Letter to the editor: Guaranteed Livable Income doesn’t force anything on people

Posted

A Guaranteed Livable Income (GLI) isn’t a government mandate telling people how to live. No, of course not. It only determines how much you should be allowed to earn to live. It forces nothing on anyone. It simply ensures that survival isn’t conditional on making someone else a profit. Making a profit is core to any business's survival. You aren’t hired because a business wants to make sure how much YOU profit, but how much the business can to survive and grow. Jordan Slach's proposal is just one more kink in the armor of capitalism. It’s got nothing to do with fairness. Capitalism has made us the wealthiest, freest and most powerful nation in history. Pulling more people out of poverty than any other system. Anyone who doubts the effectiveness of capitalism only needs to walk to their nearest grocery store and take a peek at the thousands of items to pick from at their fingertips, in any given day or time. Every major economic distortion we hate today (unaffordable housing, medical costs, tuition, credentialism) traces directly to government interference, not market failure. Adding a Guaranteed Livable Income risks becoming another interference, even if sold as “fixing” the others.

Monty Winton
LaCenter

•••

Letters To The Editor

Readers are encouraged to express their views by writing to the editor of The Reflector. Letters are limited 500 words. Deadline is noon Thursday. Writers are limited to two letters per calendar quarter. All letters must be signed with name, address, plus phone number for verification. Items submitted are subject to editing and will become the property of this newspaper. Opinions expressed in the Letters to the Editor section of this newspaper do not necessarily reflect those of The Reflector or its staff.

Email: letters@thereflector.com

Mail: The Reflector, Attention: Letters to the Editor,
209 E Main St., Suite 121, Battle Ground, WA 98604