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SHARING THE WEALTH
A senator from Brazil, Suplicy was the sponsor of the "Citizen's Basic
Income" legislation that was signed into law last year. The law is grounded
in the concept that an unconditional and guaranteed minimum income is the
simplest and most effective step
toward the
eradication of poverty. It will be implemented gradually in Brazil beginning this year.
He
said today: "All people --. regardless of their ethnicity, gender, whatever
-- should be able to share in the wealth of the nation. This should be done in a
way that is just and provides for dignity and real freedom. Ensuring a
guaranteed unconditional income does several things: It ends bureaucracy of
reporting and checking on people. It eliminates the stigma attached to getting
resources from the government. It does not penalize someone for earning money
from a job. And it removes uncertainty."
Suplicy
added: “In
the U.S., the Alaska Permanent Fund provides for a guaranteed income to all its
[Alaska's] citizens.”
When the Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Melo was nominated to be the coordinator of
the United Nations' actions in Iraq, in May 2003, I contacted him, suggesting
that the Alaskan model be applied for the Iraqis. He quickly replied positively
and said that he would share the suggestion with the relevant authorities. The
following month, on June 23 in a speech in Jordan, Ambassador Paul Bremer, the
chief administrator in Iraq, said “Some profits from oil sales could be distributed
to Iraq's citizens as "dividends," along the lines of the system used
by the State of Alaska.”
Suplicy
argues that the idea of a guaranteed income is to be found in virtually every
religion and in writings as diverse as Confucius and Thomas Paine. He is author
of several books, most recently “The
Citizens' Income The Exit Is Through the Door”
(in
Portuguese), and is a professor of economics. Suplicy was one of the founders of
the Workers' Party along with Brazil's current president Luis Inacio Lula da
Silva.
Suplicy has recently completed a period of research in residence at the
Woodrow Wilson Center in D.C. and will be giving a talk there
Thursday
at 10:30 a.m.; RSVP Alex Parlini, Woodrow Wilson Center, parliniaj@wwic.si.edu.STEVEN
SHAFARMAN, steve@CitizenPolicies.org,
http://www.CitizenPolicies.org
President of the Citizen Policies Institute, Shafarman said today: "If
Brazil, a poor, highly unequal country, can move toward a guaranteed basic
income for its citizens, surely we in the United States can do something
similar. Current approaches toward ending hunger, homelessness, and poverty. are
obviously not working. With regard to these fundamental concerns, the Bush
budget plan is taking us in the wrong direction, It's time to guarantee economic
security for every American, at least at a basic level. We can do that. And it
will greatly strengthen our democracy by ensuring that people can afford to
participate more actively as citizens."
Shafarman added: "Supporters of a 'negative income tax' or 'guaranteed
income' included Richard Nixon and George McGovern; economists Milton Friedman,
James Tobin, and John Kenneth Galbraith; and Martin Luther King Jr. A guaranteed
income bill, Nixon's 'Family Assistance Plan,' was endorsed by major newspapers
and passed by the House of Representatives by a decisive 2 to 1 ratio, but was
defeated in committee in the Senate."
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