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.
Crowdsourced funding as a ‘basic income’ for artists
What do we do when the future we want is precluded by precarious economic conditions or a staleness social system?
Volunteering after the 9/11 attacks in New York 2001.
Apparently I was one of the few people from Cass County, Michigan living in New York City at the time of 9/11 attacks of 2001. Partly because I couldn't get into my office for a few weeks, I volunteered for the clean-up efforts. Newspapers from my hometown and two...
Do we need a Coalition of Basic Income Activist Networks?
Do we need a worldwide Coalition of Basic Income Activist Networks to do what BIEN can't? BIEN is chartered as an "educational charity." It can educate people about BI and spread news about BI, but it cannot lead or coordinate activism on BI. There are many national...
Review of Marshall Brain, “Manna: Two Visions of Humanity’s Future” (from 2014)
This essay was originally published on Basic Income News in June 2014. Marshall Brain is a science writer (both fiction and non-), futurist, founder of the website How Stuff Works, and a long-time advocate of basic income. His book, Manna: Two Visions of...
Lou Foglia, Universal Basic Income: Money for Nothing
This 8-minute video, entitled Universal basic income: money for nothing, is by Lou Foglia for Beme News (CNN’s YouTube Channel). It first appeared on July 25, 2018. It's a good fast-pasted introduction to UBI. It quotes me at 1:11, slightly misquoting me at one point...
The Basic Income Guarantee and Tautological Libertarianism (from 2014)
This essay was originally published on Basic Income News in August 2014. The right-libertarian journal, Cato Unbound, has published a 4-party debate on Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) this month. Matt Zwolinski started it off with a second-best or pragmatic...
How Basic Income could restore voting rights for poor Americans
Voting is a sacred right, offering American citizens a voice in the local and national governments that set rules on their behalf. Yet, millions of citizens who have the right to vote in principle do not have the right to vote in practice.
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. Interview by Enno Schmidt with Prof. Dr. Karl Widerquist on...
Basic income should benefit mothers first
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.
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...
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...
Interview: Presidential campaign brings ‘new crowds’ to basic income
Yang took time out of one of his presidential campaign rallies and fundraisers to speak with BI News. Yang expressed 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.
BIEN Congresses
The 24th BIEN CONGRESS in Maricá & Niterói – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 27-29 August 2025
Linkedin, Instagram, X – biencongress25 (at) gmail [dot] com
BIEN2024 was August 29–31 (Pictures and more coming soon)