Scott Santens's avatar

Scott Santens

@scottsantens.com

3710 followers 12083 following 827 posts

Unconditional/Universal #BasicIncome (#UBI) advocate with a crowdfunded basic income floor (patreon.com/scottsantens)

Founder & President, href='https://ITSAfoundation.org'>ITSAfoundation.org

Author of Let There Be Money: amzn.to/30sCdCc

Read my UBI FAQ: scottsantens.com

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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As people debate the affordability of Universal Basic Income, they seldom question the cost of not implementing it. The ripple effects of chronic widespread financial insecurity touch every aspect of our society and democracy. Let's crunch the numbers on UBI vs. the status quo.

2 replies 19 reposts 62 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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No it's the reverse of trickle down. Money flows upwards so it should start universally at the bottom. Taxes should then be used at the top because that's where money flows to.

1 replies 1 reposts 11 likes

Reposted by Scott Santens

Scottish Greens's avatar Scottish Greens @scottishgreens.bsky.social
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A Universal Basic Income would help reduce poverty and inequality while improving health and wellbeing.

It could become a cornerstone of a social security system that offers safety and dignity to everyone.

#VoteScottishGreens

0 replies 11 reposts 19 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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It's in the Green platform, and also Plaid Cymru and SNP although not sure if it's in manifesto docs.

1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes

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@ETVPod's avatar @ETVPod @etvpod.bsky.social
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Human art is currently better quality than AI art, but is less profitable to produce and so is valued less by the market, because market value doesn't track quality. Even if AI art never gets beyond mediocrity, this and other AI problems will persist and will demand a basic income solution.

0 replies 5 reposts 12 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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When folks argue that a Universal Basic Income would deter working, think about those million-dollar CEOs. If a modest $15k is enough to make one quit working, wouldn’t multi-million dollar packages make CEOs practically comatose? Yet, here they are, still CEOing. Weird isn't it?

15 replies 75 reposts 347 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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Universal basic income means that everyone gets money. Those who get more in UBI than pay in higher taxes will spend it in businesses like grocery stores and restaurants, which then in turn becomes the wages for the workers at those businesses who would get their paychecks in addition to their UBI.

1 replies 12 reposts 51 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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Why do we celebrate entrepreneurs for chasing passive income but condemn the idea of universal basic passive income as making people lazy? Both strategies aim for financial security without daily work. Let's normalize a financial floor for everyone, not just the investment-savvy with enough capital.

4 replies 71 reposts 268 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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In the show, everyone in the town gets UBI as part of a pilot experiment.

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

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Rox4's avatar Rox4 @rox4.bsky.social
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This is honestly the biggest reason I'm still hopeful of the future. Cause if we can get Universal Basic Income this is gonna be so much easier to do! Not to even mention the rest of good It will do!

0 replies 2 reposts 5 likes

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Wisdom🦋's avatar Wisdom🦋 @wisdomexplained.bsky.social
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Basic income would give people the most important freedom: the freedom of deciding for themselves what they want to do with their lives. Rutger Bregman, Dutch journalist, writer and historian

0 replies 7 reposts 30 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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Not true. Even if you assume the 10% VAT has 100% pass through, which it doesn't, then the result would be that everyone below $120k would be boosted, and those above $120k would pay more in new taxes than get in UBI. If your income is $20k and you get $12k UBI, 10% VAT means paying $3.2k for $12k.

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

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👻's avatar 👻 @0x0.boo
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It's not rocket science, or even politics, it's basic math Basic income is proven to reduce the costs of healthcare and crime When people have their basic needs met they get the breathing room they need to become the best version of themselves We need to take care of everyone

3 replies 43 reposts 125 likes

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Mindy McAdams's avatar Mindy McAdams @macloo.bsky.social
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Repeatedly arresting and jailing people for sleeping outdoors: Could we just skip straight to giving them a place to live? (Not a jail cell.) The cost of the arrests and jail stays also raises the alternative of basic income, which could be cheaper in the long run.

1 replies 17 reposts 62 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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Would you say the same thing about the enhanced child tax credit that we had for six months that cut child poverty in half? It worked great on its own. Would you ever say we shouldn't restore it unless we did all those other things too? The sellers inflation we saw was enabled by a pandemic.

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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It already got a second season.

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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It's wild how many people accept the idea of 8 hours of work, 8 hours of leisure, and 8 hours of sleep each day as somehow ideal as if handed down on stone tablets. That wasn't always the norm, and we can do better. It's time for four 8-hour days or five 6-hour days plus universal basic income.

9 replies 41 reposts 146 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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Great list!

1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

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E. Catherine Tobler's avatar E. Catherine Tobler @ect.bsky.social
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Dear Samsung, I don't want a "new AI experience." I want children to have free lunch, I want homes for the homeless, I want Jan 6 rioters locked up, I want a president born in the 70s/80s, I want reproductive freedom, I want equality, I want UBI, I want clean air, water, and a steady climate, I want

4 replies 49 reposts 181 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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Do you mean replicators, or are you just really into 80s music?

1 replies 0 reposts 4 likes

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Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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Cool! I will have to check it out.

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

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BlueGlow's avatar BlueGlow @blueglow.bsky.social
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Recommendation for readers wishing we could escape today's world: Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard Starts out lovely-- bunch of stressed-out politicians leave for vacation. I was braced for the inevitable betrayal/disaster until I realized it wasn't coming. An optimistic vision, with UBI!

2 replies 1 reposts 8 likes

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A.J. Ponder's avatar A.J. Ponder @ajponder.bsky.social
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Shocking. Caregivers deserved to be paid. The fact they're not is because too many politicians have been bought and sold by big money. And that needs to end now. Get money out of politics Make the ultra rich pay taxes Ensure everyone lives with dignity with a UBI

0 replies 8 reposts 22 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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Fresh results from yet another successful basic income pilot. This time in Baltimore where 200 young parents received $1k/mo. After one year compared to control:

Employment rates ⬆️

Incomes from work ⬆️

College and trade school ⬆️

Living with parents ⬇️

www.guaranteedincomeworks.org/data-from-ba...

0 replies 13 reposts 21 likes

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Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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This is not the only pilot ever done and others have found more savings. A similar one in Vancouver found $8100 saved per $7500 spent. The point though is that whatever the net cost of UBI program is, it needs to account for some amount of savings (Y). A program with a price tag of X would be X - Y.

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

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Peter Sefton 🇪🇺🇺🇦's avatar Peter Sefton 🇪🇺🇺🇦 @peterjsefton.bsky.social
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This is interesting! The Irish Government is running a Basic Income pilot that began in September 2022. 2000 artists and cultural workers will receive a weekly unconditional income of €325 weekly for a period of three years.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSkg...

1 replies 17 reposts 25 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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We can divide problems into two types: money problems and other problems. Universal basic income will not solve all problems, nor will it solve all money problems, but it will solve a lot of money problems for a lot of people. It's then so much easier to fix the remaining problems.

4 replies 24 reposts 95 likes

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Filigree Needlequeen of the Desert 's avatar Filigree Needlequeen of the Desert @filigreemchana.bsky.social
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AI company executives asking creative folks "if there was no money in it, would you still make art?" We do that, anyway, fool. If you gave us any shot at a UBI subsidy, we would make so much art. And it would all be worthwhile!

2 replies 17 reposts 54 likes

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m. blind's avatar m. blind @mdotblind.bsky.social
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A universal basic income would be even better than unemployment insurance and the current patchwork of safety net programs, but read the article about why unemployment benefits should probably be more generous—and also why they should help you quit an awful job, not just catch folks who are laid off

1 replies 10 reposts 23 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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The study is exploring the impact a UBI would have on homeless people. Lots of people assume it would be wasted on drugs and that they'd be less likely to work. Both assumptions have been disproven. Employment even went up. As for how to cost a full UBI plan read this:

0 replies 1 reposts 2 likes

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Stephen Walker he, him's avatar Stephen Walker he, him @steveinburnaby.bsky.social
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This story may be about honesty, but it is also about one of the core ideals of UBI
Note that Hadjer Al-Ali has already started to arrange for a place to live and has already received employment offers
This is what UBI is about, giving people the opportunity
www.rawstory.com/tens-of-thou...

0 replies 10 reposts 23 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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Universal Basic Income enables everyone to buy a pair of boots with straps.

1 replies 15 reposts 56 likes

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H. Owlett's avatar H. Owlett @hedwigowlett.bsky.social
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Regarding 3: A UBI would end indentured servitude for so many people, who would be freed to go and look for a better job, that it could be the cheapskate corporate employers who are fighting the UBI idea the hardest.

1 replies 5 reposts 23 likes

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Crow, in Autumn Clad's avatar Crow, in Autumn Clad @unlimitedblack.bsky.social
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There are always going to be people who game the system, but any amount of damage they cause pales in comparison to the amount of damage that continues to happen to everyone we fail to assist. UBI should 100% be happening and we should be taxing the rich to do it.

1 replies 7 reposts 19 likes

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Goldstein the Hon's avatar Goldstein the Hon @goldstein.bsky.social
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No, but seriously, UBI is good and smart and I am a supporter of it. And recommend following Scott Santens if you are too.

0 replies 4 reposts 12 likes

Scott Santens's avatar Scott Santens @scottsantens.com
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I think UBI actually exists on the Z-axis because people from all quadrants can support it.

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

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Jo - ceasefire now 🇵🇸's avatar Jo - ceasefire now 🇵🇸 @smoljomusic.bsky.social
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Anyone who thinks wages are more dignified than a universal basic income has probably had a charmed working life. There is nothing dignified about shitty wages, lack of breaks, overwork, harassment & bullying, burn-out, or the moral injury of working without sufficient resources to do a decent job.

1 replies 14 reposts 35 likes