Mr. Dilthey, how did you get to the idea of Basic Income and how long do you deal with this topic?
In the early 1980’s I speculated about questions of value creation and automation as I visited a “politic regular table”. Already in that time we got to the conclusion, that wages are at least partly a shifting of the economic value creation. Because of a faster production, even in those days the effect of shifting the wages was not sufficient possible. So we came with our thoughts to the conclusion to introduce something like a “levy on value creation” and to pay the profit out of it should be paid to people helping the effect of shifting the wages.
In the 1990s I was driven by the “social question” (high unemployment, impoverishment of more and more classes of population and a growing disparity of incomes with simultaneously growing gross domestic product) to develop appropriate methods against these processes. In contrast to former concepts, at which rather economic thoughts were brought to the fore, at that time socio political and sociological solutions were on top.
I wanted to develop a social system that would work both at full employment and extremely high unemployment, related by automation, but without creating extreme social tensions.
At the beginning of the new century, there was already a model, but only fragmented and solely partly published.
The worldwide enforced restrictions of civil rights and liberties through governments (also in the cloak of the war against terrorism) and the one way measures in education and affirmative action, which are mostly connected to gainful employment, resulted in developing the concept of an “emancipating welfare state”, respectively a “jovial society” with Joerg Drescher.
Since that time I see Basic Income as inevitable tool for the emancipation of mankind. I understand emancipation in the way that a society educates each member to the effect dealing with the warranted liberties. This shows the title of my model, too, which differs only marginally from former attempts:
“The Dilthey-Model for forming an emancipating Unconditional Basic Income”
How do you see the development of the discussion about Basic Income in Germany?
If we disregard, that the idea of Basic Income is very old and these thoughts are not restricted to Europe, the discussion of forward thinkers in Germany about Basic Income were overshadowed by the German reunification 1989. The state funding “Aufbau Ost” showed temporary cyclical effects toward full employment and curbed the discussion about Basic Income enormously.
As the “Network Grundeinkommen” was founded by left-wings and green political powers, mostly such models were discussed, which substitute social benefits. They base on the Transfer-Limit Model from professor Helmut Pelzer and its derivates of Dieter Althaus (CDU) and the left party. A serious discussion about a Basic Income with an emancipating character doesn’t exist until today.
2005 surprised professor Goetz Werner the scene as lone fighter, while he promoted a Basic Income with emancipating attempts with a large-scale PR campaign (some guess the cost to half Million Euro). Meanwhile Goetz Werner renounced his former emancipating attempts and got closer to the models substituting social benefits, like that one from Mr. Althaus.
Superficially seen, the campaign was successful, because Goetz Werner could initiate a wide public discussion in German speaking countries. A few regional, cross-party and independent initiatives for Basic Income were founded. At the moment there are some direct candidates for the elections to the Bundestag endorsing Basic Income.
How do you estimate the “medial hype”, which Goetz Werner set up with his PR campaign?
I see it with laughing and crying eyes. Goetz Werner cast a spell over a lot, which don’t see or don’t want to see any differences between the models.
I would prefer to discuss first the idea about a jovial society and to display the emancipating Basic Income as that, what it is: an inevitable tool.
But a lot understand Basic Income as (personal) panacea, without including the effects to the society. Only that, what emerge around Basic Income, makes the world in connection with Basic Income a bit more worth living!
