Would Universal Basic Income Reduce Inequality?

Would Universal Basic Income Reduce Inequality? Could a universal basic income build the base of a fair society? In a world in which the rich are growing wealthier and the poor poorer, lower job security levels and technological advances, income inequalities are growing wider and becoming more challenging to reduce. Where once income distribution was seen as a collective responsibility and was part of political goals, today government intervention to achieve such distribution is seen as a threat to economic efficiency.[1] One proposal for a radical redistribution of income has been redesigned by Phillippe van Parijis, in the form of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), defined as â€Å"an income paid by a government, at a uniform level at regular intervals, to each adult member of society.†[2] This income is paid regardless of an individual’s income level, marital status, ability to work or citizenship status, as long as he/she is a permanent resident. It is not necessarily an income amount that would allow an individual to manage all of his or her basic needs. On the other hand, additional income from work, savings or government benefits can be added to it. [3] It is also argued that UBI would provide social justice, real freedom for all individuals, solve poverty and unemployment policy issues.[4] A UBI supports the unemployed by significantly reducing their financial uncertainty and the pressure to accept a job that may not meet their skill levels or that they find fulfilling.[5] Essentially it addresses the unemployment trap and the poverty gap, where household incomes fall below the poverty line. [6] Moreover, a UBI is also argued to be â€Å"the easiest way to fully harmonize income security and taxation andensure similar marginal tax rates for both the rich and poor.†[7] Additionally, the incidence of welfare fraud would be reduced if not eliminated, except where individuals claim basic income more than once.[8] In poor developing countries, millions of children have access to schooling but do not attend because the poor financial situations of their families force their children to work.[9] A UBI would provide sufficient income to provide at the very least a distribution of opportunity, especially to those with the least opportunities. Women disproportionately bear the labour in the household which in turn directly impact their job and income options. A UBI would therefore help to compensate women and also protects them in vulnerable times such as in times of marriage collapses. Finally, it is also believed that a UBI would provide an individual the freedom to choose unpaid care work and other autonomous activities. [10] The greatest issue surrounding the introduction of the UBI is its cost. Parijis argues that the cost can be offset by the increase in basic income, an increase in taxes for the working population, a reduction in lower income tax rates and an abolition of benefits. Parijis also believes that all of the richer nations can now afford to make a contribution to individual income. [11] Another argument against the introduction of a UBI is that there would be a reduced supply of labour. Parijis argues that by reducing their working time, families can take greater time to look after their children and elderly, which in the long-run may reduce public spending on prisons and hospitals. A final argument against a UBI is that it â€Å"gives the undeserving poor something for nothing†,[12] which runs contrary to the principal of reciprocity in which those who receive benefits should respond by making a contribution. John Rawls argues that â€Å"those who surf all day off Malibu must find a way to support themselves and would not be entitled to public funds†. [13] However, the state cannot coerce individuals to be productive, even by legally enforcing an obligation to work. Gutmann and Thompson add that the obligation to work applies to the poor as well as to the wealthy stating that: â€Å"those who choose to live off inherited wealth without contributing their own labour to society may deserve no more respect from their fellow citizens than the Malibu surfers†.[14] In such a case, respect is granted not by the state but by public opinion. Parijis adds that gifted talent, ambition and luck are not evenly distributed across a population and therefo re a modest but guaranteed financial gift is a human entitlement.[15] In conclusion, a UBI has the potential to provide social justice and a real freedom for all individuals. It could significantly reduce poverty gaps, unemployment traps and harmonise income security and tax rates across all income levels, whilst significantly reducing welfare fraud. In developing countries a UBI will have the greatest impact on income distribution, education and freedom, particularly where women manage and care for the family and household. It would also support individuals looking to invest their time in unpaid charitable activities either nationally or internationally. These efforts would eventually benefit individuals of all income levels as greater time is given to the development of solutions to problems. The main arguments against a UBI revolve around its cost, reciprocity of benefits and reduced labour supply and therefore productivity levels. In the case of the former, there are several options available ranging from increased income taxes to the abolition of benefits, with the richer nations being more able to implement it than the developing countries. With regards to reciprocity, it is difficult to coerce or legally require individuals to be productive in return for benefits received, regardless of their income levels. The only potential solution cited is a loss of respect for these individuals by society. Whilst there are many arguments against a UBI it the benefits to society and its poverty levels far outweigh them, and may prove to be a solution for worldwide poverty and unequal income distributions. Bibliography Blais, Francois and Hutchison, Jennifer (2002) Ending Poverty, James Lorimer Company Bloom, David et al. (n.d) Universal Basic and Secondary Education, American Academy of Arts Sciences http://www.amacad.org/publications/ubase_universal.pdf Groot, L.F and Parijs, P. (2004) Basic Income, Unemployment and Compensatory Justice, Springer Honohan, P. (10th January 1994) Basic Income as a Reform of Tax and Social Welfare, Economic and Social Research Institute Muirhead, Russell (2004) Just Work, Harvard University Press Parijs, Philippe Van (October/ November 2000) A Basic Income for All: If you really care about freedom, give people an unconditional income, Boston Review http://www.bostonreview.net/BR25.5/vanparijs.html Wright, Erik (2006) Two redistributive proposals – universal basic income and stakeholder grants, Focus, Vol. 24, No. 2, Spring-Summer (2006) 1 Footnotes [1] Wright, Erik (2006) Two redistributive proposals – universal basic income and stakeholder grants pg. 5 [2] Parijs, Philippe Van (October/ November 2000) A Basic Income for All: If you really care about freedom, give people an unconditional income [3] Parijis (Ibid) [4] Groot, L.F and Parijs, P. (2004) Basic Income, Unemployment and Compensatory Justice pg. 11 [5] Parijis (Ibid) [6] Honohan, P. (1994) Basic Income as a Reform of Tax and Social Welfare [7] Blais, Francois and Hutchison, Jennifer (2002) Ending Poverty pg. 17 [8] Honohan, P. (1994) Basic Income as a Reform of Tax and Social Welfare [9] Bloom et al. (n.d) Universal Basic and Secondary Education pg. 1 [10] Parijis (Ibid) [11] Parijis (Ibid) [12] Parijis (Ibid) [13] Muirhead, R (2004) Just Work, pg. 19 [14] Muirhead, R (2004) Just Work, pg. 19 [15] Parijis (Ibid) Walt Whitman: The Common Man with Revolutionary Poetry Walt Whitman: The Common Man with Revolutionary Poetry Born to a large, poor family in 1819, Walter Whitman was not thought to be anything special. Floating from job to job all around New York, he struggled financially for most of his early life. Through all this time, however, he was experiencing and learning things that would greatly inspire him as he began writing poetry. His first major publication, Leaves of Grass, earned him worldwide fame as many admired his practical writing style; they donned him The Common Man, a nickname that would survive the rest of his life. But Walt Whitman was a poet with contradictions and inconsistencies. In the infancy of America, pride was on full display. Inspired by these feelings, many pillars of nationalistic Transcendentalism is very prominent in his early works. However, later in his life, Whitmans poetry takes on a more Realistic approach as he explores the darker sides of American life. From rags to riches, Walt Whitman truly embodied the American Dream. In I Hear America Singing, he celebrates all the unique types of people that live in the United States, I hear America singing, the varied carols I hearEach singing what belongs to him or her and to none else (l. 1, 9) Whitman employed the use of catalogue when describing these people and how they each serve to create the very diverse society we have in America. James E. Miller Jr. writes of this poem, . . . I Hear America Singing presents an image of the nation that Americans would like to believe is true-an image of proud and healthy individualists engaged in  productive and happy labor. Mechanic, carpenter, mason, boatman, deckhand, shoemaker, hatter, wood-cutter, plowboy-from city to country, from sea to land, the varied carols reflect a genuine joy in the days creative labor that makes up the essence of the American dream or myth. . . . America singing emerges as a happy, individualistic, proudly procreative, and robustly comradely America (Miller 146-147). These uniquely American ideals that are prominent in Whitmans poetry are also present in his form; he was a trailblazer in a relatively new form of writing called free verse. In his stanzas, Whitman wrote in a very vernacular and unapologetic way. This break from the common form and tone of the time period is why many consider Walt Whitman to be revolutionary. In Song of Myself, Whitman wrote this excerpt through the mind of a young woman looking at many men bathing in a river, Where are you off to, lady? for I see you, / You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room. / Dancing and laughing along the beach came the twenty-ninth bather, / The rest did not see her, but she saw them and loved them. / The beards of the young men glistend with wet, it ran from their long hair,/ Little streams passd all over their bodies. / An unseen hand also passd over their bodies, / It descended tremblingly from their temples and ribs. (l. 206-213) For the 19th Century, this poem was considered overtly sensual by some of Whitmans contemporaries. In fact, his own brother refused to read it. In this excerpt, however, the rough-and-tumble obdurate nature of Whitmans poetry is on full display. He did not care about following any form or common trend that was popular and accepted; Whitman simply wrote what he wanted. James Miller writes of this poem, Like most poetic works of genius, Song of Myself has defied attempts to provide a definitive interpretation. In a very real sense, no reading of the poem has clarified the sum of its many mysteries (Miller 99-100). In this way, Whitman is the epitome of the American man. He developed his individual style, and stuck by it. In response to the criticism, he kept a cool head. One of his favorite phrases during interviews was, In poetry, there is no such thing as good or bad subjects, but good or bad poets. In the last excerpt, there also is a little bit of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was anothe r Transcendentalist writer who coined the term Transparent Eyeball, which essentially is just the quiet observation of nature. This idea exists in Song of Myself as the lady watches and fantasizes about the men. In I Sing the Body Electric, Whitman continues this while describing a woman, Hair, bosom, hips, bend of legs, negligent falling hands, all diffused-mine too diffusedBe not ashamed, woman-your privilege encloses the rest, and the exit of the rest; / You are the gates of the body, and you are the gates of the soul. (l. 57, 66-67). In this excerpt, Whitman is clearly celebrating the individual. By describing the traits of a woman in this positive manner, he is empowering women along the Democratic ideals of our nation. This philosophy aided in popularizing several progressive movements that sought womens suffrage and improved rights throughout the nation. In addition, the religious allusion of soul appears in this passage. Later on in the poem, Whitman begins a lengthy catalog ue of all the bodily and emotional features of a human body. He declares at the end, O I say, these are not the parts and poems of the Body only, but of the Soul, / O I say now these are the Soul! (l. 164-165) A major facet of Transcendentalism is the interconnectedness of nature and the soul. In this poem, Whitman is commentating on how The voice, articulation, language, whispering, shouting aloud, / Food, drink, pulse, digestion, sweat, walking, swimming (l. 153-154) and other daily functions we perform come together and form the basic fabric of our existence: our soul. At this time in the United States, the majority of people lived in rural communities. In this way, Whitman was writing for the Common Man, as the Soul and several other allusions to religion find their way into his works. Whitman took the pillars of Transcendentalism and implemented them in his poetry in a way that Americans would find applicable and enjoyable. During his adult life, Whitman witnessed the growing divide between the North and the South, and the terrible war that followed decades of hatred. Whitmans poetry was not always optimistic; several times his poetry took on a more pessimistic Realist point of view. In I Sit and Look Out, he describes many atrocities, I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children, dying, neglected, gaunt, / desperate; / I see the wife misused by her husband-I see the treacherous seducer of young / women; / I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love, attempted to be hid-I see these / sights on / the earth This rant could be a sign of Whitmans frustrations at the racism and hatred he is seeing on a daily basis. He ends the poem, All these-All the meanness and agony without end, I sitting, look out upon, / See, hear, and am silent. (l. 3-7) But why would someone not do anything about these horrible things if they know theyre going on? That is exactly what Whitman is criticizing here. The I that Whitman is writing this poem through is not his first-person, but a metaphor of the American public. Whitman includes that line at the end as a culmination of all the evils; he is saying how being a bystander and letting all of those things go on unabated is just as terrible as the deeds themselves. This is very applicable to the Norths tolerance and ignorance of slavery in the South. The main philosophy of Realism is telling the truth as it is without romanticizing anything. Having lived in New York for most of his life, Whitman saw many slaves being transported throughout the city and used that disgust he felt as inspiration for this poem. At the conclusion of the Civil War, Whitman was devastated by the assassination of President Lincoln. He wrote several elegies for him, including When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomd, O Ca ptain! My Captain!, and O Me! O Life!. In O Me! O Life!, Whitmans poetry symbolizes the immense sorrow that the nation was feeling: Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined, / The question, O me! so sad, recurringWhat good amid these, O me, O life? (l. 6-7) It is clear that Whitman is in the middle of a crisis, endlessly searching for a faint idea of what life is actually about. This poem brings to focus the susceptibility of poets and authors to be influenced by current events. Especially for poets, whose works are generally inspired by personal emotion, Whitman likely used these intense feelings of despair as creative fuel. From the original 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass to 1867, the poetry collection grew from 12 poems to hundreds in just 12 years. Straying away from his earlier trends of Transcendentalism, Whitman turned towards Pessimism and Realism as the Union faced a political crisis during the mid-19th Century. After a long life, in 1891 Walt Whitman published the final edition of Leaves of Grass while he was on his deathbed; the final collection consisted of over 400 poems. These poems and the stories they tell are why critics today refer to Whitman as Americas Poet. He lived during a time when America was still struggling with its identity and showed these problems through a Realist lens. However, Whitmans Transcendentalist poetry embodied everything that America stands for today: diversity and equality. As long as America holds these just ideals in her heart, Whitmans poetry will live on.