Call for guaranteed basic income in Argentina

MilHojas

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Leftist and community organizations organized dozens of protests Wednesday to advocate for the adoption of a universal basic income as more and more Argentines fall below the poverty line.
 
As I understand it, countries/communities that have tried it look on it as a drastic simplification of their benefit system. I find it interesting and a tad counterintuitive that it seems popular with right leaning societies. The Wikipedia article on Universal Basic Income Around The World is worth a look.
It's popular with the leftists in a "right" country to buy votes.
 
I mean the idea is that instead of giving food stamps you give cash that could be to buy food.

Or other things.

The thing is we need to understand where the money comes from. I mean given the current government, “from thin air” seems to be the mindset.
 
This proposal is not the same as the "universal" incomes tried in some western countries where everyone, regardless of income or economic situation, recieves X amount each month.
This would be targeted to around 9 million people and linked to the cost of the basic basket of food. Given the amount of hungry people in this country it is trying to give relief to the most basic necessity of life.
Here is a good explainer.

I do actually believe that, conceptually, this could be a more efficient way of social spending for Argentina to ensure a universal safety net that is less prone to exploitation by political parties and interests, without intermediaries driving up costs or exploiting people for political gain.

What I don't like however is that this proposal does not come with conditions to be actively seeking and accepting employment if able to do so upon completion of the mandatory educational prerequisite, and also the fact that it covers those in the informal sector, without a plan to formalize them or even ask any questions (in order to get the accounts in order by making all those kiosko-owners and employees en-negro out there contribute in some small way to cover their share of the cost of such a scheme...) and neither is it supported by the government tightening its own belt - instead they just keep on giving themselves pay rises and private jet charters - and worse still, it is not supported by labour reforms to stimulate formal employment, investment and in turn, tax revenues to make it a sustainable project in the long run that actually reduces its cost burden by enabling recipients to move on up and away from dependence on the state and towards contribution to the state.
 
If this passes (which was never the aim, it is only a desperate PR-stunt of the Kirchnerists to gain popularity), it would be another reason to work in black: you do not have to contribute to the scheme, but since you have officially no income, you can benefit from it. Kirchnerism surely does know how to keep making things worse whenever you thought things already hit bottom.
 
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