Here’s the Latest and Biggest UBI-Related News:
‣ The First Basic Income Program for Workers Impacted by AI Has Begun
‣ Newly Launched Coalition Vows to Attack Guaranteed Income Programs
‣ Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna Propose $3,000 Checks and a Wealth Tax
‣ Trump Administration Attacks Michael Tubbs’ Call for Federal Guaranteed Income
‣ Warren Mosler Announces Bid For Governor of the Virgin Islands, Promises Universal Cash Payments if Elected
‣ America Magazine Opinion: The Case for a Universal Basic Income in the Era of A.I.
‣ New Leader of the NDP in Canada Supports a Basic Income Guarantee
UBI Article of the Month Highlight
It’s always good to know your UBI history, and this article serves as a great intro to Thomas Spence who has the distinction of being the first to propose an actual UBI policy that if implemented would have been fully universal, reaching all adults and kids, and paid quarterly. This was back in the late 1700s in England.
“Spence argued that this money was owed to the people. If enclosing land they previously could farm forced commoners to work for landlords or move to northern factory towns, the payments would compensate them for the loss of their ‘natural rights’ to the earth.”
When he died in 1814, he had a loyal following of “Spenceans,” who chalked slogans on walls and sang ballads in the London taverns promoting his plan for unconditional cash dividends. His UBI plan was considered so dangerous that his clubs were outlawed in 1817.
ITSA Foundation Project News Update:
As of next week, Project Comingle should be up to 20 beta pilot members actively creating a real basic income floor together for each other via automated mutual aid. Thank you to those who emailed about joining in reply to last month’s newsletter.
If you haven’t already emailed me and you’re also interested in joining as one of the first 100 members, please email me at [email protected] to be added to the wait list, and please include if you expect to be a net donor or net recipient each month (if your monthly income is above or below about $50,000), and how often you usually receive income, e.g. weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
Each new member is really helping to find bugs and figure out fixes to be added to each next software update. If you’re willing to help as a real-use tester, the feedback from your experience is immensely helpful in getting Comingle ready for prime-time. Hopefully with the help of beta testers it will be ready to onboard the first 1,000 people by May or June.
The First Basic Income Program for Workers Impacted by AI Has Begun [link]
A program run by the nonprofits the AI Commons Project and What We Will, are together administering the “AI Dividend,” which will issue a no-strings payment of $1,000 a month for a year to a cohort of 25-50 impacted workers
The project’s organizers say they have $300,000 in initial funding, and hope to expand quickly. They plan to distribute $3 million in funds in 2026—and aim to do so by pushing the major AI companies to contribute to the effort
Tech-displaced workers interested in learning more, sharing their experiences about AI in the workplace with organizers, or participating in the program, can fill out this survey at the AI Commons Project.
Newly Launched Coalition Vows to Attack Guaranteed Income Programs [link]
The Coalition for Affordability & Prosperity (CAP) - a newly launched conservative nonprofit with an "affordability agenda" - vows to fight back against guaranteed income programs
The executive director of the new org is Chuck Flint, who served as a former chief of staff to U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee
Flint believes that recipients of guaranteed income are "victims of government overspending that drive inflation.”
Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna Propose $3,000 Checks and a Wealth Tax [link]
Over 300 million Americans could receive a $3,000 check under a new proposal that aims to enact a 5% annual wealth tax on 938 billionaires and send money directly to households
The payments would go to households earning $150,000 or less per year. Because the payment would go to every person in a qualifying household, a family of four could receive $12,000
There would be a steep marginal tax rate of 60% starting at $150k for households due to a very small phaseout range of $10,000, thus creating a large cliff effect
Trump Administration Attacks Michael Tubbs’ Call for Federal Guaranteed Income [link]
Michael Tubbs - founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income organization - told Fox News the federal government should strive to develop a policy that provides cash assistance with no strings attached
White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News that “Americans don’t need handouts” and that the Trump administration is instead unleashing “a proven economic agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, and tariffs.”
Responding to Desai's statement, Tubbs said the "reality is only billionaires have seen their lives get easier under the Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress” and that “over half of Americans cannot afford the bare basics needed to survive.”
Warren Mosler Announces Bid For Governor of the Virgin Islands, Promises Universal Cash Payments if Elected [link]
Economist Warren Mosler says his campaign for governor would provide registered voters with at least $20,000 through a citizen dividend model, arguing the Virgin Islands can fund the payments through monetary policy, not taxes
Mosler describes the payments as something he wants to do “as often as possible,” framing it as his job if elected. He also describes the dividend as an annual concept patterned after Alaska’s citizens dividend
Readers may recognize Mosler as a “godfather of MMT” whose proponents tend to push for guaranteed jobs instead of universal basic income
America Magazine Opinion: The Case for a Universal Basic Income in the Era of A.I. [link]
In this short-take article for America Magazine - a Jesuit publication - Paul D. McNelis, S.J. considers UBI in the Age of AI and how to fund it
He suggests looking back at Henry George and the idea of a land value tax, and also Nobel-winning economist James Tobin and his idea of a Tobin Tax
Key quote: “However a universal basic income policy is financed, the time has come to think seriously about its implementation. Paraphrasing the late German economist Rudiger Dornbusch, in the world of economics, crises take longer to happen than we can possibly imagine, but when they do come, they happen much faster than we could possibly imagine.”
New Leader of the NDP in Canada Supports a Basic Income Guarantee [link]
Avi Lewis - husband of Naomi Klein and grandson of David Lewis who led the NDP in the 1970s - has become the new leader of the NDP in Canada
Multiple candidates vying for the leadership position supported a basic income guarantee in Canada and Avi Lewis was one of them
In his victory speech, Lewis took aim at political and corporate power, while vowing an NDP comeback with his pitch for a “government that works for the many, not the money.”
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Scott Santens
Founder & CEO, ITSA Foundation
