Press Release
At the upcoming World Economic Conference in Davos, Switzerland 22-25 January 2019 Basic Income New Zealand (BINZ)
encourages our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to attend the session, Tackling the Growth Paradox, Wednesday 23 January, where Guy Standing is among the speakers. The synopsis for the session is:
“Despite a period of sustained corporate profitability, rising asset prices and technological advances, the middle class
faces an uncertain future. How can capitalism be reshaped to promote inclusive prosperity?”
Guy Standing is an advocate of Basic Income and has written extensively on the uncertain future that the present middle
and lower income groups are experiencing. This is a feature of present day NZ society. BINZ maintains that Basic Income
is a promising system to ‘reshape capitalism to promote inclusive prosperity.’
BINZ believes that Basic Income represents a fairer system of distribution that directly promotes inclusive prosperity.
Basic Income delivers what all kiwis deserve but some of us don’t have:
• The basic financial security to make our own life choices
• Access to basic living needs
• Being properly valued for our contributions to our families and to the community.
Basic Income pilots have been shown to boost work, productivity and incomes, which foster taxable income and lower
social costs. (1)
There is commentary that the post-1945 income distribution system has broken down, threatening economic failure. We need
a twenty-first-century income distribution system in which a Basic Income has a central role. (2)
Guy Standing describes ‘eight giants’ with which society is doing battle. These giants are inequality, economic
insecurity, personal debt, personal stress, the rise of the precariat class where millions of people face a
bits-and-pieces life of unstable labour, robots and artificial intelligence (AI), global warming, and populism.
These ‘giants’ are also present in our NZ society. Guy Standing’s contention is that ‘Basic Income is a system that
might not slay today’s eight giants, but it would significantly weaken them.’
BINZ very much hopes that Jacinda Ardern, our Prime Minister will attend the Tackling the Growth Paradox, session and take note of Guy Standing’s contribution. We also hope that our Prime Minister has an opportunity for
further discussion with Guy Standing, about the possibility of introducing a Basic Income in New Zealand.