Scott Santens
Writer and full-time advocate of unconditional basic income (UBI); Citizen of Earth and New Orleans; Bachelor of Science in Psychology; Editor of Basic Income Today
Basic Income as Liquid Infrastructure: The Bruce Lee Argument for UBI
"Be formless, shapeless, like water..."
"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 about the . . .
New article on Medium: 'Universal Basic Income doesn't work' says new prime example of fake news
To the contrary, UBI does indeed work
I've just published a new 6,000+ word feature-length article over on Medium where I tear apart a recent report from the New Economics Foundation piece by piece, revealing it for what it is - pure propaganda that was bought and paid for by a public services union interested in selling basic services as an alternative to basic . . .
My Unconditional Basic Income Testimony for Maryland's House Ways and Means Committee
As submitted for the public record on March 1, 2019
Click here to optionally listen instead of read this post.
In mid-February I was contacted by the legislative aide for Delegate Gabriel Acevero of Maryland who has introduced a bill to create a social wealth fund intended to eventually pay out a cash dividend to every resident of Maryland. As a prominent advocate for UBI, I . . .
Posted in: activismautomationcash transferschild povertydividendspartial basic incomepovertytechnological unemploymentunderemployment
Basic Income is now a dominant discussion in India's 2019 general election
India becomes first nation to debate the details of how best to begin to implement UBI nationwide
NOTE: Want to listen to this post instead, or as you read it? Click here.
With the historic announcement by India's opposition party of an intention to implement basic income for the poor (not UBI), just two years after India's 2016-2017 Economic Survey called UBI "the shortest path to . . .
Posted in: cash transfersindiapoverty
Giving Goods vs. Giving Money
A story of eggs, cash, and basic income
I love watching documentaries and one of my recent favorites on Netflix, aside from Noam Chomsky's "Requiem for the American Dream", is "Poverty, Inc." I highly recommend just watching the entire film yourself, but there is one story from it that is one of my new favorites to share onward, and that's the story by . . .
Inequality and the Basic Income Guarantee
My latest article on Medium
I published a new article today on Medium. It's called "Inequality and the Basic Income Guarantee", and it's actually the essay I contributed to the book "What do we do about inequality?". Kindle owners, you can get the full book now on Amazon.
Excerpt:
This essay contributes to the . . .
Guess What Happened When Liberia Tested a Pilot Program of Cash Transfers to the Extreme Poor in Bomi
Further evidence of the potential of basic income
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 that started in 2009 and ended in late 2014. Implemented by the Liberian Ministry of Gender and Development with . . .
