Skip to content

Scott Santens

Unconditional/Universal Basic Income (UBI) advocate with a crowdfunded basic income; Founder and President of ITSA Foundation, Author of Let There Be Money; Editor of BasicIncomeToday.com

Members Public

Guess What Happened When Liberia Tested a Pilot Program of Cash Transfers to the Extreme Poor in Bomi

I'm always on the lookout for more scientific evidence of what happens when people are provided cash incomes unconditionally. Recently I found something new, a pilot program tested in Bomi and Maryland Counties in Liberia [http://www.unicef.org/liberia/Transformative_Transfers_LiberiaCashTransferProgramme.pdf] that started in 2009

Members Public

“If we no longer force people to work to meet their basic needs, won’t they stop working?”

Acknowledging our one option society What underlies a question like this is that it’s okay to force people to work by withholding what they need to live, in order to force them to work for us. And at the same time, because they are forced, we don’t even

“If we no longer force people to work to meet their basic needs, won’t they stop working?”
Members Public

Is It Actually Possible to Live on a Basic Income of $12,000 Per Year?

As you may already know, I'm actively crowdfunding a basic income of $12,000 per year, and am currently about 20% of the way there [http://www.patreon.com/scottsantens]. (Thank you, Patreon patrons [https://www.patreon.com/scottsantens?ty=p]!) I chose this amount because I advocate

Members Public

Debunking the Debunking of "Humans Need Not Apply" and More

This gif [http://i.imgur.com/0E0Wnlt.gifv] is the kind of imagery that gets our attention and gets us all wondering [http://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/2vey03/amazons_robot_army/] about what is going to happen to the people who did these jobs now being done by

Members Public

Universal Basic Income as the Social Vaccine of the 21st Century

Can the savings of basic income exceed the costs? > “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” — Benjamin Franklin [https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/247269-an-ounce-of-prevention-is-worth-a-pound-of-cure] For those not familiar with this old idiom, it means it’s less costly to avoid problems from ever happening in the

Universal Basic Income as the Social Vaccine of the 21st Century
Members Public

Why should adults with kids get more basic income?

This is a question that shows a particular perspective in the very way it's framed. What about this question instead: "Why should kids get basic incomes too, and not just adults?" They might look like they are basically the same, but they contain different viewpoints. Here&

Members Public

The Potential Effects of a Universal Basic Income Guarantee on Student Loans

Yes, it's true. I actually made this post's Futurama-inspired image recently to celebrate my life's most recent milestone at age thirty-seven, and it climbed to the front page of Reddit. The fact it was upvoted by almost 4,000 people I think says something.

The Potential Effects of a Universal Basic Income Guarantee on Student Loans
Members Public

What We Can Learn About Systems from W. Edwards Deming

Japan arose like a phoenix from the ruins of World War II to quickly become the second most powerful economy in the world. This unbelievable feat has been called an “economic miracle [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_post-war_economic_miracle].” Do you know how they did it? The answer

Members Public

For Those Who Believe a Basic Income is Morally Wrong

You obviously have very strong feelings of morality, and especially the "rightness" of your own morality, so I'm certainly not about to attempt to change your mind, or to show how basic income can be seen as somehow being moral [http://www.pieria.co.uk/articles/

Members Public

How We Can Transform America’s Broken Economic System to Work for EVERYONE

No matter how poor or rich, ALL of our lives can be better in the 21st century… if we unbreak the system Japan arose like a phoenix from the ruins of World War II to quickly become the second most powerful economy in the world. This unbelievable feat has been

How We Can Transform America’s Broken Economic System to Work for EVERYONE