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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

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How Republican President Richard Nixon Laid the Foundation for Monthly Cash for Kids

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

How Republican President Richard Nixon Laid the Foundation for Monthly Cash for Kids
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Monthly Child Tax Credit Payment Will Likely Grow the Economy

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

Monthly Child Tax Credit Payment Will Likely Grow the Economy
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Is $300 a week in UI making people lazy and does it prove UBI doesn’t work?

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

Is $300 a week in UI making people lazy and does it prove UBI doesn’t work?
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What about combining a higher federal minimum wage with monthly recurring direct payments?

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,

What about combining a higher federal minimum wage with monthly recurring direct payments?
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A Pandemic is a Great Time to Stop Ignoring Unpaid Care Work

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

A Pandemic is a Great Time to Stop Ignoring Unpaid Care Work
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2020 Revealed That Unconditional Basic Income Cannot Wait Any Longer

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

2020 Revealed That Unconditional Basic Income Cannot Wait Any Longer
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Escaping the Cult Commander in Chief

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,

Escaping the Cult Commander in Chief
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Basic Income as Liquid Infrastructure: The Bruce Lee Argument for UBI

"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

Basic Income as Liquid Infrastructure: The Bruce Lee Argument for UBI
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An Engineering Argument for Basic Income

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 everyone who submits [scott@scottsantens.com] a translation for me to add here. (Optional Audio: click

An Engineering Argument for Basic Income
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Should we support the many basic income experiments that aren't actually testing UBI?

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/

Should we support the many basic income experiments that aren't actually testing UBI?