Last night the government of Finland announced that had learned a valuable lesson and would be cutting off a support program that paid unemployed people to stay home and do nothing.
In the first program of its kind in Europe, Finland had chosen 2,000 randomly selected unemployed adults and started to pay them a monthly check worth $685. The government agency that had designed the program believed that by guaranteeing a “universal basic income” to people, they would encourage people to try new things. Instead, by paying them to stay at home and do nothing, they were incentivizing the continuation of their unemployment.
That is, if you give someone money for nothing, they’ll keep doing nothing.
Olli Kangas was one of the designers of the program. He expressed sadness that Finland was cutting off the pilot program started two years ago, saying:
“The government has chosen to try a totally different path. Basic income is unconditional. Now, they are pursuing conditionality.”
Yes, Finland is scrapping their free allowance program. They had listened to critics who suggested that in order to expand this to the whole population, they would have to raise taxes by 30% on the people who continued to work. As well, there is the age-old fact that by giving someone hundreds of dollars to do nothing, they won’t want to find a job that pays the same but also requires 20 hours of work every week.
Speaking with media, local University of Helsinki Professor Heikki Hiilamo said:
“There is a fear with basic income that [people getting paid] would just stay at home and play computer games.”
Finland
The Republic of Finland border Norway, Sweden and Russian and has a population of 5.5 million people. The country is the most sparsely populated in the European Union and has been inhabited for the last 11,000 years. The country was once part of the Russian Empire, but broke off and declared independence after the Revolution in 1917. Soon, the country was in a civil war as communists in the country wanted to support the Soviets against the Germans.
Finland has maintained low levels of immigration, and less than 6% of the population count foreign ancestry, mostly from Russia, Estonia, Somalia, Iraq and Yugoslavia. Citizenship is only granted to children born with at least one Finnish parent. The country is mostly Lutheran and its largest city, Helsinki has a population of over 630,000.
Refugees In Finland
Finland generally has a refugee quota of 750 people every year, but in recent years they have been overwhelmed with applicants.
- In 2014, there were 3,651 applicants for asylum and 501 people were granted asylum.
- In 2015, there were 32,476 applicants for asylum and 1,112 people were granted asylum.
- In 2016, there were 5,651 applicants for asylum and 4,586 people were granted asylum.
- In 2017, there were 5,046 applicants for asylum and 2,528 people were granted asylum.
In 2016, as thousands of new people poured into the country, one local was filmed running after a ‘migrant’ who didn’t feel like paying for his groceries. In Helsinki,
“…a migrant walking past her register, directing a comment towards [the young woman named Anna] and nodding as he attempts to casually stroll through the exit with goods in hand.
The young woman chases down the so-called refugee, apprehending him and snatching the items from his hands before he gives up and flees.
“They do this so brazenly,” she said. “Most often they steal alcohol, which is not a necessity, and not, for example, something essential such as food. It’s frustrating.'”
They’re not sending their best to Finland, either.
Back in 2014 Finland was one of the best countries in the world for income, especially when held against Barack Obama’s America.
“The struggles of the poor in the United States are even starker than those of the middle class. A family at the 20th percentile of the income distribution in this country makes significantly less money than a similar family in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland or the Netherlands.“
Bernie Sanders: Universal Basic Income, Plus Benefits!
Earlier this week Socialist Grandpa Bernie Sanders gave a proposal for an American basic income program that would hire people to work for the government for $15 an hour, plus medical and family benefits. The people would report to one of several job centers influenced by “regional centers” and even if there was nothing for the person to do, they would still get paid.
Sources: Fox News
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