Question: The first question is about universal basic income in Korea. The next presidential election in Korea will be in March 2022. Major parties are in the process of the election of their representative candidates for the next president in Korea. The presidential service period in Korea is five years with just one time or one period. One of the hardest issues with pros and cons during the process is universal basic income for Korea. Mr Lee Jae-myung, Governor, pledges to distribute universal basic income to all citizens if he is elected. He is one of the major candidates for the next president. He wants to practice this universal basic income with a small amount during the five presidential years. US 250 dollars yearly proposed in 2003 and up to 1000 dollars per person in 2026, up to 2000 yearly for young persons and 6000 yearly per person for a long-term plan for the future. Can you comment on this universal basic income plan for Korea?
Answer from the Ascended Master Saint Germain through Kim Michaels. This answer was given during the 2021 Webinar – Moving Toward Golden Age Relationships.
Well, as we have said before, it is part of the steps towards the golden age that some of the modern democracies begin to experiment with this universal basic income. There are many reasons for this. First of all, as we have said, that it frees up some people to pursue their spiritual goals or pursue personal healing. But also, it will actually improve the economy, contrary to what some people believe.
Naturally, each nation needs to do this based on their culture, their tradition, the mindset in the nation and also based on the economic situation, what can they afford to do. This is something that the plan that is put forth right now is not likely to be the final plan for Korea. There needs to be input from different sides and there needs to be a more careful consideration. But the plan that is there now is a good first step. It is a good foundation for debate and then gradually you can arrive at a more practical realistic proposal.
We encourage, of course, the debates and we are happy to say that there are indeed quite a number of people in Korea who have at least some openness to the golden age ideas that I am seeking to bring forth. This does not mean that the way these things are implemented in Korea should be implemented in the same way in other nations, because as I said, it is individual for each nation. But as long as there are people who are open to these ideas then I will, of course, work with them and how it can be implemented in their specific situation.
Naturally, you need to have some practical, very down-to-earth considerations about what does it actually take to live a very modest lifestyle in our country? How much money does a person need to have per year in order to survive at a minimum income level? And is it economically feasible with our current economy to pay that amount out to all people?
You also, of course, need to take into consideration the impact that this will have on the economy. How will it grow the economy that all people have a certain income and therefore, at least in some cases, will have more money to spend than they have right now where they have no income or are dependent on family members for their sustenance.
You can see here that if you look at this historically, you will see that there are many of the more developed nations in the world who today provide a pension, a public pension for older people, for people over a certain age. This, as we talked about, is so they are no longer dependent on their children for their survival and so that the children do not have that burden of taking care of their parents.
If you go back historically, you will see that there was a time where some nation started debating this universal pension and there were naysayers who immediately started saying: “Oh, we cannot afford this, there is no way the economy can sustain this.” But you can see that the economy has been able to sustain it. It has actually grown from it because when people have more money to spend, businesses make more money. People who work pay more taxes, businesses pay more taxes and the entire economy grows – both the private economy and the public economy grows. The same in some nations with public health care, with unemployment benefits, with sick leave and even social benefits or social welfare programs. It simply grows the economy and when the economy grows, there is money to provide these services.
Copyright © 2021 Kim Michaels