universal basic income
Does universal basic income actually work?: Mutual aid
Thirty days March 15, 2020. The federal government told everyone to stay home. The check didn’t arrive until April 15. In Jackson, Mississippi, Cooperation Jackson organized food distribution to 10,000 families in two weeks.... Does universal basic income actually work?: Conditional pragmatists
The number One thousand dollars a month. 258 million American adults. $3.1 trillion a year. The entire federal discretionary budget in 2024 was $1.7 trillion. Total mandatory spending — Social Security, Medicare, everything — was $3.9 trillion.... Does universal basic income actually work?: Work-identity defenders
The parking lot at 5 a.m. March 6, 2019. Last Chevrolet Cruze off the line at Lordstown Assembly. Workers honked horns in the parking lot like a funeral with confetti. The plant had operated fifty-three years. At peak, 10,000 across three shifts. By noon the lot was empty.... Does universal basic income actually work?: UBI advocates
Twenty-seven years of data In 1997, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians opened a casino and began distributing profits to every enrolled member. $4,000 to $6,000 a year. No strings. No means test. Twenty-seven years later: labor force participation did not decline.... Does universal basic income actually work?: The Story
The experiments that keep succeeding Finland tried it. 2,000 people, two years. Participants were happier, less stressed, slightly more likely to find work. Parliament did not extend the program. Stockton tried it. 125 residents, $500 a month.... If machines do most of the work, what do the humans do?: UBI advocates
The floor should hold In 2019, Andrew Yang stood on a debate stage and said what every other candidate was thinking: the trucks are going to drive themselves. Three and a half million jobs. He proposed $1,000 per month, no strings. The other candidates changed the subject.... If everyone got a basic income, would they flourish or check out?: Austrian school
The Sunday that changed everything August 15, 1971. Nixon suspended dollar-to-gold convertibility. Sunday evening. Television address. No consultation with the IMF. He called it temporary. It has been fifty-five years.... If everyone got a basic income, would they flourish or check out?: Conditional pragmatists
The number $1,000 a month. 258 million adults. $3.1 trillion a year. The entire federal discretionary budget in 2024 was $1.7 trillion. We have run this seventeen ways. The number does not become smaller. It becomes differently large. We are the spreadsheet people.... If everyone got a basic income, would they flourish or check out?: Work-identity defenders
The alarm clock The last Cruze rolled off the Lordstown line on March 6, 2019. Workers honked horns and set off fireworks like it was a funeral with confetti. The plant had operated fifty-three years. At peak, 10,000 across three shifts. What happened next was not unemployment.... If everyone got a basic income, would they flourish or check out?: UBI advocates
The car, the certification, the climb Look, I know the critics think we are naive. I used to be one of them. Then I spent three years inside the data from every pilot I could find, and the data keeps saying the same thing.... If everyone got a basic income, would they flourish or check out?: The Story
The transmission A woman in Stockton, California, used her first $500 guaranteed income payment to fix her Honda Civic’s transmission. The car got her to a nursing assistant certification program she had been deferring for two years.... Is this the future of affordable housing in America? A 7X10 foot pod for $325 a month . . .
Ten feet long, seven feet wide. That’s smaller than a prison cell, possibly. And it can be all yours for the low-low price of $325 a month. To be fair, this is probably less than the cost of constructing a prison cell....