People, in general, want to improve their lives and the lives of their children and other loved ones. Guy Standing Read Quote
In the old 20th-century income distribution system, the shares of income going to capital, mainly in profits, and labor, in wages and non-wage benefits, were roughly stable. But that system is no more. Guy Standing Read Quote
Many in the precariat know they have to spend considerable time just waiting for opportunities to arise. Guy Standing Read Quote
Think of how much time is spent looking and applying for jobs. Some of those who have read my book on the precariat have told me they have applied for thousands of jobs. This is scarcely leisure; it is work. Guy Standing Read Quote
Public social services, infrastructural policies, and so on are vital. But a basic income should be part of a package of reforms. Guy Standing Read Quote
The Latin root of ‘precariousness’ is ‘to obtain by prayer.’ The precariat must ask for favours, for charity, to show obsequiousness, to plead with figures of authority. It is degrading and stigmatizing. Guy Standing Read Quote
Globalisation, technological change, and the move to flexible labour markets has channelled more and more income to rentiers – those owning financial, physical, or so-called intellectual property – while real wages stagnate. Guy Standing Read Quote
Chronic insecurity will not be overcome by minimum wage laws, tax credits, means-tested benefits, or workfare. Guy Standing Read Quote
Magna Carta only came into being in 1217, when the wording had been changed and parts of the original were extended in the Charter of the Forests. This complementary charter covered liberties granted to the common man, including rights to the commons, grazing, fishing, water, and firewood, and was perhaps the first ecological charter in history. Guy Standing Read Quote
Nobody should be allowed to fund political parties unless they pay at least 30% tax on all income above the median wage. If that rule applied, the Tory party would be bankrupted overnight. Guy Standing Read Quote
