“How To Cut the Poverty Rate In Half”

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from The Atlantic): “By sending every adult and child $3,000 a year, the government could achieve historic poverty reductions. Think of it as Social Security for all, not just the elderly….

“The upside of giving everybody about $3,000 is that it’s a very easy policy to run and a surefire way to cut poverty in half. But it’s a large program: it would require about $907 billion in 2012, or 5.6 percent of the nation’s GDP. …

“Could we afford it? Sure. For starters, we could raises taxes, first on the rich, who would pay more in new taxes than they would receive in basic income, and then on lower-middle class and poor families, who would come out ahead. There is also plenty of room to cut tax expenditures on homeowners, personal retirement accounts, capital gains exclusions at death, and exclusions on annuity investment returns. This submerged welfare state for the affluent costs hundreds of billions of dollars each year. There is also the matter of the $700 billion military budget, which could take some trimming. …

“The appeal of such a program is immense. You get a check from the government every month no matter how much you make or how much you work. Maybe that will convince a few Americans work isn’t worth it anymore—but the vast majority who will probably continue to work won’t have to worry about losing their check as they move up the income ladder. That security might not just keep people out of poverty. It might let workers demand better wages and working conditions, because they know they always have something to fall back on. In other words, it could level the playing field for the bottom 99 percent.”

My Comment: Thus, we see that the idea of the equal rational provision for the population is being born. There will be less and less work. But it is necessary to occupy people, and with what if not with the method of integral education and upbringing, which will completely heal society.
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