Re:Japan's Growing Poverty Defies Glib Explanations
by AnimalMuppet on Wednesday April 27, 2016 @01:31PM
(#11582535)
If I understand this correctly, basic income could eliminate poverty (by that specific definition). It would need to pay people half the median income, but tax the median income at a rate that means that exactly offsets the basic income payment (and, probably, tax higher incomes at higher rates).
"The poverty rate is the ratio of the number of people who fall below the poverty line and the total population; the poverty line is here taken as half the median household income."
This means that if the middle class is 5% better off after one year and the lower class is only 2% better off, then the poverty rate will go up. Eventhough all households are doing better.
The same goes in reverse. If the middle class is 5% worse off after one year and the lower class is only 2% worse off, then the poverty rate will go down. Eventhough everyone is doing worse.
This does not mean that the number is meaningless; it just cannot stand on its own.
Secondly. Japan is much nicer with those bad things that hurt the lower classes in other societies:
Crime is much lower, relatively few people in prisons. And the public school system is of very high standard.