Opinion: A Cash Guarantee for All Has Philanthropy Buzzing
These days, to achieve maximum buzz, a policy idea needs the right combination of utopian promise and real-world possibility. You can make the argument that universal basic income has recently offered the headiest brew of that mix, for both the political and philanthropic class.
In its purest form, the idea is to provide a long-term guaranteed cash payment to every member of society without strings, age limits, or work conditions, set to secure a minimum standard of living.
Variants of the idea have bubbled up for centuries, and in recent decades, several localities have adopted versions: In the 1970s, for instance, Alaska started a Permanent Fund to share oil wealth. But the pace of experimentation has picked up sharply of late. Early this year, Finland began a trial program directed toward the unemployed, while in June, Hawaii became the first American state to commit to evaluating the idea. Scotland and India have shown signs of considering the policy as well.
Philanthropy has also taken a shining to the idea, supplying critical support for research on universal basic income, or UBI. . .