#134 - Is Universal Basic Income the Safety Net of the Future?

Open to Debate

Education, News, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2019

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Presidential contender Andrew Yang wants to give every American a monthly check from the government, just to cover the basics. And he's not alone. Business leaders, particularly those in Silicon Valley, and some Democratic politicians are warming up to the idea of a universal basic income as a means to offset the impacts of automation in the workforce. In this episode, we take a look back at our debate on the motion, "The Universal Basic Income Is the Safety Net of the Future." Receive your free 7-day trial at blinkist.com/debate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Ah, Benny's parents, thanks for coming.
0:02.3	Hiya.
0:02.9	So, Benny has really blossomed this term.
0:05.6	You're telling me, he outgrew his bike. We sold it, on eBay.
0:09.6	Oh, that's not quite what I meant.
0:11.1	It's free to sell on there?
0:12.3	Free to sell?
0:13.5	Easy too. Sold Benny's bike, your guitar, my jacket.
0:16.8	You sold my guitar?
0:19.9	Shall we talk about Benning?
0:22.1	When it's this easy to sell for free, you can't help but say when it's eBay.
0:26.7	Things people love. T's and Cs apply, excludes vehicles.
0:34.4	Hi, I'm John Donvan, host and moderator of Intelligence Squared U.S. debates.
0:39.3	And in this episode, we're going to take a look back at one of our best debates ever.
0:43.2	In 2017, we brought four exceptional thinkers to the stage for a contentious and thoughtful debate on a novel idea, the universal basic income. The UBI, it's called, would give
0:57.1	every American, regardless of who they are and how much money they have, a check from the government,
1:02.0	say $1,000 or so every month. No strings attached. Sound radical? Well, it has a lot of supporters,
1:09.6	including a lot of people in Silicon Valley,
1:11.6	who think that the UBI will alleviate poverty and help our country thrive in the era of
1:17.7	automation in particular. But not everybody's on board for this. UBI has a lot of critics
1:22.6	who see an impractical policy here that's going to cost taxpayers way too much and not actually do very
1:28.6	much for our nation's workforce. So now in 2019, with an election coming up, the idea of a universal
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Open to Debate, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Open to Debate and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.