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.
Basic income’s transition from radical idea to legitimate policy
Basic income has risen in the public consciousness and the political agenda in the last two years. How has this been achieved?
Audio of my presentation, “Why we need a Universal Basic Income”
This audio is of talk I gave on why we need a Universal Basic Income. I gave the talk for the "Sydney Ideas" series in August of 2017, and I'm particularly happy with it. It summarizes the reasons I think are most important, and I think I did a relatively good job of...
President Bush Questioned by Senator Suplicy (from 2005)
This essay was originally published in the USBIG NewsFlash in December 2005. On November 6, at a conference on greater economic integration in the Americas in Brasilia, just after his 22 minutes conference in Brasilia, President Bush extended his hands Senator...
Is a UK basic income pilot possible?
Might it be possible to run a Citizen’s Basic Income pilot project in the UK? Multiple problems present themselves.
One-minute video answering the question, “Would it be possible to fund UBI in America?”
Of course, it is possible to fund UBI in America. Based on my calculations from a forthcoming article in Basic Income Studies, this one-minute video argues that a UBI large enough to eliminate poverty in the United States will cost 2.95% of the GDP per year--even if...
A very different take on the question, “Could UBI be a solution if automation eliminates jobs in the US?”
In this one-minute video, I argue that people look at automation and UBI in the wrong way. We must not wait until the predicted day when automation reduces the total number of jobs available. Automation creates two important reasons to introduce UBI right now even if...
Alaskan Dividend influence: Alberta, New Mexico, and beyond (from 2005)
This essay was originally published in the USBIG NewsFlash in October 2005. Dividend checks from the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) go out this month paying $845.76 (US), to every Alaska resident. (The APF is the only existing Basic Income in the world. It pays...
Jay Hammond, Father of the Alaskan Basic Income, Dies at 83 (from 2005)
This essay was originally published in the USBIG NewsFlash in August 2005. Jay Hammond, the governor of Alaska from 1975 to 1982, who led the fight to create the Alaska Permanent Fund, was found dead at his Homestead about 185 miles southwest of Anchorage, on...
The Basic Income Guarantee Experiments of the 1970s: a quick summary of results
So many countries are currently conducting or seriously talking about starting Universal Basic Income (UBI) experiments that it’s becoming hard to keep track. These are not the first experiments in UBI or other forms of Basic Income Guarantee (BIG). Namibia and India...
The Namibian BIG Proposal in Perspective (from 2005)
This essay was originally published in the USBIG NewsFlash in May 2005. While the Namibian government balks at the difficulty of raising the $200 million it would need to provide its citizens with a minimum income of a little more than 50 cents ($0.50) a day, it is...
Public Reaction to the Basic Income Guarantee Experiments in the 1970s: a case of misunderstanding, misuse, oversimplification, and spin
This post is one of several previewing the book I’m writing on Universal Basic Income (UBI) experiments, and it is the second of two reviewing the five Negative Income Tax (NIT) experiments conducted by the U.S. and Canadian Government in the 1970s. This post draws...
Interview: Basic income should ‘focus on people’
Portuguese basic income activist Miguel Horta is pushing for a basic income “for all.” He believes people should control UBI, not the government.
