Universal Basic Income – the time has come

Feasta co-hosted two webinars on May 10 and May 17 which explored the experience and the imperative of instituting a Universal Basic Income (UBI) for all people.

The discussion covered these topics and more:

1. the results of the UBI experiments in Finland and the US;

2. where the money can be found to provide everyone with income;

3. what the impacts might be on work, consumption and inflation;

4. and what steps we will need to take to make UBI a reality.

Three organizations teamed up to bring a group of global specialists together for these webinars: Feasta, Vermonters for a New Economy, and the Pod of Gold podcast of Gamechangers.

Video of the May 10 webinar:

Video of the May 17 webinar:

Many thanks to Gwendolyn Hallsmith for editing and uploading the videos.

The discussions included members of Feasta North America as well as special guests.

On May 10 we heard from:

Elinor Buchen, US
Office of Mayor Libby Schaaf, Oakland, CA
Mayors for a Guaranteed Income

Maruka Turunen, Finland
Government of Finland

Greg Nasif, US
Humanity Forward

On May 17 we heard from:

Michel Bauwens, Thailand
Peer-to-Peer Foundation

Herbert Jauch, Namibia
Viva Workers

Scott Santens, US
Co-author of What Do We Do About Inequality?

Enno Schmidt, Germany
Co-Founder of Switzerland’s UBI Initiative

Maruka Turunen, Finland
Government of Finland

FEASTA North America participants included:

Brent Ranalli, US
Author of Common Wealth Dividends: History and Theory

Mike Sandler, US
CarbonShare.org

Gwendolyn Hallsmith, US
Vermonters for a New Economy

James Boyce, US

Political Economy Research Institute, UMass

Alison Macintyre, Canada
Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society, and Technology, Queensland University of Technology

Featured image: https://www.freeimages.com/photo/hello-i-m-just-visiting-from-another-planet-1641355

Note: Feasta is a forum for exchanging ideas. By posting on its site Feasta agrees that the ideas expressed by authors are worthy of consideration. However, there is no one ‘Feasta line’. The views of the article do not necessarily represent the views of all Feasta members.