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The Next BIG Idea: Basic Income "What work would you do if your income was taken care of?" by Sarah Thorne and Benjamin Hohlmann

August 29, 2011

All over the world an interesting question is fascinating more and more people: the idea deals with an unconditional basic income grant (BIG), which everyone is entitled to, independently of income, gender, religion or age. In times like these, as we are painstakingly attempting to bail out our financial systems, it is becoming more and more important to develop an alternative which realigns the economy to focus on the individual. We have to become aware of the fact that our economy should serve our needs and not the other way round! The dramatically rising unemployment rate has become a pressing “problem” in almost every country in the world. However, if we look closely, we can see that this problem has nothing to do with a lack of available work. Particularly in the social field, in care work, education or within the family, the amount of work that is desperately needed is infinite. The real problem lies in the fact that there are less and less jobs in this field. In other words; there is no money to pay and therefore enable people to do these important tasks. So perhaps we should not focus on creating and designing new jobs at all. Perhaps we should shift our attention to creating conditions in which people are able to do the work that is seen as necessary, through an income. The BIG would do just that. A basic income grant, which covers more than mere survival, is paid out unconditionally and on a monthly basis, and would initiate fundamental changes within society. At the same time it would enable many possibilities to emerge and develop. Let’s think it though… More »