# UBI Guide
> The blog of Scott Santens - author and unconditional universal basic income specialist. Learn all about UBI from a continually-growing collection of angles.
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).

## Pages
- [Home](https://www.scottsantens.com/home.md) - I’m Scott Santens, and I've been researching and advocating for the concept of unconditional universal basic income (or UBI) since 2013. Acknowledged by former U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang as one of those who helped shape his thinking, I've lived with a basic income floor via Patreon sin…
- [Privacy Policy](https://www.scottsantens.com/privacy.md) - Scott Santens operates the scottsantens.com website, which provides the SERVICE. This page is used to inform website visitors regarding our policies with the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information if anyone decided to use our Service, the UBI Guide website. If you choose to use our…
- [YouTube Playlist of Media Interviews and Podcast Guest Appearances](https://www.scottsantens.com/tv-media-interviews-youtube.md) - Click the button in the upper right to scroll through the full list.

## Posts
- [The Land Dividend: How a Land Value Tax Can Fund a UBI](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-land-dividend-how-a-land-value-tax-can-fund-a-ubi.md) - Why taxing the value of land is potentially the best tax for universal basic income by making housing cheaper, taxing AI indirectly, and pushing rents down instead of up Imagine two plots of land in the heart of a big city, side by side, the exact same size. On one stands a gleaming fifty-story tow…
- [How to Fund Universal Basic Income by Taxing Consumption: Over $450 a Month From a VAT](https://www.scottsantens.com/how-to-fund-ubi-by-taxing-consumption-vat.md) - Pairing a 10% value-added tax or a tiny 0.1% automated transaction tax with UBI transforms a regressive tax into a progressive dividend for every American A 10% value-added tax (VAT) in the United States could raise about $1.76 trillion a year — enough to fund a universal basic income of more than…
- [How Do We Pay for Universal Basic Income? Tax Stock the Way Companies Already Issue It.](https://www.scottsantens.com/how-do-we-pay-for-universal-basic-income-tax-stock-the-way-companies-already-issue-it.md) - A 1.5% annual stock dilution tax on corporations with revenue over $100M would raise over $1.4 trillion a year — enough to send every American about $365 a month, automatically. Corporations issue new stock all the time — to raise cash, to pay executives, to swallow up other companies. So here’s a…
- [The Primordial Credit Argument for Unconditional Basic Income (UBI)](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-primordial-credit-argument-for-unconditional-basic-income-ubi.md) - What David Graeber’s Debt: The First 5,000 Years reveals about gratitude, interdependence, and why UBI is the smallest acknowledgment civilization can make to the unpayable debt of being alive Every time I drop a bag of garbage down the chute in my building, I think about debt. Not the kind you pay…
- [The Universality Argument for Basic Income](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-universality-argument-for-basic-income.md) - Why including everyone — yes, even billionaires like Elon Musk — works better than means-testing ever possibly can Imagine a room with a thousand people. You know that 999 of them need something to survive, and one of them doesn’t. You have two options. Option one: give the same thing to all 1,000…
- [I Just Launched the AI Pledge for Humanity. Here’s Why.](https://www.scottsantens.com/i-just-launched-the-ai-pledge-for-humanity-heres-why.md) - AI leaders keep saying UBI is necessary. This pledge asks them to prove it. I’ve been working on universal basic income full-time since 2013. Thirteen years. In that time, I’ve watched the conversation shift from “that’s a crazy idea” to “that’s inevitable.” Especially among the people building AI.…
- [The Angine de Poitrine Argument for UBI](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-angine-de-poitrine-argument-for-ubi.md) - Why Angine de Poitrine's viral microtonal math rock KEXP session, Ireland's permanent basic income for artists, and Albert Einstein are three sides of the same human triangle Two guys in papier-mâché masks from Saguenay, Quebec, have been playing music together for 20 years since they were 13 years…
- [Replace the Standard Deduction With $375 a Month for Everyone](https://www.scottsantens.com/replace-the-standard-deduction-with-a-375-monthly-fully-refundable-tax-credit-for-everyone-ubi.md) - My proposal for a fully refundable $4,500 tax credit that reaches everyone—and leaves the bottom 90% better off There is a new trend in Democratic politics, and it is one of the most frustrating things I’ve watched in years. Senator Cory Booker wants to more than double the standard deduction to $7…
- [The Next Moonshot: Universal Basic Income](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-next-moonshot-universal-basic-income-ubi-artemis.md) - What Artemis II and the Return to the Moon Should Remind Us About Ending Poverty As I write this, four astronauts are hurtling toward the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity by its crew. On April 1, 2026, NASA’s Artemis II launched from Kennedy Space Center — the first crewed mission…
- [Universal Basic Income Is Your Productivity Dividend. It’s the Only Way to All Share What We All Built.](https://www.scottsantens.com/universal-basic-income-ubi-is-your-productivity-dividend-its-the-only-way-to-all-share-what-we-all-built.md) - Why Universal Basic Income (UBI) Is the Only Way to Share AI and Productivity Gains With Everyone There was a time in America when productivity growth and wage growth moved together. From the end of World War II until the mid-1970s, as productivity rose, pay rose with it. Workers produced more and…
- [We Gave Homeless People Cash. They Bought Housing Not Drugs.](https://www.scottsantens.com/we-gave-homeless-people-cash-they-bought-housing-not-drugs-ubi.md) - The evidence from Vancouver to Denver is undeniable: When people in crisis receive money, substance use goes down, employment goes up, and homelessness ends. On any given night in the United States, over half a million people have no place to call home. They sleep in shelters, in cars, under bridge…
- [Top 10 Universal Basic Income Articles of 2025](https://www.scottsantens.com/top-10-universal-basic-income-articles-of-2025.md) - As host of The Basic Income Show and moderator for the Basic Income subreddit, I read hundreds of article every year about UBI. Below, I’ve compiled a list of the top ten articles I consider my favorites out of everything published in 2025. A big thanks to my monthly patrons who contribute to makin…
- [The 200-Year Experiment: How a 'Privileged' Basic Income in Brazil Proves We Can Afford to Be Universal](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-200-year-experiment-how-a-privileged-basic-income-in-brazil-proves-we-can-afford-to-be-universal.md) - From $500 to $15,000 a Month: How Decades of Data Prove That an Unconditional Basic Income Guarantee Fuels Ambition Instead of Laziness What if I told you that the Portuguese Empire accidentally ran one of the most comprehensive basic income experiments in human history? Not a one-year or two-year…
- [The $1,000 Lie: Why Trump Accounts Are the Wrong Answer to the Right Question](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-1000-lie-why-trump-accounts-are-the-wrong-answer-to-the-right-question.md) - Billionaires are lining up to seed investment accounts for kids, but we already know how to end child poverty — and waiting until age 18 isn’t it In December 2025, something ostensibly remarkable happened. Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25 billion to fund new “Trump Accounts” for American childr…
- [Finland Gave Two Groups Identical Payments. One Experienced 33% Better Mental Health.](https://www.scottsantens.com/finland-gave-two-groups-identical-payments-one-experienced-33-better-mental-health.md) - New research from Finland's basic income experiment proves that simply trusting people with money—not just the money itself—significantly improves mental health There’s a revolution happening in mental health treatment, and it’s not coming from pharmaceutical companies or therapy offices. It’s comi…
- [Eduardo Porter is Still Wrong About UBI and AI: A Response to The Guardian](https://www.scottsantens.com/eduardo-porter-is-still-wrong-about-ubi-and-ai-a-response-to-the-guardian.md) - Universal Basic Income Isn’t a Job Replacement Plan—It’s an AI Dividend and Stable Income Floor That Protects Work, Wages, and Democracy Eduardo Porter’s new Guardian piece is built around a familiar move: treat universal basic income as a single, maximalist policy meant to replace paychecks, then…
- [Universal Basic Income Reduces Crime: Here’s What the Evidence Shows](https://www.scottsantens.com/elon-musk-is-wrong-about-universal-basic-income-and-crime.md) - Evidence from UBI experiments, guaranteed income programs, and natural experiments shows how increasing economic security can reduce property crime, violent crime, domestic violence, and recidivism Recently, an account on X/Twitter posted a claim that the basic income pilot in Finland proved that b…
- [The Marshall Islands Just Quietly Implemented the First National Universal Basic Income (UBI)](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-marshall-islands-just-quietly-implemented-the-first-national-universal-basic-income-ubi.md) - READ ON MY SUBSTACK The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) just did something most governments still insist is impossible. They passed and funded a nationwide, legally established, permanent universal basic income, and almost no one outside the Pacific and a few crypto news sites is talking abo…
- [Irish Government Proposes Basic Income For Artists](https://www.scottsantens.com/irish-government-proposes-basic-income-for-artists.md) - Irish government plans to implement permanent basic income program of €325 ($361) a week for 2,000 professionals in the creative sector; an expert backs the initiative The following is the English translation of an article I was interviewed for, written by Eduardo Lemos Marti for UBC (União Brasile…
- [It's Time to Walk the Walk for Universal Basic Income (UBI)](https://www.scottsantens.com/its-time-to-walk-the-walk-for-universal-basic-income-ubi.md) - This post is not meant to change anyone's mind about the need for Universal Basic Income. If you don't support it, I'm not here today to convince you otherwise. This post is meant for all those who already know they, and everybody else, absolutely need UBI and who talk about it with others. That's…
- [The Reports of UBI’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated: The Mountain of Positive Results vs. Some Pandemic-Era Null Results](https://www.scottsantens.com/reports-of-ubis-death-are-greatly-exaggerated-mountain-of-positive-results-vs-pandemic-null-results.md) - Originally published on my Substack on September 13. Reposted here to place this Universal Basic Income evidence review in my site’s searchable archive and internal link network—improving discoverability for “UBI evidence,” “cash transfers,” “saturation site pilots,” and "null results.” See also th…
- [Andrew Yang Has Begun Paying People to Use Their Phones Less](https://www.scottsantens.com/andrew-yang-is-paying-people-to-use-their-phones-less-noble-mobile.md) - Introducing Noble Mobile and Its Monthly Data Dividend For those who have followed my work for years, you already know that I've considered Andrew Yang a friend since before he ever launched his presidential campaign back in 2017. He ran in the Democratic primary with universal basic income as his…
- [The New York Times Missed the Real Story on UBI and Kids](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-new-york-times-missed-the-real-story-on-ubi-and-kids.md) - Baby’s First Years, long-run basic income evidence, and why unconditional cash still beats status-quo poverty metrics The latest round of discourse about basic income was triggered by a New York Times piece claiming that a recent study showed monthly cash to poor families did nothing for child deve…
- [What the Media Isn’t Telling You: Why Universal Basic Income Is the Answer to Poverty, Insecurity, and Inequality](https://www.scottsantens.com/what-the-media-isnt-telling-you-why-universal-basic-income-ubi-is-the-answer-to-poverty-insecurity-and-inequality.md) - A Newsweek reporter recently asked me — with a sense of urgency mind you — to provide expert answers on UBI for a story. I answered all their questions in detail by deadline. They never replied. Since then, they’ve published multiple UBI pieces without using a single word. I’m publishing the entire…
- [17 Key Variables That Determine UBI’s Inflationary Impact](https://www.scottsantens.com/17-key-variables-that-determine-ubis-inflationary-impact.md) - Will universal basic income cause inflation? Will the prices of everything rise? I get asked that all the time. Here's the deal about UBI and inflation: it all depends. Can UBI be inflationary? Sure, if we do it in a certain way in a certain context, but no, not in other ways and contexts. We're ta…
- [AI, Automation, and the Urgent Case for Universal Basic Income](https://www.scottsantens.com/ai-automation-and-the-urgent-case-for-universal-basic-income-ubi-forward-future.md) - The following interview was with Nick Wentz of Forward Future Daily, a newsletter launched by Matthew Berman focused on bringing the benefits of AI to all of humanity. It was originally published in two parts (part one and part two). If you want to keep up with AI news, consider subscribing to Forw…
- [What's the deal with the $5,000 'DOGE Dividend' checks?](https://www.scottsantens.com/whats-the-deal-with-the-5000-doge-dividend-checks.md) - Is it like a stimulus check, or a tax credit, or even universal basic income? Read on. On February 18, 2025, a man named James Fishback (an advisor to the 'Department of Government Efficiency') shared his proposal on X (formerly Twitter) for what he calls a "DOGE Dividend", to which Elon Musk repli…
- [Top 10 Universal Basic Income Articles of 2024](https://www.scottsantens.com/top-10-universal-basic-income-ubi-articles-of-2024.md) - As the editor of Basic Income Today and a moderator for the Basic Income subreddit, I read a lot of stuff every year about UBI, somewhere around 100 articles a month. Below, I've compiled a list of the top ten articles I consider my favorites out of everything published in 2024. A big thanks to my…
- [The Hidden Reasons Authoritarianism Is Growing — And How to Reverse It](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-hidden-reasons-authoritarianism-is-growing-and-how-to-reverse-it-ubi.md) - It takes all kinds. Humanity would have never made it this far without a multitude of people with a wide diversity of personality types and preferences. It is our individual differences wherein lies our strength as a society, but my belief in the truth of that statement is also in polar opposition…
- [Income To Support All Foundation Reaches $1.5 Million Fundraising Goal, Fully Funding Two Groundbreaking UBI Projects](https://www.scottsantens.com/itsa-foundation-reaches-fundraising-goal-for-groundbreaking-ubi-projects.md) - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Washington, DC, October 25, 2024 – The Income To Support All Foundation (ITSA), founded by globally renowned Universal Basic Income (UBI) expert Scott Santens, is proud to announce the successful completion of its $1.5 million fundraising goal for 2024. This milestone was achi…
- [Introducing "The Basic Income Show" on YouTube](https://www.scottsantens.com/introducing-the-basic-income-show-on-youtube.md) - After 29 episodes of the ITSA Live! weekly audio-only chat I've been hosting on Twitter on Wednesdays alongside my co-hosts Conrad Shaw and Josh Worth, we decided to switch to a new video format and a new name. Similar to what we've been doing, we'll focus on discussing recent developments in the b…
- [Did Sam Altman's Basic Income Experiment Succeed or Fail?](https://www.scottsantens.com/did-sam-altman-basic-income-experiment-succeed-or-fail-ubi.md) - An article to better inform the discussion of the results of the OpenResearch unconditional basic income pilot experiment The results of one of the biggest basic income experiments ever came out in July 2024, and as usual, the nuances of the findings are lost among the voices of those loudly procla…
- [Universal Basic Income or Universal High Income?](https://www.scottsantens.com/universal-basic-income-or-universal-high-income-ubi-uhi-amount.md) - An article to better inform the debate about the amount of UBI "The very positive scenario of AI is actually in a lot of ways, the description of heaven, in that really nobody would need to work. I wouldn't even call it universal basic income. I would say it's probably universal high income." - Elo…
- [YouTube channel update: my new video explaining UBI in-depth](https://www.scottsantens.com/youtube-channel-update-new-video-explaining-ubi-in-depth.md) - I posted a new video on my YouTube channel this week that's an hour long and meant to be a kind of class lecture or seminar on the concept of universal basic income using a slide deck I created for a talk I gave as part of a webinar earlier this year. As people increasingly consume their informatio…
- [The Billionaire-Fueled Lobbying Group Behind the State Bills to Ban Basic Income Experiments](https://www.scottsantens.com/billionaire-fueled-lobbying-group-behind-the-state-bills-to-ban-universal-basic-income-experiments-ubi.md) - The Foundation for Government Accountability - a Florida-based lobbying group backed by the richest 1% - is working to get basic income experiments banned by state legislators across the U.S. (This article is also available as a YouTube video and as a podcast episode) As a well-known quote often wr…
- [Why China Could Surprise the World by Being the First Country to Adopt Universal Basic Income](https://www.scottsantens.com/why-china-could-surprise-the-world-by-being-the-first-country-to-adopt-universal-basic-income-ubi.md) - The concept of universal basic income (or UBI) - a regularly provided cash payment distributed without conditions to all individuals within a defined community - has a long history and an as yet unwritten future. As someone considered to be one of the world’s experts on the topic with over ten year…
- [Top 10 Universal Basic Income Articles of 2023](https://www.scottsantens.com/top-10-universal-basic-income-articles-of-2023.md) - As the editor of Basic Income Today and a moderator for the Basic Income subreddit, I read a lot of stuff every year about UBI, somewhere around 100 articles a month. Below, I've compiled a list of the top ten articles I consider my favorites out of everything published in 2023. A big thanks to my…
- [Comingle Crowdfund Success and Other Basic Income News](https://www.scottsantens.com/comingle-universal-basic-income-ubi-pilots-news.md) - For anyone who missed my previous blog post, or doesn't follow me anywhere on social media (maybe because you care too much about your mental health), I've been in crowdfunding mode for the past month helping with the Indiegogo campaign for Comingle which is an app being developed with the goal of…
- [Time To Crowdfund a UBI Platform](https://www.scottsantens.com/time-to-crowdfund-a-ubi-platform-universal-basic-income.md) - As some of you already know, I'm excited about the potential for Comingle. It's an app that once fully developed and launched will provide a small basic income of around $200 a month, paid weekly, to everyone who signs up for it, who commits 7 percent of their weekly income to join the community an…
- [Sowing Seeds of Security: How Basic Income Is Taking Root in the U.S. through Local Pilots and Programs](https://www.scottsantens.com/basic-income-earth-network-congress-speech-2023.md) - Note: The following is a speech I gave at the 2023 Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) Congress that was held in Seoul, South Korea. You can find more of the presentations there online at this link. Thank you for inviting me from my home in Washington, D.C. to be here in person today. I’m excited to…
- [Introducing the Income To Support All Foundation](https://www.scottsantens.com/introducing-the-income-to-support-all-foundation-itsa-ubi.md) - I'm excited to share that I'm now the Founder and President of the Income To Support All Foundation, a new non-profit whose purpose is to accelerate the implementation of unconditional universal basic income by just doing it and by telling the stories of those whose lives have been transformed by i…
- [My Closing Keynote Speech at England's Basic Income North 2023 Conference](https://www.scottsantens.com/closing-keynote-speech-basic-income-north-england-conference-2023-ubi.md) - (The following is the text of my speech which you can also watch or listen to) A few of you already know me, but for those who don’t, I’m just a guy who happened to get really into the concept of unconditional basic income ten years ago. I get asked all the time how that happened, so long story sho…
- [The Big Red Button Argument for Unconditional Basic Income](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-big-red-button-argument-for-unconditional-universal-basic-income-ubi.md) - Everyone who has followed my writings through the years knows I like to write specific arguments for the idea of unconditional basic income (UBI). One of my own personal favorites is the Engineering Argument for UBI. Another is the Monsters, Inc Argument for UBI. Well, here's another that's been on…
- [Negative Income Tax is Not Cheaper Than Universal Basic Income, Nor is Guaranteed Income 'More Progressive' by Excluding the Rich](https://www.scottsantens.com/negative-income-tax-is-not-cheaper-than-universal-basic-income-ubi-nor-is-guaranteed-income-more-progressive-by-excluding-the-rich.md) - Many people don't know this, but Milton Friedman was once asked in the Spring of 2000 what he thought about a universal basic income (UBI) in comparison to his proposed negative income tax (NIT) and this was his response: "A basic or citizen's income is not an alternative to a negative income tax.…
- [A.I. Will Not Displace Everyone, Everywhere, All at Once. It Will Rapidly Transform the Labor Market, Exacerbating Inequality, Insecurity, and Poverty.](https://www.scottsantens.com/ai-will-rapidly-transform-the-labor-market-exacerbating-inequality-insecurity-and-poverty.md) - There is no simple way of discussing the economic impact of artificial intelligence. As someone who has been warning about the impacts of automation for a decade now, and trying to get people to understand that automation has already been impacting us for decades, I can tell you that this nuanced c…
- [The Fable of the Two-Headed Dragon-Tyrant and the UBI Missile](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-fable-of-the-two-headed-dragon-tyrant.md) - The following short story is an adaptation of The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant by Nick Bostrom, written by GPT-4 with my prompting (and light editing) in response to the open letter calling for a pause on the development of GPT-5. Once upon a time, in a prosperous kingdom, there lived a fearsome two-…
- [Did Spain's B-MINCOME Experiment Prove That Unconditional Basic Income Doesn't Work?](https://www.scottsantens.com/did-spains-b-mincome-experiment-prove-that-unconditional-universal-basic-income-doesnt-work-ubi.md) - Between 2017 and 2019, in the city of Barcelona, an experiment in the provision of monthly cash happened. It was called B-MINCOME. The original intent of the experiment was to test unconditional basic income to gather evidence for a nationwide universal basic income, but the pilot was put through t…
- [ChatGPT Has Already Decreased My Income Security, and Likely Yours Too](https://www.scottsantens.com/chatgpt-has-already-decreased-my-income-security.md) - Note: You can also listen to this post thanks to an AI I trained with my voice Most of you have by now heard of ChatGPT already, but if you haven't, first I'm happy to hear you're out of your coma, and second, it's what's called a "generative artificial intelligence" that was built by OpenAI to gen…
- [How Money is Born out of Public Spending and Dies by Taxes](https://www.scottsantens.com/how-money-is-born-out-of-public-spending-and-dies-by-taxes-mmt.md) - If there's one thing most people don't seem to understand about how money works that I think would really help governments work better in the 21st century, it's that money does not flow in the way we perceive it does. It's an illusion. What money actually does is pop into and out of existence in a…
- [The FairTax Would Implement a Universal Basic Income](https://www.scottsantens.com/fair-tax-would-implement-universal-basic-income-ubi-fairtax.md) - Anyone who supports the FairTax and its monthly 'prebate' also supports UBI even if they swear otherwise Basic income. $279 every month. Tax free money from the government. No work requirements. No income-testing. For every legal resident of the United States, every month, with additional income fo…
- [One Year After the Expiration of the Enhanced Child Tax Credit, What All Have We Learned About Its Effects?](https://www.scottsantens.com/one-year-after-the-expiration-of-the-enhanced-child-tax-credit-ctc-what-all-have-we-learned-about-its-effects.md) - Summary: The monthly Child Tax Credit payments did not reduce employment, but what they did do was reduce hunger and increase entrepreneurship, and if made permanent would likely generate far greater benefits than its cost, and reduce domestic abuse of women and children. 2022 has come to a close,…
- [The Spaceballs Argument for Unconditional Basic Income (UBI)](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-spaceballs-argument-for-unconditional-universal-basic-income-ubi.md) - There is an argument frequently made against the concept of unconditional basic income (UBI) that essentially goes like this: "Life requires work. You can't just expect to live without work, and it's wrong for someone to live off the work of others. So UBI has no moral justification." This argument…
- [No, Universal Basic Income Does Not Require Tax Rates of 40 to 60 Percent](https://www.scottsantens.com/ubi-universal-basic-income-does-not-require-tax-rates-of-40-to-60-percent.md) - Lots of news articles are being written about a new study in Ireland of UBI, and as usual, the discussion is misinforming, as is the study itself. I responded with a long thread on Twitter. Here's that thread in blog form and slightly expanded upon. Today we published our study on Universal Basic I…
- [The Gift-Giving Argument for Universal Basic Income](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-gift-giving-argument-for-universal-basic-income-ubi-christmas-birthday-giving.md) - As I write this, Christmas is right around the corner again, and I think it's time I finally write this article that has been in my head for years now as an argument for the universal part of universal basic income. In short, the entire point of the gift-giving aspect of Christmas and birthdays and…
- [Is Unconditional Basic Income a Trap Being Laid by Global Elites to Control and Enslave Us All?](https://www.scottsantens.com/is-unconditional-basic-income-ubi-a-trap-being-laid-by-wef-global-elites-to-control-and-enslave-us-all.md) - 2023 will mark ten years of my advocating hard for unconditional basic income. At this point, one of the things that annoys me most is the new claim from conspiracy-fueled people that the rich and powerful fully support UBI and want to use it to make a subservient population. First of all, most obv…
- [The BIG Picture of Money, Economics, and Humanity](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-big-picture-of-money-economics-and-humanity-ubi-basic-income.md) - The following is the speech I gave at the 2022 BIG Conference on the day Roe vs Wade was overturned. If you prefer, you can also listen to the recorded audio. I apologize in advance for kind of running in the red today. Like in Pulp Fiction, I'm a race car in the red. And I say that as a white dude…
- [Incoming! How UBI could change work (and the world)](https://www.scottsantens.com/how-ubi-could-change-work-and-the-world.md) - The following is an excerpt from the 2022 report by Indeed titled "Future of compensation: Pay, benefits and equity in the UK workplace." This excerpt is based on an interview I did in August as part of the report's preparation. The idea, of a universally provided amount of money, has been around f…
- [The Toothpaste Argument for Universal Basic Income](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-toothpaste-argument-for-universal-basic-income-ubi-gotz-werner.md) - The following argument is based on the words of the late Götz Werner, who was a long-time supporter of the concept of unconditional basic income in Germany, who gained a unique understanding of UBI as a successful businessman and billionaire co-founder of the drugstore chain “dm,” and who passed aw…
- [Today’s Child Tax Credit Versus the Family Security Act 2.0](https://www.scottsantens.com/todays-child-tax-credit-versus-the-family-security-act-2-0.md) - Summary: An analysis by the Niskanen Center of the changes FSA2 proposes concluded that poverty would drop by 13%. It would lift more than 1.1 million kids out of poverty and that’s without raising any new taxes and instead just spending what we already spend, but differently. The enhanced child ta…
- [How the Baby Formula Crisis Helps Show the Difference Between Cash and Benefits-in-Kind](https://www.scottsantens.com/how-the-baby-formula-crisis-helps-show-the-difference-between-cash-and-benefits-in-kind.md) - Summary: I think some kind of compromise between Democrats and Republicans along such lines is something that deserves serious consideration as a response to the baby formula shortage. If we can reduce child poverty while also helping to prevent another baby formula shortage, plus give moms more in…
- [How to Calculate the Cost of Universal Basic Income (Hint: It's Not As Easy As You Might Think)](https://www.scottsantens.com/how-to-calculate-the-cost-of-universal-basic-income-ubi.md) - I've written about this before, about how the cost of universal basic income is its net cost, not its gross cost, but because this question of the cost of UBI is so frequently raised, and so frequently misunderstood, I'm going to attempt to explain this in an alternative way in the hopes people mig…
- [How the Monthly Child Tax Credit Reduced the Level of Desperation in America](https://www.scottsantens.com/how-the-monthly-child-tax-credit-ctc-reduced-the-level-of-desperation-in-america.md) - With the enhanced CTC, fewer parents resorted to selling their blood plasma and paying 391% interest rates in order to feed and house their families Money is protection. When we have enough of it, it can be an all-purpose shield, able to protect us from all kinds of things. Protection from the most…
- [No, Ukraine did not just introduce Universal Basic Income. Here is what it did do.](https://www.scottsantens.com/ukraine-did-not-just-introduce-universal-basic-income-ubi.md) - On December 19, 2021, Ukraine launched “ePidtrymka” which translates to eSupport. It was launched on Diia which is a smartphone app and web portal that itself was launched in February 2020 to function as a means of storing and sharing digital versions of documents, and also making government servic…
- [The Monthly Child Tax Credit Gave Birth to New Entrepreneurs](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-monthly-child-tax-credit-gave-birth-to-new-entrepreneurs.md) - It’s no coincidence that during the pandemic, entrepreneurship increased in the United States by 23%, which was more than any other advanced economy. Capital Requirements Bottleneck Small Business Formation They say necessity is the mother of invention, but what they don’t say in the same breath is…
- [An Introduction to Unconditional Basic Income For All](https://www.scottsantens.com/universal-basic-income-for-all-unconditional-why-ubi-is-necessary-now-evidence-experiments.md) - Let’s talk about humanity... Human civilization was not ready for COVID-19, nor is it ready for the continuing impacts of climate change, nor the impacts we will increasingly feel as we automate more and more employment. As a species, we were not ready. We’re still not ready. And we will continue n…
- [The Rise of Omicron is Grounds for Extending the Monthly Child Tax Credit](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-rise-of-omicron-is-grounds-for-extending-the-monthly-child-tax-credit-ctc.md) - The end of CTC payments will also mean the end of employment for some parents, right when times are most difficult due to an Omicron wave. Omicron is Likely the Fastest-Spreading Virus Known to Humankind Omicron is spreading like wildfire across the country, with a doubling rate of about two days,…
- [Podcast Episode: Vision and Foundations for a Better Society](https://www.scottsantens.com/podcast-episode-vision-and-foundations-for-a-better-society.md) - From 2019 to 2021, I took part in a convening on automation, opportunity, and belonging to visualize the future and how to get to a better one among the infinitely possible versions of it. Together we crafted over multiple iterations a vision document of the kind of society we could be in 2040, and…
- [My New (And First) Book: Let There Be Money](https://www.scottsantens.com/let-there-be-money-book-understanding-modern-monetary-theory-universal-basic-income-mmt-ubi-unconditional.md) - Now available in paperback and Kindle For those who have read my long essay about UBI and MMT [https://vocal.media/theSwamp/why-we-need-modern-monetary-theory-mmt-and-why-it-needs-universal-basic-income-ubi] (or listened to me narrate it [https://anchor.fm/scottsantens/episodes/Why-We-Need-Modern-M…
- [Understanding Pandemic Inflation: How to Best Reduce and Alleviate It](https://www.scottsantens.com/understanding-pandemic-inflation-how-to-best-reduce-and-alleviate-it.md) - It would be a mistake to misdiagnose our inflation as mostly a demand problem instead of mostly a supply problem. Inflation has become the scariest monster of 2021. That’s pretty amazing considering how a novel coronavirus has killed upwards of 20 million human beings since a pandemic started, incl…
- [How Work Requirements are Actually Anti-Work and Why the Fully-Refundable Child Tax Credit is Pro-Work](https://www.scottsantens.com/how-work-requirements-are-actually-anti-work-and-why-the-fully-refundable-child-tax-credit-is-pro-work.md) - The fully-refundable CTC is a better way. It needs to stay. Won’t people stop working if they receive income independent of work? That’s always one of the first questions asked in regards to any government benefit that doesn’t require employment or job-seeking in order to receive it. The assumption…
- [Proof of Humanity and the Universal Basic Income Coin](https://www.scottsantens.com/proof-of-humanity-and-the-universal-basic-income-ubi-coin-crypto.md) - On March 10, 2021, Proof of Humanity’s UBI coin [https://blog.kleros.io/introducing-ubi-universal-basic-income-for-humans/] went live on the Ethereum Mainnet. For anyone who doesn’t know what that sentence means, it means that a cryptocurrency project was launched using the most popular smart contr…
- [The Forward Book and the Forward Party](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-forward-book-and-the-forward-party-andrew-yang-rcv-ubi-democracy-reform.md) - Forward is now in bookstores and the Forward Party has just launched! I read Andrew Yang’s new book Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy [https://amzn.to/3rBx97E?utm_campaign=Foreword%20to%20Civilization&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter] months ago, and have been anxiously aw…
- [The Republican History of the Child Tax Credit and Why the GOP Should Proudly Embrace It](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-republican-history-of-the-child-tax-credit-ctc-and-why-the-gop-should-proudly-embrace-it.md) - From Reagan, to Bush, to the Contract with America, to George W. Bush, to Trump, the child tax credit is a Republican creation that the GOP should embrace and make permanent On July 15, the first monthly child tax credit (CTC) payments went out, and they’re already being considered as “life-changin…
- [New on Vocal: Why We Need Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and Why It Needs Universal Basic Income (UBI)](https://www.scottsantens.com/new-on-vocal-why-we-need-modern-monetary-theory-mmt-and-why-it-needs-universal-basic-income-ubi.md) - It's published!!! At just shy of 14,000 words, my latest article is the closest thing to writing a book that I've done so far. Despite its length, it's still meant to be readable like an enjoyable book, and not a heavy academic slog that no one will read. I hope readers will agree. I've long avoide…
- [Escaping Together](https://www.scottsantens.com/escaping-together-surviving-disasters-with-universal-basic-income-ubi-resilience.md) - Thoughts about basic income, surviving disasters, and the future we must escape from At some point in all of our lives, we all try to escape from something. There are few things more universal to the human experience than the act of escape, of running from some predator or some danger. To even be w…
- [Letter to the Editor from a New Orleans evacuee](https://www.scottsantens.com/letter-to-the-editor-from-a-new-orleans-evacuee.md) - As published by L'Observateur [https://www.lobservateur.com/2021/09/03/letter-to-the-editor-from-a-new-orleans-evacuee/] Dear Editor: Between evacuating our homes and fighting over gas for our cars and generators, I know we’ve all got our hands full right now, but that’s exactly why it’s so hard to…
- [The Eviction Moratorium was Never the Answer. Cash Is.](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-eviction-moratorium-was-never-the-answer-cash-is.md) - Trust the American people with the financial freedom to make their own decisions with money. One of those decisions will most certainly be paying the rent or mortgage. The pandemic has been one massive disaster, containing within it a series of more disasters One of those disasters was an epidemic…
- [My wife is immunocompromised. That's why I feel so strongly about people getting vaccinated.](https://www.scottsantens.com/my-wife-is-immunocompromised-thats-why-i-feel-so-strongly-about-people-getting-vaccinated-covid.md) - Your freedom to do what you want ends at the freedoms of others to not be killed There’s something personal I haven’t shared that I feel I can no longer be silent about, because perhaps it might be helpful as public knowledge, and because I want people to know better where I’m coming from on the to…
- [How Republican President Richard Nixon Laid the Foundation for Monthly Cash for Kids](https://www.scottsantens.com/how-republican-president-richard-nixon-laid-the-foundation-for-monthly-cash-for-kids-child-tax-credit-ctc.md) - Making Our New Guaranteed Income for Kids Permanent is a Real Path to Universal Basic Income (UBI) “I propose that the Federal government pay a basic income to those American families who cannot care for themselves in whichever State they live.” That sentence was one of the more surprising things I…
- [Monthly Child Tax Credit Payment Will Likely Grow the Economy](https://www.scottsantens.com/monthly-child-tax-credit-payment-will-likely-grow-the-economy.md) - America’s 6-month experiment with what is essentially a universal basic income for kids will grow the economy, reduce unemployment, and help make the case to make it permanent, increase the amount provided, and implement a full UBI. Economic Benefits of Direct Cash I was asked recently if I thought…
- [Is $300 a week in UI making people lazy and does it prove UBI doesn’t work?](https://www.scottsantens.com/is-300-a-week-in-ui-making-people-lazy-and-does-it-prove-ubi-doesnt-work.md) - Claiming “lazy workers” may be nonsense, but it’s also instructive in better understanding the benefits of Universal Basic Income. The Climate of the Labor Market is Not to Blame. Thanks to social media, I think we’ve all seen by now the images of signs on storefronts posted by employers unable to…
- [What about combining a higher federal minimum wage with monthly recurring direct payments?](https://www.scottsantens.com/what-about-combining-a-higher-federal-minimum-wage-with-monthly-recurring-direct-stimulus-payments.md) - We can increase incomes, reduce taxes, accelerate automation, and grow the economy Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 is at the forefront of policy debate right now after being pushed by Biden to be part of the reconciliation package where only a simple majority is needed to pass it, but it se…
- [A Pandemic is a Great Time to Stop Ignoring Unpaid Care Work](https://www.scottsantens.com/a-pandemic-is-a-great-time-to-stop-ignoring-unpaid-care-work-universal-basic-income-ubi.md) - Care work is work. We need to recognize it and support it with monthly income. Unpaid care work is work. I want to make that clear first and foremost. However, it’s also more than that. It’s a kind of work that can’t really be measured like wage work. It’s not like informal care workers clock in, w…
- [2020 Revealed That Unconditional Basic Income Cannot Wait Any Longer](https://www.scottsantens.com/2020-revealed-that-universal-unconditional-basic-income-cannot-wait-any-longer-ubi.md) - Everything seemed to change in 2020, and yet in very important ways, what really needed to didn’t, which is what must change. It’s time to finally live up to our founding ideals as a nation with a monthly investment in the lifelong economic security of all Americans. Millions of Americans visited f…
- [Escaping the Cult Commander in Chief](https://www.scottsantens.com/escaping-the-cult-commander-in-chief-donald-trump.md) - Biden is in and Trump is out, but it's nowhere near the end of our problems as a democracy in dire need of systemic reforms and more widely shared prosperity As I write this, I worry about how the coming days will unfold leading up to January 20, and what will happen in the months and years after.…
- [Basic Income as Liquid Infrastructure: The Bruce Lee Argument for UBI](https://www.scottsantens.com/unconditional-universal-basic-income-as-liquid-infrastructure-the-bruce-lee-argument-for-ubi-cash-money.md) - "Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” - Bruce Lee When most people hear Bruce Lee's words ab…
- [An Engineering Argument for Basic Income](https://www.scottsantens.com/engineering-argument-for-unconditional-universal-basic-income-ubi-fault-tolerance-graceful-failure-redundancy.md) - This post is also available in Spanish [https://www.rentabasicauniversal.es/2020/11/02/el-argumento-desde-la-ingenieria-para-una-renta-basica-incondicional/] and Czech [https://tribun.red/2021/02/01/inzenyrske-argumenty-pro-zakladni-prijem/] due to the volunteer work of translators. Thank you to ev…
- [Should we support the many basic income experiments that aren't actually testing UBI?](https://www.scottsantens.com/should-we-support-the-many-universal-basic-income-pilot-experiments-that-arent-actually-testing-ubi.md) - Questioning the strategy of non-universal cash grant pilot experiments This debate is nothing new, but I’m seeing more of it as more and more mayors get on board with launching guaranteed income pilots in their cities. The count right now is 25 U.S. mayors [https://www.mayorsforagi.org/who] by the…
- [With UBI, won't people just watch TV and play video games?](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-quentin-tarantino-argument-for-universal-basic-income-ubi-people-watch-movies-and-play-video-games.md) - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Click here to listen to this argument as a 13-minute podcast episode) [https://anchor.fm/scottsantens/episodes/The-Quentin-Tarantino-Argument-for-Universal-Basic-Income-UBI-ens0u4] ------------------------------------…
- [Why I'm voting for Biden/Harris 2020](https://www.scottsantens.com/why-im-voting-for-biden-harris-2020.md) - Because Trump needs to go, because we need campaign finance reform, and because of the potential for fully refundable tax credits and monthly stimulus checks in 2021 In 1996, at age 19, I made my first decision as a citizen of the United States as to who the next president should be. My vote went t…
- [We need UBI because we all need money, power, and trust](https://www.scottsantens.com/we-need-universal-basic-income-ubi-because-we-all-need-money-power-and-trust.md) - Inhumanity reigns so long as we don’t trust each other with the power to choose the directions of our own lives, free of economic coercion I've written before about how besides just being a good idea with a lot of evidence-based reasons to support it, unconditional basic income is a human right, be…
- [My Speech at the People's Convention](https://www.scottsantens.com/peoples-convention-speech-universal-basic-income-ubi-m4a-rcv.md) - On August 30, 2020, the Movement for a People's Party [https://peoplesparty.org/] held their first People's Convention [https://peoplesconvention.org/]. I was asked to give a speech alongside other invited speakers like Nina Turner, Cornel West, Marianne Williamson, and many others. The purpose of…
- [My Response to Steve Forbes' Opposition to Universal Basic Income](https://www.scottsantens.com/steve-forbes-universal-basic-income-ubi-video.md) - Steve Forbes recently came out against the idea of universal basic income with this video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAq1FXoy34Q] followed by this article [https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2020/08/25/a-paycheck-for-everyone-whether-you-work-or-not/] . The following is the transcript o…
- [My Proposal for an Emergency UBI That Transitions Into a Permanent UBI](https://www.scottsantens.com/proposal-for-an-emergency-ubi-that-transitions-into-a-permanent-ubi-universal-basic-income-plan.md) - In February of 2020 I joined Mike Broihier's team for his U.S. Senate run in Kentucky [https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/andrew-yang-endorses-mike-broihier-vs-amy-mcgrath-in-kentucky-primary-1004399/] as his senior policy advisor and was tasked with the design of his UBI plan.…
- [Dennis Explains 'The Implication' of Saying No](https://www.scottsantens.com/dennis-explains-the-implication-of-saying-no-always-sunny-argument-for-ubi.md) - In the third episode of the sixth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in 2010, the gang buys a boat. In this episode there's a scene between Mac and Dennis that provides a clear example of what is and isn't consent, and how full consent does not truly exist as long as someone is afraid that…
- [A Day in My Life in 2040](https://www.scottsantens.com/a-day-in-my-life-in-2040-with-ubi.md) - Recently I was asked to visualize a day in my life twenty years from now in 2040, with the assumption that we made the right decisions as a society and life is much better because of it, not just for me, but for everyone. What is a day like? I'd like to share with you my future day, but first I wan…
- [Why universal basic income instead of just lower taxes?](https://www.scottsantens.com/ubi-why-universal-basic-income-instead-of-just-lower-taxes.md) - A frequently asked question [https://www.scottsantens.com/basic-income-faq] in response to universal basic income that comes mostly in response from conservatives is some variation of, "Why don't we just tax people less if we want them to have more money?" It's an entirely fair question to ask, esp…
- [Universal basic income is the recognition that racial justice and economic justice are inextricably intertwined](https://www.scottsantens.com/universal-basic-income-is-the-recognition-that-racial-justice-and-economic-justice-are-inextricably-intertwined-ubi.md) - Hearing protestors chant in unison, “I can’t breathe,” is something that hits viscerally. It’s a call for the importance of our individual lives. We have the right to life, and we want to stay alive. George Floyd was dispossessed of the air he needed to exist. He was killed. Withholding air is also…
- [My #TestifyForUBI Testimony for Congress](https://www.scottsantens.com/my-ubi-testimony-for-congress-universal-unconditional-basic-income.md) - The following is the testimony I wrote and recorded on video for Congress on May 18 as part of the #TestifyForUBI campaign. If you would like to take part too, please visit TestifyForUBI.com [http://testifyforubi.com/index.php/testify/] and fill out the application form. Please also follow @Testify…
- [My Raconteur Interview About UBI](https://www.scottsantens.com/raconteur-interview-universal-unconditional-basic-income-ubi.md) - I was interviewed last month for an article published on May 10 for Raconteur, titled "Virus fallout could usher in the UBI era [https://www.raconteur.net/finance/universal-basic-income]." The author, Oliver Pickup, asked me a series of questions, and from my answers, a few quotes were selected for…
- [May the Force Be With UBI](https://www.scottsantens.com/may-the-force-be-with-ubi-unconditional-universal-basic-income-poverty-death-star.md) - There is no film I've watched more than Star Wars: A New Hope except for maybe The Empire Strikes Back. If I were to venture a guess as to how many times I've seen each of them, and also Return of the Jedi, all I can say is it's in the triple digits for each one. I've read dozens of Star Wars Expan…
- [The Future of the United States Depends on the Immediate Adoption of UBI](https://www.scottsantens.com/the-future-of-the-united-states-depends-on-the-immediate-adoption-of-ubi.md) - Without basic income, people will die. With basic income, people will thrive. This article has been translated into Italian [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yvBkVyH-XY0wT92FI7JTZY01wIcESu7tBrsCOKSEjp8/edit] and Spanish [https://eperezubi.blogspot.com/2020/04/el-futuro-de-los-estados-unidos-depe…

## Optional
- [RSS Feed](https://www.scottsantens.com/blog/rss/)
- [Sitemap](https://www.scottsantens.com/sitemap.xml)
- [Full content of pages and posts](https://www.scottsantens.com/llms-full.txt)