Speaker Series:
Dr. Guy Standing
Common Dividends and the Politics of Time

Below is a biography of Dr. Standing and a summary of the event transcript by ChatGPT. Before this talk, Floyd Marinescu gave a short presentation on Dr. Standing’s influence on the Canadian basic income and common wealth movements. Click here to watch it.

Dr. Guy Standing is a Professorial Research Associate at SOAS University of London and a founding member and honorary co-president of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), a non-governmental organisation that promotes a basic income for all. Standing has written widely in the areas of labour economics, labour market policy, unemployment, labour market flexibility, structural adjustment policies and social protection. He used the term precariat to describe an emerging mass class characterised by insecurity and lack of any occupational identity. Since the 2011 publication of his book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, his work has focused on the precariat, unconditional basic income, deliberative democracy, and the commons.

Standing has authored numerous publications on these topics to critical acclaim, including The Politics of Time: Gaining Control in the Age of Uncertainty (2023), The Blue Commons: Rescuing the Economy of the Sea (2022), Battling Eight Giants: Basic Income Now (2020), Plunder of the Commons: A Manifesto for Sharing Public Wealth (2019), The Corruption of Capitalism: Why Rentiers Thrive and Work Does Not Pay (2016), and Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen (2017).

Summary by GPT-4

The event featured a conversation with Dr. Guy Standing, a prominent advocate for Universal Basic Income (UBI), and Floyd Marinescu, the founder of Common Wealth Canada. Here's a summary with key points:

Introduction

  • Dr. Guy Standing and Floyd Marinescu reunited after changes and developments since 2017.

  • Standing noted significant advancements in the basic income debate, with over 100 experiments worldwide and growing political interest.

Basic Income and Global Initiatives

  • Standing discussed advising and participating in basic income pilots across four continents.

  • He highlighted the unexpected centrality of basic income discussions due to a global economic crisis.

  • Specific projects include devising emergency basic income plans for the West Bank and Gaza, and for Ukraine as part of post-conflict rebuilding.

The Commons and Basic Income

  • Standing emphasized the historical and ecological importance of the commons, including land, minerals, and social structures, as collective human heritage.

  • He linked basic income to the commons, arguing for common dividends from the exploitation of common resources.

  • The concept of time, as conceptualized in ancient Greece, was discussed as an essential element in understanding labor, leisure, and the importance of "doing nothing" (skholē).

Challenges and Solutions

  • The precariat class, experiencing a loss of time control and access to commons, was highlighted as facing significant challenges.

  • Standing argued for basic income as a means of achieving common justice, enhancing freedom, and ensuring basic security.

  • The detrimental effects of conditional welfare systems and the necessity of dismantling them were stressed.

Basic Income Pilots and Effects

  • Results from various basic income pilots showed positive outcomes, including increased entrepreneurial activity, better health, and educational achievements.

  • The importance of basic income in fostering social solidarity and reducing petty crime was noted.

Commons Capital Fund Proposal

  • Standing proposed a commons capital fund, similar to the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, to fund a basic income through the revenues of exhaustible common resources.

  • He emphasized eco-fiscal strategies as crucial for addressing global warming and ensuring equitable distribution of wealth.

Q&A Session Highlights

  • Discussions included strategies for transitioning from current welfare systems to basic income, the global and local extents of commons, and the impact of artificial intelligence on the precariat.

  • The importance of commoning and mutualization in managing common resources and the potential for a society focused on shared activity and individuality.

Conclusion

  • The event concluded with a discussion on envisioning and working towards a society that values common wealth, basic income, and the principles of sharing and cooperation.

Before this talk, Floyd Marinescu gave a short presentation on Dr. Standing’s influence on the Canadian basic income and common wealth movements. Click here to watch it.