My name is Scott Santens and I’m the senior policy advisor to Mike Broihier in Kentucky
for his U.S. Senate run. If you’ve read anything about the idea of universal basic
income, there’s a good chance you’ve read something I’ve written. Since 2013, I’ve
devoted myself full-time to this concept of our investing in all of society with an amount
of money that is unconditional, universal, individual, and regularly provided, and I
can faithfully promise you, I know more about this particular topic than most anyone in
the country.
I can talk for hours about why UBI is so important, and has never been more important than right
now, but I’m told I only have three minutes, so here’s how I want to spend that three
minutes, which I thank you for providing.
There is no policy more important right now than getting a monthly amount of money to
as many people as possible. The economy is an engine that runs on money as its fuel.
Without people spending money as consumers, our engine stops. Getting money into the hands
of consumers is not a Democratic or a Republican idea. It’s simply what our economy needs
to function.
You’ve all heard of Monopoly. Notice how that game provides all players a starting
amount of money, and replenishes that money with more money with every go around the board.
That money is not given with any other condition than essentially reaching the first of the
month. Without that money, the game is unplayable. If no one has money, it’s game over.
Right now we are looking at a game over scenario. When we’re seeing the Fed worry about estimates
like 42% of the tens of million of jobs that were just lost may be gone for good, and how
there are actually just as many unemployed people who haven’t filed for unemployment
as those who have, and when we’re also seeing accelerated investments in automation, it’s
time for BIG ideas.
Some of you may believe that UBI pays people to do nothing, but UBI pays people to do anything.
Unemployment insurance pays people to remain unemployed. It can also lift them above the
employed. Right now, that means many unemployed non-essential workers are earning more than
many employed essential workers. A universal cash benefit reaches both. As a raised floor,
it prevents the unemployed from falling below the amount provided, and the amount provided
functions as an income boost to the still employed, which right now would function as
Mitt Romney’s Patriot pay.
Before this crisis even hit, there were 13 million Americans living in poverty receiving
nothing from the government. Poverty kills, but so does stress. So does insecurity. 38
percent of those ages 18-44 are experiencing severe mental distress right now. That’s
a result of worrying about survival. It’s the fear of the unknown.
That fear carries over into our economy. Why spend money if you have it, when tomorrow
you might not? The most important thing we can do is assure everyone that at least for
the remainder of the year, they will have at least $2,000 each month. That money will
not be hoarded. It will be spent. That spending will encourage businesses to hire back more
employees. That spending will get this economy out of recession and get our economy growing
again.
This is also about more than money.
If every American knows they will be okay, that means security, and economic security
means a lot of things, but among them are: increased physical and mental health, reduced
crime, improved educational outcomes, increased entrepreneurship, and less self-medicating,
which means fewer deaths of despair.
There is food in stores but people without money lined up by the thousands for food banks.
The Fed is doing everything in its power to prevent the Second Great Depression, but you
aren’t yet, and we need you to. This economy will not just turn back on just because the
open signs light up. This economy will be starved of customers for years to come, unless
you do something about it, and the best thing you can do is to get money to people without
conditions, universally.
Get money into the hands of spenders, and watch the economic engine that is the US roar
back to life in a way none of us have ever seen.
Get UBI into place, even temporarily, and you will see that it’s the bipartisan way
forward.