A basic needs guarantee

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June 2023 Magazine

June is our jobs issue when we look at labor markets, unusual jobs and developing economic trends. Our feature story is about Labor Union Consultant and Activist Mike Locker. We also feature working-class hero Bryan Apslund who is Operations Supervisor at the Des Moines Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Des Moines, Washington. 


A Universal Needs Basic Guarantee

There is growing interest in the concept of providing a basic income to all adults, unconditionally. The idea is even being tried out in various places. The goal is to provide an income floor for everyone, including especially those who are living in poverty. However, this is a costly, and poorly targeted approach to the basic problem for every human society, namely, how to ensure the satisfaction of our basic biological needs, of which there some fourteen distinct categories. Here I will propose that we concentrate on ensuring the end – meeting our biological survival and reproductive needs -- rather than promoting an insufficient means.