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I'm curious to see how Finland's basic income system turns out. I think doing so would drop the omnipresent fear of being destitute and homeless, which would d

I'm curious to see how Finland's basic income system turns out. I think doing so would drop the omnipresent fear of being destitute and homeless, which would do a lot to improve mental health.

fsloth 11y ago
Finland already has a quite thorough social welfare system - no-one is homeless unless they have a bag of other problems than a lack of income. Mental health - not so good. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide... You will notice Finland has way more suicides than US.
- vesinisa 11y ago
  US is a huge territory, and differences in suicide rates vary quite much across both Europe and the US by region. Finland has only marginally higher suicide rate than US (14.8 vs 12.1) if you consider that Alaska and many states in the Western US have rates around and above 20.0 (per 100,000): http://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/ http://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/
- RankingMember 11y ago
  I think having a basic income would do more than ensure people have a place to live, as the social welfare system you mentioned gives them; it'd guarantee a minimum of dignity. People in homeless housing/shelters are certainly better off than in the streets, but, imagining myself in their position, I think I'd still feel like an outcast, out of step with the rest of society. If there was a way to give people a base level of dignity directly, that'd be the way to go, but I think basic income is an interesting avenue to try to do this.
- flubert 11y ago
  Rates of homelessness: US: 633782 / 314000000 => 202 homeless per 100,000 Finland: 7877 / 5363000 => 147 homeless per 100,000 Based off of numbers from (YMMV): http://www.housingfirst.fi/en/housing_first/homelessness_in_finland http://www.housingfirst.fi/en/housing_first/homelessness_in_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_Sta... https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=population+of+usa+in+2012 https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=population+of+usa+in+20... https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=population+of+finland+in+2010 https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=population+of+finland+i...
  - david927 11y ago
    I don't about those numbers. My only guess is that Finland's is vastly over-stated and America's vastly understated. The wealthiest countries of Europe, which includes Finland, really don't have any homeless to speak of. Whereas in America, it's a huge epidemic, including even small towns.
nawitus 11y ago
Finland hasn't decided to switch to basic income system. It's been reported that there will be basic income trial, but even that's not certain.

I'm curious to see how Finland's basic income system turns out. I think doing so would drop the omnipresent fear of being destitute and homeless, which would do a lot to improve mental health.

fsloth 11y ago

Finland already has a quite thorough social welfare system - no-one is homeless unless they have a bag of other problems than a lack of income. Mental health - not so good. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide... You will notice Finland has way more suicides than US.

vesinisa 11y ago
US is a huge territory, and differences in suicide rates vary quite much across both Europe and the US by region. Finland has only marginally higher suicide rate than US (14.8 vs 12.1) if you consider that Alaska and many states in the Western US have rates around and above 20.0 (per 100,000): http://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/ http://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/
RankingMember 11y ago
I think having a basic income would do more than ensure people have a place to live, as the social welfare system you mentioned gives them; it'd guarantee a minimum of dignity. People in homeless housing/shelters are certainly better off than in the streets, but, imagining myself in their position, I think I'd still feel like an outcast, out of step with the rest of society. If there was a way to give people a base level of dignity directly, that'd be the way to go, but I think basic income is an interesting avenue to try to do this.
flubert 11y ago
Rates of homelessness: US: 633782 / 314000000 => 202 homeless per 100,000 Finland: 7877 / 5363000 => 147 homeless per 100,000 Based off of numbers from (YMMV): http://www.housingfirst.fi/en/housing_first/homelessness_in_finland http://www.housingfirst.fi/en/housing_first/homelessness_in_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_Sta... https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=population+of+usa+in+2012 https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=population+of+usa+in+20... https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=population+of+finland+in+2010 https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=population+of+finland+i...
- david927 11y ago
  I don't about those numbers. My only guess is that Finland's is vastly over-stated and America's vastly understated. The wealthiest countries of Europe, which includes Finland, really don't have any homeless to speak of. Whereas in America, it's a huge epidemic, including even small towns.

nawitus 11y ago

Finland hasn't decided to switch to basic income system. It's been reported that there will be basic income trial, but even that's not certain.