Introduction to the Series: The Basics of Basic Income

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Michael Anthony Lewis Professor, Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College Those who followed the U.S. Democratic Primaries have probably heard of Andrew Yang. Yang is a lawyer and entrepreneur who vied to represent the Democratic…

Culture and Poverty

Author: Michael Lewis, Professor Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College Lawrence Mead is a political scientist who is on the faculty at New York University. For years, he has been writing about poverty, as well as policies ostensibly…

150 Economists Call for Emergency Cash Payments

Michael Howard Coordinator, USBIG (the views expressed here are those of the author) I am pleased to have signed this open letter, along with over 150 economists, in support of ongoing cash stimulus payments in response to the recession triggered…

UBI Activism Surging in the U.S.

Michael Howard Coordinator, USBIG Two years ago, if one were to speak of a basic income movement, one might be accused of hyperbole. USBIG was able to muster support for annual congresses, in cooperation with the Basic Income Canada Network,…

Take Action Now: US CARES 2 Act

This weekend, April 24-26, the US Congress will be debating and probably voting on the CARES 2 Act, the next phase in responding to the health and financial crisis brought on by the coronavirus. A remarkable coalition has formed, under the leadership…

Coronavirus, Economic Crisis and Basic Income

Coronavirus, Economic Crisis and Basic Income By: Guy Standing, Labour Economist and Professional Research Associate at SOAS In January 1918, the global pandemic known as ‘Spanish flu’ began, and by its end in December 1920, well over…

Wondering About UBS

Wondering About UBS By: Michael Anthony Lewis (Associate Professor of Social Work, CUNY) In a Medium piece back in August of 2019,  https://medium.com/bigger-picture/why-ubis-cousin-ubs-is-better-c08778c7c865, Inez Fernandez argued that…

Yang’s Freedom Dividend: What’s It Got to do with Freedom?

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Yang’s Freedom Dividend: What’s It Got to do with Freedom? By: Michael Anthony Lewis (Associate Professor of Social Work, CUNY) Anyone following Andrew Yang’s attempt to win the Democratic Presidential Primary knows that a key part…

UBI: A Bad Idea?

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UBI: A Bad Idea? Michael W. Howard According to Daron Acemoglu, universal basic income (UBI) is “a flawed idea, not least because it would be prohibitively expensive unless accompanied by deep cuts to the rest of the safety net.” A…

Scarcity

By: Michael Anthony Lewis (Associate Professor of Social Work, CUNY) Jonathan Church is an economist who’s recently taken Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) to task here for her misunderstanding of economics. What she apparently misunderstands…