Thousands to receive basic income in Finland: a trial that could lead to the greatest societal transformation of our time

in currency •  8 years ago 

Finland is about to launch an experiment in which a randomly selected group of 2,000–3,000 citizens already on unemployment benefits will begin to receive a monthly basic income of 560 euros (approx. $600). That basic income will replace their existing benefits. The amount is the same as the current guaranteed minimum level of Finnish social security support. The pilot study, running for two years in 2017-2018, aims to assess whether basic income can help reduce poverty, social exclusion, and bureaucracy, while increasing the employment rate.

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Original Post Here : http://www.demoshelsinki.fi/en/2016/08/30/thousands-to-receive-basic-income-in-finland-a-trial-that-could-lead-to-the-greatest-societal-transformation-of-our-time/

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I have been reading about this for some time in the internet space
Thanks 4 posting

I think the town of Arnhem in Holland has the same scheme as well. That will be interesting to watch. The 19th century created the working class. The XXIth century will create the useless class... This experiment is probably the only solution to maintain this new class.

While I'm confident this will fail, for a myriad of causes that most of you all are aware of, I'm ultimately glad that these experiments are being conducted, none the less.

First, it will provide empirical evidence for such as system's failure, but perhaps more importantly it will reveal the absurd quality of life you can expect from such a system:

2,000–3,000 citizens already on unemployment benefits will begin to receive a monthly basic income of 560 euros (approx. $600). That basic income will replace their existing benefits. The amount is the same as the current guaranteed minimum level of Finnish social security support.

Secondly, 560 Euros in Scandinavia (more prosperous and wealthy than the so called 'PIIGS') will barely cover any living costs: my guess it will be food costs and maybe part of your energy bill provided you already have a place to stay: VAT is 24% there! I've had to live on similar budgets before, and that sum of money really motivates you to refelct on your life: really fast!

You quickly realize your time, the most finite of resources you possess, is being depleted under perpetual anguish and fear of what your life would be life if an unaccounted expense creeps into your life. It consumes you with you dread and paranoia.

You're literately walking on egg-shells all the time. If this is the Socialist/Communist ideal they can might as well go work in a gulag, at least there you have direct access to food.

PS: I'm getting flashbacks of Auroracoin now. And not in schadenfreude-way, but more in a data gathering manner and a unsettling and unnerving manner in which I can help but think: when will we learn that Human action is (almost entirely) fueled by self-interest?

I don't think it will really work either, but... careful with the "might as well go work in a gulag". This is the kind of exageration which no one makes after reading Solzhenitsyn.

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

They will do totally opposite thing . Workers will work illegally , and still recieve that money from state .
In Sweden you get around ( i think ) 13.000-14.000 SEK for 12 months if you lose a job . That's slightly less than 1.500 EUR . But you have to pay monthly while you work as a security or insurance for time when you are unemployed.
Everybody works on black , especially now with a surge of refugees , a lot of problems here .

Lol, refugees have nothing to do with it, I don't love them but work on black has nothing to do with it, and it's not fault of the people that work but the firms that are not willing to give white work nor decent conditions.
There are shits that do that and work on black and get social I agree.