by Andrew Sisk | Feb 25, 2017 | News
On the TriplePundit website, RP Siegel asks if a Trump administration might promote a Universal Basic Income in the United States. He writes that, while supported by progressives, UBI may eventually be endorsed by the decidedly non-progressive Trump to make good on campaign promises to restore working class economic security.
Citing support for UBI on both the right and left and Trump’s constant unpredictability, Siegel asserts “anything is possible” with regard to this new republican president and UBI.
RP Siegel, “Could Donald Trump Deliver a Universal Basic Income?” (February 14, 2017)
by Tim Widerquist | Nov 18, 2016 | Opinion, The Indepentarian
This is a guest post by my brother, Tim Widerquist
With Donald Trump in charge of the executive in the United States, Republican majorities in the House and Senate, and a conservative judicial system, the time seems to have come for serious reorganization of American social welfare programs. House speaker Paul Ryan’s proposed 2015 budget cuts 3.3 trillion over a ten-year period from programs (Pell Grants, SNAP nutrition assistance, Medicaid, Section 8 housing) designed to assist those with low incomes.
Since the Reagan administration conservatives have pushed the notion that removing these programs will reduce the “culture of dependency” and removes the incentive for low income individuals to participate in the free market. They believe simply removing these programs will be a stimulus to income growth. Sadly, this is contrary to research on the effect of reducing assistance to low income populations. Much more likely is greater income disparity and real suffering for lower income populations.
Tim Widerquist
This leaves us with a rather bleak situation, greater poverty and less infrastructure in place to assist the poor. At that point America will desperately need to act. Will we choose to rebuild a system like what we have now — a mixture of housing, education, nutrition, and health programs — or is there a single program that would quickly provide support for those in need? Is there a program that would go directly to each person’s greatest need? Luckily there is. It’s getting a little bit of press now, but you’re sure to hear more about it in the future: it’s called The Basic Income Guarantee.
The adoption of BIG may be closer now than if Clinton had won. The unfortunate, desperate situation that Republicans are likely to create over the next two-to-four years effectively clears the playing field for new ideas. When progressives take over the Democratic Party they may find BIG an attractive policy; it is the sharpest tool available for slicing into the income inequality and income inequality that is coming. The midterm election is only two years away. BIG is a winning issue in this political environment. The future could be exciting.
Dark clouds
by Tyler Prochazka | Jul 23, 2016 | News
Probably for the first time in US history, the basic income is becoming an issue in the presidential election. Most of the candidates have already made their positions known. Two candidates, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson, appear to be the most supportive of the basic income. Although, Stein recently said basic income is a “visionary goal” and not something she is going to push as part of her agenda.
Hillary Clinton
The candidate said she is “not ready to go there,” but she would expand the earned income tax credit. She said distributing money without producing income is not something that “works for democracy and I don’t think it works for most people.”
Gary Johnson
Johnson said he was “open” to the idea of a Universal Basic Income based on its ability to save bureaucratic costs. Johnson directly supports the FairTax, which has a basic income component in the form of a prebate.
Jill Stein
UPDATE: On a recent CNN interview, Stein said guaranteed minimum income is a “visionary goal and not one of the practical goal posts of our agenda.”
“(Guaranteed basic income is) not something I’m willing to move forward at this point,” she said.
Donald Trump
Trump has not commented on the basic income. Requests for comment from the campaign were not returned.
by Guest Contributor | Jul 22, 2016 | Opinion
Donald Trump and the Prospects for a Basic Income
By Steven Shafarman
The Republican Party convention is over, and I’m feeling hopeful. Trump’s triumph may be a big step forward in our campaign to enact a basic income in the United States.
With Trump’s speech, and the convention’s overall tone, the party has completed its transition and come out of the closet. It’s now the Repugnant Party.
Our best hope is a landslide defeat, leaving Trump and the Repugnant Party in the dust. That will also leave Republicans with the task of rebuilding, seeking to reunite their Pro-Trump, Never-Trump, and Stuck-with-Trump factions. They’ll need a platform that’s positive, uplifting, and optimistic, something like a new version of Reagan’s “morning in America” — and they’ll have that, if the reborn Republican Party endorses a version of basic income.
Republicans might call it a “negative income tax,” quoting Milton Friedman, who strongly endorsed it in several books and many articles. Perhaps they’ll favor “Citizen Dividends,” to underscore the fact that the basic income is for citizens only, not immigrants. During their convention, they loudly denounced Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party as the establishment status quo, and the cause of everything that’s wrong in America today. Republicans can reinforce those arguments by touting basic income as a way to cut taxes, end corporate welfare, and achieve many of their other goals and values.
Democrats will be pressing hard to bring rapid progress, and President Hillary Clinton will be eager to prove that she is much more than a third term for Barack Obama. She can do that by talking about basic income, even if she only floats it as an idea, stopping short of full-on support. They might like UBI, universal or unconditional basic income, using the “U” to emphasize liberal values. If Clinton doesn’t act, Bernie Sanders and his supporters may became our champions, running with this issue and taking over the Democratic Party.
We Americans will have a basic income within the next ten years, I predict, possibly within two to three years.
Steven Shafarman is a co-founder of Basic Income Action, a life member of BIEN, and on the coordinating committee of USBIG. His forthcoming book is The Basic Income Imperative: for peace, justice, liberty, and personal dignity. (If you are or know a literary agent or publisher, please contact him through www.basicincomeaction.org.)
Donald Trump photo credit: Gage Skidmore (2013)
