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  1. #1
    Senior Member vmonkey56's Avatar
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    A Job For Every Iraqi - WHY DOESN'T OUR GOVERNMENT PAY US?

    A Job For Every Iraqi
    by Steven Shafarman

    http://www.citizenpolicies.org/articles/iraq.html

    The United States has a duty, we all agree, to help the Iraqi people rebuild as a peaceful, stable, and democratic nation. At the same time, the Bush administration is under enor-mous pressure to minimize spending for Iraq’s reconstruction and to get quick results so U.S. forces can come home.

    Everyone knows it will not be easy. Democratic government requires a vast civic infrastructure: laws, courts, police, schools, banks, postal system, communications media, and more. These institutions must be created and run by Iraqis; even the appearance of being imposed or controlled by the United States is sure to raise problems. But after massive looting, weeks of war, and decades of oppression, many Iraqis are hurt, hungry, homeless, jobless. There are ethnic rivalries, distrust of former Baath party officials, self-proclaimed "leaders" competing for turf, and doubts about the role and intentions of U.S. forces.

    So how do we help the Iraqi people build a new Iraq? The simplest and most cost-effective approach is to hire them to do it. All of them.

    For some weeks, U.S. officials have given $20 – about half of the prevailing wage, which is $35 a month – as a one-time payment to Iraqi civil service workers who return to work. But what about everyone else?

    Iraq has a population of 24 million, although 42 percent are children; just 14 million are adults. So $20 a month for every adult Iraqi would cost less than $3.5 billion a year. Iraq’s oil royalties are estimated to be $10 to $15 billion a year; that, plus whatever the United States contributes, means plenty of money for a basic income along with substantial reconstruction.

    The concept of a guaranteed basic income is not new. Versions have been proposed for the United States by political and economic leaders as diverse as Richard Nixon, Martin Luther King Jr., George McGovern, Milton Friedman, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. In South Africa last year, a government commission recommended giving a monthly "basic income grant" of roughly $10 to every person age 7 or older — just enough to ensure that people with no other income can afford to eat, making it possible for them to be productive in school and at work.

    Something like that already exists in Alaska. Since the early 1980s, some of the royalties from oil production go into the Alaska Permanent Fund, which invests the money and pays an annual dividend to every resident. (The dividend in 2002 was $1,540.) The fund makes explicit the fact that Alaska’s oil belongs not to the government but to the people — just as President Bush, Colin Powell, and other government officials have said Iraq’s oil belongs to the Iraqi people. As owners, they should share directly in any profits.

    The basic income would promote local markets for food and shelter, and lessen reliance on national or international relief agencies. And it would ensure that every citizen could afford the time to participate in the hard work of democracy — staying informed, debating issues, choosing candidates, voting, holding office. For every Iraqi, sharing directly in oil royalties would promote a sense of national unity and identity, reducing ethnic tensions and instability.

    Even though basic income is universal and uncon-ditional, it is not a socialist idea. It preserves markets and private property; indeed, it would strengthen markets by providing everyone with the means to participate. It would supplement, not replace, income from jobs and other sources, leaving intact the incentives to work, earn, save, and invest.

    None of the oil-producing countries in the Middle East is a democracy or a free market. In every one, including Qatar and Kuwait, which are proclaimed to be the most advanced, oil royalties go to some ruling elite and there are serious inequalities, especially involving women. The basic income approach would not only help Iraq become the first oil-producing free market democracy in the region, but also a role model for its neighbors.

    Building a democratic Iraq is a job for every Iraqi. Hiring them with a basic income could be the fastest, simplest, and most cost-effective way to succeed.

    This was a special guest editorial in The Progress Report—Independent Non-Partisan Daily <http://www.progress.org>
    ÓSteven Shafarman
    Citizen Policies Institute
    steve@citizenpolicies.org

    RELATED: THE ENERGY NON-CRISIS: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 7167011147
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  2. #2

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    Something like that already exists in Alaska. Since the early 1980s, some of the royalties from oil production go into the Alaska Permanent Fund, which invests the money and pays an annual dividend to every resident. (The dividend in 2002 was $1,540.) The fund makes explicit the fact that Alaska’s oil belongs not to the government but to the people — just as President Bush, Colin Powell, and other government officials have said Iraq’s oil belongs to the Iraqi people. As owners, they should share directly in any profits.
    I don`t think we own the oil in Alaska anymore. This is long so copy it and watch it later if you have the time. It`s tough to watch, but I feel it`s the truth. Please pass it on.

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 7167011147
    No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.
    Abraham Lincoln

  3. #3
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    IMO, after nearly 8 years of policy of striking when there is no direct and imminent threat to the US as a preventive measure, no wonder the rest of the world is gunning for us. Perhaps it is time to get this country's fingers out of the the rest of the world's messes and concentrate on the Americans that are losing their jobs and are being sent to whereever there is a perceived threat. Evidently, policy is only based on cheap oil, nothing more.
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    I don`t think we own the oil in Alaska anymore. This is long so copy it and watch it later if you have the time. It`s tough to watch, but I feel it`s the truth. Please pass it on.

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 7167011147


    phwishes...Thank you for the link. It was well worth listening to.
    Lindsey Williams makes a lot of sense. I don't know how the US can possibly get out of this mess we now find ourselves in.
    "When injustice become law, resistance becomes duty." Thomas Jefferson

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