The Indepentarian (blog) - Karl Widerquist

This is my blog, which began as my editorial for the USBIG newsletter in 2000, moved to BIEN’s BasicIncome.org website in 2011, and now is here on my own site. It’s mainly dedicated to a nonacademic presentation of ideas related to my research, my writing, my “indepentarian” political theory, and my work on Universal Basic Income. But it also might include any topic that I might want to work on. It also includes pieces that I wrote for other publications but later decided to add to my blog.

When Someone Says, “They’re Eating the Cats,” The Right Response is… (October 16, 2024)
Gizmodo Explains the Net Cost of Universal Basic Income (August 24, 2024)
Reciprocity and My Dog (January 10, 2023)
To see the aberration of capitalism [Para ver lo aberrante del capitalismo] by Jesús Aller (November 24, 2023
Will Basic Income Cause Rent to Increase? (September 9, 2023)
Basic Income Ballot Initiative in Oregon (August 18, 2023)
Manufactured desperation (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 18) (August 10, 2023)
What if I’m Wrong? (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 17) (August 3, 2023)
Rescuing Individualism from Selfishness and Subordination (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 16) (July 27, 2023)
UBI and the “natural” right to private property (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 15) (July 20, 2023)
UBI and the Human Need to Work and Contribute (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 14) (July 13, 2023)
Mandatory-participation and voluntary-participation as competing ideals (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 13) (July 6, 2023)
The circle of obligation and the mandatory-participation “social contract” (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 12)” (June 29, 2023)
The false promise of conditional social policies (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 11) (June 22, 2023)
UBI: Good for people of color (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 10) (June 15, 2023)
UBI: Good for women (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 9) (June 8, 2023)
UBI: Good for workers (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 8) (June 1, 2023)
Exploitation and UBI (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 7) (May 25, 2023)
Reciprocity and UBI (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 6) (May 18, 2023)
The “work ethic” or the money-making ethic? (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 5) (May 11, 2023)
UBI and incentives (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 4) (May 4, 2023)
Knee-jerk criticisms of UBI (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 3), April 27, 2023
The essential reason I support UBI and a voluntary-participation economy (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 2), April 20, 2023
Mandatory Participation on Trial (Part 1), April 13, 2023
My New Book is Out, February 20, 2023
Freiburg University’s Basic Income Workshop Series, Spring 2022, May 1, 2022
Basic Income Field Experiments: follow my masters seminar online, April 30, 2022
The Ethics of Universal Basic Income Video Series, March 16, 2022
Do Mainstream or MMT Economics give good reason to question the sustainability of a livable UBI?, January 8, 2022
Follow along with my class “the Ethics of Universal Basic Income,” January 1, 2022
Property and the Power to Say No: My new old book manuscript, January 1, 2022
Functional Finance and Universal Basic Income, December 6, 2021
Enormous Increase in Support for UBI Over the Last 10 Years, Polls Indicate, November 4, 2021
The Essential Reason I Support UBI, July 29, 2021
A Simple Solution to End the Labor Shortage in Five Minutes, July 16, 2021
The Prehistory of Private Property: Chapter-by-Chapter Summary, June 23, 2021
Possibilities and Pitfalls of Basic Income Experiments, Jan 14, 2021
NAMIBIA: Wilfred Diergaardt Dies, Dec 26,2020
BRAZIL: UBI Makes Progress, Nov 17, 2020
Video, Photos, and Speeches From 2020’s Rain-Soaked UBI March in New Orleans, Nov 06, 2020
Why I March for Basic Income, Sep 15, 2020
The Cost of a Full Basic Income for the United Kingdom Would be £67 billion per year (3.4% of GDP), Sep 05, 2020
Hello world!, Aug 23, 2020
Answers to Four Essential Questions About the Alaska Dividend for People Interested in Basic Income, Aug 20, 2020
Review of Charles Murray’s “In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State,” from 2009, June 28, 2020
The Prehistory of Private Property: A video introduction to the new book by Karl Widerquist and Grant McCall, June 17, 2020
Punk Band Records a Song with Indepentarian Argument for Basic Income, April 2,2020
Common Arguments Against Basic Income Don’t apply to the Emergency BI, March 27, 2020
CNBC Interview of Karl Widerquist on Emergency Basic Income, March 24, 2020
Income Movement Endorses Three UBI-Supporting Candidates in Primary Elections on Super Tuesday (Guest Contributor: Stacey Rutland) March 03, 2020
The Time is Now for the Yang Gang, February 27, 2020
The Fall and Rise of the Basic Income Movement: My personal reflections after following it for 40 years, February 07, 2020
Was Thomas Paine a Proponent of Universal Basic Income? Short answer: yes., January 14, 2020
Thoughts on the British elections and the rise of nationalism, December 16, 2019
“A Critical Analysis of Basic Income Experiments:” an early version of this book is available for free download, November 02, 2019
End the threat of economic destitution now, October 22, 2019
Basic Income as 40 Acres and a Mule, October 13, 2019
Exporting the Alaska Model: An early version now available for free download, October 06, 2019
New book reviews the Namibian Basic Income pilot, September 28, 2019
Video Interview: Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy, September 22, 2019
The book, “The Ethics and Economics of the Basic Income Guarantee:” Free Version available, September 17, 2019
The Future We Need (Guest Contributor: Rahul Basu) September 11, 2019
Links to Free Versions of most of Karl Widerquist’s writing, September 06, 2019
Book review of “The War on Normal People”, September 01, 2019
The Growth of the Australian Basic Income Movement (Forward to the book, “Implementing a Basic Income in Australia”), August 21, 2019
The people’s endowment, August 14, 2019
A form of Basic Income Guarantee has existed in a county in Oregon since 2002, August 03, 2019
Why UBI is the right solution to poverty in America, July 31, 2019
Universal Basic Income and the Philosophy of Freedom, July 22, 2019
Basic Income March, New York City, October 26, 2019 (updated), July 12, 2019
The History of the Appropriation Story, June 15, 2019
The Prehistory of Private Property, June 09, 2019
Four-hundred and ninety-two pages of anthropology notes, May 17, 2019
Voices on the basic income (II): Is it justified? [Política Entrevista Voces sobre la renta básica (II): ¿Está justificada?], March 03, 2019
The Pursuit of Accord, Februrary 19, 2019
When people ask me where online to find empirical research on the effects of Basic Income…., Februrary 06, 2019
Erik Olin Wright, influential sociologist and long-term Basic Income advocate, announces he has only weeks to live (Update: Wright passed away on January 23), January 22, 2019
U.S. Elections: Wave and Counter-Wave, November 25, 2018
Widerquist: Appearance on Al Jazeera, November 09, 2018
Is the Natural Rights Justification of Private Property a Purely Normative Argument, or Does it Require Empirical Claims? And if it Does, What Are Those Claims?, October 13, 2018
A Critical Analysis of Basic Income Experiments for Researchers, Policymakers, and Citizens, September 21, 2018
Alaska’s BIG parodied in The Simpson’s Movie while Albertans call for their own Dividend (from 2007), September 15, 2018
Basic Income Guarantee On (and Off) the Front Pages in Canada (from 2001), September 05, 2018
The Goals of BI News (from 2014), August 29, 2018
Why We Need Universal Basic Income – The University of Sydney, August 22, 2018
Volunteering after the 9/11 attacks in New York 2001, August 15, 2018
Do we need a Coalition of Basic Income Activist Networks?, August 08, 2018
Review of Marshall Brain, “Manna: Two Visions of Humanity’s Future” (from 2014), August 08, 2018
Lou Foglia, Universal Basic Income: Money for Nothing, August 04, 2018
The Basic Income Guarantee and Tautological Libertarianism (from 2014), August 01, 2018
Karl Widerquist’s list of Media Appearances, July 25, 2018
Obama speaks favorably about UBI but stops short of endorsing it (for the second time), July 18, 2018
Current UBI Experiments: An update for July 2018, July 01, 2018
Black Lives Don’t Matter in America, June 09, 2018
Karl Widerquist’s Speaking Engagements Summer-Fall 2018, June 17, 2018
Audio of my presentation, “Why we need a Universal Basic Income”, December 24, 2017
One-minute video answering the question, “Would it be possible to fund UBI in America?”, December 17, 2017
A very different take on the question, “Could UBI be a solution if automation eliminates jobs in the US?”, December 15, 2017
The Basic Income Guarantee Experiments of the 1970s: a quick summary of results, December 03, 2017
Public Reaction to the Basic Income Guarantee Experiments in the 1970s: a case of misunderstanding, misuse, oversimplification, and spin, November 26, 2017
Basic Income Experiments—The Devil’s in the Caveats, November 21, 2017
Justice as the Pursuit of Accord: Toward a non-utopian theory of justice, November 07, 2017
Basic Income’s Third Wave, October 27, 2017
Now out on audio: My Own Private Basic Income, September 08, 2017
My Own Private Basic Income, June 27, 2017
Summer Speaking Tour 2017, June 11, 2017
Why do you support UBI? Answering at the BIEN Congress in Montreal 2014, June 05, 2017
A list of controversial claims on both side of the UBI debate, June 01, 2017
How much does UBI cost?, May 26, 2017
The Piketty Observation Against the Institutional Background: How Natural is this Natural Tendency and What Can Basic Income Do about it?, May 25, 2017
The BIG misunderstanding about the cost of Universal Basic Income, May 23, 2017
About Indepentarianism, May 21, 2017
Clearing the Playing Field: Trump’s Crisis Creates Opportunity for Universal Basic Income in the United States(Guest Contributor: Tim Widerquist) November 18, 2016
Our Vision for BIEN, 2016 (Guest Co-Contributor, Louise Haagh and Karl Widerquist), June 27, 2016
WORLD: The charity GiveDirectly will start a major basic income trial in Kenya, April 15, 2016
ALASKA: The state’s mini-basic income comes under increasing attack, October 16, 2015
ALASKA, USA: New poll shows declining support for the Alaska Dividend, September 01, 2015
ALASKA, USA: 2015 Dividend estimated to be near highest ever, August 31, 2015
ALASKA: Dividend Could Reach $2000 This Year as it Remains Under Threat, August 06, 2015
ALASKA: Attack on Alaska’s Basic Income averted for now but fiscal pressure on its future increases, July 22, 2015
CHINA: Macau residents to receive annual basic income, June 30, 2015
Alaska’s Budget Deficit is Political Threat to its Basic Income, April 29, 2015
Brooklyn, NY: Report from the meeting to create a political movement for basic income, March 04, 2015
Drop in Oil Prices Causes Concern for the Future of Alaska’s Small Basic Income, February 09, 2015
UNITED STATES: Alanna Hartzok, running on a platform including support for Basic Income, receives 37 percent of the vote in Congressional Race, December 01, 2014
Basic Income News Expands with the UBI Movement, October 10, 2014
BRAZIL: Eduardo Suplicy, long-term advocate of Unconditional Basic Income, defeated in his bid for reelection to the Brazilian Senate, October 07, 2014
UNITED STATES: Alaska’s small basic income likely to double this year, September 04, 2014
MACAU: Government Distributes Temporary Basic Income, August 23, 2014
INTERVIEW: Heidi Laura interviews Karl Widerquist, July 24, 2014
CYPRUS: Significant step toward a Basic Income Guarantee, July 22, 2014
Report from the 15th Congress of the Basic Income Earth Network, July 17, 2014
Review of The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies, July 04, 2014
Marshall Brain: Manna: Two Visions of Humanity’s Future, July 01, 2014
Review of “The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies.” (from 2014), June, 2014
Allan Sheahen, the steeplechase runner of the BIG movement, has died, April 29, 2014
UTAH, UNITED STATES: Basic Housing Grant has reduced homelessness by 74%, February 22, 2014
The Basic Income Guarantee Becomes a Rorschach Test in the U.S. Media, February 10, 2014
CYPRUS: “Guaranteed minimum income” is not a guaranteed minimum income, December 01, 2013
UNITED STATES: Occupy Strategy Group includes BIG in its top 10 recommended strategic objectives, October 20, 2013
SWITZERLAND: National Referendum will be held on Basic Income, October 05, 2013
Important study finds that giving money without conditions to the poor increases both employment and wages, August 12, 2013
Permanent Fund Hits New High and its Dividend Hits New Low, July 22, 2013
OPINION: Six Lesson from the Alaska Model, July 01, 2013
OPINION: Big changes come, June 17, 2013
Moss, Todd (editor) The Governor’s Solution: How Alaska’s Oil Dividend Could Work in Iraq and Other Oil-Rich Countries, June 06, 2013
Alaska: Legislature Create Jay Hammond Day Honoring the Father of the Alaska Dividend (Alaska’s Basic Income), June 04, 2013
Widerquist, Karl “Commentary: Let’s change the way Alaska Permanent Fund pays dividends”, February 08, 2013
Unconditional Basic Income is not a Wrong Way: Book Review, January 02, 2013
Smaller dividends should inspire a change to “percentage of market value” formula for calculating the Permanent Fund payout (from 2012), December, 2012
ALASKA: This year’s dividend is the smallest since 2005, December 03, 2012
Opinion: Independence, Propertylessness, and Basic Income, November 19, 2012
ALASKA: Dividend likely to shrink again this year but hope for a renewed boom is ever present, September 16, 2012
OPINION: Conservative website finds USBIG behind vast government conspiracy, September 10, 2012
Fox News Praises the Alaska Model (from 2012), August, 2012
SOUTH AFRICA: Protesters demand Basic Income Grant, July 13, 2012
Hickel, Jason: “Can South Sudan learn from the Alaska model?”, July 05, 2012
OPINION: Report from the NA-BIG Conference, June 25, 2012
OPINION: Interesting times for Alaska’s Fund and Dividend, June 04, 2012
Publications: Palgrave Macmillan releases first two books in its series, “Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee”, March 31, 2012
How Alaska Can Avoid the Third Stage of the Resource Curse (from 2012), February, 2012
No Time for Austerity (from 2011), December, 2011
LIBYA: CNN editorial suggests “Alaska Solution” to the resource curse, December 13, 2011
ALASKA: 2011 Dividends safe as the APF rides financial roller coaster, September 16, 2011
Why I Support the Basic Income Guarantee, September 12, 2011
Mongolian Government takes steps toward implementing an Alaskan-style BIG, September 12, 2011
KARL WIDERQUIST TO SPEAK ON BIG IN SEVERAL GERMAN CITIES, September 09, 2011
Survey Asks Americans About BIG, September 08, 2011
Review: Two Memoirs Tell the History of the Alaska Dividend, June 14, 2011
UNITED STATES: TAX-AND-DIVIDEND APPROACH TO GLOBAL WARMING GAINS GROUND, June 12, 2011
President Obama Receives BIEN Letter Through Senator Suplicy (from 2011), May, 2011
IS BIG WORTH TALKING ABOUT IN THE UNITED STATES TODAY? (from 2010), October, 2010
I Have a Basic Income (May 30, 2010), May 30, 2010
MONGOLIA: Thousands of protestors demand Alaska-style dividend, May 27, 2010
UNITED KINGDOM: New government scrapes the child trust fund, May 27, 2010
MONGOLIA: Thousands of protesters demand Alaska-style dividend (from 2010), April, 2010
LYBIA: Mouammar Kadhafi pledges to abolish oil ministry and distribute revenues directly to the people, March 17, 2010
IRAN MIGHT BE MOVING TOWARD A BIG, March 15, 2010
TEN YEARS OF THE U.S. BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE NETWORK (from 2010), February 2010
SMALL VICTORIES (from 2009), November, 2009
U.S. SENATOR INTRODUCES A BILL TO IMPLEMENT BIG IN IRAQ (from 2009), September, 2009
THE ECONOMIC LESSON OF 1938 (from 2009), August, 2009
KEEPING THE GLOBAL RECESSION IN PERSPECTIVE (from 2009), May, 2009
HEALING BUT NOT A CURE (from 2009), February, 2009
Review of Simon Birnbaum’s “Just Distribution,” from 2009, February 12, 2009
THE ALASKA DIVIDEND AND THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (from 2008), November, 2008
BIG PILOT PROJECT IN NAMIBIA HAS POSITIVE IMPACT (from 2008), October, 2008
WHAT DOES THE STONE AGE HAVE TO DO WITH US? (from 2008), June 2008
A BASIC INCOME SUPPORTER’S VIEW OF THE SALES TAX MOVEMENT (from 2008), February 2008
Review of “The Ethics of Stakeholding” from 2008, 2008
ALASKA’S BIG PARODIED IN THE SIMPSON’S MOVIE (from 2007), November, 2007
FATHER OF “WORKFARE” IN THE U.S. ENDORSES BIG IN IRAQ (from 2007), April, 2007
FOUR OBITUARIES: MILTON FRIEDMAN, ANTONIO MARIA DA SILVEIRA, RICHARD CLEMENTS, AND LEONARD GREENE (from 2006), December, 2006
MAN CHOOSES PRISON OVER POVERTY (from 2006), September, 2006
BIG Bill to Be Introduced in the U.S. Congress (from 2006), March, 2006
President Bush Questioned by Senator Suplicy (from 2005), December, 2005
Alaskan Dividend influence: Alberta, New Mexico, and beyond (from 2005), October, 2005
Jay Hammond, Father of the Alaskan Basic Income, Dies at 83 (from 2005), August, 2005
The Namibian BIG Proposal in Perspective (from 2005), May, 2005
Review of “Libertarianism Without Inequality” from 2005, February 14, 2005
REVIEW OF “THE WORLD OWES YOU A LIVING” (from 2003), October, 2003
AS THE UNITED STATES SLIDES INTO RECESSION (from 2001), December, 2001
The Money-Making Ethic (from 1999), 1999
Blaming The Worker (from 1998), 1998
The Bass Player (from 1997), 1997
Breaking Away to the Next Red Light (from 1996), 1996
The Book is Dead (from 1996), 1996
Make Way For Other Toys (from 1996), 1996

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