Basic Income Guarantee: USBIG NewsFlash Vol. 14, No. 70, Fall 2013

BIEN, "CYPRUS: "President announces "Guaranteed Minimum Income' program," Basic Income News, August 5, 2013. http://binews.org/2013/08/cyprus-president-announces-%E2%80%9Cguaranteed-minimum-income%E2%80%9D-program/

Malcolm Torry, "OPINION: Means-testing in Cyprus," Basic Income News, November 4, 2013. http://binews.org/2013/11/opinion-means-testing-in-cyprus/

The president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, has announced the creation of a "Guaranteed Minimum Income for all citizens." The president said, "Beneficiaries will be all of our fellow citizens who have an income below that which can assure them a dignified living, irrespective of age, class or professional situation." According to Cyprus Mail, the policy will begin in June 2014. The exact level of the grant will be determined between now and then, but every citizen would be guaranteed "the minimum needs for a dignified living in a European Country."

If the program goes into affect as described, it will be the world's first full "Basic Income Guarantee" (BIG) as defined by the U.S. Basic income Guarantee Network: "government ensured guarantee that no one's income will fall below the level necessary to meet their most basic needs for any reason." However, the details of the program available so far indicate that it will be the negative income tax version (NIT) and not the basic income (BI) version of BIG. The difference is that NIT gets everyone to the minimum by paying only those whose incomes are below some minimum level, while BI gets everyone to the minimum, pay paying all citizens regardless of means. What will actually happen remains to be seen.

For more information, see "President announces "Guaranteed Minimum Income' program," Cypress Mail, July 26, 2013: http://cyprus-mail.com/2013/07/26/president-announces-guaranteed-minimum-income-for-all-citizens/

Robert W. Lester, a blogger who specialized in debunking cults, has accused the Equal Life Foundation (ELF) of deceptively using the term "Basic Income Guaranteed"--BIG with a "D" added at the end. For a while, ELF was using the term BIG with a D for a program that had some similarities to the Basic Income Guarantee as usually defined by groups such as the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) and the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee (USBIG) Network. Although ELF's proposal was substantially different from most BIG proposals (for example, it was means tested and included a temporary work requirement), ELF not only used a similar term but also referred to BIEN- and USBIG-affiliated researchers. These efforts was the basis for Lester's claim of deception. Lester also accused ELF for being a cult because it is affiliated with a questionable money-making effort called Desteni. According to Lester, ELF had hoped to fool people into believing that giving money to Desteni would support research done by BIEN-affiliated researchers.

Since the release of a video by Lester earlier this year, ELF has reduced its use of the term BIG with a D, replacing it with the term Living Income Guaranteed (LIG). People at ELF might simply have made an honest mistaking, thinking their proposal was closer to BIG than it actually is. However, one Cult-debunking website claims that ELF still uses BIG with a D occasionally, still uses the domain name basicincome.me, and still refers to some BIEN-affiliated work without nothing the difference between LIG and BIG. Some argue that ELF's overall program, of which LIG is only a small part, is totalitarian.

Several links in the confusion between LIG and BIG are below.

VIDEO: Robert W. Lester, "Desteni Basic Income - Scam?," YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dpaSfyzgc-A, claims ELS is a cult deceptively using the term BIG.

The Desteni Cult, "Equal Life Foundation & Living Income Guaranteed," October 2013: http://destenicult.blogspot.com/p/basic-income-equal-life-foundation.html, this article, on a website entirely dedicated to examining Desteni as a cult accuses ELF of misusing BIG and LIG.

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |  16  |  17  |  18  |  19  |  20  |  21  |  22  |  23  |  24  |  25  |  26  |  27  |  28  |  29

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).