The right-wing case for basic income

How does the largest welfare program imaginable have libertarian supporters?

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  • The idea for a universal basic income, or UBI, is increasingly popular.
  • While it seems like a left-wing handout, many prominent right wing thinkers have endorsed the idea.
  • The libertarian version of UBI does have a few key differences from the more standard version.
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government capitalism poverty economics libertarian negative income tax basic income universal basic income guaranteed income UBI

It's the age of automation and the robots are coming. But for what?

Discover the peril and potential of an automated robotic world.

Photo credit: Hugo Amaral/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Image
  • Journalist Andrés Oppenheimer, columnist and member of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team explores the cutting edge of automation.
  • From South Korean robot schools, Silicon valley futurist predictions and automated Japanese restaurants, this book shows us that the future of work is almost here.
  • Already replacing a growing number of workers while also creating new roles, the concept of employment is becoming even more dynamic.
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books review technology ai robots basic income machine learning future futurist employment universal income books

Alan Watts was overzealous in his basic income prediction — but he wasn't wrong

A guaranteed basic income is an old solution to a new problem of labor automation.

Image: Big Think
  • Economist Robert Theobald coined the team 'basic living guarantee' in the 1960s.
  • He believed that we were going to suffer problems because of an overabundance of resources.
  • Philosopher Alan Watts spoke about the possibility of an economic utopia through a universal basic income.
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technology economics basic income automation robots wealth alan watts

Is a Well-Paying Job the next Entitlement Program?

The Job Guarantee is a policy proposal that would have the state function as an employer of last resort.

George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)

Here at Big Think we like to talk about the basic income guarantee. While the basic income is an interesting idea, objections to it abound. Also, it isn’t the only idea for ending poverty making the rounds. While the basic income gets a lot of press, there's another idea: the Job Guarantee.

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basic income job guarantee New Deal economics poverty employment WPA

Is Universal Basic Income the Best or Worst Idea Ever?

It really depends on who you ask, as one European poll found out. 

Data visual by Dalia Research

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basic income universal income negative income tax Milton Friedman FDR Martin Luther King