To end poverty, guarantee everyone in Canada $20,000 a year.

[Unforgiven]

An interesting view on poverty reduction and charity.

Nicole Gray, a 24-year-old single mother living in Victoria, feels like a “beggar” every time she has to go into a government office and ask for help to pay her bills.

She has finished her diploma to be an office medical assistant despite having gotten pregnant as a teenager. But job losses and the difficulty of raising her son, now 7, on her own have made her income unpredictable. Meanwhile, she says, the system is suspicious of every request and doubts every word.

To end poverty, guarantee everyone in Canada $20,000 a year. But are you willing to trust the poor? - The Globe and Mail

 

[DaSleeper]

How about a debit card, automaticaly reloaded reloaded every month?;-)

 

[Tonington]

Giving money to the poor actually works better as an anti-poverty measure than increasing the minimum wage. There's lots of support from economics for this:
Can income transfers to poor families help children? | vox - Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists

 

[JLM]

An interesting view on poverty reduction and charity.

Nicole Gray, a 24-year-old single mother living in Victoria, feels like a “beggar” every time she has to go into a government office and ask for help to pay her bills.

She has finished her diploma to be an office medical assistant despite having gotten pregnant as a teenager. But job losses and the difficulty of raising her son, now 7, on her own have made her income unpredictable. Meanwhile, she says, the system is suspicious of every request and doubts every word.

To end poverty, guarantee everyone in Canada $20,000 a year. But are you willing to trust the poor? - The Globe and Mail

So what incentive is there to work?

 

[CUBert]

So what incentive is there to work?

Oh I Don't know, TO MAKE MORE THAN 20K A YEAR good enough incentive? To have more than just the basic necessities?

 

[JLM]

Oh I Don't know, TO MAKE MORE THAN 20K A YEAR good enough incentive? To have more than just the basic necessities?

2000 hours a year at our minimum wages comes to $16,000, so maybe there's not much incentive to work- I would go along with a guaranteed income of $10,000, with a proviso that you would be allowed to make another $10,000 without penalty.

 

[DaSleeper]

2000 hours a year at our minimum wages comes to $16,000, so maybe there's not much incentive to work- I would go along with a guaranteed income of $10,000, with a proviso that you would be allowed to make another $10,000 without penalty.

Or something like Workfare in Ontario?
Naah.... that was a conservative Idea:smile:

Much better to do like California

 

[Unforgiven]

So what incentive is there to work?

That was answered in the article. You did read the article right?

Or something like Workfare in Ontario?
Naah.... that was a conservative Idea:smile:

Much better to do like California

Much better to do it the right to start with.

The idea of a guaranteed annual income has been tested before in Canada – in the mid-1970s, in Dauphin, Man., a farming town with then about 10,000 residents.

In the only experiment of its kind in North America, every household in Dauphin was given access to a guaranteed annual budget, subject to their income level. For a family of five, payments equalled about $18,000 a year in today's dollars.

Politicians primarily wanted to see if people would stop working. While the project was pre-empted by a change in government, a second look by researchers has found that there was only a slight decline in work – mostly among mothers, who chose to stay home with their children, and teenaged boys, who stayed in school longer.

Evelyn Forget, a researcher in medicine at the University of Manitoba, reports that Dauphin also experienced a 10-per-cent drop in hospital admissions and fewer doctor visits, especially for mental-health issues.

Mothers staying home to raise their kids, Boys staying in school longer, 10% drop in hospital admissions. Probably sounds a little TOO liberal for some conservatives.

 

[El Barto]

I think if the government gives out money , there should be something demanded in return. What that is ? I don't know

 

[Unforgiven]

I think if the government gives out money , there should be something demanded in return. What that is ? I don't know

People give out money the government distributes it. But your idea begs the question, what do people now owe for the education and medical treatment they get until they are 18? Put a dollar value to it just for argument sake.

 

[JLM]

I think if the government gives out money , there should be something demanded in return. What that is ? I don't know

Absolutely - there's easily 30 jobs available within 5 miles of where I live just picking up roadside garbage. What about patrolling the streets and clubbing punks who are breaking street lights and mugging old people? :lol:

 

[Cliffy]

A friend of mine once suggested that we sell Canada to the US (since they already own all our resources anyway) for $1 million per head. That way everybody would have an equal chance to make something of their lives. Some might blow it up their noses or shoot it into their veins (and possibly croak) but most would invest it in their futures. $330 billion for Canada - a bargain. Oh, and that mill should be tax free.

 

[Tonington]

I think if the government gives out money , there should be something demanded in return. What that is ? I don't know

You mean besides alleviating the pressure on government that poverty exerts? Addressing poverty means better educated citizens, better mental health, and less youth crime, amongst many other benefits. That's a pretty good return.

 

[captain morgan]

Addressing poverty also means that the individuals in that society actually accept some form of responsibility for themselves and teh decisions that they have made.

 

[Unforgiven]

Addressing poverty also means that the individuals in that society actually accept some form of responsibility for themselves and teh decisions that they have made.

Why?

 

[captain morgan]

Allow me to turn the question back on you... Why is it to be expected that the public at large is expected to assume responsibility for those that made poor and/or irresponsible decisions?

 

[JLM]

Addressing poverty also means that the individuals in that society actually accept some form of responsibility for themselves and teh decisions that they have made.

Couldn't have said it better myself. :smile:

 

[El Barto]

You mean besides alleviating the pressure on government that poverty exerts? Addressing poverty means better educated citizens, better mental health, and less youth crime, amongst many other benefits. That's a pretty good return.

Sure that is , no problem with that , But will all want to get a better education to get a better job ?

 

[Machjo]

An interesting view on poverty reduction and charity.

Nicole Gray, a 24-year-old single mother living in Victoria, feels like a “beggar” every time she has to go into a government office and ask for help to pay her bills.

She has finished her diploma to be an office medical assistant despite having gotten pregnant as a teenager. But job losses and the difficulty of raising her son, now 7, on her own have made her income unpredictable. Meanwhile, she says, the system is suspicious of every request and doubts every word.

To end poverty, guarantee everyone in Canada $20,000 a year. But are you willing to trust the poor? - The Globe and Mail

We should never give the poor money. Education with room and board? Yes. Money? Never. Nothing personal, but we don't know why they have become poor, and so should not give them money. How do we know a person is not an addict of some kind, whether to drugs, gambling, prostitution, etc.

Instead, give them the tools directly that they'll need to succeed.

However, before we give them any such help, we must first ensure we can afford it. That could mean cutting spending in other less crucial areas, and possibly raising taxes. In some cases, it might be possible to have them give back 'military style' along the lines of a kind of Canadian peace corps loosely based on the US version, but with the modification that recruits could receive further education in exchange for so many years of work in the peace corps afterwards. In this way, we also get something back for the money invested.

Again, I have no issue with paying taxes. My issue is with how that tax money is spent.

Giving money to the poor actually works better as an anti-poverty measure than increasing the minimum wage. There's lots of support from economics for this:
Can income transfers to poor families help children? | vox - Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists

This I can agree with. Minimum wage just prices people out of the market. Sometimes it can be a good thing, depending on the specific objectives in mind. But in most cases, it's not a good solution to alleviating poverty, any more than rent ceilings are a solution to the affordable housing problem.

 

[JLM]

Only the mentally defective endorse raising the minimum wage = maximum inflation. :smile: