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Universal Basic Income | Munk Debates

SEASON TWO - EPISODE #47

Universal Basic Income

Be it resolved, the pandemic has proven UBI's time has come.

Guests
Scott Santens
Oren Cass
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About this episode

While the conversation around a universal basic income – a government program which provides every adult with regular cash payments – has gained traction in recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic turned the fringe experimental program into a reality for millions of people around the globe. Facing skyrocketing unemployment and an impending economic crisis, some governments decided to act swiftly and without conditions: they transferred cash directly into the hands of all their citizens – regardless of age, income, or geography.

Proponents of UBI see the pandemic era handouts as proof that the program works. COVID-19 exacerbated income inequality and sped up technological innovation which disproportionately hurt lower wage earners and marginalized communities. Direct cash payments offered financial security to society’s most vulnerable and helped transform the broken relationship between individuals and the labour market. It bought precious time and resources for those seeking new economic opportunities in a rapidly changing workforce.

Critics worry that UBI disincentivizes work and rewards indolence. They point to pandemic recovery rehiring difficulties as proof that getting cash handouts without strings attached encourages people to stay out of the workforce all together. Re-positioning government into the role of economic provider threatens individual aspiration for self-reliance and betterment. Furthermore, the already well-off do not need to benefit from cash handouts. If the government wants to address racial and economic injustices, it would have much more success by enriching already existing social welfare programs that target those most in need.

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Guests

Scott Santens

“Basic income is an acknowledgement that everyone has basic needs, and we should make sure that those absolute most basic needs are being met at all times.”

Scott Santens

“Basic income is an acknowledgement that everyone has basic needs, and we should make sure that those absolute most basic needs are being met at all times.”

Acknowledged by Andrew Yang in his book The War on Normal People as one of those who helped shape his thinking, and described by historian Rutger Bregman as "by far, the most effective basic income activist out there," Scott Santens has lived with a crowdfunded basic income since 2016 and has been researching and advocating for UBI around the world since 2013. He is currently Senior Advisor to Humanity Forward while also serving on the board of directors of the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity and as the editor of Basic Income Today, a daily UBI news hub. His current home is in New Orleans, Louisiana where he has lived since 2009.

Oren Cass

“It has always been an American tradition to value reciprocity, and a universal basic income runs directly against that.”

Oren Cass

“It has always been an American tradition to value reciprocity, and a universal basic income runs directly against that.”

Oren Cass is the executive director of American Compass and author of The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America (2018). He is a contributing opinion writer for the Financial Times and his work also appears regularly in publications including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. 

From 2005 to 2015, Oren worked as a management consultant in Bain & Company’s Boston and Delhi offices. During this period, he also earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was elected vice president and treasurer of the Harvard Law Review and oversaw the journal’s budget and operations. While still in law school, Oren also became Domestic Policy Director for Governor Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, editing and producing the campaign’s “jobs book” and developing its domestic policy strategy, proposals, and research. He joined the Manhattan Institute as a senior fellow in 2015 and became a prolific scholar, publishing more than 15 reports for MI and editing its popular “Issues 2016” and “Issues 2020” series, testifying before seven congressional committees and speaking on dozens of college campuses. He founded American Compass at the start of 2020. 

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