Universal Income is a Right

it’s also the way we save democracy

John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark, (original version), 1778

There are already hundreds of articles tackling the explosive entry of Universal Basic Income into the public sphere. As Rutger Bregman pointed out in his book Utopia for Realists, UBI is not an exclusively new principle — it has even been extraordinarily close to achieving a Presidential signature in the past.

In 1968, a number of the most famous an influential economists of the era penned a letter, supported by over a thousand other economists, in support of Universal Basic Income.

Richard Nixon advocated strongly for UBI during the sixties, apparently hoping to position himself in the role of presidential innovator. While his career will be remembered for other reasons, his early acceptance and support for Universal Income has been mostly buried in dust. In 1968, a number of the most famous an influential economists of the era penned a letter, supported by over a thousand other economists, in support of Universal Basic Income (.pdf page 233).

Nixon, seeing the way the wind was blowing and hoping to cement his legacy, moved ahead with full support for UBI. Of course, studies were needed. What sort of detrimental effects would UBI have upon the…