Pierre Trudeau and Richard Nixon flirted with guaranteed minimum income plans. Canadians of 2016 skeptical about cost
As many as 67 per cent of respondents backed a guaranteed income set
at $30,000, provided that the payment would “replace most or all other
forms of government assistance.”
However, nearly as many (66 per cent) said they would not be willing
to pay more taxes to support such a program, and 59 per cent said it
would be too expensive to implement.
A further 63 per cent said it would “discourage people from working.”
Among Conservative voters, this sentiment jumped to 74 per cent of
respondents. But even in the NDP camp respondents were split 50-50.
Nino Sekopet, an extraordinary end-of-life counsellor, on the questions he most often faces
from the article the tweet links to:
A Dutch actress with terminal cancer came to see Sekopet, along with her son. She was unflinchingly realistic and decided that in order to avoid lots of “bulls–t,” she wanted to end her life with VSED. Their conversation was almost buoyant with laughter, simply because that’s where that family was. “That’s a very light, almost funny, cheerful death that’s stayed with me,” Sekopet says.
It is legal to end your own life in Canada and has been since suicide was removed from the Criminal Code in 1972
You have the right to refuse any and all treatment, even if refusal might hasten your death
You have the right to stop treatment after it has started. Ethically and legally, there is no distinction between discontinuing treatment and refusing it in the first place
In Canada, nutrition and hydration by tube is considered medical treatment. You have the right to refuse or stop it
You also have the right to turn down food or drink and the right to refuse to be fed or given drinks by others
The above is referred to as Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking (VSED) and is supported by many palliative care providers
* * *
Be sure to choose palliative care that includes informed use of glycerin swabs to relieve thirst, and so on. With no fluid intake you are likely to lose consciousness in a week or so and – without intervention – never regain it. Please read this Guardian piece: 'It was a good death, the kind most people would choose' (Sophie Mackenzie on why her family backed her mother's decision to stop eating and drinking when faced with terminal cancer).
Document your wishes. When it comes to end-of-life decisions, what you've put in writing will carry more weight than something you've mentioned in passing. Clear, written instructions will also make it easier for your substitute decision-maker to act on your wishes. So write them down! You can use the forms in our Advance Care Planning Kit or have a lawyer or notary draw up your documents. It's up to you.
wanting anything – wanting something to be or not to be – is dukkha;
nirvana is needing nothing and wanting nothing, not even this:
that all want nothing
* * *
want nothing, be well
want nothing … other than that all want nothing;
be well: do no more than need be done to be and let be*
“We cannot be content … if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.”
FDR:
It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans
and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the
establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before
known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of
living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third
or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and
insecure.
This Republic had its beginning, and grew
to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable
political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free
worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.
They were our rights to life and liberty.
As our Nation has grown
in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these
political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit
of happiness.
We have come to a clear realization of the fact that
true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and
independence. "Necessitous men are not free men." People who are hungry
and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
In
our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We
have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new
basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless
of station, race, or creed.
Among these are:
The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the Nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
The
right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere
of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home
or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education.
All of these rights spell security. And
after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the
implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and
well-being.
America's own rightful place in the world depends in
large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried
into practice for our citizens. For unless there is security here at
home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.
from
Franklin D. Roosevelt: "State of the Union Message to Congress," January 11, 1944. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/210825
the article the tweet links to includes this block quote on UBI by Dorian T. Warren:
What does this solution do?
A Universal Basic Income (UBI) provides an unconditional and guaranteed livable income that would meet basic human needs while providing a floor of economic security. UBI would eliminate absolute poverty, ensuring economic security for all by mandating an income floor covering basic needs. Unlike most social welfare and social insurance programs, it is not means tested nor does it have any work requirements. All individual adults are eligible.
No other social or economic policy solution today would be of sufficient scale to eradicate the profound and systemic economic inequities afflicting Black communities.
As patterns and norms of “work” change rapidly and significantly in the decades to come — no matter how profound those changes are — it is likely that Black America and other populations that are already disadvantaged will bear the brunt of whatever economic insecurity and volatility results.
A pro-rated additional amount included in a UBI for Black Americans over a specified period of time.
The revenue saved from divesting in criminal justice institutions could be pooled into a fund for UBI; this revenue could be earmarked for the “PLUS” aspect of the policy that would be targeted toward Black Americans. If combined with other funds, it would effectively function as reparations, in a grand bargain with white America: All would benefit, but those who suffered through slavery and continuing racism would benefit slightly more.
Federal Action:
UBI would have to pass both houses of Congress and then be signed by the president. The revenue could be generated by multiple sources which would require structural reforms to the tax code including higher taxes on the wealthy, taxes on public goods like air (carbon tax) or on certain industries (financial transactions tax), or a dividend based on distributing resources from a common-owned asset (like oil).
State Action:
Similar to national policy, UBI would have to pass through state legislatures and be signed by governors. Other instances might require amendments to State Constitutions. The precedent here is the Alaska Permanent Fund, set up in the late 1970s/early 1980s. All residents of Alaska receive an annual dividend based on the invested revenue from the publicly-owned oil reserves.
How does this solution address the specific needs of some of the most marginalized Black people?
UBI would then provide an individual-sustaining basic floor for people who are formerly incarcerated upon re-entry that does not currently exist.
UBI would be an improvement on portions of today’s current safety net and would benefit cash poor Black people the most. Some benefits, such as food stamps, are replete with paternalistic restrictions that rest on racist tropes about recipients and their consumption habits. Others, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), are significantly tied to work, which is problematic when structural racism continues to create so many barriers to Black employment. UBI lacks these flaws.
