Recently my husband sent me an imgur about how Switzerland was considering a minimum income program.
The point of the minimum income program would be to provide every citizen of Switzerland with $33,600 annually as a way to eliminate the poverty line. Pretty simple right? Sound good? The picture sparked some commentary (which I was also linked to) which, in turn, brought my attention to a program in Canada from the 70's called "Mincome." The project was based in Manitoba and provided families below the poverty line with a minimum, guaranteed, income every month.
I posted the picture (and commentary) to my Facebook page as a way to share with my like-minded friends. Obviously, I have some friends who are not so like-minded. The following is commentary made by my friend (LG) and myself.
LG: The problem with this is we have tried this in various forms, and people tend not to appreciate what they get for free: hence the vandalism, wasting of food and resources etc. I do believe in some forms of public assistance, but people in general need to feel they're contributing something to society, however little. Look around at the epidemic of children in this country who have no input from their fathers, financially nor emotionally. Herein lies much of the cause.
Myself: I would have to politely disagree. The problem isn't that children have no input from their fathers (mine has been non-existent in my life for almost 13 years and I feel no need, nor desire, to vandalize) or even that people feel the need to vandalize and take advantage. The problem is people not being able to LIVE.
If the government had caused the acceleration of minimum wage to coincide with the rise in average cost for goods and production we might see less of a problem. However, because the cost of services, food, medicine, etc, has risen dramatically while the amount of money flowing into the average working man's pocket has stayed at a pitiful (dare I say, negligible) amount, we are left in a flux.
I see nothing wrong with the Government (by the people and FOR the people) taking care of its People. The fact that the Government would rather spend literally Trillions on Military and on a war that was supposed to only last a "couple of months" (I am quoting Vice President Dick Cheney there) instead of providing affordable health care, food, better Education (we're ranked so abysmally on the World Wide scores that it is rather disgusting) and affordable birth control (so that there were less Children starving and without homes/families) is an absolute travesty.
The other problem is that we have a lack of proper education to show just how truly ignorant we've been of how the rest of the world works.
Places like Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, etc. have been putting time and effort into their People so that Sweden is shutting down an astonishing amount of their prisons because there aren't any criminals to fill them. Canada has higher prices, but better health care. So much so that Americans sometimes go to Canada to receive the health care they need! Denmark is the HAPPIEST country in the WORLD. In the WORLD! South Korea and Finland out rank us in Math, Science and English.
The cause of our problem(s), is this: Our Government has become one that would rather waste tax dollars regulating women's bodies than protecting citizens from guns (I am pro-gun and pro-regulation), become one that believes that a Corporation can have Religious Rights (last I checked, Corporations aren't people) and We The People are the ones suffering. They are still getting the money they need to waste. They are still getting fed. They are still getting to make all the decisions for people that they don't even know and don't care to know.
That is the cause of our problem(s). The government has been completely warped from what it was intended to be.
Want more info on Project Mincome?
The point of the minimum income program would be to provide every citizen of Switzerland with $33,600 annually as a way to eliminate the poverty line. Pretty simple right? Sound good? The picture sparked some commentary (which I was also linked to) which, in turn, brought my attention to a program in Canada from the 70's called "Mincome." The project was based in Manitoba and provided families below the poverty line with a minimum, guaranteed, income every month.
I posted the picture (and commentary) to my Facebook page as a way to share with my like-minded friends. Obviously, I have some friends who are not so like-minded. The following is commentary made by my friend (LG) and myself.
LG: The problem with this is we have tried this in various forms, and people tend not to appreciate what they get for free: hence the vandalism, wasting of food and resources etc. I do believe in some forms of public assistance, but people in general need to feel they're contributing something to society, however little. Look around at the epidemic of children in this country who have no input from their fathers, financially nor emotionally. Herein lies much of the cause.
Myself: I would have to politely disagree. The problem isn't that children have no input from their fathers (mine has been non-existent in my life for almost 13 years and I feel no need, nor desire, to vandalize) or even that people feel the need to vandalize and take advantage. The problem is people not being able to LIVE.
If the government had caused the acceleration of minimum wage to coincide with the rise in average cost for goods and production we might see less of a problem. However, because the cost of services, food, medicine, etc, has risen dramatically while the amount of money flowing into the average working man's pocket has stayed at a pitiful (dare I say, negligible) amount, we are left in a flux.
I see nothing wrong with the Government (by the people and FOR the people) taking care of its People. The fact that the Government would rather spend literally Trillions on Military and on a war that was supposed to only last a "couple of months" (I am quoting Vice President Dick Cheney there) instead of providing affordable health care, food, better Education (we're ranked so abysmally on the World Wide scores that it is rather disgusting) and affordable birth control (so that there were less Children starving and without homes/families) is an absolute travesty.
The other problem is that we have a lack of proper education to show just how truly ignorant we've been of how the rest of the world works.
Places like Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, etc. have been putting time and effort into their People so that Sweden is shutting down an astonishing amount of their prisons because there aren't any criminals to fill them. Canada has higher prices, but better health care. So much so that Americans sometimes go to Canada to receive the health care they need! Denmark is the HAPPIEST country in the WORLD. In the WORLD! South Korea and Finland out rank us in Math, Science and English.
The cause of our problem(s), is this: Our Government has become one that would rather waste tax dollars regulating women's bodies than protecting citizens from guns (I am pro-gun and pro-regulation), become one that believes that a Corporation can have Religious Rights (last I checked, Corporations aren't people) and We The People are the ones suffering. They are still getting the money they need to waste. They are still getting fed. They are still getting to make all the decisions for people that they don't even know and don't care to know.
That is the cause of our problem(s). The government has been completely warped from what it was intended to be.
Want more info on Project Mincome?
- http://public.econ.duke.edu/~erw/197/forget-cea%20%282%29.pdf
- http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/4100
- http://archive.irpp.org/po/archive/jan01/hum.pdf
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