Day 236: Living Income Guaranteed will Reduce Suicide Rates

The American Association of Suicidology says:

"There is a clear and direct relationship between rates of unemployment and suicide. The peak rate of suicide in 1933 occurred one year after the total US unemployment rate reached 25% of the labor force. Similar findings have been documented internationally. At the individual level, unemployed individuals have between two and four times the suicide rate of those employed. As well, economic strain and personal financial crises have been well documented as precipitating events in individual deaths by suicide. Stressful life events, financial and others, have significant impact on those vulnerable to suicide where typical coping mechanisms are compromised by the effects of mental disorder, substance use, acute psychiatric symptoms, and a host of other risk factors associated with suicide.

Of current concern is the high rate of home foreclosures. More than a million people recently have lost their homes, about as many as did in the Great Depression when the population was about half what it is today. For most Americans, our homes are our primary investment and the locus of our identities and social support systems. When combined with the loss of job, home loss has been found to be one of the most common economic strains associated with suicides. In contrast to many other developed nations, the US provides little cushion to buffer these strains -- unemployment benefits are generally limited in duration and are considerably less than full pay levels, there is no national health insurance, etc."

Suicide rates can be brought to an extreme low once and for all through implementing a Living Income Guaranteed - where each one who is unemployed is unconditionally provided with an income that is sufficient to acquire what one needs to live a dignified life.

In many first world countries - as economic depression sets in, psychological depression follows suit right away - because security is taken away, because the future becomes uncertain, because if the economy does not start growing in time - every middle-class income household's livelihood is in jeopardy - never mind the lower class. When the depression persists and suicidal thoughts gain the upper hand, children lose fathers and mothers - families are torn apart. Such trauma can be prevented through ensuring a stable economic system. Providing a Living Income Guaranteed must therefore go hand in hand with the necessary changes in the economic and political systems so as to ensure lasting stability and sustainability - instead of being at the mercy of economic polarity-swings.

For more information - read up on the Living Income Guaranteed Proposal on the Living Income Website: http://livingincome.me/wiki/The_Living_Income_Guaranteed_Proposal 

Also check out the google hangout discussions on the Living Income Guaranteed YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/BIGuaranteed?feature=watch

Related articles

• Day 250: Economics Nobel Prize reduced to Laughingstock
• Day 252: The Rich Be Cursed, The Rich Be Blessed
• Day 226: Living Income Guaranteed will Prevent Destruction of Homes
• Day 251: Living Income Guaranteed and Market Mechanics
• Economic downturn could explain suicide rates, say mental health bosses

Day 233: Can LIG provide us the punch to beat the recession?

Whenever the point of policies in relation recessions opens up in economy textbooks, we look at expansionary and monetary policies to help stimulate the economy. Within this government spending, taxation and interest rates play a major role. Here, we are pulling strings from a giant tapestry, hoping that a pull here and there will have an effect way down, on the other side of the tapestry, somewhere down the line… (if we allow enough time to pass by of course).

Yet, we can stimulate the economy a lot more effectively by boosting the aggregate demand in the economy, through the implementation of a Living Income Guaranteed
.
By granting everyone who does not have access to a stable income with a grant that allows them to live a decent life, we generate a greater level of disposable income. Those who were previously surviving and saving – now transfer more money towards spending and consumption.

As disposable income goes up, demand goes up, spending goes up and the wheels of the economy are greased up: economic activity goes up and economic growth is being promoted! As people want more things, more people need to be employed and the unemployment rate goes down. People get their needs taken care of, suppliers and producers are able to sell their things and jobs are being created.
As the economic capital grows, the social capital improves as well. As people’s living standards rise, people become more effective and efficient in their activities.

Implementing a Basic Income Grant System, is a win-win situation.

Check out the following blogs for more information:

Living Income and Nationalized Resources

Living Income Can Save Capitalism

Living Income and Minimum Wage

Living Income Guaranteed and the Nationalization of Banks

Living Income Guaranteed and Pensions

Day 95: When Less is More

Two of the major problems we are facing today as consequences of our current capitalistic system are:
- The depletion of Earth's resources at a rate that is faster than what the Earth can replenish
- Job-related issues - such as unemployment, stress and depression due to pressure at work, insufficient retirement funds, etc.

The Equal Money System proposal suggests to correct both points in a very simplistic manner.

Firstly - all goods that are produced, should be long-lasting goods that last a lifetime or as long as possible, as well as being of the best possible quality.

Secondly - Labour should be voluntary, except for a 4 year internship each youngster must complete as part of their education. All goods and services you require to live a dignified life are given as it is your right to have access to these goods and services.

Let's take a practical example to show how these two simple points will solve many of the problems we are facing today and that future generations may face.

In our current system, goods are produced that last for a very short period of time, not because we can't make proper stuff - no, they are deliberately designed to break in a specified time-frame, so that when the stuff breaks, you have to replace it, by buying new ones.

Take a mattress. Affordable mattresses retain their support and shape for about 1 year these days. Because affordable mattresses are usually still quite a big expenditure for an average household, we'll 'put up' with the degrading mattress for another 4 years, until it is so bad that you wake up in pain every day. So, say that after 5 years, each household replaces their mattresses. Have a look at what is involved:
- The resources used that make up the mattresses
- The energy used to power the manufacturing process of mattresses
- The resources used in transporting the mattresses
- The labour involved with producing the mattresses
- The labour involved with transporting the mattresses
- The labour involved with selling the mattresses
- The cost to labourers' well-being as stress due to the need to continuously outperform the competition.
- The cost to each one's health by sleeping on a bad mattress

Now - consider that each mattress is made according to the highest standards in terms of support for the body and the use of long-lasting materials and designs. These high quality mattresses will last each person a life-time. We have the ability to do this, at the moment it is just not being done, because there is no money in it. How does this change the situation?
- The resources that make up the mattresses are cut down to a fraction of the previous amount. Because we only make one mattress for every person and that's it.
- The energy used in transporting the mattresses is cut down to a fraction of the previous amount, because mattresses won't be transported very often.
- The amount of labour required to produce and transport the mattresses will be reduced to a fraction of before.
- The labour involved with selling the mattress will be eliminated, because each person simply requires the best mattress, and so that is what they will receive. There is no need to manipulate people into believing that your mattress is the best buy, because this is a given.
- Labourers' will actually be well - because there is no threat of losing your job if your boss thinks it's your fault the competition is doing a better job. There will simply not be competition, and each one will have the satisfaction of participating in the creation and distribution of high-quality goods that make a real difference in people's lives.
- The health costs are eliminated, because the mattress will continue to provide the body with excellent support, allowing each one to have a good night's sleep, every night of their lives.

This is now only one example, as a mattress. Now, consider that every single good that is produced is made according to the same principles! The reduction in pressure on the environment will be HUMONGOUS - and any job-related problems will be eliminated. There is simply no need to rape the Earth to make money and there is no need to make everyone work their entire life in order to be able to survive. Come on! We can do better than this fuck up. We have everything we need - all we need to do is put it into practice. Out of pure greed, selfishenss and stubbornness, we are driving the world to its destruction and most people are already extensively damaged, either physically or mentally, by the pressures of the economic system. And guess what, no-one has the time to take care of themselves, because most of our time is absorbed by having to work. Takign a holiday for two weeks a year while you're under constant pressure for the rest of the time is not taking care of yourself - it's manipulating yourself into believing you are.

And really - you're not doing anyone a favour by accepting this situation - you're not doing anything that is in the best interest of the whole - you're not contributing an important part to the well-being of society - you're not actually doing anything that helps anyone.

We can turn this world around, and you know it. You owe it to yourself and the next generation, and you know it. You're just making up excuses and justifications to not have to stand up, and you know it. You're wasting your life away, and you know it. You have nothing to show for yourself, and you know it.

But also know this: it's not too late... yet.

Investigate the Equal Money System proposal - follow this blog to educate yourself - become involved and spread the word.

Day 79: Monetary Policy - Part 2

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to think that it is normal that banks are able to lend out money they don't have and, on top of that, charge an interest fee - which means that, when the bank wants to collect money owed to it - it will receive funds from various different individuals plus interest - and as such sucking all the funds towards itself, out of people's wallets.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to think that the story of the money supply is really as simple as it is as how it is presented in economic textbooks - while, in actual fact - money doesn't just 'get created'. Because when a loan is given and some positive number is written in a person's account - at the same time a negative number is created: as debt - and thus, even though it seems that money was created, it did not, because the debt must be paid - and the debt must be paid to those who created the money out of thin air: the banks.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to see and realise that the apparent 'generosity' of banks in 'wanting to help you out' with buying a new house or a new car, is attached to a day of reckoning, where outstanding funds are collected and if the moneys can't be paid - the bank will take everything you own and you are left with nothing - and herein there is no mercy or generosity - only the actual reality of the situation: Greed.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to question a world where each one apparently has the right to a decent life, but where, if one is unfortunate or has made a bad decision in life - one can end up in a situation where one's house, car and all valuable assets are taken away, becaues the bank is trying to mitigate its losses and what that means to you is really irrelevant as you are just one little player in their big money-making scheme.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise the absolute abhorrence of the nature of the human race if we think it is okay and acceptable and normal that wealth and money come before each one's basic human rights - and where we don't even stop to think what it means if banks have the ability to take away people's houses just because a person doesn't have enough money - instead of realising: who the fuck cares how much money a person has - each person needs a house to live in - as a human being, it is a simple common sensical point to take care of one another and make sure each one has a fucking roof over there head - who the fuck are we if we can't even fulfil such a simple, basic point?

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to define a person's worth according to the number in their bank accounts, instead of realising that a number is just that: a number - it doesn't even refer to anything real, it is just a digital picture - instead of realising the value of the person as a physical human being and treating each person as such - an equal - because we all breathe, we all shit, we all eat, we all piss - and therefore no-one can say that they are better than another from a physical stand-point - we are all the same - and therefore, any value system must consider our actual physical reality and recognise the equality of reality - instead of entertaining the inequalities of all the fictional parts that we perceive to form part of reality, such as money, opinions, thoughts, beliefs, etc. - because if our value system only considers fiction, then we disregard the physical reality - and this can be measured in fact, as we see the status of the physical world deteriorating each day, with more species going extict, with more air and water being polluted, with more land becoming unarable, with weatherconditions increasingly becoming more erratic, with natural habitats being destroyed each day.