Kate McFarland, a News Editor for BIEN, has been awarded a $24,000 grant by the Economic Security Project to focus on this work throughout 2017.
Of the grant, McFarland has the following to say: “As a reporter on the basic income movement, my primary task is to present accurate information in a clear and objective manner. With the movement gaining incredible momentum in world plagued by clickbait headlines and sensationalized reporting, this task is more important than ever. It’s a challenging and demanding job, and increasing my knowledge, building new connections, and perfecting my skills as a reporter has been an ongoing process for me since I took the plunge into writing for Basic Income News in early 2016. With the Economic Security Project grant, I’ll be able to further expand the scope and depth of my reporting, and hopefully help to bring other lasting improvements to the important work being done by Basic Income News and BIEN.”
In addition to McFarland’s role as a writer and editor for Basic Income News, she is a member of the Executive Committee of the Basic Income Earth Network, and the Secretary of the US Basic Income Guarantee Network .
The Economic Security Project describes itself as “a two year fund to support exploration and experimentation with unconditional cash stipends.” The project uses donations to fund academic research, basic income campaigns at both state and local levels, and cultural projects related to economic security.
The Economic Security Project is co-chaired by Natalie Foster, an expert on the future of work with the Institute for the Future, Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, and Dorian Warren, a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and President of the Center for Community Change Action. Notable founding signatories include Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator (whose proposed basic income research we have covered here), Scott Santens, a well-known writer and advocate for basic income, and Andy Stern, President Emeritus of the Service Employees International Union (whose recent book on basic income we have covered here), among many others.
McFarland covered the launch of the Economic Security Project for Basic Income News here. As a founding signatory herself, she was also invited to participate in a special series of blog posts honoring the launch. Her “call to fellow supporters” (available here) makes the case for a multifaceted approach to investigating basic income, as well as clarity of understanding of what empirical studies can tell us and what values they imply.
McFarland graduated from the Ohio State University in 2015 with a PhD in Philosophy and a master’s degree in Statistics. She taught philosophy for a year before leaving to concentrate on her work for BIEN. McFarland started writing for Basic Income News in March of 2016, before her election to the Executive Committee of BIEN in July.
Photo: Kate McFarland
I’m in. Sign me up!
Please do a cash flow projection to show financial plausibility. I wrote three work/tech 2050 scenarios and wanted to include when the basic inocme becomes financially sustainable, but could not find aany cash flow proejcts. I am already getting the newsletter, hence I did not ck the box below
Basic income will be self financing as those with money will spend it, creating jobs and those who want to start a business have a financial safety net. In the UK, once they leave the EU and stop foreign aid except for disaster situations, there will be enough.
There is no alternative except to destroy every robot to preserve human jobs.
Those who start new business will create wealth. Money goes round!
The one way for all governments to make this idea work is to fund it with NEW MONEY, freshly minted, not tax monies.
____The expanding GDP in all successful nations needs additional money in circulation to assist with the increased flow of goods and products and produce. So far, no nation has ever managed to add NEW MONEY into the world economy. They always call it debt that has to be paid back.
____Also, they always fund these programs from tax monies, not from NEW MONEY that later becomes tax money paid by the increased taxable incomes being generated.
____Also, these NEW MONEY funds, (from the Grass-Roots-Up,) ought to be distributed evenly to every adult person in a nation, not to just one group or another. It would become a civic responsibility,( not a :basic income,) for individuals to put the NEW MONEY into circulation from right where they happen to be.
Hi
I am a fan of “The $30,000 Solution” by Robert R. Schutze, Ph.D.
What a great little book about ‘A guaranteed annual income for every American’.
I like the amount suggested as is about twice what welfare is currently in New Zealand.
And another thing; $30,000 isn’t a lot of money, just ask a rich person,
The ‘economic model’ of a country should work for all citizens including children. The current model just keeps stuffing rich people with money.
Here’s my vision for “The IDEAL Community of the Future” no poor and no crime among us.
Keep up the good work.