Yesterday my husband and I bought a pair of shoes at a shop near my house. Walking home we passed by a store that closed some time ago. The windows were covered with graffiti and in an enclosed, cement area by the back entrance that you could only see if you were right above it, was a homeless man trying to sleep there in the broad daylight and glaring sun. He blinked as we passed. He wasn't asleep at all but was just trying to sleep.

In a country in which some people can afford two mansions, we shouldn't have a grown man sleeping on the cement at the backdoor of an empty store.

A small guaranteed income or at least guaranteed housing would help so much and really not cost as much as people might think.

JI7

(89,244 posts)

8. how would it work ?

Reply to Recursion (Original post)

Sat Jun 22, 2013, 03:04 AM

Jun 2013

ljm2002

(10,751 posts)

9. Yes I think that is a great idea...

Reply to Recursion (Original post)

Sat Jun 22, 2013, 03:07 AM

Jun 2013

...and is necessary in a society where money is required for the basics of life.

Centuries ago, people could subsist without being arrested. Most of the time, anyway. Nowadays in our modern societies, you can't just go and plant a garden in some random location in order to feed yourself; you must own or rent the property. You can't just pitch a tent wherever it is convenient to do so; again, you must own or rent the property or have specific permission.

And yet everything requires money. If you live in the city, the grocer is not going to give you free food. That's just not how it works. At the same time, we don't have enough employment to go around. For whatever reasons, full employment looks like it is becoming a thing of the past.

But we still need to maintain a civil society. So it seems to me that the very least we can do is provide a floor for people to exist with some dignity, and without anxiety about whether they can even survive from one week to the next.

K&R

Pelican

(1,156 posts)

10. A bit of detail would be nice...

Reply to Recursion (Original post)

Sat Jun 22, 2013, 03:14 AM

Jun 2013

Provided by who? Where does the money come from?

To who? Anyone who wants it? Anyone proven incapable of working? Anyone unemployed for X amount of time?

How much? Median income in the US? Restrictions on what you can purchase?

Should it be enough to barely subsist in an effort to encourage recipients to earn their own income or enough for a family of 4 to go to disneyland every now and then and have the luxuries of life (TV, AC, Cable, fast food etc.. etc..)

moondust

(19,966 posts)

11. Maybe some combination of

Reply to Recursion (Original post)

Sat Jun 22, 2013, 03:22 AM

Jun 2013

minimum income
living wage
maximum income
fixed top-to-bottom pay ratio within an organization (Swiss 1:12 initiative)

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