It’s an unprecedented – and massive – experiment: Since 2017 the U.S.-based charity GiveDirectly has been providing thousands of villagers in Kenya what’s called a “universal basic income” – a cash grant of about $50, delivered every month, with the commitment to keep the payments coming for 12 years. It is a crucial test of what many consider one of the most cutting-edge ideas for alleviating global poverty. This week a team of independent researchers who have been studying the impact released their first results…
There’s been so many studies on UBI and they all show that it works, but people just don’t like their taxpayer money going to other people. It’s a real common attitude and I can sympathise with it, but it’s small-minded and destructive in the long run. The richest people in the world spend money to get people to think like that so they’re blind to the bigger picture: The world is the richest and most productive it’s ever been - so why is everyone is so damn poor? Do we really have to fight over crumbs?
This is the natural course of capitalism. Accumulation of wealth through private ownership of factories and corporations means concentration of power at the capitalist ruling class, and never-ending rise in inequality.
It rewards those who are greedy and willing to exploit others.
There are an infinite number of ways to set up UBI, and without ongoing results from studies like this - a 12-year study that just reported in year 2 - no one knows which structure works sustainably.