A Rare Occurrence

Income For All Entails More Bad Than Good

. . . A NZ Herald Editorial, in which we find ourselves in agreement

The Labour Party appears to be considering a radical new system of social welfare. It would provide everybody with a "universal basic income" from taxation regardless of a person's wealth or ordinary income. People earning more than a moderate income would return their universal payment in tax - probably a great deal of tax. The scheme was outlined to Labour's "future of work" conference just before Easter by a British advocate, Professor Guy Standing. Labour's finance spokesman Grant Robertson says support for the idea is not confined to the political left, pointing out it has also been proposed by economist Gareth Morgan.

Mr Morgan entertains many ideas. The pedigree of this one is certainly left-wing.

Labour's Follies

The Descendants of Karl Marx Are Alive, But Unwell

Leftist dogma asserts that private property is a form of theft.  The only legitimate owner of everything is "the people", who are represented by the State.  Ergo, the only legitimate owner of all property is the State.  Any private property is temporarily lent by the State to the individual.  The government owns all.

We have had enough collective experience over the past one hundred and fifty years or so to test this idea out.  It has always ended up in grinding poverty for millions upon millions of people, coupled with exorbitant wealth and power held by the officers of the State.  Ethically the idea of universal State ownership of all property is a direct assault on the Eighth Commandment--you shall not steal.  An ideology of universal state title to all property is wicked to the core.

Most leftists are pragmatic realists--at least in the West.  While believing in principle that the State owns all property, they are prepared to tolerate private property ownership for this or that--provided the State maintains the tyrannical power to step in at any time and expropriate private property for its own nefarious purposes.  It's justification is that the wealth of the individual in reality belongs to the People (aka, the State).

It is this ideology which underlies the idea, currently being toyed with by the Labour Party in New Zealand, of a universal income for all adults.

Cake Them With Tar and Feathers

New Zealand's Fifth Column

Politically smart, morally invidious.  The Labour and the Green parties are starting to flirt with ideas of a Universal Income in New Zealand.  This is incredibly smart politics.  It will prove popular with so many.  After all, Robert Muldoon rocketed to electoral success by promising a pay-as-you-go universal tax funded pension.  The folk loved the idea.  And so one of the biggest liabilities upon the public exchequer under which we all now bend was born.

Labour and the Greens have learnt the lesson.  Struggling for political survival.  Lusting for husting success they are thinking of expanding the idea of universal superannuation to a guaranteed, state funded, basic income for every adult in the country.

All adult New Zealanders could be given a Government handout of at least $200 a week under a new policy being considered by the Labour Party.  The co-leader of a global network promoting a "universal basic income", British professor Guy Standing, will be a keynote speaker at a Labour conference on "the future of work" in Auckland next week.  He said yesterday that a system "where every legal resident of New Zealand should be entitled to a modest monthly basic income" would reduce inequality and give some security to people who increasingly have to earn a living from insecure casual and short-term work. [NZ Herald]

At this juncture we will don the robes of the prophets and make some modest predictions if this were ever to come to pass: