THE GUARANTEED INCOME

The concept of the guaranteed income takes the twin hurdles of cybernetics and abundance in this thoughtful symposium which views both the potentials and possible shortcomings of insuring a certain income to each member of our society. The book ""proposes the establishment of new principles specifically designed to break the link between Jobs and income,"" a step which must be made through the government since it alone is concerned ""with every member of society and with the adequate functioning of the total socio-economic system."" Contributors scan the present and future of a computer-run economy in which fewer Jobs at a lower level are available; weigh the responsibility of government for individual income. They consider the ability of man to deal with the effects of a guaranteed income, one affirmatively, one negatively (Fromm sees it as a potential for liberation of human effort; William Vogt fears further population explosion). The guaranteed income is seen as helpful to private enterprise. It is also viewed as the latest in a series of increasingly profound reorganizations that Western society is making in order to distribute increasing production. On the whole the book accentuates the positive while remaining a considered assessment of a vanguard concept.