Karl Widerquist’s list of Media Appearances

Karl Widerquist’s list of Media Appearances

On this page, I attempt to keep an updated list of media appearances, big or small; basic income related or not; audio, video, or text; starting with the most recent. It’s not exhaustive, but it’s extensive.

  1. Interview by Enno Schmidt with Prof. Dr. Karl Widerquist on basic income issues. Enno Schmidt, Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies, Oct 1, 2021
  2. UBI – How much should it be and how do we pay for it? Michael Baxter, Techopian Meets, September 19, 2021
    Reposted as Universal basic income; what level should it be at how do we fund it? Michael Baxter, Techopian, September 19, 2021
  3. Universal Basic Income and Property Rights. Interview of Karl Widerquist by Sam Barton. Talk of Today Podcast. YouTube, Aug 6, 2021
  4. UBI and the Dignity of Work. By Techopian Team, Techopian, August 3, 2021
  5. Why is Universal Basic Income a good idea? Techopian Meets YouTube Channel, July 14, 2021
  6. The Prehistory of Private Property (video 49:00). By Karl Widerquist, Session 8: Why Private Property? II Conference, Centre de théorie politique, June 25, 2021
  7. American workers are refusing to take bad jobs — and that’s good for everyone, economists say. By Matthew Rozsa, Salon.com, June 19, 2021
  8. Economic and Ethical Arguments for Basic income (video 45:54). Session from the North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress. Speakers: Alex Howlett, Karl Widerquist. Moderator, Michael Howard, June 18, 2021
  9. Lessons From Alaska (video 1:02:15). Presentation by Karl Widerquist followed by panel discussion with Cliff Groh, Michael Howard, and Bethany Anne Burum. Moderated by Alex Howlett. Boston Basic Income #156, June 16, 2021
  10. Community & Technology (video 58:21). Panel Discussion with Stu Reid, Diana Blackwell, Enno Schmidt, Ruth Westcott, and Karl Widerquist. StreamingUniversity, June 16, 2021
  11. My Yang Gang Diary (video 1:20:30). Juhl Media Documentary, June 15, 2021
  12. Introduction to Indepentarianism (video 52:05). Karl Widerquist explaining his research to a class in Contemporary Political Thought. YouTube, recorded February 21, 2021, posted June 13, 2021
  13. Essential California: A growing enthusiasm for basic income programs. By Jaclyn Cosgrove, The Los Angeles Times, June 4, 2021
  14. A Critical Analysis of Basic Income Experiments: Presentation and Discussion of the Book (audio 1:15:17). By Karl Widerquist, Karl Widerquist YouTube Channel, recorded April 9, 2019 at Georgetown University-Qatar, posted May 27, 2021
  15. The Case for Universal Basic Income in Six Minutes (video). By Karl Widerquist. YouTube, 24 May 2021
  16. Unconditional Basic Income: Can we afford it? Seminar hosted by Catarina Neves, presentations by Karl Widerquist and Pedro Teixeira, discussion by Filipe Duarte and Susana Peralta. University of Minho and Nova School of Business and Economics Policy Knowledge Center, May 20, 2021
    Reposted on YouTube (Video 2:07:16)
  17. Dan Schneider Video Interview #312 (video). Interview of Karl Widerquist by Dan Schneider, Cosmoetica, YouTube, May 19, 2021
  18. The Case for Five New States. By Karl Widerquist, OpenDemocracy, May 5, 2021
  19. Why Private Property Conference – Final Roundtable (audio). With Karl Widerquist, Hillel Steiner, and Jean-Fabien Spitz. Recorded June 21, 2017, posted April 28, 2021 (Audio)
  20. Prehistory of Private PropertyThe Prehistory Of Private Property with Karl Widerquist. Interview by Austin Mackell, Fair Go – Australian Basic Income Discussion Group, April 7, 2021 (video, 1:32:40)
    Basic Income, Social Justice, and the Power to Say NO. Posted May 2, 2021 (video excerpt, 3:24)
    The “Mutual” Advantage of Private Property: Whose Reality? Posted May 9, 2021 (video excerpt, 7:57)
    Basic Income: A *Realistic* Means of Production: Karl Widerquist answers the question, is giving people direct access to the land a reasonable alternative to Basic Income. Posted May 16, 2021 (video excerpt, 3:14)
    The Imposition of the Property System: An Outline. Fair Go Australian Basic Income Discussion Group, posted May 23, 2021 (video excerpt 12:09)
    Can Leftists Speak of Liberty? Fair Go Australian Basic Income Discussion Group, post May 30, 2021 (video excerpt 3:38)
  21. Basic Income and Automation (video 1:20:42). Session at the 2019 NABIG Congress). USBIG—official YouTube Channel. Filmed June 16, 2019, posted March 31, 2021
  22. A Global Look at Universal Basic Income with Karl Widerquist (audio 38:38). Interview by John Torpey for the International Horizons Podcast – Ralph Bunche Institute. March 29, 2021 (Audio with transcript)
    -Also available on YouTube (video 28:38)
  23. Karl Widerquist: Top podcast episodes. Listen Notes, March 29, 2021
  24. Coalition responds to Geingob’s Basic Income Grant claims. By Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition of Namibia, Namibian Economist, March 26, 2021What could Trump do to tank the economy out of vengeance? What Republicans have done for years. By Matthew Rozsa. Salon.com, November 28, 2020
  25. There are economic reasons that Trump’s coup attempt won’t work, experts say. By Matthew Rozsa, Salon.com, November 16, 2020
    Preprinted by Alternet.org,
  26. Pourquoi je marche pour le Revenu de Base. By Karl Widerquist. Translation by Pierre Madden, Revenu de Base Villeray, November 8, 2020
    Pierre Madden

    Pierre Madden, who translated and delivered the speech, “Pourquoi je marche pour le Revenu de Base”

  27. Presidents presiding over recessions usually lose in a landslide. Why didn’t Trump? By Matthew Rozsa. Salon.com. November 5, 2020
    Reprinted by RawStory.com, November 7, 2020
  28. Calls for Universal Basic Income increase as government support fails those most in need. By Jasmine Norden, the Canary, 2nd November 2020
  29. Karl Widerquist and Mathew Schmid (video). An interview for UBI Discussions: N2K Kneed to Know by Tree Media, Conversations on Basic Income, posted October 2020
  30. Boston Basic Income #122: Moral Framing (video). By Alex Howlett, Boston Basic Income, Oct 7, 2020
    Also available as a podcast
  31. Karl Widerquist asks, “Who Should Own Property?” followed by the Basic Income Panel discussion with Caterine Lindman and Jessie Golem (video 1:52:18). By Climate Healers, September 20, 2020
    Reposted on Karl Widerquist’s YouTube Channel, May 26, 2021
  32. A Conversation with Income Movement Leaders. Hosted by Ching Juhl, with panelists: Michael Lewis, Diane Pagen, and Karl Widerquist. Streamed live on Sep 15, 2020
  33. Universal basic income gains support during the pandemic. By Charlotte Gifford, World Finance, September 14, 2020
  34. The US is experiencing a “K-shaped” economic recovery. Here’s what that means. By Matthew Rozsa, Salon.com, September 9, 2020
  35. Boston Basic Income #116: Power to Say No (video). Panel discussion hosted by Alex Howlett, Boston Basic Income, YouTube, Aug. 26, 2020
    Also available as a podcast
  36. Revisiting Universal Basic Income. By Avneet Singh, News Talk Florida, August 26, 2020
  37. Could universal basic income work in the US? Economists look to a test case — in Alaska. Matthew Rozsa. Salon.com, August 23, 2020
  38. Supporting People, the Environment, UBI (video interview). By Blair Walsingham (host) and Karl Widerquist (interviewee), Its Your Vote (Episode 6), Blair For Congress, YouTube, August 21, 2020
  39. Capitalist Nursery Fables: The Tragedy of Private Property, and the Farce of Its Defense. By Kevin Carson, Center for a Stateless Society, August 19th, 2020
  40. The surprising economic consequences of the coin shortage. By Matthew Rozsa, Salon.com, August 17, 2020
  41. Basic income could virtually eliminate poverty in the United Kingdom at a cost of £67 billion per year. By Karl Widerquist, OpenDemocracy, 14 August 2020
    Reprinted by Basic Income Today, 25 August 2020
    Reprinted by Resilience, 4 September 2020
    Reprinted by BasicIncome.org, 5 September 2020
  42. The Universal Basic Income Debate (video). By Petar Josic (host) and Marco Annunziata and Karl Widerquist (debators), Digi-Debates, Aug 13, 2020

  43. Debunking the UBI Myths (video). By Jon Munitz, the Hill of Roses, August 11, 2020.
  44. GU-Q’s study finds basic income could virtually eliminate poverty in UK. By the Peninsula: Qatar’s Daily Newspaper, 28 July, 2020
  45. A Safety Net Trifecta: Universal Banking, Bonds, and Basic Income. By Aaron Price, Progressive Capitalism, Medium, Aug 3, 2020
  46. Basic Income Could Virtually Eliminate Poverty in the UK at the Cost of 3.4% of the GDP, Says New Research From Georgetown University. By Al Bawaba Business, Al Bawaba, July 27th, 2020
  47. An Analysis of a Basic Income Scheme Proposed for the UK. By Malcolm Torry, Basic Income News, BasicIncome.org, July 23, 2020
  48. This is the moment for Universal Basic Income – here’s how it could work. By Paul Mason, the New Statesman, 22 July 2020
  49. Workerism Must Die. By Austin G Mackell. Medium, July 21, 2020
  50. Basic Income Guarantee: A Pilot in Hudson. By Dalvin Aboagye, The River: Hudson Valley News Room, July 2, 2020
  51. Video: Beyond Return – On the transformational potential of UBI, By Andra Bria (host) with panelists Karl Widerquist, Astha Kapoor, and Eric Wycoff Rogers, Beyond Return, YouTube, June 27, 2020
  52. Conversation with Karl Widerquist (video). By Larry Liu. Mr. Liu’s Opinion, June 24, 2020
    -Reposted as an audio podcast in two parts: Part 1, Part 2, By Larry Liu on Soundcloud, June 24, 2020
  53. A Conversation with Karl Widerquist (video). By Ching Juhl (host). Juhl Media, YouTube, June 22, 2020
  54. Basic Income Tea: #FutureOfWork: Business, but NOT as usual (video). By Antonis Triantafyllakis, Basic Income Tea – Sunday Webinars, Universal Basic Income-Europe, Sunday, 21 June, 2020
  55. ‘The Prehistory of Private Property’: Karl Widerquist introduces his new book with Grant McCall (video). By Karl Widerquist, Worldwide 9th Meeting of UBI Advocates and UBI Networks, YouTube, Recorded June 9th, 2020. First broadcast: June 14th 2020
  56. United States and Basic Income & Covid (video). Louise Haagh, Sarath Davala, and Jamie Cooke (hosts) in conversation with Karl Widerquist and Scott Santens, BIEN Conversations, June 5, 2020
  57. Universal Basic Income Debate (video). Hosted by Jon Munitz, The Hill of Roses Podcast, May 27, 2020
    -Also available on YouTube (video 50:55)
  58. The Power to Say No (an audio interview with Karl Widerquist 1:33:19). By Mila & Ken of the Unacceptable Podcast, May 16, 2020
    -Also available on YouTube (video 1:33:19)
  59. With economic doom looming, maybe it’s time for a Universal Basic Income. By Seamus Allen, the Watchdog, May 11, 2020
  60. A Guide to Universal Basic Income. By Oshan Jarow, Musing Mind, May 9, 2020
  61. Universal Basic Income and the Capitalist Production of Consciousness. By Oshan Jarow. Music Mind, May 1, 2020
  62. That Luck Matters More Than Talent: A Strong Rationale for UBI. By Richard Carrier, RichardCarrier.info, April 18, 2020
  63. Universal Basic Income and the Coronavirus Crisis (video interview of Karl Widerquist). By Fabian Wendt, PPE in the Time of Pandemic series by the Philosophy, Politics and Economics program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, April 17th, 2020
    -Reposted on YouTube as “Universal Basic Income” by UNC-Chapel Hill (audio 58:40)
    -Reposted on YouTube as “Universal Basic Income and the Coronavirus Crisis.Karl Widerquist’s YouTube Channel (audio, 58:41)
  64. Private Property,” video lecture by Karl Widerquist, Boston Basic Income #98, Hosted by Alex Howlett, Apr 15, 2020
    The Sepctrum of Economic Freedom

    The Sepctrum of Economic Freedom

  65. YouTube Accidentally Permanently Terminated My Account. By Alex Howlett, Medium, April 11, 2020
  66. Renta Básica Universal: un debate que trasciende la emergencia del coronavirus. By María Camila Hernández. France24, April 10, 2020
  67. Pandemic crisis should not supplant need for action on climate. By Cathy Orlando, The Sudbury Star. April 7, 2020
  68. How the Social Contract Maintains Societies. By a_kodama, Medium, April 13, 2020
  69. Impacts of Covid 19 and UBI Discussion. By Ali Mutlu Köylüoğlu, YouTube, Mar 27, 2020
  70. Could universal basic income save the world? By Stuart Watkins, MoneyWeek, 26 Mar 2020
  71. America is in crisis. We need universal basic income now [The usual arguments against UBI don’t apply to the Emergency UBI]. By Karl Widerquist, the Guardian, 20 Mar 2020
  72. How the Trump cash infusion would help millions of Americans: Interview with Karl Widerquist. By Annie Nova, CNBC, Mar 18 2020
  73. Boston Basic Income #92: Karl Widerquist on UBI History (video). By Karl Widerquist (speaker) and Alex Howlett (host). Boston Basic Income, Mar 7, 2020
  74. Borgerløn – the power to say no, Husligt Arbejde, YouTube, Mar 6, 2020 (a punk song based on the book, Freedom as the Power to Say No
    HUSLIGT ARBEJDE Borgerløn - the power to say no

    HUSLIGT ARBEJDE
    Borgerløn – the power to say no

  75. Yang’s Freedom Dividend: What’s It Got to do with Freedom? Michael Lewis, USBIG.net, January 2020
  76. People of Basic Income (video report on the Basic Income March, Oct. 26, 2019). By Derek Van Gorder, YouTube, December 9, 2019
  77. Maine Wire: Is it feasible to provide a universal basic income in Maine? By Adam Crepeau, The Maine Wire, December 3, 2019
  78. Universal Basic Income: the power to say ‘no’, for everyone. Cartoon video with text by Neil Howard and Karl Widerquist. Published by OpenDemocracy and YouTube. Dec 1, 2019.
    Reposted on Twitter [direct link] and Facebook [direct link]
  79. Xiao: On Universal Basic Income. By Victoria H. Xiao, The Dartmouth Review, November 19, 2019
  80. Elms College Humanities Lecture: “Freedom, Basic Income, and the Abolition of Poverty”. By Karl Widerquist, ElmsCollegeVideo, YouTube, posted November 18, 2019 (recorded October 28, 2019)
  81. Karl Widerquist addresses the NOLA YangGang (three part video), Karl Widerquist YouTube Channel, recorded November 15, 2019, posted October 2019 in three parts:
    -Part 1: Why We Need a Basic Income: Widerquist talks with the New Orleans YangGang, Karl Widerquist YouTube Channel, Nov 15, 2019 (Video 9:25)
    -Part 2: The Right & Wrong Ways to Talk About Automation & UBI: Widerquist and the NOLA Yang Gang, Karl Widerquist YouTube Channel, Nov 15, 2019 (Video 15:28)
    -Part 3: Discussion Basic Income Over a Beer: Widerquist meets the New Orleans YangGang, Karl Widerquist YouTube Channel, Nov 15, 2019 (Video 34:56)
  82. Karl Widerquist: The Basic Income Episode (audio 2:25:14). Interview by Oshan Jarow, the Musing Mind Podcast, November 11, 2019
    Karl Widerquist: Growth or Degrowth? Nov 12, 2019 (Audio excerpt 3:32)
    Karl Widerquist Comparing Basic Income & Negative Income Tax. Nov 12, 2019 (Audio excerpt 10:41)
    Karl Widerquist: How Much Might Universal Basic Income Cost? Nov 12, 2019 (Audio excerpt 7:26)
    Were pre-modern societies really any worse off than moderns? Nov 12, 2019 (Audio excerpt 8:28)
    Basic income, or services? Why UBI doesn’t correct market failures. Nov 12, 2019 (Audio excerpt, 1:22)
  83. Deceptively Simple: The Uselessness of Gross Cost in the Cost-Benefit Analysis of Universal Basic Income By Georg Arndt and Karl Widerquist, Maine Policy Review, November 2019
  84. Universal Basic Income–For or Against? A Debate between Karl Widerquist and Oren Cass (full video: 1:26:12). Moderated by Charles Wheelen. October 30, 2019, The Rockefeller Center and the Political Economy Project of Dartmouth College
    Opening remarks by Karl Widerquist (video excerpt 11:36), posted Dec 16, 2019
    Oren Cass & Karl Widerquist debate Universal Basic Income

    Oren Cass & Karl Widerquist debate Universal Basic Income

  85. We’ve Owed Each Other a Basic Income Since We Killed the Buffalo: 9-minute speech at the New York Basic Income March, October 26, 2019 (video). By Karl Widerquist, Filmed by Juhl Media. Posted October 29, 2019
    Also, translated into French: Pourquoi je marche pour le Revenu de Base. By Karl Widerquist. Translation by Pierre Madden, Revenu de Base Villeray, November 8, 2020
  86. UBI March – NYC – October 26, 2019 (video). By Juhl Media. Posted October 28, 2019.
  87. How Would You Spend a Universal Basic Income? We Asked Participants Around the World—and Their Answers Might Surprise You. By Eric J. Lyman, Fortune Magazine, October 16, 2019
  88. Yang’s Wild Defense of Universal Basic Income. By Josh Martin, Purple State Proressie, September 26, 2019
  89. End the Threat of Economic Destitution Now. By Karl Widerquist, Open Democracy, 17 September 2019
  90. Universal basic income: a way through the storm? By Neil Howard, Open Democracy, 16 September 2019
  91. Free is good, by Tom Hickey, Mike Normal Economics, September 6, 2019
  92. The Pragmatic Case for Universal Basic Income. By Productivity Hub, the Productivity Hub, August 14, 2019
  93. Conservatives in Philosophy: A Brief Rejoinder to Tristan Rogers, by Shelby T. Hanna, Quillette, July 12, 2019
  94. The Future of Work: Universal Basic Income and the Philosophy of Freedom,” by Romany Williams, SSense, July 11, 2019
  95. ‘Universal Basic Income Doesn’t Work’ Says Prime Example of Fake News, by Scott Santens, The Good Men Project, July 4, 2019Basic income's third wave | openDemocracy
  96. Bezwarunkowy Dochód Podstawowy: Ani lek, ani homeopatia [Unconditional basic income: Neither drug nor homeopathy], by Anatol Roettke, Interia Praca, June 24, 2019
  97. Universal Basic Income: More affordable than at first glance. By Jessica Cychew, Re-envisioning the Economic Status Quo, June 23, 2019
  98. Basic Income and Automation (video: 38:45 – 1:20:42). Karl Widerquist Panelist, Eighteenth North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress, Sunday June 16, 2019
  99. Could universal basic income become a presidential campaign issue? By Ramin Skibba, Raminskibba.net (blog), 30 May 2019
  100. Dan Schneider Video Interview #265: Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy. By Dan Schneider (host) interviewing Karl Widerquist, Cosmoetica, May 23, 2019
  101. Universal Basic Income in the U.S. By Navneet Singh and Delsea Albanese, Econsult Solutions, April 5, 2019
  102. Georgetown Announces Launch of New Publication on Universal Basic Income, by Albawaba, April 8, 2019
    -Republished as GU-Q to launch book by professor today by The Gulf Times, April 9, 2019
  103. UBI is an idea with the potential to radically reshape society, by Daniel Herborn, CEO Magazine, April 1, 2019
  104. ‘If We No Longer Force People to Work to Meet Their Basic Needs, Won’t They Stop Working?’ by Scott Santens, The Good Men Project, March 31, 2019
  105. What happened to all the hype about Universal Basic Income? By Olivia Goldhill, Quartz, March 16, 2019
  106. Book Review: Karl Widerquist, A Critical Analysis of Basic Income Experiments, by Malcolm Torry, Citizens Basic Income Trust, 15th March 2019
    Basic Income Quotes Made this picture fom my remarkst at the NABIG Congres, June 16, 2020

    Basic Income Quotes Made this picture fom my remarkst at the NABIG Congres, June 16, 2020

  107. Universal Basic Income Would Be Cheaper Than Expected, Andrew Yang Explains, by Mike Brown, Inverse.com, March 8, 2019
  108. FSU tackles poverty with solutions-based conference, by John Lystad, FSU News, March 3, 2019
  109. The Power to Say No and American Social Policy (video), lecture with questions and answers by Karl Widerquist, delivered at Florida State University’s College of Social Work conference, “Poverty in America: Critical Perspectives on Causes, Effects and Possible Solutions,” March 1, 2019
  110. Social Experiments 101: A Short Primer for UBI Observers by Michael Lewis, the USBIG Blog, USBIG.net, March 2019
  111. Voces sobre la renta básica (II): ¿Está justificada? [Voices on basic income (II): Is it justified?] by Pablo Magaña, Revista Libertalia, February 28, 2019
    An English translation of the article is available at this link.
  112. The Dan Schneider Video Interview #259: Universal Basic Income: Karl Widerquist, by Dan Schneider (host) interviewing Karl Widerquist, Cosmoetica, Feb 20, 2019
  113. Basic income: The idea and Indian experiments, by Sarath Davala, the Financial Express, February 19, 2019
  114. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Got Dragged For Suggesting People Who Are ‘Unwilling To Work’ Should Get Paid. Advocates Say That’s The Point, by Paul McLeod, BuzzFeed, February 15, 2019
  115. Income for all, Editorial, the New Delhi Statesman, February 18, 2019
  116. Basic Income Guarantee Will Be Key Issue for Andrew Yang in 2020 Elections, Mark Erickson, East Portland Blog, on February 13th, 2019
  117. Finland’s basic income experiment finds cash boosted well-being but not employment [YouTube video], Kate Snow, NBC Nightly News (February 10, 2019)
    NBC News video: Finland’s basic income experiment finds cash boosted well-being but not employment
  118. Crisis in Venezuela: Guest Karl Widerquist (video 3:56). NewsGrid, Al-Jazeera, (Reposted on Karl Widerquist’s YouTube Channel), broadcast live January 26, 2019
  119. The Natural Condition of Mankind [Review Article] by Maeve McKeown, European Journal of Political Theory, November 24, 2018. Also available on acadamia.edu.
  120. Report: Basic Income disincentivizes work,” by Bethany Blankley, Watchdog.org, November 20, 2018
    -reprinted in Index-Journal, November 20, 2018
    -reprinted in the Washington Free Beacon, November 24, 2018
  121. Freedom Needs Basic Income (video). Karl Widerquist (edited by UBIVisuals), Basic Income Visuals, YouTube.com, November 13, 2018
  122. The Resources of the Earth Belong to Everyone. By Public Voice, Progress.org, November 11, 2018
  123. Will the midterm results affect Trump’s foreign policy? (Video 24:30). Panel Discussion with Mohammed Jamjoom (host) and Karl Widerquist, Eli Clifton, and Rami G. Khouri (panelists), Inside Story, Al-Jazeera, 8 Nov 2018
    -Reposted on YouTube: “Will the midterm results affect Trump’s foreign policy? (Video)
  124. Basic Income: Favorite Argument (video 22 seconds). Karl Widerquist, Basic Income Visuals YouTube Channel, Oct 31, 2018
    -Reposted as Argument for basic income Karl Widerquist (video 42 seconds), Bi-Produktion YouTube Channel, May 20, 2019
  125. One of the godfathers of Universal Basic Income, description of Karl Widerquist by presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, Oct 18, 2018.
  126. Books by Karl Widerquist, by GoodReads.com, last accessed 2018
  127. Closing Reflections, BIEN Congress 2018, by Annie Miller, Citizens Basic Income Scotland, September 5, 2018
  128. Basinkomst – enligt Karl Widerquist, by Kommentarer, Basinkomstpartiet.org, 24 August 2018
  129. Going Global, a short video by the India Network for Basic Income, hosted by Sarath Davala, August 15, 2018.
  130. Why universal basic income costs far less than you think by Elizaveta Fouksman, the Conversation, August 14, 2018
    – Republished as, Universal basic income costs far less than you think, Quartz, August 15, 2018
    -Republished as, Here’s the true cost of the proposed ‘universal basic income’ that could lessen inequality, CNBC Africa, August 29, 2018
  131. $500 of free taxpayer money each month — a solution or a problem by William Nardi, the Washington Examiner, July 31, 2018
  132. One Question: Universal Basic Income. Edited by Cihan Aksan and Jon Bailes. The State of Nature Blog, 30th July 2018.
  133. Universal basic income: money for nothing, by Lou Foglia, Beme News (CNN’s YouTube Channel), July 25, 2018. (Quotes Widerquist at 1:11).
  134. “Universal Basic Income is capitalism where income doesn’t start at zero,” Quote/Photo of Karl Widerquist, by Andrew Yang, Twitter, July 20, 2018.
  135. Barack Obama Voices Support for a Universal Basic Income, by Andrew Miller, The Trumpet July 19, 2018.
  136. Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy (video), lecture by Karl Widerquist, at the University of Paris, June 18, 2018 (Language: English).
    -Also on YouTube, Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy (video)
  137. Interview with Karl Widerquist (video), questions by Victor Mardellat and Télémaque Masson, Canal-U.TV (Paris), June 18, 2018. (Language: English).
    Reposted on YouTube, Nov 29, 2020
  138. Meet the economist who thinks basic income could be great for Louisiana, by Kat Stromquist, the Gambit (New Orleans), July 13, 2018.
  139. What Countries Have Tried Universal Basic Income? by NowThis World, July 1, 2018.
  140. Money for nothing: the truth about universal basic income, by Carrie Arnold, Nature, May 30, 2018.
  141. We’re giving up on universal basic income before the evidence is in, by Olivia Goldhill, QUARTZ, May 29, 2018.
  142. Could a Basic Income Plan End Poverty in Washington, D.C.?, by Robin Lloyd, Undark, May 10, 2018.
  143. Universal basic income: U.S. support grows as Finland ends its trial, by Annie Nova, CNBC, May 1, 2018.
  144. Basic Income: Better Than Welfare? (Interview of Karl Widerquist), by Adam Bearne, Scholar’s Mate PublicSquareNet YouTube Channel, May 1, 2018.
  145. What Happens When Every Citizen Receives a Universal Basic Income, by Leigh Anderson, LifeHacker, April 18, 2018.
  146. CIRS, Karl Widerquist CIRS Book Workshop, Center for International and Regional Studies, March 26, 2018
  147. Is Universal Basic Income as Radical as You Think? By Alex Goik, Medium, March 20, 2018
  148. Chad Hartman Interviews Karl Widerquist on Universal Basic Income (audio, 13:26), and (full show with interview beginning at 22:00 (audio, 35:35). By Chad Hartman on WCCO-AM
    Reposted on YouTube, Karl Widerquist YouTube Channel (audio 13:26).
  149. Common Misconceptions About The Universal Basic Income, by Isaiah Minter, 71Republic, March 22, 2018
  150. Georgetown Professor Advocates Socialist Redistribution Despite Contrast to Research Data, by Danny Travers, Gureview.org, February 28, 2018
  151. Ist Wohlstand teilbar? Karl Widerquist sagt…” by Redaktion w:o, wallstreet-online.de, 27 February 2018
  152. More Americans now support a universal basic income,” by Annie Nova, CNBC, Mon, 26 Feb 2018
  153. Basic income — now, in 20 years or never?, by Micgoat, Medium, February 1, 2018.
  154. Less than 3 Percent of GDP Could End U.S., New Research Shows, by Georgetown University, Georgetown.edu, January 30, 2018
  155. Al Jazeera interviews Karl Widerquist about wealth inequality (video 3:15), Al-Jazeera (reposted on Karl Widerquist’s YouTube Channel), originally broadcast live January 26, 2018.
  156. Why we need a Universal Basic Income, by Karl Widerquist, Karl Widerquist’s YouTube Channel, January 7, 2018.
  157. Karl Widerquist, Basic Income (audio interview). By Kieran Oberman (host). SoundCloud, 2017
  158. Seminar With Karl Widerquist (group audio discussion). By Kieran Oberman (host). SoundCloud, 2017
  159. Quebec’s new basic income plan has proponents dreaming big, others skeptical, by Benjamin Shingler, CBC News, December 12, 2017.
  160. Your Call: Would a universal basic income build a new economic system?, by Laura Flynn and Renee Kemp, KALW, December 6, 2017. Image
  161. Capitalism Has a Problem. Is Free Money the Answer?, by Peter S. Goodman, The New York Times, November 15, 2017
    – Reprinted in The Seattle Times, 2017, When the economy doesn’t provide living-wage jobs, is free money the answer?.
  162. GU-Q don questions beliefs about prehistory in new book, by Tribune News Network, Qatar Tribune, November 13, 2017.
  163. Citizens Basic Income: An Idea Whose Time Has Come, by Maddy Halliday, Third Force News, October 24, 2017.
  164. The BIG Misunderstanding About the Cost of Universal Basic Income, by Karl Widerquist, Progress.org, September 10, 2017
  165. Why We Need a Universal Basic Income, by Keri Leigh Merritt, Billmoyers, September 15, 2017.
    – Reprinted in Common DreamsWhy We Need a Universal Basic Income, 2017.
  166. How Much Basic Income Would Really Cost (audio interview of Karl Widerquist), by Jim Pugh, The Basic Income Podcast, September 13, 2017.
    -Reposted on Player FM, and ListenNotes.com, as How Much Basic Income Would Really Cost, January 9, 2019
    -Reposted as “How Much Basic Income Would Really Cost (video 26:27)” on YouTube, June 9, 2021
  167. ADI Policy Forum – Part Two of Five – The Future of Work and Basic Income Options for Australia, talk by Karl Widerquist, Alfred Deakin Institute YouTube Channel, September 10, 2017.
    Karl Widerquist quoted by Andrew Yang

    Karl Widerquist quoted by Andrew Yang

  168. Would cash payments relieve job losses due to automation?, by Sarah Glazer, CQ Researcher, September 8, 2017.
  169. Guaranteed paychecks? Advocates push universal basic income, by Associated Press, App, September 8, 2017.
  170. ‘Something big has to change’: could Australia afford a universal basic income?, by Tim Dunlop, The Guardian, September 9, 2017.
  171. Friday free form, by TDN, TDN, September 7, 2017.
  172. Hawaii Considers A “Universal Basic Income” As Robots Seen Stealing Jobs, There’s Just One Catch…, by Tyler Durden, austrian.economicblogs.org, September 6, 2017.
  173. Wary of robots taking jobs, Hawaii toys with guaranteed pay, by CBS News, CBS News, September 4, 2017.
  174. Why we need a Universal Basic Income (30-minute audeo lecture with one-hour Q&A),” Karl Widerquist, Sydney Ideas, Department of Political Economy and the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney, August 16, 2017. This audio was reporduced in two parts as:
    Sydney Ideas: Lecture on Basic Income with Karl Widerquist (just the lecture), Karl Widerquist YouTube Channel (audio, 31:03)
    Sydney Ideas: Q&A on UBI with Karl Widerquist, Karl Widerquist YouTube Channel (audio, 1:03:18)
  175. Talking About Being Decent To Each Other – Paths To A UBI, by Tim Hollo, The Green Institute, August 19, 2017.
  176. What If Government Just Gave Everyone Cash, No Strings Attached?, by Zach Patton, Governing, August 2017.
  177. Basic Income as a Strategy to Promote the Georgist Movement, by Karl Widerquist, Progress, August 5, 2017.
  178. Why universal basic income is gaining support, critics, by Kathleen Pender, San Francisco Chronicle, July 15, 2017. https://i0.wp.com/grundeinkommen.tv/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/karl.widerquist.jpg?resize=377%2C282&ssl=1
  179. Jobber for Borgerlønn-reform i Norge [Working for Borgerlønn reform in Norway] (Interview of Karl Widerquist), by Elvind Kallevik, RAD102, July 11, 2017.
  180. Karl Widerquist: Rich Tell Poor What to Do,” by admin, Made of Money, June 25, 2017
  181. Does this Canadian province have the solution to the world’s problem of unemployment?, by Charlie Young, Independent, July 8, 2017.
  182. Финский (де)мотиватор: изменят ли 560 евро жизнь безработного? [Finnish (de-)motivator: will 560 euro change the life of the unemployed?], by Oleg Boldyrev, BBC News-Russia, July 3, 2017.
  183. Interview Of Karl Widerquist by Oleg Boldyrev (audio 29:43), Karl Widerquist’s Research YouTube Channel, recorded July 2017, posted June 2021 (original interview conducted for Boldrev’s BBC article)
  184. My own private basic income, by Karl Widerquist, OpenDemocracy, June 2, 2017.
    -Reprinted in Moon Magazine, 2017, “My own private basic income.
    -Audio version published by OpenDemocracy, read by Karl Miller, on Curio.io Souncloud channel, “My own private basic income,” November 2017.
    -Audio version, “My own private basic income,” is also available on YouTube.
  185. Basic Income Could Empower Millions Of Indians, But India May Find Cost Too High, by Sherya Shah, IndiaSpend, June 24, 2017.
  186. Should all Americans receive a guaranteed income?, by KHOU Staff, Magnify Money, June 20, 2017.
  187. Universal basic income would pay everyone to improve quality of life, by Marisa Kendall, Lexington Herald-Leader, June 4, 2017.
  188. The Long, Weird History of Basic Income – And Why It’s Back, by David Flyod, Investopedia, May 30, 2017.
  189. How much does UBI cost? By Karl Widerquist, BasicIncome.org, May 21, 2017
    -Reprinted as How much does UBI cost? By Karl Widerquist, Nexusnewsfeed.com
    -Reprinted as How much does UBI cost? By Herbert Dupree, the Fertile Mind, Medium, May 26, 2017
    -Reprinted as How much does UBI cost? By Karl Widerquist, Progress.org, October 21, 2017
  190. Report says basic income may not reduce poverty, advocates firmly disagree,” by Joanne Lu, Humanosphere, 24 May 2017
  191. Karl Widerquist steps down as BIEN’s Co-Chair to write Basic Income book for MIT Press, by Kate McFarland, basicincome.org. May 14, 2017.
  192. The benefits of an unconditional basic income, by Kim Darrah, World Finance, May 11, 2017.
  193. No Strings Attached: The Behavioral Effects of U.S. Unconditional Cash Transfer Programs [PowerPoint Presentation], by Ioana Marinescu, The Roosevelt Institute, May 11, 2017.
  194. Tech giants Elon Musk, Sam Altman push universal basic income concept, by Marisa Kendall, Santa Cruz Sentinel, May 5, 2017.
  195. Universal Basic Income Interview by Keith Brown, We Are Here [Podcast #006], April 28, 2017
  196. Basic Income,” by C3000 Economic & Political Affairs April 27, 2017.
  197. SCOT TV Exclusive: Karl Widerquist on Universal Basic Income. UBI in Scotland, Part 2, by Scot TV, Scot TV YouTube Channel, April 4, 2017.
  198. SCOT TV Exclusive: Karl Widerquist on Universal Basic Income. UBI in Scotland, Part 1, by Scot TV, Scot TV YouTube Channel, April 4, 2017.
  199. Free Money for All: Karl Widerquist’s Argument for Basic Income,” by Sabrina Ronco, Just World Institute, March 15, 2017
  200. Universal Basic Income with Dr Karl Widerquist (audio1:04:42), by Sam Barton, Talk of Today, March 14, 2017.
    -Reposted as “Interview: Universal Basic Income with Dr Karl Widerquist (1:04:42),” interview by Sam Barton, Karl Widerquist’s Research YouTube Channel, June 2021
  201. Hamon’s basic income would cost €35bn to the government, by gboccaccio, The French Report, March 13, 2017
  202. Addressing the evidence deficit: how experimentation and microsimulation can inform the basic income debate, by Luke Martinelli, University of Bath Blogs, March 13, 2017. 
  203. 13 MAART | WAT ALS WE EEN WERELDWIJD BASISINKOMEN INVOEREN VAN 100 EURO [MARCH 13TH WHAT IF WE INTRODUCE A WORLDWIDE BASIC INCOME OF 100 EUROS], by Mark Beekhuis, BNR, March 13, 2017
  204. Georgetown Professors Questions Claims About Pre-History in New Book, by Georgetown University, Georgetown.edu, February 28, 2017
  205. Universal basic income: Money for nothing or efficient equalizer?, by FriendsoftheFifthColumn, thefifthcolumnnews, February 19, 2017
  206. Universal basic income: Money for nothing or efficient equalizer? By David Trilling, Journalist’s Resource, February 15, 2017
  207. Universal Basic Income: The cornerstone of a just society?” by Daniel Broadley, Humanity Hallows, January 31, 2017
  208. Universal basic income could be tested in Fife within three years, by Cheryl Peebles, The Courier, January 30, 2017
  209. Basic Income – An Idea Whose Time Has Come, by AlexRowley.org, Jan. 30, 2017
  210. Karl Widerquist Georgetown Professor on Basic Income (video Interview), by Matt Orfalea, Matt Orfalea YouTube Channel, January 21, 2017
    Republished at Kar Widerquist’s YouTube Channel, Karl Widerquist gets Interviewed by Matt Oraflea on Universal Basic Income, January 21,  2018
  211. GU-Q professor explores myths of prehistory in book, by The Peninsula, The Peninsula, January 8, 2017
  212. What You Need to Know About the Massive Job Losses on the Horizon, by Thor Benson, ATTN, January 3, 2017
  213. Why Finland is ahead of the US with guaranteed income, by Catherine Clifford, CNBC, January 3, 2017
  214. Free Cash in Finland. Must Be Jobless., by Peter S. Goodman, The New York Times, December 17, 2016.
  215. Elon Musk says robots will push us to a universal basic income—here’s how it would work, by Catherine Clifford, CNBC, November 18, 2016.
  216. Al Jazeera interviews Karl Widerquist, previewing Trump-era U.S. politics, (part 2 of 2) (video 4:08). By Al Jazeera (reproduced on Karl Widerquist YouTube Channel), November 9, 2016.
  217. Al Jazeera interviews Karl Widerquist previews Trump-era politics (part 1 of 2) (video 6:42). By Al-Jazeera (reposted on Karl Widerquist YouTube Channel), November 9, 2016
  218. Al Jazeera interviews Karl Widerquist on election day: 3rd of 3 (video 4:45). By Al Jazeera, Karl Widerquist’s YouTube Channel, November 8, 2016.
  219. Al Jazeera interviews Karl Widerquist on election day: 2nd of 3 (video 3:31). By Al Jazeera, Karl Widerquist’s YouTube Channel, November 8, 2016.
  220. Al Jazeera interviews Karl Widerquist on election day: 1st of 3 (video 6:22). By Al Jazeera, Karl Widerquist’s YouTube Channel, November 8, 2016.
  221. Al Jazeera Interviews Karl Widerquist on the U.S. Election 05 Nov 2016 (video 5:00). By Al Jazeera, Karl Widerquist’s YouTube Channel, November 6, 2016.
  222. The Newsmakers: Is veganism eco-friendly and Poverty in the US (Interview of Karl Widerquist). By Imran Garda, The News Makers on TRT World YouTube Channel, November 3, 2016.
  223. Al Jazeera interviews Karl Widerquist on the reopening of Clinton email Investigation. By Al Jazeera (reposted on Karl Widerquist YouTube Channel), October 31, 2016.
  224. INTERVENCIÓN KARL WIDERQUIST EN EL ENCUENTRO “VIENE LA RENTA BÁSICA” [Speech by Karl Widerquist at conference titled “Basic Income is coming”], by Karl Widerquist, Solidarias YouTube Channel, October 16, 2016.
  225. The Possibilities and Pitfalls of Basic Income Experiments (video lecture). By Karl Widerquist, Nordic Conference on Basic Income Pilots, September 23, 2016.
  226. https://www.mladina.si/?__rewriter=1&id=172981&Tudi v Kanadi eksperiment z univerzalnim temeljnim dohodkom [In Canada, too, the Universal Income Generation], by Ekonomija, MLADINA, September 3, 2016.
  227. (1/5) “A story to tell” When life is merciless / Creathon on basic income 2016, by Creathon, MFRB – Mouvement français pour un revenu de base (French Movement for Basic Income YouTube Channel), August 29, 2016.
  228. World Social Forum 2016 / Basic Income, a Major Social Innovation for the 21st Century, talk by Karl Widerquist, MFRB – Mouvement français pour un revenu de base (French Movement for Basic Income YouTube Channel), August 27, 2016.
  229. Karl Widerquist PhD, video interview and panel discussion. By Armando F Sanchez (host), Jenna van Draanen, Kate McFarland, and Andre Coelho (panelists), YouTube, August 10, 2016
  230. In the future, we could all get free money from the government — here’s when it might happen,” by Chris Weller, Business Insider, Aug. 11, 2016
  231. Swiss Basic Income Vote Sparks Discussion Despite Failure to Pass, by Sputnik, Sputnik, July 6, 2016.
  232. An Idiot’s Guide to Universal Basic Income (Interview of Karl Widerquist), by Alex King, Huck, June 10, 2016.
  233. Would You Like Some Money, Just For Being A Person?, by Karen Pinchin, Good Magazine, June 7, 2016.
  234. Your Call: Is it time for a guaranteed basic income? (Interview of Karl Widerquist), by Rose Aguilar, Your Call on KALW, June 6, 2016.
  235. Switzerland votes against state-provided basic income,” by Ralph Atkins and Gemma Tetlow, Financial Times, June 5, 2016.
  236. What If Government Just Gave Poor People Cash? It’s Been Tried In Denver, by Sam Brasch, Colorado Public Radio, Jun 2, 2016
  237. ‘Unconditional basic income is a response to the loss of freedom in our economy’ – Karl Widerquist (Interview of Karl Widerquist), by Radio Sputnik, soundcloud.com, 2016.
  238. Ontario’s Basic Income Pilot Project is a Radical Approach by Katelyn Harrop, Vice Impact, May 11 2017
  239. What Would Happen If We Just Gave People Money?, by Andrew Flowers, FiveThirtyEight, April 25, 2016.
  240. Universal Basic Income (UBI): Theory and Praxis, by Patrick S. O’Donnell, Religious Left Law, April 15, 2016
  241. Alaska’s annual dividend adds up for residents, by Rachel Waldholz, MARKETPLACE, March 16, 2016.
  242. PFD Cuts Could Mean Big Ripples in Alaska Economy,” Rachel Waldholz, Alaska Public Media, March 10, 2016
  243. Canada Is About To Start Giving Away Free Money, by Shane Fero, HuffPost, March 9, 2016.
  244. We talked to five experts about what it would take to actually institute Universal Basic Income, by Olivia Goldhill, Quartz, February 6, 2016
  245. These Tech Wizards Want To Pay People For Doing Absolutely Nothing, by Shane Fero, HuffPost, January 29, 2016.
  246. Time For A Guaranteed Basic Income?, by Tom Ashbrook, NPR’s On Point, January 14, 2016.
  247. Alaska’s dividends help make us equal and protect our common wealth, by Charles Wolforth, Anchorage Daily News, January 11, 2016.
  248. American Achieves First Crowdfunded Monthly Basic Income, by Scott Santens, scottsantens.com, December 14, 2015.
  249. Even Big Banks Think Robot Automation Will Lead to Further Income Inequality, by Jack Smith IV, MIC, November 11, 2015.
  250. És ki fog dolgozni, ha bevezetik az alapjövedelmet Magyarországon?” by Ember Zoltán, 24.hu, November 21, 2015
  251. Can Basic Income Bring About the Next Creative Renaissance?, by Jack Smith IV, MIC, September 18, 2015.
  252. Basic Income, the Most Radical Innovation in Minimum Wage,” by Jack Smith IV, Mic, Sep 4, 2015
  253. Basic Income AMA Series: I’m Karl Widerquist, co-chair of the Basic Income Earth Network and author of “Freedom as the Power to Say No,” AMA, by Karl Widerquist, Reddit r/IAmA, July 4, 2015.
  254. What If Everybody Didn’t Have to Work to Get Paid?, by David R. Wheeler, The Atlantic, May 18, 2015.
  255. The most exciting proposal of the GOP presidential campaign so far,” by Dylan Matthews, Vox, Apr 2, 2015
  256. Published in translation as, “Warum das Silicon Valley auf einmal fürs bedingungslose Grundeinkommen ist,” by von Nathan Schneider, March 3, 2015
  257. Why the Tech Elite Is Getting Behind Universal Basic Income, by Nathan Schneider, Vice, January 6, 2015.
    -Published in translation as, “Warum das Silicon Valley auf einmal fürs bedingungslose Grundeinkommen ist,” by von Nathan Schneider, March 3, 2015
  258. We don’t have freedom without basic income (video 2:53). Interview of Karl Widerquist by Enno Schmid, Basic Income Earth Network Channel, YouTube, recorded June 29, 2014, posted February 9, 2015
    -Reposted in edited from as We don’t have freedom without Basic Income (video 1:21), Basic Income Visuals YouTube Channel, Nov 13, 2018
  259. What Can We Learn From A Town That Beat Poverty, by Lane Anderson, Deseret News, January 5, 2015.
  260. The Guaranteed Basic Income & the Libertarian Dilemma (w/ Karl Widerquist),” by Sam Seder, The Majority Report, 2015.
  261. We’ve Actually Tried Negative Income Taxes, And They Seem To Work, by Ben Southwood, Adam Smith Institute, November 6, 2014.
  262. ”Big Casino” og friheden som magten til at sige nej ( “Big Casino” and freedom as the power to say no), by AF Erik Christensen, MODKRAFT Magazine, September 26, 2014.
  263. Money for nothing: Mincome experiment could pay dividends 40 years on, by Benjamin Shingler, Al Jazeera America, August 26, 2014.
  264. A guaranteed income for every American would eliminate poverty — and it wouldn’t destroy the economy,” by Dylan Matthews, Vox, Jul 23, 2014
  265. Karl Widerquist at North American Basic Income Guarantee Conference, a talk by Karl Widerquist, Basic Income Canada Network YouTube Channel, July 15, 2014. 
  266. Basic Income Heroes: Karl Widerquist Edition, by Karl Widerquist, SquareSpace.com, July 13, 2014.
  267. Libertarianism: The Scientology of Politics (Discusses my article, “A Dilemma for Libertarianism”), The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder, June 6, 2014
  268. Guaranteed Basic Income with Karl Widerquist (audio interview 59:48), by Jeremy Mendelson, Politicized Radio, January 30, 2014. (Host’s email: feedback@politicized.org)
  269. $2750 a month for every adult, guaranteed? Switzerland’s considering it, by Marco Werman, PRI’s The World, October 14, 2013.
  270. Anti Wage-Slavery, Pro-Freedom Quotations Of The Week 981-983,” by Jack Saturday, blogspot.com, May 13, 2013.
  271. The Alaska Model: a citizen’s income in practice by Karl Widerquist, Open Democracy, Apr 24, 2013
  272. Commentary: Let’s change the way Alaska Permanent Fund pays dividends by Karl Widerquist, the Alaska Dispatch, December 5, 2012
  273. Interesting times ahead for Alaska Permanent Fund, by Karl Widerquist, Anchorage Daily News, June 3, 2012.
  274. How Alaska can avoid the third-stage resource curse, by Karl Widerquist, Anchorage Daily News, February 27, 2012.
  275. Four-part video interview by Joerg Drescher (host), Basic Income Earth Network YouTube Channel, December 16, 2011
    Karl Widerquist on the current crises and Basic Income (video interview)
    Karl Widerquist on Basic Income as a human right (video interview)
    Karl Widerquist on the APF (video interview)
    Karl Widerquist on steps to implement Basic Income
  276. Karl Widerquist on the Alaska Permanent Fund. By Joerg Drescher (host), Basic Income Earth Network YouTube Channel, Dec 14, 2011
  277. Six Lessons from the Alaska Model: Karl Widerquist in Duesseldorf (video in four parts. Posted by Oliviatawiah, on DailyMotion.com, 30 September 2011
    Part 1
    Part 2
    Part 3
    Part 4
  278. The Indepentarian (blog) and news postings, by Karl Widerquist, Basic Income News, 2011-present
  279. A BIG Idea: A Minimum Income Guarantee. An Interview with Karl Widerquist. By Multinational Monitor, May-June 2009, Vol. 30 No. 3
  280. Conference Report: The Eleventh BIEN Congress. By Karl Widerquist, Citizens Income Newsletter Issue 2, 2007
  281. Review of The Ethics and Economics of the Basic Income Guarantee. By The Citizens Income Newsletter Issue 1, 2007
  282. Review of The Ethics and Economics of the Basic Income Guarantee. By William M. Dugger. The Journal of Economic Issues 40, No. 4, December, pp. 1188-1190, 2006
  283. John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities of Our Grandchildren, by Karl Widerquist, Dissent Magazine, 2006
    – Available for free on Karl Widerquist’s Selected Works, 2006, The Economic Possibilities of Our Grandparents, a retrospective on John Maynard Keynes’s Economic Possibilities of Our Grandchildren
    – Also reprinted as  “Predicciones de Keynes: ‘Las posibilidades económicas de nuestros nietros’ Una visión restrospectiva” Ciudadanos: Critica Política y Propuesta Año 6, No. 10 El Futuro (Invierno de 2006). Traducido por José Villadeamigo (Not Available online)
  284. Surfer’s delight. By Samuel Brittan. Citizen’s Income Newsletter, No. 2, 2005
  285. Life, Liberty and a Little Bit of Cash. By Sean Butler, Dissent, Summer 2005
  286. Lending a Lasting Hand. By David Glenn. The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 16, 2004“Widerquist Volunteers in New York,” The Dowagiac Daily News.Vol. 104, No. 175, October 11, 2001; reprinted: The Niles Daily Star Vol. 115, No. 150, October 11, 2001; and in The Cassopolis Vigilant Vol. 136, No. 42, October 18, 2001
  287. The Basic Income Guarantee. By Karl Widerquist, Synthesis/Regeneration 26 (Greens.org), Fall 2001
  288. Widerquist Volunteers in New York. By John Eby, the Dowagiac Daily News, October 11, 2001
    – Reprinted as, “Widerquist Volunteers in New York” by John Eby, the Niles Daily Star, October 11, 2001
    -Reprinted as, “Cass Grad’s New View of New York,” by John Eby, The Cassopolis Vigilant, October 19, 2001
  289. Maybe the election will shame us into sharing our wealth, by Mark Satin, Radical Middle, November 2000
  290. The Money-Making Ethic, by Karl Widerquist, Chronogram Magazine, 1999.
    -Reprinted in, Chronogram Magazine, January 1, 2019, as “From the Archive: The Money-Making Ethics
    -Reprinted in Progress.org, 2018, as “The Money-Making Ethic”
  291. Blaming The Worker, by Karl Widerquist, Chronogram Magazine, January 1998.
  292. The Bass Player, by Karl Widerquist, Cake: The Nonmusic Music Magazine, February 1997.
  293. Make Way For Other Toys, by Karl Widerquist,  Cake: The Nonmusic Music Magazine, 1996.
  294. The Book is Dead, by Karl Widerquist, Cake: The Nonmusic Music Magazine, 1996.
  295. Breaking Away to the Next Red Light, by Karl Widerquist, Cake: The Nonmusic Music Magazine, 1996.

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Basic income should benefit mothers first

Basic income should benefit mothers first

Written by: Michael Laitman

There is no controversy about the benefits of breast milk, but its politicization is giving us food for thought. The New York Times claimed that the US government unsuccessfully threatened to retaliate against nations backing breastfeeding to favor the $70 billion-dollar infant formula industry, an accusation fervently denied by the current administration. Beyond the sensational headlines, the key factor is that such an important health-related topic for mothers and children has been put back on the table. It is also time to open the discussion about practical measures to encourage breastfeeding to benefit society.

Breast milk is rich in nutrients and includes antibodies to fight off viruses and bacteria protecting the baby from infections and allergies. While those who can’t breastfeed can use baby formula from a site like tastyganics.com, it may not provide that same level of protection. In fact, breastfeeding can save a baby’s life. It boosts the immune system, reduces infant mortality, and helps for a quicker recovery from common childhood illnesses. A Harvard study in 2016 estimated that 3,340 premature deaths a year among both mothers and babies could be prevented in the US alone given adequate breastfeeding. It also lowers a mother’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and osteoporosis.

It also reduces stress for both mother and baby, which helps to relieve common ailments such as colic. Whilst many believe that something like Infacol is the best cure for colic, gripe water, which has been used for generations, has been found to be just as effective. Gripe water, which is a simple syrup that can be made at home, has slowly been replaced by medication such as Infacol, and whilst, yes, they can be used together, there’s really no need to use Infacol when a natural alternative exists. This is a similar situation to breastfeeding, with formula slowly replacing natural milk over the years. The formula industry now has such a hold on new mothers that it’s hard for many of us to remember a time when breastfeeding was considered normal.

Besides the physical benefits and what laboratory experiments show, breastfeeding is one of the best ways of bonding with a baby. It releases oxytocin, which is the hormone responsible for other loving behaviors that make us feel good about a person.

Extended breastfeeding for the first two years of life allows for the child’s proper development, and women express more maternal sensitivity well past the infant and toddler years, according to a study by the American Psychological Association. Beyond such findings, there is also a natural inner connection between the mother and the child that allows for positive biological and internal development, which starts inside the womb.

The Need to Support Stay-at-Home Mothers

Considering the vital role mothers play in each individual’s development from the earliest of ages, it stands to reason that stay-at-home mothers should be given all the support possible to raise the next generation. They need to be entitled to receive financial assistance that will let them perform their remarkable duties without worrying about how to make ends meet, giving them a sense of freedom and control of their lives.

In today’s world, however, this is not the case. The bulk of the burden falls on the mother, who is usually expected to prioritize her career over her family, juggling tasks and becoming increasingly exhausted and unsatisfied. With the massive rise in the cost of living, mothers in most societies struggle to manage a balanced life, considering work as an economic necessity rather than liberation and personal progress and fulfillment. It can be difficult for mothers to get this balance right. Necessities are of different kinds. Home amenities like HVAC, electricity and water requirements are in addition to long-term and current expenditures. They need money for their family, but they also need to look after their kids, so they can’t work. This means that mothers often have no money to do anything, such as home improvements. So many stay-at-home mothers want to improve their homes, but they have no money to do so. They want faux stone panels on the outside of their home, but they are unable to do this. That’s why it’s so important that these mothers get more financial support to make sure they can improve their home or provide more for their family. Mothers get caught in an ever-tightening entanglement of commitments at work and home with very little restitution at any level. In extreme cases, there have been situations where work-stressed mothers abandoned their children while they rushed to work, e.g. a hospital CEO forgetting her child in a hot car where the child died, or a McDonald’s employee leaving her child alone in a public park while she worked her entire 9-hour work day.

Moreover, childcare can be extremely expensive and many women usually work just to cover its costs, challenging the whole purpose of going to the workplace. The so-called advancement of women’s rights to choose is in practice an oxymoron. At the end of the day, women who decide to fulfill a traditional role as stay-at-home mothers do not receive enough recognition, value, and economic support from society, as if raising a new generation were not the most important enterprise of all.

The same way science has been unable to create an artificial uterus that brings an embryo to life, a mother’s role of nurturing and educating the child is irreplaceable. We cannot pretend to be wiser than nature. If we really want to empower and foster women’s self-determination, society should create conditions for a comfortable motherhood.

Why UBI Should Prioritize Mothers

This is precisely where UBI can enter to encourage mothers who wish to raise their children full-time. UBI should benefit women first and foremost, particularly mothers who based on their own personal preference choose to leave the workplace in order to raise their children. Basic income should be provided for mothers without preconditions: not as welfare or charity, but as a remuneration for a crucial job in society.

Prioritizing UBI for mothers would be a win-win situation: it not only would help mothers, it would directly boost support for the entire next generation of society that mothers are now raising. Many personal and social problems, such as depression, anxiety and mental illness later in life, can be traced back to phenomena such as childhood neglect, stress, and traumas. Therefore, UBI would let mothers live with reduced economic stress, freeing them up to focus on caring, bonding with, and raising their children.

Likewise, as I’ve mentioned before, basic income for mothers would allow their participation in pro-social, connection-enriching activities, such as groups for pregnant women, parenting and home economics, among others, to enhance their motherly abilities with a supportive social climate. Naturally, such engagement in society would also positively influence their children.

Instead of treating mothers as second-class citizens, they should be recognized as “society’s CEOs”-the ruling force in creation, the only ones capable of giving birth to and nurturing a whole new generation. Keep in mind that the world is our roof, humanity is our home, and women are the pillar of this structure. Motherhood plays a critical role in giving birth to a new humanity. Therefore, taking a step forward in promoting UBI as critical support for mothers is a decision of utmost importance for a more promising future to all.

Michael Laitman is a Professor of Ontology, a PhD in Philosophy and Kabbalah, an MSc in Medical Bio-Cybernetics, and was the prime disciple of Kabbalist, Rav Baruch Shalom Ashlag (the RABASH). He has written over 40 books, which have been translated into dozens of languages.

Breaking Away to the Next Red Light (from 1996)

This piece was originally published in Cake: The Nonmusic Music Magazine in 1996. It is, I think, the first article I published anywhere. I reproduced it here, because the original piece is not online.

Someone asked me to write about sports, but I’m like I don’t play any sports, I ride a bike, but that’s not a sport, that’s transportation. A sport is a physical activity that you do for fun or for a challenge. I don’t think that my bike riding qualities because I use my bike almost exclusively for transportation, but there’s sport to it.

The city is just the right size to ride a bike. Almost everywhere I go is less than 20 minutes by bike, twice as fast as by car and a lot quicker than public transportation. The city would be the perfect place to ride a bike, except it sucks. But, it only sucks because all those people who don’t realize that it’s the perfect place to ride a bike and insist on driving cars. Cars are too big and dirty for the city. Parking is impossible, they create traffic jams, and make the air really disgusting. Half the city has been plowed under to make extrawide streets and free parking spaces for cars, talk about government handouts. Still there’s not enough room for all the cars, but they keep driving in. At least they make biking sporting. My friends think it’s too scary to ride a bike in the city. But, to me, “scary” is walking home late at night risking violent death; risking accidental death trying to squeeze between two buses, that’s “sporting.”

Taxis are the worst, the natural enemy of the bike. They’ll honk at you for the crime of being in front of them. Then they’ll pass you and stop right in front of you with no apparent sense of irony. You can try is to get way over to the side of the road — typical rookie mistake. This saves you from getting honked at by people in a hurry to speed up to the red light in front of you, but it makes you vulnerable to all sorts of mishaps you can’t get in the center of the road. You can get driven off the street by cars making right turns, or buses and taxis stopping to pick up people, and, sooner or later, you’re going to get doored. One night a guy opened a taxi door right in front of me and clipped my handle bars. “Are you all right?” Next thing I knew I was lying face up on the pavement. The driver and the passenger both got out and stood over me, the passenger said, “Are you OK?” I was dazed and bruised and not quite cognizant.

“HOW ARE YOU?”
“I’m fine thanks.”
“He’s OK,” and they sped away.

karl-joshuahair-bigfile

Karl widerquist in the mid-90s

Pedestrians can make for sport. As the light turns they leave from both sides of the street. Do you try to get through the center before the two groups come together or do you go behind a group on one side after the last one leaves the corner. Pedestrians and bikers get along OK. You stay out of their way; they stay out of your way: no problem. Except, for the deer people. Most people know that if their crossing the street and they see a bike heading strait for where they’re standing right now, that if they keep going they’ll be well away before the bike gets there. Not the deer people. They walk right out into the street, and stop right in your path. You wouldn’t think a primate could be that stupid. But, dodging them is a sport.

This is not to say that there are not a lot o’bad bicyclists out there, there are. There are enough that I wouldn’t blame pedestrians for being scared. There was this guy who used to ride his bike in full football padding, helmet, face mask, shoulder pads, the whole bit, outside his close. I’d be stopped at a red-light, waiting for a break in in traffic to go. He’d zoom past me into a break I didn’t see. I don’t see him around lately. I wonder if he’s still alive.

Red lights, there’s a sport. To bicyclists every traffic law is a suggestion. I mean I try to stay out of everybody’s way, but if nobody’s comin’, I’m goin’, full speed. What’re they gon’a do, take your license away? This is safe, as long as you look, there is no risk to it at all, but it’ll kill me eventually. Like that scene in “Slaughterhouse Five” where the guy says, “I’ve seen my death, I’ve been there many times…” In Manhattan almost every street is one way. Parents teach their children to, “Look one way before crossing the street.” Sooner or later I’ll be looking left when the cross traffic is coming from the right and I’ll be on the grill of a garbage truck.

Simply standing at red lights is its own sport, you try to balance yourself while you wait for a break. A bike can’t come to a complete stop and still stay balanced, the trick is to inch forward, pull yourself back, inch forward… You could stop and put your foot on the ground. There is no practical reason for balancing, it’s just a sport.

The most challenging sport in city biking is keeping it. Bike theft is incredible in the city, I’ve lost count of how many bike’s I’ve lost. Legend has it that thieves use liquid nitrogen to make locks brittle and easy to break. But, theft can be beaten. You got’a have the worst bike and the best lock. First I tried one of those U-locks that “guarantees” against theft. Quite the bluff, actually, they’re one of the easiest locks to break, you can’t make a claim unless the bike was registered, you have a police report, a receipt for the lock, a receipt for the bike, a recent assessment of the bike’s value, you have to recover the broken lock, and the guarantee is void in Manhattan away. I wonder if they’ve ever paid on one of those guarantees? Now I’ve got a five foot, double reinforced metal square link chain that weighs more and costs more than my twenty year old girls ten speed, purple frame, with florescent orange spray painted stripes. That heavy chain makes it a lot more difficult to get up those hills, but it’s worth it. Theft is not a sport, it’s just aggravation.

One big drawback of using your bike for transportation and sport is that you arrive everywhere right after your workout. You change close a lot. One summer I took a job as a bike messenger. The biking was great, the actual delivering the packages wasn’t so great. That summer there was this huge heat wave. One day it was 100 degrees with 100% humidity, and I had to take a package to the Chanel Perfume company on the 30th Floor of a Fifth Avenue high-rise. It looked like one of those banks that Dickens described in a Tale of Two cities, it had all this old looking wood everywhere, everything was extra-fancy. There was this giant bottle of Chanel No. 5 encased in glass. Of course, I’m dripping with sweat. I go up to the receptionist at a big oak desk she said, “I’m not signing for it, take it to receiving, on 31, one flight up.” I walk toward the Oak wood circular Staircase, “No, you can’t use the stairs, go back into the lobby and take the elevator.”

When I’m on my way back down, the elevator stops again on the 30th floor, a model gets in. She’s obviously just been shooting an ad. She’s wearing a long flowing black shoulder showing dress. I’m wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt so soaked in sweat that you can’t tell that I haven’t just been swimming in the ocean with all my close on. I’ve accessorized with a clipboard and a messengers bag that’s held together with duct tape. She leans against the back wall and puts all her weight on her left leg as her right leg comes out of this enormous heretofore unseen slit in her dress. There are mirrors on all the walls and the door and the ceiling, so that wherever you look you see the beauty and swamp thing. She has long flowing light brown hair. I have sweat is flowing out of my crooked bicycle helmet. She shifts her weight. Her right leg disappears and her left leg emerges from another unseen slit. So I straightened my helmet.

-Karl Widerquist, New York, NY 1996

Obama speaks favorably about UBI but stops short of endorsing it (for the second time)

Obama speaks favorably about UBI but stops short of endorsing it (for the second time)

Barack Obama, for the second time, has favorably discussed basic income. In his Mandela Lecture, which included some hard-hitting remarks about the rise of strongman politics, Obama discussed the rise of automation and the difficulties it causes for workers. He finished that section of his speech with the following statement:

“It’s not just money that a job provides; it provides dignity and structure and a sense of place and a sense of purpose. (Applause.) And so we’re going to have to consider new ways of thinking about these problems, like a universal income, review of our workweek, how we retrain our young people, how we make everybody an entrepreneur at some level. But we’re going to have to worry about economics if we want to get democracy back on track.”

This speech comes two years after an interview in which Obama said, “[W]hether a universal income is the right model—is it gonna be accepted by a broad base of people?—that’s a debate that we’ll be having over the next 10 or 20 years.”

Neither of these statements is an outright endorsement of UBI, and his most recent statement, talking about how jobs provide “dignity,” “structure,” uses language that opponents tend to use when they want to say that UBI isn’t good enough because it’s “just money.”

But yet, he brought up UBI on his own accord without any direct criticism of it. While the earlier statement says we “will” be talking about it for some time; the later statement says we “should consider” it. So, one can see some movement toward the idea. If nothing else, this statement is a strong reflection of the extent to which UBI has penetrated mainstream political thinking.

https://www.facebook.com/basicincomequotes/videos/1739996622785908/

Interview: Presidential campaign brings ‘new crowds’ to basic income

Interview: Presidential campaign brings ‘new crowds’ to basic income

Interview with Democratic Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang

By: Jason Burke Murphy

[Note from Jason Burke Murphy. This interview took place on June 11th, 2018. Yang took time out of one of his presidential campaign rallies and fundraisers to speak with me. I describe the rally in US Basic Income Guarantee Network’s blog. After I stopped recording, he expressed his hope that supporters of basic income would get behind his campaign early. Andrew Yang was then, and still is as of this writing, the only announced candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination.]

 

Murphy: How did you first hear about basic income?

 

Yang: I think I heard about it first for sure from Martin Ford’s book Rise of the Robots. I heard about it before then in articles but Martin Ford’s book made an impression. Andy Stern’s book Raising the Floor cemented the idea while coming from a different angle. Martin is a technologist and Andy is a labor leader. Stern’s book clinched it for me. I found myself coming to the same conclusion. Now basic income could no longer just be about technologists over-hyping the near-term progress of automation. Stern is someone who has a firm grasp on the labor market in the US.

Promotional for Andrew Yang’s book presenting his argument for Basic Income, Medicare for All, and “human capitalism”.

Murphy: How did friends and family react to your decision to run for President?

 

Yang: Oh, my parents were initially anxious and worried about it. Friends had a range of reactions. One cried tears of joy and has been immensely helpful. Others were skeptical. I will say now that support is very strong with friends and family. When you tell someone about a decision, they might react one way but when the decision is made in public, then they have a different attitude and stance.

 

Murphy: Joseph Biden, a possible candidate, has explicitly rejected basic income. It seems like other presumptive candidates have stayed quite distant. Why do you think that is the case?

 

Yang: I think in Joe’s case—and I read his comments—he is stuck in this framing of a subsistence model in which value is tied to showing up at an hourly waged job. His explicit argument for why basic income is a bad thing is that people need work. What he doesn’t realize is that universal basic income is pro-work. It is pro doing work that people actually want to do. Joe is stuck in an era when we thought that, if someone had a certain amount of money in their pocket, they would want to do nothing at all. That is an old welfare-era framework that I think was never true. [Laughs.] In Joe’s mind, that relationship is still there. Other Democrats are going to resist making commitments in this direction because they are afraid of being painted as “socialists” or economically unsophisticated. In truth, it requires a degree of economic sophistication to understand basic income and to see how it would be great for our economy and our people.

 

“Other Democrats in my opinion are not sophisticated enough to understand the impact a basic income would have in the economy… They do not realize that we would be channeling money back into our economy through the hands and the decisions of our citizens.”

Andrew Yang

 

Murphy: Do you think as people hear about basic income, they are going to think more about economics?

 

Yang: What happens right now is that people are stuck in this scarcity mindset in which they ask how we can afford it. Won’t it cause rapid inflation? Won’t it make purchasing power go away? None of that is true! [Laughs.] So, other Democrats, in my opinion, are not sophisticated enough to understand the impact a basic income would have in the economy. They are stuck thinking that the money would be “gone” and we would need to “go get more of it.” They are not realizing that we would be channeling money back into our economy through the hands and the decisions of our citizens. The vast majority of the money would be spent in our regional economy every day. The Roosevelt Institute’s estimates that it would create four and a half million new jobs and grow the economy by two and a half trillion.

Murphy: I really liked that paper. For one thing, it is methodologically very cautious. For another, I liked basic income before I knew it would be that good.

Yang: Yeah, their projection was based on it coming from deficit spending and they posited a lower impact if it was paid for by taxes. Whereas, I am very confident that, simply by shifting money to the hands of the people most likely to spend, you would induce economic growth. One thousand dollars a month in the hands of a really wealthy person does absolutely nothing. It just becomes a line item somewhere.

 

Murphy: Money in the hands of the wealthy, if spent at all, goes into the streets that are already looking pretty good.

 

Yang: It just stays in someone’s account. When money goes to anyone in the bottom half of the US population then it will be spent on things that will manifest themselves in local businesses in the community.

 

Murphy: One of the reasons I support a basic income is that I grew up in Arkansas. A region like the Delta is invisible politically. I just know that very few other approaches are going to get anything down there.

 

Yang: That’s right. Virtually nothing else.

 

Murphy: If someone has a big plan for education and job training, I am not against those, but I doubt it will actually get to the neighborhoods I worked in there in Arkansas.

 

Yang: You are right.

 

Murphy: How are you looking to fund a basic income?

 

Yang: The main way we need to fund it is through a value-added tax. A VAT is an efficient way to raise revenue, it taxes consumption, which is what we ought to be taxing instead of something like work and labor. We are the only industrialized economy that does not use the VAT. We would be harvesting the gains of automation and new technologies much more effectively than income-based taxes.

 

Murphy: There are a few other proposals like a carbon tax or a tax on income above the one percent. What do you think of these other proposals that pop up?

 

Yang: I think some proposals try to finesse something that cannot be finessed. We try to find a way to fund a basic income without causing any pain or friction. I support taxing carbon and we will tax rich people. But we are talking about re-organizing the way that value is distributed in our society. So we can’t think that we can do that in some elegant way that leaves most people untouched.

 

[Note from Murphy: Yang’s platform also includes a financial transactions tax, which we did not discuss. There is also a call for an end to the current favorable tax treatment for capital gains and carried interest. That is not listed as funding for a BI.]

 

Murphy: Thinking of that, sometimes supporters present basic income as a reformist measure and sometimes others present it as a very radical transformation.

 

Yang: You can put me in the “radical transformation” category.

 

“Fifty-nine percent of Americans can’t afford to pay a surprise $500 charge. Our life expectancy is declining due to a surge in suicide. Seven Americans die of opiates every hour. Americans are starting businesses, getting married, and having kids at record low level or at the lowest in multiple decades. So, society is disintegrating and even very sick.”

Andrew Yang

 

Murphy: You are the first candidate [for the Democratic Presidential nomination] to announce. This is giving you access to curious people. I saw an article in which you were meeting with New Hampshire Democrats. That is a new crowd for basic income. How are these meetings working for you?

 

Yang: They are interested in what I have to say. Most of what I have to say revolves around the fact that we are going through the greatest technological and economic shift in human history. That is objective. That is data-driven. People find it very resonant. They sense that this is true. Most of our conversations are around what is happening with technology and labor and the economy and job polarization—all things that we are experiencing right now. One of the dangers of basic income right now is that it can seem like we are debating different versions of utopia. When we turn someone’s attention to the depth and breadth of our current social problems, we can talk about what can actually make a difference. The situation you saw in Arkansas is becoming more and more true for more and more Americans. May I give some of the stats that I feature in my book and in speeches?

 

Murphy: Absolutely.

 

Yang: Fifty-nine percent of Americans can’t afford to pay a surprise $500 charge. Our life expectancy is declining due to a surge in suicide. Seven Americans die of opiates every hour. Americans are starting businesses, getting married, and having kids at record low level or at the lowest in multiple decades. So, society is disintegrating and even very sick.

 

Murphy: We often use words like “self-employed” and “side hustle” for people who are…

 

Yang: Who are being exploited by a billion-dollar tech company that says “be your own boss” but pays you nickels on the dollar.

 

“We need to quit measuring everything based on GDP and profitability at the expense of human values. We should direct our energy towards thing that improve lives. The concentration of gains in the hands of a few is a toxic way to move forward.”
Andrew Yang

 

Murphy: Not long ago, we would hear people say that we need to choose between universal health care and basic income. Your platform simply has both. It seems like we are having a similar moment with a jobs guarantee. We keep hearing that we need to pick one or the other. It seems like many good people think that basic income crowds out something they are very concerned about.

 

Yang: That is an unproductive approach. We should not get lost in dueling utopias. If you are for universal health care, you should think about how much one thousand dollars a month will open up access to health care. If you care about gender equality and you want to see women avoid abusive workplaces and domestic situations—a thousand dollars a month could be vital. Let’s start with the cash because that will be the easiest thing to get done.

 

Opening page of Andrew Yang’s Presidential Campaign website.

 

Murphy: Your platform has multiple issues alongside basic income.

 

Yang: Definitely. I am all for single-payer health care and we can certainly do better with health than we are at present. That said, even after I win the Presidency, giving everyone cash will be easier to execute than universal health care. Andrew Stern points out that the government is terrible at many things but it is excellent at sending cash to many people promptly and reliably.

 

Murphy: Any ideas on how a basic income would affect foreign policy?

 

Yang: In the end, I think basic income will rationalize our spending, make us more optimistic, and smarter about our resources. Our citizens may end up less likely to want to lose a trillion dollars on military interventions worldwide.

 

Murphy: You call your worldview “Human Capitalism”. For some people “capitalism” refers to markets. For others, it refers to the domination of wealthy people.

 

Yang; First, I would agree with those who think that our current version of capitalism and corporatism is why our disintegration is happening. I am not a fan of continuing down this road. We have to reverse course as fast as possible. Reversing course, however, does not mean abandoning the things that have made capitalism effective. The problem is that our measuring sticks are all wrong. There are more effective ways to do things. Markets can help find the effective ways. We need to quit measuring everything based on GDP and profitability at the expense of human values. We should direct our energy towards the things that improve lives. The concentration of gains in the hands of a few is a toxic way to move forward. This is bad even for the so-called “winners” in society. Studies have proven that the winners in an unequal society are more anxious and depressed than the winners in a more equal society. This is enlightened self-interest. I can sympathize with anyone who thinks that “capitalism” is a dirty word. The first line in the description of human capitalism on our website is “Humans are more important than money.”

 

Murphy: Thank you for speaking with me between events. Is there any last word you want to make to readers?

 

Yang: I am hoping to get support soon from the basic income community. I have been campaigning for about four months. We are drawing from their ideas. We hope we can see them sign up because we need their support.

 

You may disagree with some item on my platform but I hope you can see that the direction and the spirit are right and that we can push a genuine conversation about basic income. We could really use their passion. We need a movement that recognizes that our community is disintegrating and that basic income is an essential answer. I hope that basic income activists can believe in this campaign.

 

Photo of Jason Burke Murphy (Left) and Andrew Yang (Right) shortly after this interview.

[Note from Murphy. Some portions of this interview were edited slightly for clarity as we moved from spoken word to written word. No content was altered. Thank you to Andrew Yang for taking time out of his campaign to speak with me. Thanks to Tyler Prochazka for proofreading.]