Episode 45 - ISOBEL FRYE THINKS WE CAN AND MUST SPEND MORE ON SOCIAL SECURITY: CAN SHE CONVINCE YOU?

I invited Isobel Frye (Director, Studies in Poverty and
Inequality Institute) to weigh in on what is becoming an
internecine policy debate about unemployment, low growth and the
size of our welfare state.

Can we afford a Basic Income Grant? What would be its size, total
cost to the country and what mechanism would be used to
administer it? If the goal is ultimately to get people more
economically active and into the labour market, doesn't an
increased debt burden make it harder to get the economy growing
sustainably around 5% and in a way that is conducive to
unleashing jobs in strategic sectors of the economy, and in
small- and medium-enterprises in particular? Or does BIG not
entail a greater debt burden over the long-term? 

These and related policy issues were the focus of this latest
edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser