all your bills? Being short staffed and overworked, where the service you provide is often the cheapest it can possibly be and cutting corners is a requirement of the job so there is really no satisfaction in the service you're providing, and often facing disgruntled customers who don't like the poor service for the price they're paying when it's not like you are doing it on purpose? Receiving little to no paid time off or benefits? Where the company for whom your labor is making profits for has no regard for you? Where's the incentive in that?

Obviously our current situation is the main reason why people don't want to work. It's not that they don't want to work – they don't want to work in such conditions. Who would? Maybe only someone who has it even worse. But then, it's still not what they would really want, just the better out of two shitty choices.

Is this really what we want our labor to be like? There's no actual reason or need for it to be this way, and there certainly is no benefit. Investigate LIG, so that we can sort this out before it's too late.

Day 213: The Truth about 'Free Range' and Politics

So I was reading this post here by Fidelis: “Free Range" chicken not actually free range where it's pointed out that having the 'Free Range' label on your carton of eggs is essentially meaningless, because there is no set definition for what 'free range' actually means. But we will tend to 'fill in the blank' with what we think of when we hear 'free range' which is something like chickens running free in a pasture and having a nice life while laying nice eggs for us. But it has shown to not be the case, where you can see a picture of some 'free range' chickens in his blog, it is obviously nothing like that picture that comes up in your mind of chickens running free, happy and healthy.

What this shows is that we really need to specify these things, to make it explicit, so that there can be no cognitive disinformation taking advantage of our tendency to make assumptions. We need to make it clear what we'll accept and allow as a part of our reality and living. And within this, that everyone should be involved in this, in setting the standards essentially, of how we want this reality to be.

Because everywhere you look, it's a lack of standards that is allowing for many abusive things to exist in this world. Because we haven't stood up for what we accept and allow. For the most part, most of us take no action whatsoever in our political system. It's not something we learn about or how to participate in in our school system. Politics is presented as something boring and tedious and complicated, something that nobody wants to be involved in, especially in this day and age where attention spans are almost non-existent and our political system is insanely bogged down by bureaucracy and, well, 'politics'.

'Politics' which really should mean simply administration of a society but has come to mean “the practice and theory of influencing other people on a civic or individual level. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance” (from wiki pedia) Essentially where it's become using tactics to influence and control society, instead of pure and simple administration.

And why would anyone want to get involved in it, when it isn't about actual administration, but more about flinging opinions and competing for interests at the expense or disregard of others? We've got quite a nasty spiteful thing going on with our two party system. I'm sure that has a lot to do with why so many 'hate politics' and don't want anything to do with it.

It is really strange though how we have come to generally view politics as the last thing we'd want anything to do with, when it's politics that shapes our very reality and world that we live in, which for the most part is not cool. The vast majority of humanity slaving away for no reason other than to make a very small amount of people unnecessarily wealthy. I guess it's because we have accepted ourselves as just not a part of that process, I mean, as children you generally don't have a say in anything, you're not allowed to make decisions, the parent is the one in control, in power, and so you learn to be subservient, and accepting of the idea that you just don't make the decisions.

But it's really just through our collective acceptance of this, that we're so 'powerless' within the system. That, and the fact that we are bombarded with all kinds of misinformation that makes it incredibly difficult to make heads or tails of just how to do things in this reality. But it's really not as difficult as it seems, if we stick to the basic principle of always working to benefit all life rather than harm it. It really is that simple, and from there decision making becomes a lot easier. For example, we all know basic things like our food shouldn't contain toxins, and that the functioning and quality of our ecosystem is necessary for our survival and quality of living. I mean, that's why we're buying 'free range' isn't it?

So it's time we start realizing that we do have power, and stand up for what matters in this reality, and use politics as the tool to literally shape our lives as we'd really like them to be, and sort out the issues in our reality that are making living a struggle and a hassle or even downright torture for the vast majority of the earth's population. We can sort this out, and it starts with each one of us, no longer giving in to the thoughts, beliefs and opinions that tell us that for some reason we don't want to utilize our power to create a world worth living in, where life can be a joy for everyone, where life is supported and we can really explore our true potential here in this physical reality.

The first step within this is to set the standard of our own Human Right to life support which is outlined within the Living Income Guaranteed proposal, to change the point of life from a struggle in a life and death gauntlet for survival, to support all of us so we can start to focus instead on the problems at hand instead of merely our own day to day survival.

Day 212: The Living Income Guaranteed Would Increase Minimum Wage for All Workers

So there is quite some movement lately going on in the U.S. in regards to raising the minimum wage to a 'living wage'. Thousands of low-paid fast food and retail workers have been walking out of their jobs calling for an increase to the minimum wage.

In this video from RT "Fast Food Fight: Thousands of low-paid workers take to US streets", a sign is held up which reads: “Worker's Rights are Human Rights” - and that's a very good point. Because the right to a decent living should be a guarantee for all human beings. It's basic human rights to have your needs met. It is not something that is just about or for 'workers' but for all human beings.

It really doesn't make sense to work away most of your life and yet not even make enough to have a decent living, or to have time to enjoy it.

On top of that, in this day and age with the technology we have, it doesn't require as much labor as we're putting in, to cover everyone's needs. Because, have a look, most of the labor we do, most of the jobs that are existing, aren't even related to needs. A vast majority of jobs are service jobs, which is essentially getting someone else to do something for you. Like cook a meal, or clean your house, or help you pick out a new outfit.

Here is a chart from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showing annual labor force statistics around the world from 1970-2012, where you can see that the service industry ( the dark pink) has always been the largest type of employment and has been steadily increasing, compared to industry (light blue) and agriculture (dark blue).

With the technology we have, much of human labor that is done in manufacturing isn't necessary to be done by human labor, it just is because it's cheaper for companies than investing in expensive machinery, and people are desperate to be employed to make what money they can to try to survive and eke out an existence.

I suggest to watch the documentary “Will Work for Free” as it shows quite clearly the potential of what we're facing in terms of technology replacing human labor, which shouldn't actually be a problem, but should be something we utilize to make life easier and more enjoyable for all of us here. But we've got to first sort out the point of support for all beings regardless of whether you're employed or how much you're employed. There needs to be a minimum level of support that is equal to a decent living otherwise we have problems, such as massive poverty and suffering, like we already have because of this very point. You need a job to survive, and there simply aren't enough for everyone, nor do the vast majority of the jobs that do exist, pay enough to actually live effectively.

The Living Income Guaranteed is the solution to this, as it provides that basic support for all individuals no matter what, and calls for a minimum wage for those who work that is double the amount of the basic Living Income. So that no matter what situation you are in, employed, unemployed or underemployed, you would have support for all your basic needs. And if you work, you would receive at least double that, so that you can afford some luxury in your life, as proper compensation for your time and labor. Because it does not make mathematical sense to be working day in and day out, and still be living in poverty, while your labor provides massive profits going somewhere else.

We need this kind of solution and sooner than later, because this is becoming a bigger and bigger issue that is going to more and more pressure on individuals and businesses, which can be avoided by working out this solution for support together and make as smooth transition as possible, into a country where life is actually valued and not taken advantage of for the sake of profits. Change isn't going to come by putting pressure on businesses, since they go by what the laws dictate, and that's why we have to take political action, not rebellious action, if we want to see real results. Let your politicians know that you support a Living Income.