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Karl Widerquist

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Karl Widerquist

Review of Charles Murray’s “In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State,” from 2009

June 28, 2020 Karl WiderquistOpinion, The Indepentarian

This Review was originally published in the Review of Political Economy, December 6, 2009. It’s reproduced here as originally published. In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State, by Charles Murray, Washington, DC, AEI Press, 2006, 230 pp., […]

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The Prehistory of Private Property: A video introduction to the new book by Karl Widerquist and Grant McCall

June 17, 2020 Karl WiderquistOpinion, The Indepentarian

This short video introduces the new book, The Prehistory of Private Property, by Grant McCall and me. The book examines the origin and development of the private property rights system and the experiences of peoples who have lived in other […]

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Punk Band Records a Song with Indepentarian Argument for Basic Income

April 2, 2020 Karl WiderquistOpinion, The Indepentarian

Indepentarianism exists. The Danish punk band, Husligt Arbejde [House Work] has recorded an indepentarian song, “Borgerløn – the power to say no,” which translates into “Basic Income – the power to say no.” According to Google translate, the band describes […]

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Common Arguments Against Basic Income Don’t apply to the Emergency BI

March 27, 2020 Karl WiderquistOpinion, The Indepentarian

The Guardian newspaper asked me to write an opinion piece about the Emergency Universal Basic Income (UBI). They changed my headline but otherwise, printed it as I wrote it. America is in crisis. We need universal basic income now. By […]

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CNBC Interview of Karl Widerquist on Emergency Basic Income

March 24, 2020 Karl WiderquistNews, Opinion, The Indepentarian

Annie Nova, “How the Trump cash infusion would help millions of Americans: Interview with Karl Widerquist.” CNBC, Mar 18 2020 Annie Nova, of CNBC, recently interviewed Karl Widerquist to ask about proposals for an Emergency Universal Basic Income during the […]

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The Time is Now for the Yang Gang

February 27, 2020 Karl WiderquistOpinion, The Indepentarian

With Andrew Yang out of the presidential race, the time is now for the Yang Gang to decide whether and how to build on their accomplishments. I think the Yang Gang should take heart for all they’ve done and realize […]

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The Fall and Rise of the Basic Income Movement: My personal reflections after following it for 40 years

February 7, 2020June 6, 2024 Karl WiderquistOpinion, The Indepentarian

Forty years ago today—February 7, 1980—was a small milestone for the Universal Basic Income (UBI) movement: Milton and Rose Friedman dedicated an episode of their television show to a form of basic income guarantee called the Negative Income Tax. This […]

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Was Thomas Paine a Proponent of Universal Basic Income? Short answer: yes.

January 14, 2020 Karl WiderquistOpinion, The Indepentarian

I was recently asked whether the statement “Thomas Paine was a proponent of Universal Basic Income” is true. Although that statement is slightly controversial, it is true. Let me explain: Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a contested concept. Different people […]

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Thoughts on the British elections and the rise of nationalism

December 16, 2019 Karl WiderquistOpinion, The Indepentarian

I wasn’t planning to write about the British elections until a friend asked. I’m not confident that I’m right about my conclusions, but here are some disjointed thoughts in no particular order. 1. I hate the parallels between US & […]

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“A Critical Analysis of Basic Income Experiments:” an early version of this book is available for free download

November 2, 2019 Karl WiderquistOpinion, The Indepentarian

An early version of the book, A Critical Analysis of Basic Income Experiments,  is available for free download on my selected works website. The devil’s in the details is a common saying about policy proposals. Perhaps we need a similar […]

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