Scott Santens
Editor of Basic Income Today
EDITOR’S PICKS
Why one Bay Area County Is Exploring Basic Income for Former Foster Youth
When Dontae Lartigue left foster care right before his 19th birthday in 2009, finding housing in Santa Clara County was one of his biggest obstacles. He struggled to find places he could afford on his $12 an hour salary at Walmart, and with a limited income and no rental history, he found landlords were often wary of returning his calls. So Lartigue, who is now 29 years old, ended up couch surfing or sleeping in his car. “Right now when
Latest Articles
Income Inequality
Amazon—and 56 Other Corporations—Took Your Tax Dollars
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Bernie Sanders, castigator of the one percent, is a millionaire now. So are Kamala Harris and …
Why we should all have a basic income.
Consider for a moment that from this day forward, on the first day of every month, around $1,000 is …
Family & Education Middle classes losing out to ultra-rich
Middle-class families are seeing their incomes stagnating as they are squeezed by the ultra-rich taking a bigger slice, says …
What happens if robots take the jobs? The impact of emerging technologies on employment and public policy
Automation is appearing everywhere. Ready or not, innovations like robotics, computerized algorithms, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, medical sensors and …
Pilots & Experiments
Google and GiveDirectly are creating a rapid response team to immediately provide unconditional cash to victims of the next natural disaster
Every natural disaster is different, and how people respond in their aftermath is different, too. For aid groups that …
The Future of Basic Income in Finland
The April 2019 elections in Finland saw a shift away from the status quo and the resulting government now …
Ontario Liberal leadership candidate Alvin Tedjo is promising to revive their Basic Income Pilot Project if the party is elected in 2022
Ontario Liberal leadership candidate Alvin Tedjo is promising to revive the Universal Basic Income Project, which was cut by …
County in California Looks at Basic Income for Young Adults
Recognizing that those leaving the Foster Care system are among the most vulnerable in Santa Clara County, Supervisor Dave …
The Social Debate
The Complicated Politics of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend
What if we just give people money? This is the question propelling several new books and that’s been taken …
Is Andrew Yang being unfairly ignored?
(CNN) Quick. Tell me the six highest-polling Democrats in the 2020 Democratic race. The first few are easy: Joe …
Why everyone deserves a right to recreation
What is it about Americans that makes us so afraid of admitting that people ought to have free time …
The Feminist Case for Andrew Yang’s Freedom Dividend
Andrew Yang may well be the most feminist candidate running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, although it might …
Social Justice
Student Debt Is Stopping U.S. Millennials from Becoming Entrepreneurs
Article originally published April 26, 2019. Up to 60% of millenials (soon to be the largest living adult generation) …
Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduces new bill that’s very close to being a universal basic income proposal
This article was orginally published on June, 6 2019. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) has released a plan to spend …
Why a governmental inquiry into endemic violence against women recommends a basic income for all Canadians as a call for justice
Article originally published on 6/11/2019. Cee-Jai got used to violence when she was young, first witnessing it when she …
Success Stories
My parents give me $2,333 a month
Article originally posted on Nov 12, 2018. Not long ago, my wife, a composer, asked me if I would …
Stockton woman says guaranteed income program has been life-changing
View Video at KCRA STOCKTON, Calif. (KCRA) —$500 a month with no strings attached. More than 100 Stockton residents …
Testimony of Kenya’s basic income beneficiaries
After the article “A Critical Poverty Eradication Experiment in Kenya”, published in the last issue of the BIEN News …
Lessons from a one-family basic income demonstration
Chuck Fassi, 49, a self-described introvert with a heavy New England accent, has spent much of the past two …
The Basics of UBI
Why Legendary Economists Have Liked Universal Basic Income.
Is socialism on the march in the U.S., as President Donald Trump warned in the State of the Union …
Why ‘Universal Basic Services’ is no alternative to Basic Income
Free ‘universal basic services’ has recently been advocated as a better alternative to a basic income, on the grounds that …
‘Universal Basic Income is the best way to distribute an equity stake in productivity’: James Felton Keith
New York’s first queer, black congressional candidate, James Felton Keith, tells The Sociable that a Universal Basic Income is …
The right-wing case for basic income
Article orginally published on June 11, 2019 • The idea for a universal basic income, or UBI, is increasingly …
Workforce Automation
Code-breaking quantum computers are significantly closer to reality than anyone suspected
Many people worry that quantum computers will be able to crack certain codes used to send secure messages. The …
Why are populists talking about trade instead of the tech revolution?
This week’s nightmare is the arrival of Boris Johnson; the autumn brings the Brexit watershed. Soon after, the 2020 …
Universal Basic Income and the Philosophy of Freedom in the Age of Automation
“Work is the best remedy for any shock,” wrote Arthur C. Clarke in his classic novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey. …
The future began four decades ago
If you’re an optimist about the robotic future, you likely hear talk that we’re all going to lose our …