Paul Krugman’s conventional wisdom
The Obama economic stimulus plan, conservative critics note, will create jobs at a cost of $275,000 each. That’s a “bogus talking point,” according to Paul Krugman. Here’s a key paragraph in his NYTimes column:
The true cost per job of the Obama plan will probably be closer to $100,000 than $275,000 – and the net cost will be as little as $60,000 once you take into account the fact that a stronger economy means higher tax receipts.
But Krugman, only slightly less than the conservatives, is trapped by conventional thinking.
No matter how much money government spends, it cannot possibly create jobs for all the people who are unemployed. In addition to the unemployed, moreover, tens of millions of us are at risk of losing our jobs, and many more tens of millions are burdened by debts and struggling to pay our bills.
Basic income is a much better approach – the most direct, rapid, reliable, and responsible way to end the recession.
Let’s give every adult citizen some amount, say $800 or $1,000 a month. Everyone who’s unemployed will have some income for food and shelter while they find or create their own jobs. Everyone, regardless of employment status, will have, guaranteed, some real income security. No one left behind. No one.
Give it to everyone, the unemployed and those who have jobs, the poor and rich, married and single, women and men, black and brown and white. That will minimize the bureaucracy and means-testing that come with most government programs. It will also create a baseline of economic justice and economic equality.
The proposed $825 billion would pay for the basic income for four or five months. The rest of the money can come from eliminating bailouts, subsidies, and other forms of “corporate welfare”, and from cutting local, state, and federal individual welfare programs that become superfluous.
Krugman and Obama and their conservative critics will, of course, have to compromise on the details. If our elected officials are serious about ending the recession and helping ordinary Americans, they’ll be willing to make the necessary compromises and they’ll endorse basic income.
Steven Shafarman
Tags: New York Times, Paul Krugman
January 27th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I have just been reading up on this recently. I totally agree that this is the best approach to solving many of our economic problems. In fact, it would be far cheaper to maintain society than the out of whack system now in place. All social programs such as food stamps, subsidized housing, all forms of tax deductions, and eventually even social security could be replaced by a simple, guaranteed income.
Crime and homelessness would be reduced, and education and employment would increase, putting money back into the economy. People would truly be free. Our society would actually be on the road to becoming civilized. There are many other problems this country has to deal with, such as our economy and imperialism, but this would be the cornerstone to getting our country on track.