Entries by Soomi Lee

Exploitation and UBI (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 7)

The exploitation objection to UBI, which goes hand-in-hand with the reciprocity objection, is essentially the following. Most of the goods people might buy with UBI require labor. Therefore, people who receive UBI benefit from the labor of others with no obligation to contribute their labor to production. Opponents say that this feature of UBI allows […]

Reciprocity and UBI (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 6)

The above discussion answers one of the most common arguments against UBI, the allegation that it provides something for nothing in violation of a principle of reciprocity under which everybody who gets something gives something back. The phrase “UBI is something for nothing” has it exactly backwards: property-based economies without UBI are something for nothing. […]

UBI and incentives (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 4)

Editor’s note: This post is Part 4 of the series on Mandatory Participation by Karl Widerquist. Earlier parts have been also posted in this blog. — People who are introduced to UBI often ask, “What about incentives?” UBI helps fix one of the biggest incentive problems in the market today: the lack of incentive for […]

Mandatory Participation on Trial

Editor’s note: Karl Widerquist, Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University-Qatar), has recently launched a new 17-part series on his blog titled “Mandatory Participation on Trial”. USBIG is going to repost this series with our audience on our blog. Part 1 of this series was released, and the remaining 16 parts will be released every week for […]

Moral Luck, Guaranteed Income (GI), and Basic Income (BI)

Michael Lewis Recently, my spouse and I were talking about the cases of Carolyn Bryant Donham and Amy Cooper. Donham is the White woman whose lie, back in 1955, helped lead to the murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old, Chicago born, boy who, while visiting family in Mississippi, was brutally murdered by two White men. […]

Critical Race Theory, Guaranteed Income, and Basic Income

Michael Lewis I’ve been following debates about basic income, guaranteed income, and similar policies for a long time. This semester, for the first time, I’m teaching a course called The Critical Race Theory Debate and Public Policy. This is why, while listening to a recent episode of this Forward podcast, my ears perked up. Carly […]

Introducing Chelsea Wilkinson, New Interim President of USBIG

It is an honor to introduce myself to our readers and I am excited to have this opportunity to help shape the future of USBIG as the Interim President!  I’m an Asian-American woman who grew up in California’s East Bay Area and now reside in Portland, Oregon. I grew up very passionate about animals, fostering […]