I worry a lot about inequality and the positions of the main UK political parties when it comes to addressing it. Under current policies, I think it’s only going to get worse and big global trends such as technological automation of many jobs and demographic change could exacerbate it further.
One of the few ideas I’ve come across that has enough radical zeal to make it interesting is the idea of a Basic Income Guarantee. Put simply, everyone would get enough money from government to live on, independent of whether they worked or not. Everybody would get the same amount (replacing all existing benefits) and it would be funded through general taxation.
This interesting talk by investor Albert Wenger outlines why he thinks it’s a good idea. There are obviously huge issues with implementing such a scheme and I haven’t made my mind up fully, but I think it’s worth exploring. In the UK, The Green Party are the only party even considering it as an option as far as I can see.
