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Grundeinkommen
Duration:
1 hour, 38 minutes and 45 seconds
Year: 2008
Country:
Germany
Language:
German
Genre:
Documentary
Producer:
Enno Schmidt & Daniel Häni
Director:
Enno Schmidt & Daniel Häni
Views:
25,581
(18,386
embedded)
Posted by:
rzelnik on Dec 29, 2008
„Ein Einkommen ist wie Luft unter den Flügeln!“ so beginnt der Film. Sollte das für jeden bedingungslos sein? Kann es das geben: ein wirtschaftliches Bürgerrecht? Der Film ist packend, bewegt, berührt und kommt gerade da auf den Punkt, wo es um reine Vernunft geht. Er lässt die Verhältnisse - und die Aufgabe des Geldes - unter einem neuen Licht sehen. http://www.grundeinkommen.tv/
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Video Transcription
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- Basic income
- A cultural impulse
- An essay by
- Daniel Häni and Enno Schmidt
- An income is like air under the wings.
- and the basic income makes an income a civil right.
- Welcome – on the Earth.
- Today everyone has an income - more or less.
- Without an income people could not survive.
- The question is: on what terms does one have an income?
- Under what conditions do people receive their income?
- 4 out of 10 Germans earn their income
- by doing paid work
- work which you do in order to make ends meet,
- gainful employment.
- Just under 3 out of 10 get their income from their relatives.
- These are mostly children and teenagers.
- 2 out of 10 live off a pension.
- And less than 1 out of 10 live from unemployment benefit or other social benefits.
- All incomes must be generated.
- But only 41% of the population earn their income as a result of work.
- The rest receive other forms of income.
- So called transfered income
- which is not directly linked to work.
- So the concept of a basic income should therefore not be such an alien one.¾
- What is alien to us is the fact that it comes unconditionally.
- But to what extent is our society ready for an unconditional basic income?
- If we do not want to be unrealistic,
- then we must assume
- that the labour market
- will not be able to meet the needs
- of everyone in society in the future.
- If we leave out the second option,
- the option of a basic income,
- then we would be forced
- to stake everything
- on the idea of "economic growth",
- at any cost.
- These are the facts of real politics today.
- Across the entire political spectrum from far right to far left
- everyone is calling for economic growth.
- This means that people think in terms of quantity,
- and suppress any chances of
- developing new organizational models that focus on the quality of life
- for our society.
- However, economic growth no longer means
- an increase in job opportunities.
- What it boils down to is in fact quite the opposite.
- However, a vital requirement for economic growth
- is the existence of purchasing power.
- This means people must have money in their pockets.
- What does Klaus Wellershof, chief economist of the world's biggest asset management firms
- and one of the biggest banks in the world think of an unconditional basic income?
- An unqualified support for all?
- This is a principle that I believe will
- without doubt assert itself over time, indeed I believe it is a necessity,
- however it faces many hurdles
- before it can be implemented.
- What could these demanding situations be?
- Perhaps the challenge to maintain the number of jobs?
- All politicians are in favour of this.
- But is their prime concern really "work" as such,
- or is it tax revenues?
- Isn't their real concern to avoid an increase in the number of peopel claiming social benefits
- and a dramatic escalation in state expenditure?
- However, it is not the "nasty state"
- that causes this explosion of costs.
- On the contrary the rising costs are the product of a success story.
- The logical consequence of the success story is rationalization.
- This is what is happening in our own back yard.
- There is a big question mark over the future of this success story.
- What would you work if your income was covered?
- And the concept of a basic income is part and parcel of a possible answer.
- There are various models of a basic income.
- But they all meet the definitions of the Network for a Basic Income:
- A basic income is an income that is unconditional
- and granted to every member of a political community.
- It comprises 4 criteria
- Secure existence and allow social participation.
- Provide an individual rights claim.
- Payable without means tested verification.
- Not represent a compulsion to work.
- But don't get carried away with the wrong impression.
- A basic income doesn't mean more money for everyone.
- There is no new money
- but it involves a redistribution of existing income.
- Any income which derives from work will decrease.
- The overall amount of income within society will remain the same,
- but what will change is its composition.
- The basic income is a different type of income.
- It is not a minimum wage.
- Nor is it a payment for anything.
- It is not tied to any work.
- On the contrary, it is paid to an individual - through whatever changes that individual undergoes.
- As opposed to Communism which suffocates the individual
- and Market Liberalism which wants to leave the individual alone,
- the Basic income facilitates a safeguard to
- maximise the freedom with which the individual can make decisions.
- This is only possible with a guaranteed income.
- It must be sufficiently high
- to allow people not to work if they so choose.
- It is the possibility of being able to say no to paid work that really
- allows people in employment and those not in employment to consider each other as equals.
- Most of those relying on social benefits today,
- would no longer be dependent with the Basic income.
- The Basic income replaces governmental aid money to a certain degree.
- Only where social benefits are needed in addition to this
- do the payments remain as they are.
- Only those with less now would actually have more money in their pockets with a basic income
- These are mostly children and youths, which means families.
- Furthermore those receiving too low pension rates,
- those in positions of unstable work and self employment, who work themselves poor.
- The Basic income terminates poverty
- and stabilises the middle socio-economic spectrum with a secure foundation.
- It alleviates the fear of aging.
- It is not money given by one party to another, for whom they would then lay down laws.
- It is not a form of long term aid for those in need, but a perpective and for all.
- Basic income does not assume the ideal human being.
- Neither does it solve the problems.
- - Not with money.
- But it allows more solutions to be found - by people.
- Thomas Paine is the founder of the Human rights
- and one of the founding fathers of the United States of America.
- "United States of America", this name comes from him.
- with "Common Sense"
- he began the declaration of independence of the North American colonies
- from the British Kingdom.
- His ideas had a great influence on the first Democratic Constitution of the World.
- "We hold this truth for agreed
- that all people were made equal, that they were imbued by their maker
- with certain inherent rights,
- among which are life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness".
- "Rights of Man", Human Rights.
- An incredible notion at that time.
- And also today.
- Equal rights on the basis of being human!
- – What rubbish:
- Aren't rights only for those who own property?
- All others wouldn't know what to do with rights - apart from getting cheeky!
- Human rights?
- Of course that would also entail abolishing slavery.
- and then who would do the work?
- who would do all the unloved, hard labour,
- that is neither paid nor appreciated?
- Such fears can exist today.
- For example with the basic income there is the fear
- that the economy would collapse and that chaos would ensue.
- However, those who first claimed the earth was round had a much harder time.
- The Church was adamant that the earth was flat
- and surrounded by the waters of chaos
- Anyone who got too close to the edge could fall off the earth's surface.
- Over this world arched stationary firmaments through which the stars took their course.
- and beyond that the spheres where the powers that be resided,
- that gave the people fear and hope.
- today thats how we see money and the economy.
- Our conception of the world, of order and of security
- used to be derived from the idea that the earth was flat.
- and so in its own way every age a new says that the world is flat and only one stands above it.
- how would that ever work, a round earth?
- When it was accepted that the earth is round,
- it was still thought that the earth is the centre of the universe.
- This made it highly complicated to establish the laws governing the movement of planets.
- It always depends on the angle from which you're looking at it.
- The same thing applies with the basic income.
- It gets complicated when I am unaware of my own movements.
- One soon hits difficulties if one accepts the ideas of the status quo
- and sees only what is, packaged in our ideologies.
- It is easier when one starts with the human - and from what is to be.
- every system proclaims its own unity and can not make itself into another out of its own accord.
- Only the Human can do that.
- "The debate surrounding the basic income
- is currently taking place in Germany, Austria and Switzerland."
- "I think that the time is ripe for this debate."
- "The basic income would restore human dignity."
- "And it doesn't depend altruism in society."
- "Most importantly, the basic income would lead to
- an escalation of the existing social tensions."
- "So, many people who are employed don't actually want to work.
- We react to this by saying, "they're taking our jobs."
- And there are unemployed people who want to work.
- So it is an amazing step forward, for a system to give people
- the choice whether or not to work."
- "But to me, when I think about it, the most
- interesting implication of the basic income is that when
- I die, I would no longer be able to say, "I couldn't do what I wanted
- to do because I couldn't afford to."
- From background: "Yes, exactly. No more excuses."
- "How many of you are only studying because your parents want you to?"
- What kind of a society do we want to live in?
- "So many new intiatives would emerge."
- "Well, I'm sceptical.
- I'm very sceptical.
- Here's why: If a basic income was available to everyone, I believe that
- people would be less motivated to go out and work.
- There would be no motivation."
- "Ordinary jobs make us ill, because the time pressure
- is constantly increasing. This is easy proof with statistics."
- "Essentially, the basic income would produce a freer society.
- That's the crucial point.
- It would remove our dependence on wages and would lead to more independence."
- "At some point you need to address the question, 'how can we finance the basic income?'
- In the end, that question must be answered."
- "As an economist, I can assure you that it's possible."
- From background: "Yes."
- "It's unrealistic to expect people to be able to handle a basic income.
- That's the big problem.
- This is the major stumbling block.
- It isn't the question of finance.
- It has been shown that we can finance the basic income.
- Freedom is the difficult part.
- The questions of finance have been answered.
- The issue is whether people can handle freedom.
- There are plenty of gloomy predictions for the 21st century.
- The papers are full of them, and the people believe them.
- The basic income is one positive vision for the 21st century.
- It isn't a global issue that we
- can just watch as spectators.
- It affects everybody because
- it enables us to do the things we really want to do
- and frees us from having to do the
- things that we don't want to do.
- But wouldn't many people just stay at home?
- Would people still go out to work?
- Surely everything would grind to a halt, like in a strike.
- Would managers be on permanent leave?
- Where would the sense of duty be?
- It would disappear.
- Nobody would pull their weight.
- Nobody would really work hard anymore.
- Would people still go to university?
- Would the basic income destroy the incentive to work for higher qualification?
- Necessity is the mother of invention. The basic income would remove the need to work.
- And we already have a shortage of skilled labour!
- How could the economy possible survive?
- "What infuriates me most about the basic income is that it displays such a lack
- for what an economy is supposed to do.
- The economy is part of human society,
- it enables our way of life
- and puts all sorts of things at our disposal.
- This way of thinking about the economy is completely gone.
- The economy is an independent actor, it has totally different goals to human society,
- it barely has anything to do with human life, and it
- even has the capacity to destroy human life."
- "In spite of all that I'm almost convinced.
- We need a system
- in which performance gives benefits: Good work must be paid for.
- And a system in which everybody receives a basic income or is generally paid
- equally according to ordinary principles of even distribution
- would in the end lead to
- the collapse of the competitive orientation in our society."
- Paid work in Germany in the year 2001 -
- - 56 billion hours
- Unpaid work -
- - 96 billion hours
- in the private and domestic sphere
- and in civil commitments.
- A basic income would by no means stand in the way of paid work.
- The real question is perhaps how it would in practice
- if people are no longer constrained by money so much
- in their jobs or in society generally,
- and if people are no longer as dependent on their jobs.
- So what would determine our conduct?
- Would everyone just go to the swimming pool?
- Would anyone collect the rubbish?
- Would pensioners have to look after parks?
- Would the basic income undermine the competitive spirit, the feeling
- of independence, and the sense of satisfaction at one's own achievements?
- And wouldn't it just be boring if everyone had a basic income?
- It's a system for hippies and people educated in alternative schools,
- who believe in the goodness of human nature.
- Humans are also animals!
- Humans don't want a basic income - we're competitive, aggressive and violent.
- Lets just wait and see what the market brings.
- From the outside, looking in.
- That's how it is for many people.
- No access to the laid table.
- Would the basic income bring people together?
- Or would it increase the disparity between rich and poor?
- Would society be divided into two - those who would continue to dominate the economy, with their
- lucrative jobs and private education, and those who depend on the basic income,
- who would spend their time pursuing hobbies,
- work for 2 Euros per hour to earn a bit more,
- and wouldn't stand in the way of the real driving forces of the economy.
- A Basic income can of course be misimplemented
- If it is set at an amount
- that is not enough to live from.
- while also cancelling all social benefits
- that means work is a compulsion for all
- not out of personal stimulus.
- Getting paid wages like in China and without the basic income
- giving you the chance to deny an offered job.
- If receiving payment is made more complicated by too many institutions to get it from
- exceptions, allocations and conditions,
- you end up in the situation of today's system - only worse.
- A Basic income can be misused by
- setting it too low
- therewith cutting all social benefits
- and then also making it conditional
- "He who does not want to work shall not eat"
- said Saint Paul.
- He meant those who don't contribute to the community.
- "If they feel their salvation is so imminent" so Paulus
- "that they leave working be"
- "then they should also leave eating be"
- This man still had humour. Others did not.
- here pupils are pulled
- under the rafters over the laid table and recieve nothing.
- Because they worked too little.
- food deprivation.
- All rules become terrible,
- when they are implemented mindlessly.
- The most important objective of the debates surrounding the basic income is
- challenge outdated ways of thinking.
- For example the idea that
- "Only those who work have the right to eat".
- The debates surrounding basic income must dispense with this idea
- that only through the pursuit of some line of work is one of service to society.
- Indeed there are types of work where totally the opposite is the case.
- "He who does not want to work, shall not eat."
- That's how we learned it.
- The artist Joseph Beuys wrote a new formula
- "He who does not want to think, is out".
- We have no shortage of food or goods in general.
- The real question is whether we have the right quantity of work.
- The amount of work in manufacturing and in production
- is, thank God, getting less and less!
- The function of the economy is to free people from work!
- The function of the economy is to free people from work!
- You won't read that in the papers.
- Make people free to do what?
- This is another issue which enterprises aren't prepared for.
- Nobody likes to make a worker redundant.
- But it happens anyway.
- If making workers redundant was seen as an inevitability,
- and also as an objective,
- something else would be made clear.
- To free people from work also means: to free people to work.
- Only leisure and holiday 'on the other side of the fence':
- is the way of thinking resulting out of dependence.
- What sort of jobs are we currently investing in?
- "All of the investment put into industry is designed to bring about rationalisation.
- We are constantly developing new ways to reduce the amount of labour needed.
- No manager asks himself : "What can I do to increase the amount of labour I need?"
- What can I do to increase the amount of labour I need?
- The task of the economy is to satisfy demand.
- In the same way that we all do as individuals.
- So it's task is not to create work.
- Everybody has goals, questions and objectives
- and some people don't pursue them, because what they would like to do wouldn't be paid.
- "The problem we have in society today is
- that many people who have a job
- in fact only work
- in order to have an income.
- They work is simply a means to an end:
- to provide a source of income.
- The work isn't an end in itself.
- They see no point in the work they're doing.
- This is a problem for society
- because it is a major cause of frustration and long term illness.
- In Germany, 12% of those in employment are completely satisfied with their jobs.
- That's something over one in ten.
- More than half, 54%
- are somewhat unsatisfied with their jobs
- but also see positive aspects.
- And 34% of those in employment
- are totally unsatisfied with their jobs.
- That's about one in three.
- The fight for work is in fact a fight for an income.
- And the fight for work stands in the way of the reduction in jobs.
- My work is what I am.
- There can be no right to an allocated job.
- Nor is there a right to duty.
- And there is no right to be bought.
- The right to a job can only be the right of an individual to
- do the work that he wants to do.
- This is work which is not allocated and which nobody can take away from him.
- This version of a right to work depends on a right to an income.
- "We have jobs and there are job centres
- but there's no income office. It makes no sense"
- The young man's point is
- that although he does a lot of work, he has no income.
- What would the impact of the right to an income be on society?
- Ueli Maeder, a Swiss sociologist, outlines some of the key aspects.
- The one sided and narrow minded outlook in all sectors of employment would be
- replaced by a focus on the key question: 'What is important in life?'
- This would give people strength.
- It would lead to more security.
- There would be an increase in creativity
- and in general satisfaction.
- People would be under less pressure to elbow their way forward.
- And they would experience fewer situations in which
- it would be to their advantage
- to make a profit at someone else's expense,
- a phenomenon which our current system produces through the extreme competition,
- that undermines solidarity.
- This is a sociological perspective.
- But how would someone who has just returned from work react,
- hearing about the idea for the first time?
- "So it would mean that everyone would have the same income?"
- "No, everyone would keep their earnings as they do now.
- But everyone would get a basic income as a minimum."
- "But only if they work?"
- "No, there would be no conditions."
- Project Manager: "No conditions?"
- Man carrying out the survey: "Everyone would get it"
- Project Manager: "But surely this would be problematic for the motivation to work.
- Why would anyone go out to work if they had a basic income?"
- Man carrying out the survey: "How would it be for you?"
- Project Manager: "I would still want to go out to work.
- I mean, there's no point just staying at home. I love my work, I enjoy it,
- but surely it would be impossible to get most people to go to work."
- Would you still go out to work
- if you had a basic income?
- Spontaneously, 60% say, "Yes, just as I do now."
- Around 30% reply, "Yes, but no longer full time."
- Or they say, "I would do something different."
- And about 10% are completely open, saying
- "First I'd take a break and I'd see.
- Perhaps I'd travel, look after others, go back to studying..."
- Do you think most people would still go out to work
- if they had a basic income?
- Approximately 80% say
- "No, it would probably be impossible to get most people to go to work."
- What kind of work do you need to be 'made to go to?'
- Not your own of course.
- You motivate yourself to go to work.
- What makes you go out to work?
- It's the routine of daily life.
- It's child labour for example.
- It used to be completely normal.
- We still buy things produced by child labour.
- You don't really know exactly anyway - it comes from the Far East.
- That's where menial work is done these days.
- Or it's done by foreigners working here.
- They work without papers, contracts or any form of security.
- Do they get sick pay?
- Menial work is terrible
- because of the fact that it is undervalued,
- because it is badly paid, and because the working conditions are appalling.
- Menial work often involves cleaning up after others.
- Who makes this work unpleasant?
- With a basic income, you can say no to this sort of work.
- So who would do the unpleasant menial jobs?
- There are three possibilities:
- 1. Give the workers better pay improve their working conditions.
- 2. Automation and rationalisation.
- 3. Do it yourself.
- An Actress: Imagine someone working at the till in a supermarket.
- Maybe she doesn't really enjoy her work.
- Would she still go out to work if she had a basic income?
- Well, let's ask the lady working at the till.
- "Well...yes.
- I'd still go to work
- because I can't imagine just sitting around at home doing nothing,
- even if I had this basic income thing of 1000 euros -
- Well, it's just a figure, 1000 euros.
- It could also be more.
- Or less?
- Woman working at the till: First of all I'd have to admit, it wouldn't be enough for me -
- Hence the name: Basic income.
- It should be enough to cover basic necessities and to make a certain amount of culture accessible.
- As is the case today, most people will still want to earn more than the minimum.
- But back to the woman working at the till.
- Not exactly a dream job.
- Woman working at the till: "People always think that my work only involves sitting at the till.
- But I get to meet lots of people
- and my experience depends on how I act.
- I'm a very open-minded person,
- I don't have any problems, and I actually really enjoy working here."
- What work would you do if you had a guaranteed basic income?
- The same but better!
- In one way, things wouldn't change that much.
- Woman working at the till: I can't imagine life without work.
- It would be too boring.
- But my situation could change.
- I could travel and see things, something I can't do now
- because I have to work.
- And work is so stressful – it's difficult for anyone to find work.
- There are hardly any vacancies anywhere.
- If we had a basic income, we wouldn't have that sort of stress.
- Angelika Tischer: And if we didn't have to drill into pupils the idea
- that whatever the cost, they have to find the career that suits them at
- – something we know has never been possible for all –
- this deceitful situation ?? ...
- Philip Kovce: Yes, the idea of the basic income is particularly interesting for young people,
- as we see that in schools today,
- many pupils suffer from a real fear about their future.
- They start preparing for their careers at school and often
- choose something by default, out of fear that they could end up with nothing.
- With the basic income, I see the opportunity and the possibility that people can
- do what they want to do and what they excel in.
- Amael Kienlen: I see a crisis linked to this - a crisis of purpose.
- Roland Huegli: There's a time and place for thinking things over.
- And what would the basic income mean for work?
- Roland Huegli: You would divide up the work between more people. This would make it more enjoyable too.
- And what do you mean by a 'crisis of purpose'?
- Amael Kienlen: Well, I believe that to a great extent, we live under an illusion.
- We pursue our lives at the expense of nature, of future generations,
- and of our...partners.
- We don't want to admit that other people do things for us
- and that we're indebted to the people around us.
- We don't recognise our dependency or our community.
- So much for our sense of brotherhood.
- And equality?
- In a democracy?
- Katja Kipping: It seems to me that the basic income would also make our society more democratic.
- It is more difficult to coerce people if their material needs are taken care of.
- And this enables the establishment of a more democratic society
- from which all benefit - rich and poor.
- And what about art?
- Tony Rizzi: Even when I am not working,
- when I am not actively working on a piece,
- I am still working.
- That's the difficult issue for an artist:
- Are you paid for the time in which
- you're not working,
- but you're gathering ideas
- for a new project,
- as opposed to the time
- in which you're actually in the studio,
- working on a piece that has been commissioned?
- How can you afford to keep yourself
- in a position in which you can be inspired?
- Life is art in practice!
- And how would be for a mother to be?
- Dominique Luedi: Yes, it would great. A basic income would enable me to look after the baby
- in the way I would like, without having a guilty conscience.
- And I would be able to choose which work I would like to do,
- rather than being at the mercy of the employment agency.
- Yes, I think it would be very good - especially in this sort of situation.
- And, with a basic income, the child
- can move out sooner once it is grown up.
- Is it even possible to grow up with a basic income?
- If you know that your income is guaranteed,
- how does the basic income relate to growing up?
- Amael Kienlein: I would have got through my rebel stage much faster.
- I would have accepted integration or a place in society far more easily,
- as the existential cost would have been less.
- I wouldn't have been so scared of having to do without the most important things.
- Renate Strub: The basic income would have a strong impact on growing up,
- and the basic income could resolve many of the issues.
- Goetz Werner: We have to feel increasingly responsible for everything that happens in the world around us.
- The world has got so much smaller - it's impossible to isolate yourself today.
- The important thing is for people to first of all become aware of the distinction between
- working, and having an income. And secondly, to realise
- that the point of an income is to enable them to work,
- rather than the income being the reason for working.
- Personally, I see the basic income as a sort of Archimedian point,
- from which many other questions will follow.
- However, a great movement will not be possible if at the same time
- we try to implement the basic income.
- We will only make progress
- if we can mobilise the power of the individual.
- It will depend on the power of the individual.
- For centuries, the hope that man would be able to fly was utopian.
- The attempts of those who tried showed that it was impossible.
- Today we take flying for granted.
- The same thing goes for the right to vote.
- How could society function
- if every Tom, Dick and Harry had the vote?
- How could the simple citizen
- with his narrow horizons
- and his inability to see beyond his personal interests,
- know what would be good for the state?
- The next issue was that not only men are citizens
- but women too.
- But women are far too emotional.
- They need to be protected from getting
- all muddled up with decision making.
- And who would do the housework?
- These same old arguments are now directed towards the basic income.
- In Switzerland, women only got the vote in 1971.
- Three years after the first moon landing.
- And before this, nobody thought it possible
- that this change in the system of power could be made.
- All of these things which supposedly can't work actually work pretty well.
- The citizen was no longer merely
- ruled by the state. It was the other way round.
- Every individual had political sovereignty and had power of the state,
- exercised through elections.
- With a basic income, work is no longer just what the market wants it to be,
- and the individual is no longer just there for the economy. It's the other way round.
- Every individual has economic sovereignty and work is
- what the individual wants it to be,
- having a basic income
- which everyone is entitled to.
- As Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII, Thomas Moore
- opposed the injustice and immorality of the monarchy,
- and was beheaded as a result.
- In 1935 he was made a saint.
- And in 2000, Pope John Paul II
- made him patron saint of politicians and rulers.
- Thomas Moore wrote 'Utopia',
- a travel journal from a distant island on which there was a better life.
- Other authors copied his idea.
- Since the publication of this book we talk of things being 'utopian'.
- The Greek 'U-Topos' means 'the non place'.
- The idea of a basic income is to found in utopian Renaissance thought.
- A utopia defines the
- state in which you are in.
- Every future society puts ideals, previously thought of as utopian, into practice.
- To clarify,
- I say what I see, what I personally think,
- and what I consider to be true.
- And I make my thoughts known to all.
- Each time has got its own new age of reason.
- What does this depend on?
- Daniele Ganser: The ability of the individual to think and to analyse is very important.
- When a traditional way of thinking,
- inherited from parents, teachers,
- priests or doctors, is challenged
- or proven to be false or limited in validity,
- you quickly need to find a new approach,
- and come to terms with it.
- This means that you learn to believe in what you think.
- If you want to climb a mountain, you have to think of getting up early.
- You have to be at the top by midday
- so that you don't have to come down in the dark and cold.
- Anyone from Switzerland knows that.
- In terms of oil consumption, we have kept on increasing,
- without thinking about what we'll do when it runs out.
- We will soon have reached 'peak oil' - maximum oil production.
- From that point onwards we will have less and less oil.
- In the same way, full employment could only be maintained temporarily,
- and now it has passed it has become obsolete.
- In 1995, Jeremy Rifkin, a researcher concerned with issues of future development,
- predicted the extent to which full employment would disappear.
- 'By the year 2050, perhaps 5% of the adult population will be necessary
- to keep the traditional industries up and running.
- In all countries, farms, factories and offices with virtually no labour involved will be the norm.'
- Rifkin's predictions are disputed, but he hasn't just taken figures out of thin air.
- In 1982, the USA produced 75 million tons of steel.
- 300 000 people were involved in the process.
- 20 years later, 100 million tons were produced,
- and only a quarter of the labour was necessary.
- Of course, new jobs have been created.
- Perhaps a couple of hundred jobs in consultancy and the hi-tech sector.
- This isn't only the case in traditional sectors of production.
- The same thing goes for many parts of the service sector.
- The Net Bank is an extreme example
- but it illustrates this development.
- It only needs one tenth of the workforce
- of a conventional bank
- to deal with the same number of customers.
- This development isn't only a feature of industrial countries.
- On a general and world wide scale,
- the amount of necessary labour is
- falling in relation to productivity.
- Adrienne Goehler: Creativity is the raw material of the 21st century.
- Adrienne Goehler: In future, jobs will be very much like those of
- artists and people working in the media today:
- independent, sometimes little and sometimes a lot of pay, sometimes more and sometimes less work, sometimes working alone and sometimes in a team,
- usually temporary and often done at home.
- Daniele Ganser: The new era will demand that we do not let ourselves be steered by fear, greed or hate,
- but that we live according to our highest ideals, to the best of our ability.
- 100 years ago, someone
- working in agriculture
- produced enough for 3 more people.
- Today a farmer produces enough for 120 people.
- We have explained why this is.
- This is how it is and will be almost everywhere.
- Today a human being can produce 100 times more than he could 100 years ago.
- (add-on: Technological innovations replace a lot of our work.)
- These innovations were the dreams and goals of the generations before us.
- What are the current dreams and aims?
- To simply continue as we are now,
- letting progression become regression for more and more people?
- Back to the prime concern being simply to survive?
- As if we have no more need for new ideas?
- Technological innovations seem to work of their own accord.
- It is very different for social innovations.
- Do we need to reach a period of crisis before these can be brought about?
- If the mind stops, the body goes backwards.
- Social change needs a different strength to the sort
- that drives machines.
- While technology seems to progress smoothly, social developments have more of a bumpy ride.
- How is it with the welfare state?
- Faust
- Mephistopheles: If you want to understand and describe a living thing,
- first you have to force out its spirit.
- Then you have the material pieces.
- But you won't have the soul (basic income).
- Schueller: Just can't quite understand you.
- Schueller: It all makes me dizzy, as though I had a great wheel turning in my head.
- The misunderstanding begins,
- when someone goes to work and thinks
- that because he receives an income, he must be doing it for himself.
- But everyone gets an income,
- because everyone needs one.
- Everyone depends on other people's services.
- If pay was directly linked to work,
- machines should get the most pay .
- However, the people
- who are made redundant by machines
- still need an income.
- A basic income does not do away with all paid employment,
- but it prevents it from being more or less universal as it is now.
- It creates more scope for sincerity.
- And the significance lies not only in its function.
- In Switzerland, just under 50 years ago, the cost of a washing machine was 3550 Francs.
- That was a lot of money.
- The same washing machine today, after 50 years of refining, costs 3,195 Francs.
- Thus the price has stayed approximately the same.
- But 50 years ago, 1 Franc was woth 3 times as much as it is today.
- That means the washing machine costs only a third
- of what it cost 50 years ago.
- 50 years ago, a haircut for men cost about SF3.50. Today it is about 40 Francs.
- This means that where methods have been improved,
- where technology has been implemented and where a lot less human power is needed than before,
- the prices have decreased.
- Where this is not the case, for example at the hairdressers, they have risen.
- Manual labour has become expensive.
- This is because people need an income
- and because they pay tax as well.
- This means that a hairdresser does not have more purchasing power than he used to.
- But in comparing prices one can see
- where and to what extent rationalisation has taken place
- and what rationalisation means for us.
- If the washing machine had increased in price as much as the haircut
- it would now cost 40,000 Francs.
- Bodo von Plato: Without recognising what the washing machine does for us,
- namely far more than just washing the laundry,
- it is impossible to answer the question of whether or not
- the basic income is a cultural stimulus.
- 212 years ago, Thomas Paine had already proposed
- a basic income in his work entitled 'Agrarian Justice'.
- He used the following justification.
- We are all born as equals, and nature provides for all.
- Every newborn child has a right to a piece of land off which he can live.
- If all the land has already been divided up between a few individuals
- who consider it their property,
- then a social contract must be agreed.
- This social contract is a basic income for those individuals
- who don't have their own land
- and who are therefore unable to provide for themselves.
- Since then there has been a change of wind.
- Today, even the land owner is unable to provide for himself.
- It is better for all concerned if somebody else manufactures the tractor for me
- and I don't fertilise the field for subsistence use.
- What I produce is consumed by other people.
- Self sufficiency means
- growing your own vegetables and living off what
- you can produce.
- Today, we think we are self sufficient,
- but in reality this is an illusion.
- We depend on imports.
- This means that my work is done for other people
- and the things I depend on have been produced by other people.
- The use of money makes this system work.
- Work translates into value
- when cheese is passed over the counter and money goes in the other direction.
- The fact that we have a salary makes us think that we're still self sufficient.
- We are paid for what we do, so we think that we do our work for ourselves.
- This is a Sufi legend about the difference between heaven and hell:
- A good meal has been prepared in hell.
- Long spoons have been provided
- and everybody takes one.
- The same thing takes place in heaven.
- A good meal has been prepared, spoons have been provided
- and everybody takes one.
- In a free trade system dependent on importation and exportation, my work goes to feed others.
- I am dependent on other people's initiative for my own consumption.
- But initiative cannot be bought, it can only be enabled.
- Hans Stallkamp: And in this paradigm shift it must surely be shameful
- if the people who work for us are condemned
- to work like slaves in order to survive.
- Klaus Wellershof: To me, what characterises modern times the way in which individualism has come to dominate society.
- People have their own goals and aspirations,
- and of course they try to find the means to achieve them.
- And of course here, money plays a huge role in the world of work.
- Money is seen as the means to achieving freedom,
- and I think this is issue that we should focus on.
- The tragedy and irony of the current system
- is that many people don't make it,
- and become enslaved by money. The obsession with money
- leads to them losing their original intention and determination to be free.
- What does it mean to be 'enslaved by money'?
- It means that you rate all activity in terms of money,
- as though money was its sole value.
- It is when you think that the importance of money is its ability to get you more money,
- more power over other people's money and over their lives.
- The slaves of money enslave others through the power that they give to money.
- With the basic income, a proportion of the money in the country
- would be allocated democratically to each individual, as a means to achieving freedom.
- Money is man's servant.
- Would this result in better working conditions globally?
- Jakob von Uexkuell: I think it definitely would.
- For a start, it would create the freedom and opportunity, to do what is necessary in the world.
- The current situation is totally absurd.
- Investment advisors say that the real problem
- is that there is so much money. Too much money.
- And at the same time, almost everywhere there is overproduction.
- Then there's the huge amount of unemployment that keeps increasing,
- and simultaneously an incredible amount of work with nobody to do it.
- So there is a huge amount that we have to and can do, and it has to be done urgently
- if we want to avoid a global catastrophe.
- Globally, agriculture is capable of producing enough food for 12 billion people.
- There are 6.6 billion people living on the planet.
- Hunger and its consequences kill 1000 people per hour.
- Peter Brabeck: Water is a foodstuff,
- and like any other foodstuff it ought to have a market value.
- Jean Ziegler
- (Bread)
- When a child dies of starvation today, a murder has been committed.
- Money isn't channeled to the places where it is needed.
- Money is shut off from the reality of social life
- and is moved to a realm in which it seems to be able to reproduce itself.
- Where it's needed, money is scarce.
- Big profits are made through financial incest.
- Money doesn't provide people with opportunities in life.
- Instead, the profits are reinvested and accelerate the system to the point of implosion.
- Instead of being used to realise plans for the future, money is used for speculation.
- Renate Ignazio-Keller: I believe that what the current state of affairs shows us more and more clearly,
- is that work and pay have to be separated.
- And I think the basic income could really be a solution for this problem,
- and also for unemployment.
- In fact there is an incredible amount that needs to be done, it's just that there's no money for it.
- And I think the basic income would be a way of channeling money to the places
- where it is needed, and of freeing people, enabling them to do what their instincts tell them.
- Separating work and pay
- is the ultimate function of the basic income.
- But how could this be organised in our society?
- In an economy, the objective of the cycle of production and consumption is the creation of value.
- The more productive the economy, the greater it is.
- A country's Gross Domestic Product is the value of
- all the services and goods that produced,
- developed further and then sold,
- in one country in one year.
- Both the private and public sectors contribute to a country's GDP.
- Roughly half of the entire GDP
- goes to the state in the form of taxes.
- This money is used to pay for our schools, police,
- social services and any other facilities which
- are paid for by society collectively,
- rather than the individual who uses them.
- Services which we democratically agree to provide.
- In 2005, the Swiss government took 36% of the GDP.
- In Sweden it was 56%.
- In Austria it was exactly 50%.
- In Germany the figure was 47%.
- How would this work out with the basic income?
- In terms of the income paid out by the state,
- the introduction of the basic income would simply be an alteration in the form of expenditure.
- The state already has the money to pay for the basic income with the taxes it takes in.
- The state already uses taxes to pay salaries
- - the salaries of its employees, civil servants,
- and the recipients of state benefits.
- In all of these cases, the introduction of the basic income
- would merely entail a change in the administration of pay.
- With private sector income
- the money is still not in the hands of the state.
- It must first go to the state via taxation
- so that it can be paid out as basic income.
- The amount of money held by the state increases.
- Does that mean more state?
- It means less state - less spying, less paternalism and less bureaucracy.
- The state is merely entrusted to guarantee the right to a basic income.
- But taxes will go up!
- But which taxes?
- The most obvious solution is to take from those who earn the most.
- The idea of a guaranteed minimum income based on higher income taxes
- was put forward by Milton Friedman.
- Poorer households would receive a net payment from the state.
- He called this the negative income tax.
- His model dominated the debate on financing basic income
- well into the 90s.
- The idea was developed in the 1960s
- and came close to being introduced in the USA.
- Milton Friedman prioritised a lean, free market economy.
- 50 years later, financing a basic income through income tax would mean
- its finances were based on something which is disappearing - paid work.
- This is the reality for today's welfare state.
- More unemployment results in less tax revenue through income tax.
- And higher income taxes penalise paid work.
- It's a vicious circle.
- What's absurd about income tax is
- that it does tax effort and thus cuts its own foundation.
- So which tax could be the one today?
- Let's take a closer look how this company
- is handling taxes today:
- A café in Basel (CH).
- More than 1000 guests per day,
- 40 employees,
- transaction volume of 3.5 million CHF (~3.2 million USD) per year.
- So what about taxes?
- Daniel Häni: taxes are always declared as costs in a company.
- And all costs need to be earned by sales
- or you would have to stop running your business.
- In general, there are three types of taxes:
- value-added tax (VAT) -
- - that is paid by the customer directly -
- and there's ancillary labour costs and income tax.
- The VAT is displayed on every voucher and visible for everybody.
- To the company, it is not declared as costs
- and doesn't show up in the calculations.
- What about ancillary labour costs?
- Daniel Häni: I have to pretend as if the employees
- and the company both pay a half of the costs each.
- I put it on the employee's pay slip -
- that is a prescription, i couldn't do it another way -
- - and of course also in the accounting.
- But both shares are paid by the company
- and actually come, like mentioned before, from the customers.
- The employees actually receive the money to pay income tax
- to tax authorities then.
- And of course income tax is included to the price paid by the customer.
- So what do I actually pay, when ordering a Latte Macchiato?
- That is a milk with espresso in it.
- The price for one is 5,20 CHF.
- A quarter of the price is to pay the infrastructure.
- Meaning costs for the building, energy, furniture and dishes.
- Another quarter is the costs of the product.
- Meaning milk, coffee and if you like, also sugar.
- The biggest share of the price are wages.
- Meaning the person serving you.
- But also those persons cleaning and organizing.
- And on top, the VAT is added.
- That is only 7.6% in Switzerland.
- This tax becomes due just when the customer pays.
- When all effort to add value is converted.
- Because if the waiter drops the tray before,
- no value is created at all,
- even though a lot of work has been put to the Latte Macchiato.
- A spilled Latte Macchiato - is NO Latte Macchiato.
- And does not pay VAT.
- VAT is added at the end of the value-adding process and displayed clearly.
- But there are also taxes in the price not displayed,
- that were risen during the process of adding value.
- Wages contain income tax, ancillary loan costs and social costs.
- Product costs also contain taxes, because they are partly paid as incomes as well,
- that are taxes, and were also included in the price of the product.
- Same with the costs for infrastructure.
- The customer pays it all.
- Because what he spends is the money
- that pays everything else. Including taxes.
- What would it look like, if it was made clear?
- If an amount of money is taxed like this -
- - clearly visible like VAT -
- - falling due at the end of the process of adding value,
- tax could bite the ripe apple
- instead of nibbling it before.
- As a result, everyone can see in prices
- how much one contributes to the state, and how much one controls it.
- Democracy is taking place at the cash.
- We're all equal at the cash.
- Illegal employement couldnt happen anymore, if VAT was the only tax to pay,
- because labour wouldnt be taxed anymore.
- But blackmarket trades would become alluring.
- Paying the barber 20 CHF under the table instead of 40 CHF?
- That is quite a difference.
- If no receipt is given,
- a higher end tax could be avoided.
- But if there is only this one tax left
- tax investigation would be easier and more effective.
- But tax consultants wouldn't be necessary any longer.
- A lot of bureaucracy in companies and financial administration would be decreased.
- Georg Vobruba: In a world without borders, a state has only chances
- to levy taxes sustainably,
- if it can find a source of tax, that can not run away.
- This tax is VAT.
- It falls due where the customer spends his money.
- Therefore it could also be called spending or consumption tax.
- This tax is not paid by whoever brings the Latte Macchiato, but by who drinks it.
- Income tax though pretends as if
- my income is the earning of my work,
- because my income is what I bring home.
- Income tax is the tax of self supply.
- It is the tax of self supply and creates problems in a system of external supply.
- more elder people, more unemployment -
- - levying consumption tax, this wouldn't be a financial problem to the state.
- Because consumption will always happen.
- And more than enough products are produced.
- And that is where another problem of income tax can be found.
- because a machine's work is not taxed by the income tax.
- If two products cost the same price, but one of them is made
- mainly by human and the other by machines,
- the first contains relatively more tax
- than the other.
- Since machines don't earn any income,
- their labour is mostly taxfree.
- That is just like illegal employment.
- To the left, that is like at the barber.
- And to the right, that is like a washing machine.
- Since human labour is taxed,
- this price contains a lot of taxes and the other does not.
- If you look at the real, effective price of the process of adding value
- without pre-added tax for both,
- and add the same consumption tax
- until they both reach the same amount of tax
- that was shown in red before,
- then one is cheaper than today and the other is more expansive.
- Because mechanical labour is no longer subsidized.
- Labour from humans and machines would be on the same tax level,
- because the result of their work is taxed.
- Not only would machines take over work, but also tax revenue.
- And if the price for a man's haircut would not change
- the tax revenue would increase significantly.
- If taxes are included in product prices, like it is today already
- they cross the borders as the product does.
- People in other countries do pay the educational system then,
- the infrastructure and the social standards of Switzerland
- when they buy a swiss product.
- That is this one injustice.
- And the other one?
- These products from other countries, that are bought so cheaply here,
- are not only, but also cheap due to the fact
- that people there receive less benefits from the state.
- Thus the price doesn't contain these costs.
- Consumption tax would be added to all imports,
- to everything that is brought to the country to be sold.
- The same tax is added to products that were produced here.
- It is added to all products sold in the country,
- because people that live here benefit from it.
- But consumption tax is not exported.
- If a product crosses the country's borders, the tax would not.
- Every country stays sovereign to determine its own budget.
- And pay for it by itself.
- Consumption tax is the just tax of globalization.
- A fair tax for fair trade.
- Here is where the tax on sales was invented:
- The Brühl Terracces at the Elbe's shore in Dresden (Germany).
- Count Heinrich von Brühl had the idea to charge for all sales in the country.
- About 200 years later, the Federal Republic of Germany introduced a similar tax
- but it was calculated differently: the VAT.
- It allows more division of labour and is neutral to all competitors.
- with 19 % it is by now the biggest item of tax income
- in Sweden, VAT equals 25%
- and it is a requirement for EU membership
- VAT is the future tax
- It is the tax for a society relying upon external supplies
- One person who contributed to the introduction
- if the VAT in Germany is Dr. Benediktus Hardorp.
- He calls the VAT an expense or consumption tax and has the optinion
- that the VAT should be our only tax.
- I have witnessed, that the income tax has a continuous decelleration effect,
- and a consumption tax leaves performance open to development.
- An expense tax lets humans ask themsselves,
- where to go with their lives. Dr. Benediktus Hardorp
- Götz Werner: Only VAT - That would be the simplest solution.
- One would not need to file any tax return and so on.
- But when the VAT is the only tax left, what will happen to tax exemptions?
- Because tax exemption is the social component of the tax system.
- With VAT everyone pays the same percentage of taxes. Independent of their income.
- Where is the social component of the tax system then ?
- Götz Werner: We are going to do the following:
- Everyone gets the VAT back for their basic needs.
- And this payment is then a basic income.
- The circle closes itself.
- The result is basic income.
- But not by asking the question "How can it be financed?"
- but "How can VAT become a social component?"
- Basic income is the tax exemption in a VAT based system
- A tax return for the basic needs
- Basic income results as a logical step from the VAT
- requiring a social component to it.
- And that this is unconditional, suddenly becomes logical.
- What would be the effects?
- Let's calculate with an example.
- Assuming the basic income would be 1000
- 1000 Euros.
- That everyone would get
- as a payed out tax exemption.
- Independent from any other income.
- When I am not earning anything extra, I would still have 1000 in total.
- People earning 500 Euros extra would end up with a total of 1500 Euro.
- Earning 1000 euro extra results in a total of 2000 and so on.
- In this example, everyone receives 1000 Euros of tax as basic income.
- And how much tax will be payed?
- When there is no income tax and only a VAT that is added
- at the end of the chain of economic value being added. Then the VAT is around 100%
- Final prices would contain 50% as declared taxes.
- One buys something for 10 Euros and pays therefore 5 euros tax.
- For 1000 Euros spent, one pays 500 euros tax.
- But since one had received 1000 euros of tax.
- -500 euros were really paid as tax.
- Or put differently: 500 euros of tax were received.
- If someone spends 1500 euros
- again 50% are paid as tax. Therefore 750 euros.
- Since 1000 were received
- really -250 euros were paid. Or put differently:
- In the end 250 euros were received, due to basic income.
- If 2000 euros are spent. 1000 euros are beeing paid as tax.
- And therefore no tax was payed and none received.
- Only people earning twice the amount the basic income pays pay real taxes.
- For 3000 Euros spent, 500 euros were paid as tax.
- Whenever expenditures are exactly twice the amount of basic income. One begins to pay taxes.
- From this point onwards there is progression.
- Who spends 3000 euros pays 17% on taxes.
- Who spends 5000 euros pays already 30% as tax.
- For even higher expenditures the percentage of tax approaches 50%
- Und similarly there is a progression towards the other direction.
- The social component in the VAT would be simple.
- And effective.
- Phillipe Van Parijs: Usually left wing parties argue that a consumption tax is regressive.
- That poor people pay a higher percentage of their income,
- when it is a consumption tax and no personal tax.
- But when we look at the current income tax, it isn't progressive either.
- Since rich people have more options,
- to hide parts of their income
- or to avoid taxes in various ways
- People who are rich enough, reduce their income before taxes in a way
- that an income tax becomes ineffective.
- And the tax then hits the people who simply cannot.
- As we saw before, the income tax is passed on inside the product prices - including its progression.
- And this is without a basic income regulating for social aspects.
- The income tax is a sham.
- Or put differently: It spares you caring.
- This is how it looks like when a tax is visible as one amount.
- And this how it looks like, when it is passed on as income tax.
- 50% of the costs are on income for employees.
- On the right hand side they would be a quarter.
- On the left side, labor is expensive.
- Since it controbutes most of he price -
- - qick decisions are being made, on who is useless.
- Everyone is at the borderline of collapse. No room for experiments.
- On the right hand side there would be more room .
- Less stress and maybe the thought,
- to hire another person.
- That is how the VAT impacts labor.
- The basic income points in a similar direction.
- Partially the basic income is being payed, by existing taxes.
- The other parts will raise the tax.
- Eduardo Suplicy: A basic income is not a charity,
- is not just an assistance,
- is, like you said, a civil right,
- is the right for each person
- to participate on the wealth of the nation.
- Eduardo Suplicy: Because I want to find the truth.
- I want to find the way
- to eradicate absolute poverty,
- to build a just society,
- to improve income distribution,
- to have justice
- and to struggle for the day,
- when everybody may sit
- in the table
- of fraternity.
- Like Martin Luther King said
- in “I have a dream.”
- M. R. King: I have a dream. I have a dream today!
- So, when I free myself from this attitude of revenge,
- not only am I doing something for the idea of a basic income,
- but actually for my own health and abilities as a fellow human being.
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