A universal dividend is the fundamental distribution system for socialism

This is a very brief translation of selected parts of this post in Chinese: 吕超：“均股分红”是社会主义的本质分配制度, which was published in April 2016 in China.

The ideas are very similar to that of a citizen ownership democracy. The writer calls it social capitalism.

"The capital is controlled by the people, with 1 share for every citizen. The citizens get their equal share of the profits through the universal dividend. The people will transform from the proletariat (propertyless group) under private capitalism and state capitalism into capital owners under social capitalism."

Translation

Title

A universal dividend is the fundamental distribution system for socialism, by Lv Chao. 4 Apr 2016.

Prologue

A universal dividend (citizen dividend) will unify the social interests of the community. It will enhance national unification, ethnic unity and social stability.

A universal dividend will establish a solid relationship between production and consumption. It is the most fundamental and most effective measure to address the cyclical economic crisis.

Three main distribution system of socialism

1. Distribution according to needs.

2. Equal and universal distribution.
This refers to the security of basic living conditions. Money is from the collective ownership of state-owned capital. This reflects the citizen right to the natural resources, and other accumulated resources of the country. This reflects the equal social status of citizens. This reflects the fundamental rights of citizens within the state.

3. Distribution according to effort / labour.

Three forms of capitalism

1. Private capitalism.

2. State capitalism.

The state has the unquestioned authority to distribute (as it likes).

3. Social capitalism

The capital is controlled by the people, with 1 share for every citizen. The citizens get their equal share of the profits through the universal dividend. The people will transform from the proletariat (propertyless group) under private capitalism and state capitalism into capital owners under social capitalism.

Reasons for a universal dividend

A universal dividend will solve the problem of unfair distribution.

Conclusion

A universal dividend is a revolutionary breakthrough in the theory of distribution systems. It will be embraced by the general public; it is bound to benefit the general public. After the implementation of universal dividend and a distribution system according to work, the socialist road will become better and better.

Universal cash distribution is adopted by lazy politicians

Some writers in China criticize the distribution of cash to everyone, e.g., in Sanya. They say those politicians are too lazy to do great works with the money and have taken the lazy path of returning money to the people.

Well, in that case, the world needs more lazy politicians.

Return our Citizen Dividend. "People need to quit demanding jobs and start demanding justice."

Why you have the right to a $5K dividend from Uncle Sam | Making Sen$e | PBS NewsHour: (Aug 27, 2014)

This post on citizen dividend has quite a few gems.

"Dividends from common wealth, by contrast, unite society by putting all its members in the same boat. The income everyone receives is a right, not a handout. This changes the story, the psychology and the politics."

"A national dividend system would be simple, fair and immensely popular. It would rest on the principle of shared ownership, not redistribution. Once set up, it would be market-based rather than tax-funded. And it could gain support across the political spectrum: conservatives from Sarah Palin to Bill O’Reilly have lauded Alaska’s dividends."

"Our times demand a reliable flow of supplementary income as well. The best way to provide that is to pay dividends to everyone from wealth that’s logically ours."

From progress.org (Aug 28, 2014), on the above post about citizen dividend:

"What’s needed is for regular people to feel enough self-esteem to demand a fair share of what’s already ours just like the rich feel when winning an enormous share of what’s not theirs. We’re not broke. There is a surplus. It just needs to be shared. People need to quit demanding jobs and start demanding justice."

When will more people around the world be more like Alaskans, demanding their share of their own state's resources?

When will the Alaskans be more Alaskan, demanding a better share of their own state's resources? They only get a quarter of what the state gets from the oil companies, which is a small fraction of the oil wealth. I think Alaskans get less than 10% of their oil wealth in citizen dividends.

Real socialism must have citizen dividend

"After all the suffering, people finally understand that real socialism will distribute the national-wealth income to all people. "

In recent years, China has produced quite a number of very interesting writings about citizen ownership and citizen dividend. One China city, Sanya, has even implemented an unconditional basic income for five years. The following writing by a university professor is one example, about socialism, citizen dividend and the relationship between the people and the authorities.

真正的社会主义必定全民分红_曾飞的博客_天涯博客: by 曾飞教授 2011-04-21

It is a very interesting article. Here are a few translated paragraphs.

It is hard to distinguish real and fake socialism. Workers have repeatedly been deceived by fake socialism, and undergone a lot of unnecessary suffering. After all the suffering, people finally understand that real socialism will distribute the national-wealth income to all people (including civil servants). The so-called national wealth includes not only public capital, but also land resources (land, minerals, forests, scenic areas, water resources, marine resources, etc.).

The income from the operation of national wealth cannot fall directly into the government pockets, but must be distributed as dividend to every person in the country, while the rest is used for continued investment. This not only upholds the people's rights to the common property. It is the most crucial measure to prevent the authorities morphing from being the servants of society to being the masters of society.

It is only by distributing the national wealth income to all people, that the economic rights of citizens will be guaranteed, that the distribution will be fair, and society can avoid polarization.

In short, Communists and all workers must unite to recapture the national-wealth income dividend rights that originally belonged to us!

Some people have expressed a fear that an unconditional basic income or a citizen dividend will lead to more government control over the people. The view here is the reverse. By making it universal to everyone, the authorities have no control over this. For example, the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend is handled separately from the government. 

Should Sanya city obey directives and stop its unconditional basic income?

Sanya is a beautiful city on Hainan Island, in Hainan Province, in China.

Without much fanfare, Sanya has been distributing a small unconditional basic income to its residents. The Chinese calls this "all citizen dividend". The amount is about 60 rmb per month per resident. It has been doing this for 5 years. This unconditional payment is small, but to the poor, it is still a meaningful amount. The payment is about twice a year (every six months). Since 2011, this has been a regular payment and part of the operating budget. 

In 2014, the payments covering 6 months reach 620,000 people and total 223.2 million rmb (that is 360 rmb per person). Over 5 years, Sanya city has distributed 1.29 billion rmb. Early in 2014, Sanya distributed an additional 200 rmb per person. According to one estimate, the amount is about 1000 rmb per resident annually. According to China Labour Bulletin, the minimum wage in Hainan is about 1000 to 1150 rmb. So the unconditional "all citizen dividend" is about 1 month of minimum wage. As a percentage of salary, this Sanya payment looks comparable to or even better than the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend  (US$900 in 2014).

Many people admire this Sanya city system and suggest that this could be done in other cities all over China. They highlight that this is really people equally sharing in the city's progress. Others say that returning wealth to the people is the right and just way to go. An analyst suggests that Xiamen city has a strong budget and can easily afford a similar "all citizen dividend" for its residents.

According to this online survey, 22695 (83%) support this unconditional cash distribution while 4396 (17%) are against it. If this survey is representative of people around the world, there is great hope for an unconditional basic income in many countries.

However, Sanya's unconditional basic income is under threat. 

A writer proposed that the payments should be legislated so that future payments will be according to the law instead of depending on the politicians' "mood and sense of generosity." Shortly after, in July 2014, Sanya announced that the payments will be modified and will no longer be unconditional. It will become a traditional targeted welfare payment. This is attributed to a directive from the Hainan Provincial government. As a result, only about one third of the residents will get paid, with a drastic drop in the total payment. 

Some see the Provincial directive as a defensive response to the popularity of Sanya's unconditional basic income. The central governments are afraid of more demands for other cities, provinces, or even at the national level. Some see the Provincial directive as a regression in the country's progress.

In comparison, Macau's unconditional cash payment has not be curtailed by the central government since Macau is a semi-autonomous "Special Administrative Region".

At this moment, it remains to be seen how the Sanya system will evolve eventually, and whether other cities will want to do the same.

References (in Chinese)

About citizen dividend in China: How do we make state enterprises really belong to all citizens?

A. How do we make state enterprises really belong to all citizens?

国企如何才能真正全民所有--博客中国: 作者：信力建    2014-03-17

It says currently state enterprises are effectively "officials' enterprises" under the full control of officials and hardly benefit citizens.

It is a very interesting post. (Try Google Translate)

B. Why can't our state enterprises' profits be distributed to all citizens as dividend?

为何我们国企利润不可以全民分红？   李俊 2014-01-02

It estimates that state enterprises' profit can give a yearly citizen dividend of $653 (China currency). Although this is nothing to the rich, it is a meaningful amount to the 135 million people in China who survive on less than US$1 a day. 

In addition, it argues from various perspectives that citizens really own the state enterprises. "From the legal perspectives, state enterprises belong to all citizens and should distribute dividend to all citizens."

"This change is not really about welfare for the poor. Most importantly, it clarifies the ownership of state properties."

This is another very interesting post.

China and Singapore. One wants to push high Gini coefficient higher

China and Singapore. One is worried about high Gini coefficient.

While China is worried about its high Gini coefficient (0,474) and wants to bring it lower, Singapore is not worried about its high Gini ceofficient (0.478) and wants to push it higher.

'Lee Hsien Loong, prime minister, said on Friday that if he could persuade 10 more billionaires to move to Singapore, he would, even if that worsened income inequality. That, he said, was “because [billionaires] bring business, they will bring new opportunities, they will open new doors, they will create new jobs”.'

Billionaires and their supercars add to Singapore inequality (July 7th 2013)

China and Singapore. One is worried about high Gini coefficient.

Gini coefficient release highlights China's resolve to bridge wealth gap CCTV News - CNTV English:

The Gini coefficient, a widely used measure of economic inequality, reached 0.474 in China in 2012, higher than the warning level of 0.4 set by the United Nations, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

China's first release of the Gini coefficient for the past decade demonstrated the government’s resolve to bridge the gap between the rich and poor.

In contrast to China, the EU countries have Gini coefficients of about 0.3.

In contrast to China, Singapore has a higher Gini coefficient (0.478), but the Singapore government is not worried.

The future of the country belongs to you. Yes. The present too.

Singapore's acting minister Chan Chun Sing told a group of young people, "The future of this country belongs to you."

Chairman Mao told a group of young Chinese the same thing in 1957, "China's future belongs to you."

Alaskans are even more idealistic. The young ones, even babies, own Alaska right now. They don't have to wait for the future.

Alaska pays an annual dividend to every resident regardless of age, as reported in the Alaska Dispatch:
"The oldest applicant was 107 years old, and the youngest was born "minutes before" the qualification deadline on December 31, 2011."

The future is here. For Alaskans.

The future is always in the future. Own your country now.

Singapore is a resource-rich country!!!

When people think of resource-rich country, they think of oil, minerals, gold or diamond mines.

For example, China has almost $23 trillion of resource wealth and is among the top 10 resource-rich countries. But China has a population of 1.3 billion people. The resource-wealth per capita is not much - only about $17,000 per citizen.

Why is Singapore a resource-rich country when it has zero oil, zero natural gas, zero mineral and zero timber? As basic economics show, the price of a resource depends on supply and demand. Singapore is resource-rich because it has very limited supply and very high demand. And resource can be things other than oil, gas, mineral or timber.

Take, for example, road space. This is a resource that is very limited in Singapore and that is in very high demand. As shown, the wealth from this limited road space resource is enough to provide every citizen with $500 in 2010 and $625 in 2011. The very limited resource includes land, road space, water, electricity, air wave, education opportunities and many others.

Excluding tiny states (Macau with 30 square km and Monaco with 2 square km), Singapore has the highest population density in the world. Singapore also has the highest ratio of millionaire households in the world. As Singapore continues to super-pack the country with more and more people and more and more millionaires, the demand for limited resources will continue to increase, with the resource wealth shooting up as well.

Singapore citizens own a very resource-rich country. Unlike oil and minerals which will get depleted, Singapore's resources last forever.

Singapore is a very resource-rich country. Singapore may be resource-poor in resource quantity, but it is definitely resource-rich in resource value per capita.

If Singapore becomes a citizen-ownership country, Singapore citizens stand to get a big citizen-ownership income year after year.