This last half year I have been pleased to see new articles exploring the concept of a “citizens income”. The basic idea is that instead of countries proving social security (miss-labeled welfare) citizens receive a basic income. The idea does not need massive institutional support as it is simple and would enable citizens to study, create and develop entrepreneurial ideas as well as support the sick, old, single parents and so forth.
Contrary to the argument that this would encourage a feeling of “entitlement” the majority of recipients would respond in constructive ways. That makes sense from our evolutionary past – in small groups freeloaders would not successfully breed and would thus fail the “Darwin test”.
I think the idea has merit and requires a broader public discussion.
The link below links to news articles in the recent past exploring this idea.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/apr/08/citizens-income-instead-of-benefits
Source: Citizen’s Income