What’s really strange about this story by Basic Income Earth Network (I never heard of them before either) is the idea of hinting that the Permanent Fund Dividend check is a “basic income.” The idea of a basic income has emerged of late from socialist policies in some European countries, where it is being discussed, and by activists of late promoting the idea. Nonsense, I say. ~ Eugene
Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend is the closest thing to a Basic Income that exists in the world today. It gives every U.S. Citizen who fills out a form verifying Alaska residency a check for a share of the revenue from the Alaska Permanent Fund each year.
The fund and dividend—on their own—are on solid financial footing. Left alone, they can continue as long as there is a State of Alaska. But the same can’t be said for the rest of Alaska’s budget. Most of it is financed by revenue from the state’s oil exports. Oil reserves are finite, and therefore, the revenue they provide temporary; and oil exports have been gradually dropping for years.
See Full Story at BasicIncome.org
