Transcript Mapping out Pragmatic Guaranteed Income Architecture

Mapping out Pragmatic
Guaranteed Income Architecture &
Finding a Path Toward Social Justice
and Environmental Sustainability
James P. Mulvale, PhD, RSW
Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Work
University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 0A2 CANADA
[email protected]
BI in one country – the “architecture” idea
The Canadian example: building from what we
already have:
• Children’s benefits
• Benefits for working age adults
• Public pensions for seniors
BI in one country –
the “architecture” idea (cont’d)
Joining these elements together, in an
incremental but strategic way, towards a
coherent and solid structure of economic
security
Maybe there will be the occasional ‘big bang’ (?)
– like the establishment of public health
insurance in Canada in the 1960s
e.g. current proposal of Senator Hugh Segal for a NIT
version of guaranteed income
The ecological rationale for a UBI
This rationale needs to assume an increasingly
prominent role in our arguments for BI and
other forms of unconditional cash transfer
Guaranteed economic security (UBI) and steady
state economic management are two key
ingredients in the recipe for a sustainable
society embedded in a healthy environment
What would steady state economics mean?
• would not mean the end of the market economy nor
the suspension of all profits or economic incentives
• would not mean no-growth across all sectors
• would mean a fundamental rearrangement of the ways
in which gov’ts raise revenue and spend this money
• would mean a planned market economy (with gov’t /
citizens / environmental advocates at table, and with
environmental sustainability and distributive justice as
the guiding principles)
• would mean dramatic changes in patterns of
extraction, manufacturing, distribution, and
consumption
National commitments and broad
international agreements needed on:
1. Goods and services sectors to be developed and
grown:
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expansion of renewable power sources (solar, hydro)
manufacturing of green technologies
local and organic food production and distribution
public education for knowledge and skills and for
active citizenship
– (holistic and preventative) health care in the public
and not-for-profit sectors
Goods and services sectors to be
developed and grown (cont’d):
– social services to support adaptable and
ecologically benign life choices and behaviours
• Re-thinking conventional social work models of practice
such as systems theory and person-in-environment
– information services serving social ends
– recycling of waste material
– manufacturing public transit vehicle
– extension and improvement of public
infrastructure
National commitments and broad
international agreements needed on:
2. goods and services sectors for contraction and
eventual termination, such as
– cultural and leisure industries with large ecological
footprint
– manufacture of readily disposable, non-useful, or
environmentally harmful commodities
– manufacturing private automobiles (especially energy
inefficient ones)
– construction of extravagant and wasteful entities (e.g.
monster homes on large lots that are far away from
municipal services)
(Mostly national and sub-national) public policy
instruments to shape green economic goals:
• high consumption taxes on unnecessary, wasteful and luxury goods
• high and truly progressive marginal tax rate on very high incomes
• carbon and other green taxes on consumption of non-renewable
resources
• cap and trade system regulating emissions among countries and
corporations
• provision of good public services as alternative to privatized and
ecologically destructive consumer and lifestyle choices , e.g.
– public water supply as opposed to commodified water
– local green space and cultural activities to stem weekend outflow to
cottage country
• rigourous criminal and civil prosecution of ‘hard case’
environmental offenders
Need for international mechanisms to:
• raise funds from global financial elite for
unconditional cash transfer (e.g. through FTT),
which may take different forms in different
countries, depending on national / regional
priorities
• set and enforce regional / global environmental
regulations
• ensure developmental goals are met in
collaboration with poorer countries
• monitor and sanction self-interested and
predatory behaviour on the part of MNCs
Necessity of international ground rule to achieve
steady state management on a global basis
role of int’l agencies such as WB / IMF / WTO
/ ILO / UNHCHR
 our poor track record in reaching and
implementing international accords (e.g.
Copenhagen meeting and Kyoto accord re:
environment
Overall goals in such an approach:
• maintaining minimum standards of living and
conditions of life for all (consistent with UDHR,
ICESCR, and other UN covenants and
conventions)
• de-commodifying labour – that will benefit
most vulnerable workers most re: individual
and collective bargaining power
• de-linking expansion of welfare provision from
economic growth
The 3 Grand Strategies:
1. stopping the insanity
ensuring a habitable planet for our greatgrandchildren, not to mention all of the other
species and the eco-systems upon which we
all depend
The 3 Grand Strategies:
2. connecting the dots
steady –state economy  universal economic
security founded on economic redistribution
ethic
The 3 Grand Strategies:
3. mapping the future
fiscally practical and politically sustainable
mechanism(s) for
• funding and delivering a UBI as an essential
element of a just and sustainable society
• Preserving the eco-system for future
generations
Pragmatics of getting from here to
there
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engaging in public education
garnering political support
shaping media discourse
managing / confronting dissent among the
hegemonic classes
• ensuring effective administrative mechanisms