THE BASIC INCOME SCHEME (London public meeting 19/11)

THE BASIC INCOME SCHEME: Why it won’t work as intended.

Sunday, November 19, 

3:00 PM

Socialist Party Head Office

52 Clapham High St.

London SW47UN

Speaker: Adam Buick

 Those who advocate the Citizens Wage, the Universal Basic Incom make the assumption that if the government gives everybody, working or not, a regular income this is not going to have an effect on wage levels? They seem to be assuming that this would be in addition to income from work whereas what is likely to happen is that it would exert a huge downward pressure on wages and that over time real wages would on average fall by the amount of the "basic" income.

In other words, that it would be essentially a subsidy to employers. It would be "basic" in the sense of being a minimum income that employers would top up to the level people needed to be able to reproduce and maintain their particular working skill.