@mollybroome_ @resfoundation 1. In a monetary system where all the land assets were claimed by others before you were born, you have no rights to access the natural resources you need to exist. Instead, to stay alive you need money from either - wealth (inherited or created) or income (exchanged for work)
@mollybroome_ @resfoundation 2. Some people grow up with the privilege of inherited wealth which gives them an income without work, as they earn interest on money, and dividends on stocks, and any kind of rent, and any amount of inheritance.
@mollybroome_ @resfoundation 3. Other people create wealth, through business, innovation or automation, and earn an income from the profits they make from the products they sell
@mollybroome_ @resfoundation 4. Most of us offer our labour in return for a wage that hopefully earns us a) enough income to survive and b) a little more than that so we have disposable income and some freedom to choose the best ways to dispose of it in order to flourish.
@mollybroome_ @resfoundation 5. But survival income may not be predictable or profitable and for the vulnerable - children, elderly, unemployed, sick, carers - non-existent.
@mollybroome_ @resfoundation 6. Nothing wrong with that many will say. But here in the UK, according to your (the Resolution Foundation) recent report, wealth has risen from three to almost eight times national income since the 1980. Yet wealth taxes have flatlined as a share of GDP. The rich get richer.
@mollybroome_ @resfoundation 7. Fewer people holding more wealth means less resources for the many earning income and no resources for the vulnerable unable to earn income (refer to point 5 above). Basically the poor get poorer.
@mollybroome_ @resfoundation 8. Such inbuilt inequality of wealth and income simply perpetuates and worsens situations for people suffering from poverty, homelessness or hunger.
@mollybroome_ @resfoundation 9. So unless we want that situation to continue-which I don’t-we need to change our approach to managing wealth and income. So would it be wise to advocate for #UniversalBasicIncome? I think so.
@mollybroome_ @resfoundation 10. As Scott Santen says ‘ When people have more money to spend on stuff other than basic needs, we all do better. It means more jobs which means more incomes which means more spending.’
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