Scott Santens and UBI

Hello, I hope you had a great weekend!  I spent it in SF and LA campaigning for our new Forward affiliate in California, the Common Sense Party. 
 
Back in 2015, I first learned about Universal Basic Income when I read “Rise of the Robots” by Martin Ford, “The Second Machine Age” by Eryk Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee and “Raising the Floor” by Andy Stern.  Each of these books was concerned that automation was going to displace various jobs and that we would need a new way to keep people functional and distribute buying power. 

When I set out to learn more, I met Scott Santens, whom I interview on the podcast this week.  Scott is Mr. Universal Basic Income – so much so that he crowdsourced a basic income for himself back in 2013 and has been championing it ever since. No one has compiled more data on UBI than Scott, who also moderates the UBI reddit community.  It was Scott who came up with the line, “It’s not left or right, it’s forward” back in 2017 in reference to UBI. 
 
Now, in Scott’s view, UBI is taking center stage again because of AI.  “People weren’t really focused on the automation argument until this past November, when ChatGPT-3 came online. Now, all sorts of new people are saying we should look at it,” Scott says. “People see that AI is actually here and may impact them and their job.” 
 
I ran for President on Universal Basic Income in 2020.  At the time, it seemed far out, though it became increasingly mainstream once COVID hit.  I got hundreds of calls about the possibility of relief checks that Spring as we entered lockdown.  That Spring I started a non-profit - Humanity Forward - that lobbied for relief checks to put money into people’s hands.  Scott is an advisor to Humanity Forward, which continues to do work I’m incredibly proud of. 
 
One thing Scott and I discuss is the confusion around inflation; people often say, “Oh the stimulus checks caused inflation.”  I have to point out to them, “Well, the government issued $5 trillion in stimulus, which is about $16,000 per person.  Do you remember the checks being that big?  Most people got around $2,000.  The vast majority of the money went into the financial system, state and local governments, corporate balance sheets and other programs.” 
 
Perhaps the most effective thing the government did during COVID was pass the enhanced child tax credit, which brought 2 million children out of poverty, improved their nutrition and ability to learn, and was lauded by 130 economists as the most effective anti-poverty policy in generations.  It ended in 2022, dashing those children and families back into deprivation.  Humanity Forward continues to make the case for reviving the enhanced child tax credit to this day. 
 
By the end of 2020, I concluded that our political system right now is less and less oriented toward intelligent policy because it is getting bogged down in polarization and ideology.  I started Forward to try and realign the incentives for our elected representatives to do the right thing.  It’s been a heady 18 months or so, as we merged with 2 other organizations and hired a new CEO; we are having our first national summit in June with leaders from all over the country. 
 
During the same period, Scott moved to DC, where Humanity Forward is based, to continue to make the case for UBI.  “It’s entering the endgame, and I want to be here when it’s signed into law.” Scott says.  “It may take a while or it may happen sooner than we think.  I think a window will re-open soon.” 
 
I asked Scott about his level of optimism or pessimism.  “At this point, we’re a bit too late.  I used to think we could get UBI in place before AI came and started taking jobs.  Now, AI is here, and we need UBI as fast as possible.” 
 
To help Scott and Humanity Forward make the case against poverty, click here.  To help Forward fix our political system so that it cares about people click here – the events in California this weekend were phenomenal.