BIEN | Opinion
Opinion Posts
Here you will find articles expressing opinions about current issues in the Basic Income debate. Opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinions of BIEN.
A form of Basic Income Guarantee has existed in a county in Oregon since 2002
According to the Capital Press, Sherman County, Oregon has had a form of Basic Income Guarantee since 2002. When the boom in wind power began 17 years ago in Sherman County, Ore., leaders there came up with an idea. Instead of the county simply pocketing property...
Why UBI is the right solution to poverty in America
The following is my address, "The Power to Say No and American Social Policy," to a conference entitled, "Poverty in America: A Range of Critical Perspectives on Its Causes, Effects, and Possible Solutions." The conference was held at Florida State University on March...
Korea: Interview with pro-UBI provincial governor
Governor Jae-myung Lee introduced the “Seongnam Youth Dividend” in 2016 during his term as the mayor of Seongnam city. It was a partial basic income for youth.
Andrew Yang’s Main Goal: Abolish Poverty and Make the Wealthy Pay For It – A Reaction to Chapo Trap House
By Jason Burke Murphy Andrew Yang's interview with Virgil Texas on the podcast Chapo Trap House helps to answer a lot of questions that keep coming up as his candidacy is debated. After a little while Virgil brings up concerns that one often encounters in debate...
Universal Basic Income and the Philosophy of Freedom
The following is an extended excerpt from, “The Future of Work: Universal Basic Income and the Philosophy of Freedom,” by Romany Williams, SSENSE. The rhetoric that increased entrepreneurship equals a utopian society is one-sided. What about equality as a means for...
Basic Income March, New York City, October 26, 2019 (updated)
New Yorkers are organizing a march for Basic Income. Everyone who can get there is invited to join. The Basic Income March, led by Basic Income NYC, is set for October 26, 2019. It might be accompanied by Basic Income Marches in other cities on the same day. The march...
The History of the Appropriation Story
I'm posting chapters of my latest book project (The Prehistory of Private Property coauthored by Grant. S. McCall) This discussion paper is a draft of Chapter 2 of our forthcoming book, the Prehistory of Private Property. It traces the history...
The Prehistory of Private Property
My latest book project (coauthored by the anthropologist, Grant S. McCall) is called The Prehistory of Private Property. It book tells two parallel histories. It tells the story of how modern property theory became dependent on three misconceptions about the origin of...
Basic income’s experimental wave is over: Time for policies
It is time to recognize the experimental wave of basic income is coming to an end.
Four-hundred and ninety-two pages of anthropology notes
At the links below, you can find 492 pages of notes, mostly in anthropology, some in history and other disciplines. I accumulated them in the process of researching two books (Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy and the Prehistory of Private Property),...
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 Flash, we now offer this complement with the interviews of the beneficiaries of the UBI in the rural villages of Kenya.
Creativity has nothing to do with money
When someone creates something, he or she does it out of a primal urge to give life to something new.
