Universal Basic Income Analysis

Supposedly, established to thwart the experience of dire poverty for most Americans upon retirement, in reality it is an income transfer program whereby the comparatively rich subsidize the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, and the disabled. However, Conservatives do support social welfare services to the most susceptible members of American society. “But conservatives believe that the most effective way to provide assistance is at the level of the individual states, in conjunction with private, for-profit, market-driven and not-for profit non-governmental organizations, and through faith-based social service programs.” ("Studentnews," 2006) Conservatives believe that welfare programs should not be funded solely based on ‘need,’ but the costs and effectiveness should be taken into effect.

Liberalism started with the ideas of the Enlightenment. Two of these ideas were freedom of speech and freedom of the individual, and kept growing from there. Liberalism is the belief in a small central government and no monarchy. The liberalists defended the ideas of the definitive rights of an individual’s liberty, equality and property. The liberalists wanted their government to be established on written laws and a constitution based on equality.

A nation-wide social issue in contemporary Canadian society is relative poverty. Universal basic income (UBI), or ‘basic income’, is a model which aims to eliminate it. In this response, I will argue that UBI can reduce relative poverty in Canada. Subsequently, that the reduction of relative poverty will also improve both physical and mental health as well as diminish income discrimination in Canada. Since income inequality not only creates poverty but also is a social determinant of health. To accomplish this, I briefly outline the current state of Canadian poverty, the tenets of UBI, and the benefits that can stem from its establishment. Concludingly, discussing a measuring mechanism to ensure that the relative poverty is being resolved.

Poverty rates in Canada have not changed since past 2 decades (Lecture slides). Reasons for hope starts off with Canada's federal and provincial government anti-poverty strategies and programs that help people in poverty and has kept poverty rates from being even higher (Raphael, 2011, pg. 439). Every province offers some types of programs that are receptive, which is better than USA, but not comparable to Nordic countries. Hope is also present that political parties such as NDP, BLOC and Liberal will strengthen Canada's government and lead to many more policies which will reduce poverty (Raphael, 2011, pg.459). In addition, Canada still offers a universal healthcare system accessible to everyone, universal child care and free pharmaceutical for elderly (June 15 Lecture). These programs support and set the foundation for those people who are experiencing extreme poverty and those are low income. Canada also offers the Senate report, House of Commons report and Campaign 2000 report to raise awareness, keep track of rate of poverty and provide recommendations (June 15 Lecture). Health units in Ontario also add on to hope, they provide community health programs, disease prevention strategies and promote healthy lifestyles (June 15 Lecture). These health units are located in many cities such as York

In a recent interview in the Ottawa Citizen, Justin Trudeau spoke on his decision to increase taxation on the wealthy upper class in order to redistribute money to the middle and lower class. This is in response to the issue of stalled median household income where Canada’s GDP has doubled yet household income has only increased by 15% (Kennedy 2015). This hints at income inequality in Canada, as it sheds light at the struggle of middle class families to provide for their families. Parents are having to choose between their retirements or providing education for their child (Kennedy 2015). To Justin Trudeau, this means that “something isn’t working anymore” (Kennedy 2015). Most likely, he senses that the way money is earned and distributed in Canada is highly unbalanced, leading to a income gap between the rich and the poor. Trudeau’s solution to middle class worries is to increases taxation on upper class

The issue of economic inequality has ruined the economy of the United States completely. This issue is making its way to Canada, which is causing more of its citizens to go into poverty. When this problem first started to arise, it was strongly ignored by the government because they believed it would not cause a problem. However, over the past twenty years, it has increased rapidly which caused the gap between rich and poor to became enormous. Moreover, the wealth of the rich strongly depends on the disadvantage of the poor. The only way the rich will stay rich is if the poor stay poor. The top one percent of Canadians receive 318,000 dollars on average whereas the bottom ninety percent receive only 28,000 dollars. If the poor start getting high

Poverty is a significant threat to women’s equality. In Canada, more women live in poverty than men, and women’s experience of poverty can be harsher, and more prolonged. Women are often left to bear more burden of poverty, leading to ‘Feminization of poverty’. Through government policy women inequality has resulted in more women and children being left in poverty with no means of escaping. This paper will identify some key aspects of poverty for Canadian women. First, by identifying what poverty entails for Canadian women, and who is more likely to feel the brunt of it. Secondly the discussion of why women become more susceptible to poverty through government policy and programs. Followed by the effects that poverty on women plays in

In the article, “The Case For Free Money: Why Don’t We Have Universal Basic Income,” James Surowiecki presents the benefits of a universal basic income and why it is appealing to workers and politicians. After an experiment, known as “Mincome,” implanted universal basic income in Dauphin during the 1970s, evidence clearly shows that the Canadian town received remarkable advantages, such as lowered dropout rates and hospitalization rates. The idea of universal basic income is not new, however, it is regaining popularity. Contrary to popular belief, some from both the Democratic and Republican parties support assured basic income, Surowiecki claims. The current push for universal basic income is emboldened by the rising concern of advancing

To begin, the term “general welfare” was used in the Articles of Confederation and elsewhere to refer to the well-being of the whole people. The Founders did not want the power and resources of the federal government to be used for the special benefit of any one region or any one state. Nor were the resources of the people to be expended for the benefit of any particular group or any special class of citizens (Learn The Constitution, n.d.). This shows that having social welfare programs is an unnecessary and extraneous use of our federal government’s money. The entire American concept of “freedom to prosper” was based on the belief that man’s instinctive will to succeed in a climate of liberty would result in the whole people prospering together.

Inequality in Canada is not as prominent as many other places around the world, although it does remain in certain segments of Canada. There are many forms of inequality in Canada and internationally, although this papers main focus is going to be the inequality of wealth. According to Steven Kerstetter “Canadians may view their country as a land of opportunity, but it is also a land of deep and abiding inequality in the distribution of personal wealth” (Kerstetter 2002). The “gaps between the rich and poor remain evident in Canadian statistics” (Kerstetter 2002), Canadians have always kept financial security as an essential element of life and have tried to obtain and sustain it within their lives. Frank Cunningham’s article, “What’s

Despite this, universal access to health care does not reduce health inequalities in and of itself. The increasing problem of income inequality needs to be addressed in order to decrease income-related health inequalities, and to create a more equitable health care system. Raising public awareness of income-related health inequalities is crucial in order for society as a whole to act upon the problem and for the government to make any policy changes and implement interventions to address income inequality. To alleviate the obstruction of income inequality, the Canadian government should minimize education inequity by investing in early childhood education, and improve housing affordability through the implementation of a national public housing scheme. Although there are other factors of income inequality that have not been addressed in this paper such as unemployment and taxation policies; the lack of public awareness of income-related health inequalities, increase in unaffordable housing, and education inequity are the most significant issues, and must given priority.

If the government of Canada is so concerned about eradicating poverty in the developing world, why is there not a greater focus first in Canada? Due to the lack of a distinct poverty line, there is a limited guideline of who can receive and who needs social assistance. There needs to be a greater effort made by the government to end poverty in Canada. For many reasons it hinders the development of children as well as it divides cities between rich and poor and effects how people interact in them and with each other (Rajotte; 27). There needs to be a more transparent method of providing statics about poverty in Canada.

In Matt Zwolinski’s article Property Rights, Coercion, and the Welfare State: The Libertarian Case for a Basic Income for All, he attempts to do just as the title suggests and show why libertarians should believe in a basic income for all. His main thesis is that libertarians should be in favour of a welfare state in the form of a universal basic income. He believes that this should be considered a legitimate system that should be adopted and not as a compromise between no welfare state and the present welfare state. In other words, it is good on its own accord and not relative to other the current welfare states. Zwolinski connects his argument in three parts. He argues the natural rights of private property, why these property rights need

The first take home message that I would like to draw attention to is how the social welfare state shapes people's lives, experiences, and life chances in a way that seems only to benefit the agenda of the federal government. According to Hick (2014), the liberal (reluctant collectivist) ideology has a focus on many principles such as “pragmatism, liberty, individualism, the inevitability of inequality and humanism” (p. 80). The liberals point of view is directed at addressing the controversy about the difficulties that vulnerable groups are facing with securing social insurance program benefits (Hick, 2014). In essence, the liberal are in support of the government's limited involvement in regulating the free market and private property rights

Conservative way of thinking implies an absence of universal healthcare and government provisions such as unemployment compensations and pensions, but this doesn’t mean unwillingness of government to protect their citizens. On the contrary, it is considered that without welfare system people would pay less taxes and save more money. Thus, being aware that governmental provisions are not available, people must become self-reliant and bring benefits to the economy by working or investing. As for socially unprotected groups of people, namely, homeless and