Scott Santens
Editor of Basic Income Today
EDITOR’S PICKS
Tennessee General Assembly passes Guaranteed Basic Income Act for eligible residents
This legislation seeks to address economic disparities and the growing concerns surrounding job displacement due to automation.
Latest Articles
What Would the Proposed Basic Income Pilot in Greater Manchester Mean for the UK?
If we are to find alternative ways to tackle poverty, we need to be able to test ideas like UBI efficiently and effectively.
I Worked Hard My Entire Life — Now I’m 70 And Broke. Something Has To Change In This Country.
“I don’t own a house. My IRA is long gone. The only thing my kids are likely to inherit right now is a pretty good object lesson in what not to do financially.”
OpenAI declares AI race “over” if training on copyrighted works isn’t fair use
By Ashley Belanger See original post here. OpenAI is hoping that Donald Trump’s AI Action Plan, due out this
Income Inequality
Most Americans can’t afford life anymore — and they just don’t matter to the economy like they once did
Burns tries to stretch every dollar to maximize their quality of life on the family’s limited income.
Top 1 Percent Has Sapped $79T in Wealth From Bottom 90 Percent Since 1975
In 2023 alone, $3.9 trillion was sapped from the bottom 90 percent— enough to give every worker a $32,000 raise.
Wealth inequality risks triggering ‘societal collapse’ within next decade, report finds
Growing wealth inequality in the UK could be a “major driver of societal collapse” within the next decade, according to a new report.
Pilots & Experiments
O’Gorman calls for basic income for artists scheme to be extended in Ireland
The Greens’ most recent stint in government may have ended in tears for the party, but their legacy of securing a basic universal income for artists has been hailed as one of the most transformative events for the Irish arts industry in decades.
Can GiveDirectly Show the Value of Universal Basic Income?
GiveDirectly has delivered more than $800 million to over 1.6 million people, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa. Now it is experimenting with, and learning from, cash payments to recipients in the United States.
Montana legislators propose Work Protection Act to ban local guaranteed income programs
House Bill 604 represents a significant shift in how guaranteed income programs may be approached in Montana, emphasizing state control over local initiatives.
The Social Debate
New Brunswick poverty reduction plan stops short of universal income support
The threat of a recession has prompted renewed calls for some kind of income support from labour and social justice groups.
A basic income can be a strong investment in mental health
Over half of Canadians feel “financially paralyzed” by the cost-of-living crisis, according to a recent poll. As life becomes more unaffordable for more people, we need governments to create policies that will improve public health and well-being.
Guaranteeing basic income in Canada could cut poverty by 40% and cost only $3.6 billion: PBO
The PBO analysis says the number of hours worked by guaranteed income recipients could drop slightly — up to 1.4 per cent.
Success Stories
Lawmakers look to expand California’s guaranteed income program
California started a $35 million guaranteed income program in 2023, giving people monthly checks for 12 to 18 months with no requirements on how to spend them. Now, some lawmakers are looking to find permanent funding for it.
Two cities tried basic income for formerly incarcerated people
Six hundred dollars a month was the boost some formerly incarcerated people needed to rent apartments, cover unexpected expenses, and land steady jobs.
UBI Taiwan’s single-parent basic income reaches a new ‘milestone’
UBI Taiwan hosted a press conference to spotlight the progress of its basic income pilot program for single-parent households.
The Basics of UBI
The Freedom From Want and Basic Income
Human beings are not game pieces. We are not theoretical abstractions. We are animals. And like all animals we have needs that must be met or we will suffer greatly and die.
Universal basic income: ‘The power to say no and the freedom to say yes’
Scott Santens is the founder and CEO of the U.S.-based Income to Support All (ITSA) Foundation, and has been researching and advocating for Universal Basic Income (UBI) since 2013.
Study Universal Basic Income at the University of Sydney
In 2025, the the School of Social and Political Sciences (SSPS) at the University of Sydney will offer the first unit of study focused on Universal Basic Income (UBI) to be taught at a university in Australasia.
Workforce Automation
Kamala Harris Mentions UBI at AI Conference
Former Vice President Kamala Harris showed up at a conference about artificial intelligence this week to urge the people most invested in it to work on two more organic features: trust and empathy.
Major Asia bank to cut 4,000 roles as AI replaces humans
Permanent staff are not affected by the cuts. The bank’s outgoing chief executive Piyush Gupta also said it expected to create around 1,000 new AI-related jobs.
Top AI Investor Says Goal is to Crash Human Wages
American billionaire investor casually proclaimed that AI must “crash” everyone’s wages before it can deliver us an economic utopia.