Top Economist says: “Universal Basic Income is Not Affordable”

This is an article by Paul De Grauwe translated from Dutch.

You can find the original article here: http://www.demorgen.be/opinie/een-universeel-basisinkomen-kan-nooit-van-de-grond-komen-a2166604/25mXp2/

A Universal Basic Income Will Never Happen

Top economist Paul De Grauwe, professor at the London School of Economics, writes weekly about people, the world, the economy.
30 December 2014

The idea to provide everyone with a basic income exerts a strong intellectual appeal towards both the left and right side of the political spectrum. The appeal for left is that a universal basic income that is sufficiently high can ban poverty. For the right, a universal basic income is popular because it will remove the unemployment trap. In the current system of unemployment benefits, the unemployed lose their benefits upon finding a job. That discourages the search for a job. This shortcoming disappears with a universal basic income. Because in that system, the unemployed retain their basic income after finding a job.

Affordability

With such broad support you would expect that the universal basic income is already a reality. But that is obviously not the case. And that has everything to do with its affordability. Due to the fact that in such a system everyone, both rich and poor, working and non-working, receive the same basic income, the government requires to organize a massive money stream.

A numerical example: Suppose that the universal basic income is 1000 EUR per month (which is not that much if it is intended to ban poverty entirely) and that the basic income is given to all adult Belgians. This would mean that government expenses would increase by 100 billion, or 25 percent of GDP.

The universal basic income of course makes it possible to save on large portions of social security. Unemployment benefits and benefits for illness can be scratched; we could also save on pensions. But an important part of social security is not dropped. For instance, health care, child support and the portion of pensions above 1000 EUR remain.

Andreas Tirez from the think-tank Liberales has done an interesting exercise on the subject. He came to the conclusion that after deducing the savings on social security that would become possible through the basic income, there is still a shortage of about 35 billion EUR. That is about 9% of GDP.

It then also means that, after the introduction of the basic income, tax revenue would have to increase by 35 billion. The total tax burden that now represents about 51% of GDP, will need to increase to 60% of GDP.

Weakening work incentives

One can argue over these numbers. Do they overestimate or underestimate the costs of a universal basic income? The reality will not be far off in my opinion.

A universal basic income that has the ambition to ban poverty from the world, is then immensely expensive. That doesn’t need to surprise you. To give the poor (a minority in society) a basic income, you have to also provide a basic income to the large majority that doesn’t need it. This leads to new problems. The working majority receives a basic income that stands loose from labor efforts, but will have to pay extra taxes (and not a small amount) on their labor incomes. And that is the best way to weaken work incentives.

Conclusion: The only realistic system is one where the basic income is limited to those who need it. A universal basic income will never happen.

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Day 209: Health Care or Disease Care?

Please watch the following documentary for additional information:
Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare

In the US 75% of healthcare costs go towards patients suffering from preventable diseases. Instead of focussing on prevention within educating people on lifestyle and what consequences come along with what lifestyle – the healthcare system only bothers with dealing with the aftermath.

A person suffering from diabetes, who as a result has heart problems – will be filled with stents each time there’s a heart problem. Only symptoms are alleviated and the problem remains. This method of treatment is of course very good for the pockets of the medical industry. The patient is not getting better, he’s also not really dying and he keeps on coming back. The very point that the cause and origin of so many people’s preventable chronic disease is not even discussed is questionable to say the least. This clearly shows a lack of integrity and care as it becomes obvious that an actual solution is not was is being sought after – but merely the management of the disease.

In Equal Money Capitalism, we reverse everything. Instead of tending to Consequence we focus on Prevention. Education will have a primary role within Health Care, within making people aware of how they can best support themselves and their bodies so each one can live at optimum capacity. People who pursue a career in medicine will be those who truly have a passion for the practice and really want to take care of people (read Day 188: Simple Solutions in Equal Money Capitalism on how this is made possible).

Changing our approach to health care will not only save us tremendous costs in monetary terms – but will also save on a lot of harm as the result of overtreatment and limited symptomatic relief. Consider also that a lot of patients only go to the doctor and are on prescribed drugs because they are overworked and cannot cope with the pressure of the demanding system that we have today. In such cases – medicine is not the solution, but a change in lifestyle – which is exactly what Equal Money Capitalism is all about.

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Day 145: Neo-Apartheid decides who Lives and who Dies

http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/11/will-there-finally-be-a-cure-for-diseases-that-affect-the-poor/

 

Every year, more than 10 million people die per year of communicable diseases (=infectious diseases). Of those 10 million, 9 million take place in developing countries.

Why does our Health Care System fail to address this?

The problem is that of Neo-Apartheid, where money decides who gets treated and who doesn’t.

Our Health Care System is based on the profit incentive, and will thus focus on those pharmaceutical research areas which are most likely going to bring in profit. Now obviously, people who don’t have money are then not considered – because no profit can be made.

So, Health Care then becomes not about what is Best for All as providing the best treatment for everyone – but only about providing treatment for those with money.

In today’s world, this gets translated in a pharmaceutical industry which is becoming more and more unproductive. The focus of research remains on non-communicable diseases such as cancer, because this is a disease which money can be made out of. And it’s not even about the people with the diseases – it’s all about the patents. So even though lots of money is still being pumped into ‘innovative research’ and where they come up with new molecules to patent – there are already treatments existent and most of them are cheaper – and a such, they are not therapeutic novelty. So what’s the point? Oh right, profit.

In the meantime, those research areas where the Health Care System could actually make a difference: are completely ignored. Why? Because poor people are not an attractive market for big companies. There is no care, there is no compassion, there is no love, there is no solidarity – there is only the Rule of Money.

It’s time to say good riddance to the Rule of Law as Money and to replace it with the Rule of Law as What is Best for All – so we can no longer justify the abuse and suffering taking place because of dysfunctional institutions which only hold money close to their hearts – we require institutions that Serve and Protect Life within the Principle of Equality and what is Best for All Life.

Visit www.EqualMoney.org - be part of the Change

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Day 36: Medication as Happiness - Big Bucks, Big Pharma – Part 2

This is a continuation to: Day 35: Big Buck, Big Pharma

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a world which values and honours Profit over Life as Health Care

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a world where Health Care and Health Care products are turned into Consumerism Products which Consumers can buy even though they do not actually require the product and whether the product will actually assist and support the person’s body is questionable

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a world where pharmaceuticals are presented and advertised as consumer products, as to brainwash any person looking at the advertisement into the belief that they will be better off with having this product/drugs where the drug has no relation whatsoever to the person’s actual wellbeing, but is designed for the sole purpose of generating money

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a world system which only  values money, and thus only values human beings in so far that they can be mined for money – where pharmaceuticals/drugs are presented and moved through the consumer arena, where the drugs are “Branded” as to give the particular drug character so the consumer may develop an emotional bond between self and the drug advertised

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a world system where health care is really money care – where the point is no longer the efficacy of the drug within assisting and supporting the body, but where the point has been shifted to the relationship one can have with a particular drug/brand where the drug is taken from the starting point of energy and value, where one will take the drug to obtain the energy, value which was associated / attached to the drug through visual media advertisement, where the drug is taken as a form of feeding self with energy instead of using drugs as a practical way to assist and support the body within re-establishing itself within Health

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise, that within pharma advertisement, the actual point as disease/condition is never portrayed – but where with all drugs no matter what their use – the people in the advertisements are portrayed as “Happy” people “Living Life”, where pharma advertisement is thus in fact the advertisement for the Pursuit of Happiness through consumerism as drugs and in no way whatsoever about what is Best for All as taking care of one’s Human Physical Body

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a world system as the economic system which only cares about money accumulation – where doctors will prescribe drugs to their consumers – oops, I mean “patients” – which they may not necessarily need as they receive benefits from the company who owns and sells the drug – where many end up suffering needlessly from side effects such as heart attacks and seizures

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to defend the advertisement of drugs through labelling the advertisement as “education” while this is obviously not so within showing Happy People dancing, laughing, playing within the ad – there is no real information provided whatsoever and an incorrect picture has been transferred to the consumer as to what this drugs really does, where it is assumed that this drug is some sort of magic pill which will make you a Happy Person and have a Burdenless Life

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that the consumer cycle is constantly being fed and maintained through drug companies producing and releasing ‘new, better versions’ of their drug – while there is actually no improvement whatsoever, where psychological obsolence is used to keep the consumer coming back for more within the Pursuit of Happiness of being and achieving MORE

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that only 14% of all new drugs are deemed to be “likely” better than older drugs which were already out there – which only further indicates that pharmaceuticals and health care in this world are so far separated from one another where they currently have little relation with one another but used as a justification to accumulate more money

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have created a world system where Health Care is not about Care but about Profit, where a single drug will be existent multiple times within different brand names – resulting in huge waste of resources as these different brands spend time and money on marketing THEIR drug as THE drug while all are really the same, and where millions are wasted in creating the best advertisement so the consumer will pick THEIR drug instead of the competitor’s one – while both are the same – which merely indicates that all the points in the world such as poverty, starvation, disease whose existence are justified through referring to “scarcity” is complete bullocks, as millions are going to waste within the Profit Game and Competition which could have been used to actually change this World in a Place which is Best for All as REAL Health Care through funding the establishment of an Equal Money System

I commit myself to the establishment of a world System which honours Life over All, as the only REAL value existent within this world

I commit myself to reveal of how Health Care has been transformed into a Lifestyle industry where drugs are dressed up as consumer products which consumers can buy to have a piece of Happiness within their lives

I commit myself to the end of all brainwashing as advertisement and to the realisation of real education as part of the Basic Education everyone should receive in terms of how the Human Physical Body actually operates so all can Care for one’s Heal in fact

I commit myself to the redefinition of Health Care as actual Care for Humans, Plants, Animals, the Planet as what actually assists and supports the physical within reaching an optimum level of functioning – instead of the mass manipulation into consumerism as which it now exists as for the sake of money as fake value

I commit myself to the re-evaluation of All Drugs to eliminate and clear out all the drugs which are in fact not beneficial to anyone, but only created for the purpose of money accumulation – and within that I commit myself to establishment of a scientific health care community which in fact cares about the physical’s health and will only commit themselves towards drugs as support which will actually assist and support others and one’s own physical bodies

I commit myself to expose the Lie drugs as become as a product of Energy and Experience where drugs is no longer advertised as a way to relieve oneself from a particular ailment/condition/disease – but where the incentive for buying and taking the drug is based on wanting the obtain the energy presented in the Advertisement as ‘Happy people’

I commit myself to expose how doctors within the current world system are not in fact serving their clients within what is best for their health, but only act within what’s best for their wallet

I commit myself to expose the obsolence game being played within the pharmaceutical industry for the sole purpose of getting people hooked so they can keep on buying their drugs without there being and actual change or improvement within the chemical composition of the drug

I commit myself to educate others as myself on the real state of Health Care within this world so those who may hear can wake up and realise that this world is not set up to take care of its people within the principle of what is Best for All – and that change as the Equal Money System ought to be implemented

I commit myself to expose how vast amounts of resources and money are being wasted within the Consumerism Game by people who apparently “Care” about the Health of others, when these resources could have been used more effectively through bringing about ACTUAL change within this world which would have a REAL impact such as the funding of an Equal Money System which will ensure that ALL BEINGs are taken care of

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Day 16: Live When you Die!

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to believe that I require to earn my living.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to believe that I need to earn the right to live from a system that supposedly provides human beings with the necessities to survive.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that it doesn't make any sense that I am already alive, yet for some reason still have to earn my living.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to never even question why it is that people have to work and earn money to be able to get the things they need to survive.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to ever question why we are indebted to a system of life-support that we have to pay off for most of our live and then eventually, when we're old and our bodies are deteriorating, getting closer and closer to death - that's the time when we're cut free and cut loose and allowed to just live whatever is left of our lives, that is if we even make it to that age and if the company we worked for our entire life didn't go bankrupt at some point.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to ever stand still and wonder if I even agree with the principle of having to earn your living - but just accept it as the way it is and the way it should be.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to justify a system of enslavement through making statements like "Well, if I had no job, I would be bored all the time - I wouldn't know what to do with myself".

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that, being born in a system where working forms the main part of a human being's life, we've orientated who we are towards our job, we've defined ourselves according to our job and we've started using words like 'making a career' to make ourselves feel like we're really doing something constructive with our lives, while really we're just a slave to a system that won't care if we're dead or alive - and therefore are forced to submit to its rules and be servants to this system in order to survive.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise how ridiculous it is to speak of free will while we live in a system where each one is forced to, in essence, sell themselves, the biggest part of their life, to a system - forced to work - in order to survive.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that freedom cannot exist if one must earn their living.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to question the labour system in and of this world until it is too late, until I am retiring and look back and see that my youth is gone, my strength is gone, my will to live is drained and I am physically incapable of living what's left of my life to the fullest - realising that I've wasted it all while slaving away for a system that doesn't even care about life.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that because we were born in a system where we are required to work to survive, we're unable to even imagine what it means to live without worrying about survival, without worrying about being fired, without worrying of getting through the next day, without worrying about retirement funds, without worrying about making enough money, without worrying about your children's college funds, without worrying about the future - but instead actually able to be here, with self, finding out what it means to live, what it is you enjoy, what life has to offer.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that the creation of a system of slavery is a manifestation of our unwillingness to give - because if we were willing to give to one another what is needed for each one to live a dignified life, we wouldn't ask for anyone to work for money.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that prostitutes are merely a literal manifestation of who and what we all are in this world - selling ourselves for money, prostituting ourselves for money, whoring ourselves for money in order to survive.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to delude my children into believing that living in this world is fun, by giving them a few years in toddler school where they get to play all day, yet slowly but surely start taking that away from them and start introducing the knowledge, information and exercises that will enable them to become effective workers for the system - all the while pretending that being a grown-up is so fascinating and so much fun, while secretly everyone longs to be a child again, when we were not yet aware of the evil in man.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to trade life for the vileness of survival.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to be unable and unwilling to give to another what I would receive out of fear of losing out and coming out at the shorter end.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that if everyone thinks in terms of maximising their own personal benefits, we'll never be able to manifest heaven on earth.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to preach words to children of being generous and sharing, while not living those words myself.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that we just cannot continue as we are because if we don't realise that we're all really equal and one - we'll continue to destroy ourselves as we try to root out our competition, not realising that the only one we're fighting and competing with, is ourselves.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that we're all equally fucked as we're all equally dependent on the same system - and so we might as well work as equals together to manifest a different world for ourselves and for our children.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to, through years of slaving away in the system, give up on life as I slowly but surely started accepting and allowing myself to believe that this is all i can be, that this is all I'll ever be - becoming a completely submissive and apathic slave that has forgotten that the word life used to have a different meaning.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that in the attempt to protect our children from the evil of man by keeping them ignorant about the state of the world and what's awaiting them in their lifetime, we're actually allowing the system to continue exploiting life, since by the time our children realise what's going on, they'll be stuck in the same system, having kids of their own they try to protect - and so the cycle continuous where understanding always comes too late and no one has the ability to make a stand for life.

I commit myself to show how we've utterly and completely given up on ourselves and on life through accepting to work for a lifetime in order to be able to survive and 'life freely' once I'm old and worn out.

I commit myself to free mankind from slavery through establishing an equal money system where work is an expression and not a necessary evil.

I commit myself to educate human beings about the system we currently living so that they are aware of what it is they're walking into before it is too late and one has completely submitted to the system and given up on life.

I commit myself to remind people that we're not here to survive and that trading survival for life is unacceptable, that it is less than who we are and that there is no valid reason for accepting an existence of slavery and prostitution.

I commit myself to end the need to work in order to be able to acquire and access the goods and services a human being needs in order to life a dignified life.

I commit myself to give as I would receive so that all may live in equality and trust of one another, living the statement of loving they neighbour as thyself.

I commit myself to live the words I preach and testing my living application before I speak.

I commit myself to stand up from the ashes and re-birth myself to become the living expression of generosity, of care, of commitment, of understanding, of consideration, of equality, of respect, of responsibility, of accountability, of passion, of engagement, of self-reflection, of courage, of strength, of discipline, of enjoyment, of expression, of consistency, of support, of assistance, of directiveness, of life.

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