Scott Santens
@scottsantens.com
Unconditional / Universal Basic Income (UBI) knowledge resource
Founder & CEO of UBI-focused nonprofit ITSAfoundation.org
Host of The Basic Income Show youtube.com/scottsantens
My #UBI FAQ: scottsantens.com
Contact me: linktr.ee/scottsantens
Founder & CEO of UBI-focused nonprofit ITSAfoundation.org
Host of The Basic Income Show youtube.com/scottsantens
My #UBI FAQ: scottsantens.com
Contact me: linktr.ee/scottsantens
Pinned
Scott Santens
@scottsantens.com
· Dec 5
I've been researching the idea of Unconditional Universal Basic Income since 2013. Here's a collection of findings I've compiled from various UBI experiments and studies of cash transfer programs around the world.
This will be a VERY LONG and ongoing thread focused entirely on empirical evidence. 🧵
This will be a VERY LONG and ongoing thread focused entirely on empirical evidence. 🧵
Reposted by Scott Santens
What I find amazing is that people don’t get the underlying reason about doorstep theft.
If we had an economic structure that was more fair to the lower classes, crime would go down. Like a basic income.
If we had an economic structure that was more fair to the lower classes, crime would go down. Like a basic income.
have never seen popular public opinion shift so fast about a surveillance product than the fallout from ring's super bowl "search party" ad. they'll teach this in advertising courses one day. chef's kiss baby www.404media.co/with-ring-am...
With Ring, American Consumers Built a Surveillance Dragnet
Ring's 'Search Party' is dystopian surveillance accelerationism.
www.404media.co
February 13, 2026 at 6:25 PM
What I find amazing is that people don’t get the underlying reason about doorstep theft.
If we had an economic structure that was more fair to the lower classes, crime would go down. Like a basic income.
If we had an economic structure that was more fair to the lower classes, crime would go down. Like a basic income.
Reposted by Scott Santens
For fucks sake NO. We want healthcare, education, UBI, childcare, eldercare, housing, gun control, bodily autonomy, a cleaner environment, and what else am I missing, BEFORE we spend more on DHS or the military.
Trump: "This year we're investing $1 trillion in our armed forces. The most we've ever spent. And next year it's being raised. In fact, we're gonna be building a number of battleships."
February 13, 2026 at 7:01 PM
For fucks sake NO. We want healthcare, education, UBI, childcare, eldercare, housing, gun control, bodily autonomy, a cleaner environment, and what else am I missing, BEFORE we spend more on DHS or the military.
Reposted by Scott Santens
Universal basic income, safe and affordable housing for all, publicly funded elections, and accountability for everyone in the Trump regime and Epstein class are what Dems must run on.
Medicare for all, paid leave, universal childcare.
Busting up big corporations and tackling Wall Street’s greed.
Getting big money out of politics.
Supporting unions and fighting for higher wages.
If Dems want to win back working people, this is the agenda they must support.
Busting up big corporations and tackling Wall Street’s greed.
Getting big money out of politics.
Supporting unions and fighting for higher wages.
If Dems want to win back working people, this is the agenda they must support.
February 13, 2026 at 7:20 PM
Universal basic income, safe and affordable housing for all, publicly funded elections, and accountability for everyone in the Trump regime and Epstein class are what Dems must run on.
Reposted by Scott Santens
Work has become less and less the single breadwinner working 40 years, 40 hours per week. It is increasingly complex and will continue to be so with more need for upskilling, smaller contracts and projects...
Putting a solid foundation down takes all this from precarity to possibility.
Putting a solid foundation down takes all this from precarity to possibility.
February 13, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Work has become less and less the single breadwinner working 40 years, 40 hours per week. It is increasingly complex and will continue to be so with more need for upskilling, smaller contracts and projects...
Putting a solid foundation down takes all this from precarity to possibility.
Putting a solid foundation down takes all this from precarity to possibility.
Reposted by Scott Santens
Am I to understand correctly that for years progressives have lost the fight on green energy initiatives because we would be costing thousands of American jobs in fracking and coal, but now AI is being funded to take over our jobs entirely and we can’t unite on universal basic income?
February 13, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Am I to understand correctly that for years progressives have lost the fight on green energy initiatives because we would be costing thousands of American jobs in fracking and coal, but now AI is being funded to take over our jobs entirely and we can’t unite on universal basic income?
Reposted by Scott Santens
Feed the hungry.🍇
Clothe the naked.👕
Help the needy.🤝
UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME NOW.💲
Clothe the naked.👕
Help the needy.🤝
UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME NOW.💲
February 13, 2026 at 8:21 PM
Feed the hungry.🍇
Clothe the naked.👕
Help the needy.🤝
UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME NOW.💲
Clothe the naked.👕
Help the needy.🤝
UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME NOW.💲
"Today, the company has 30 trucks in the fleet, 10 of which are operating driverlessly. That fleet is expected to grow to more than 200 trucks by the end of the year. Urmson said the company’s trucks have racked up 250,000 driverless miles as of January 2026 with a perfect safety record."
Aurora's driverless trucks can now travel farther distances faster than human drivers | TechCrunch
CEO Chris Urmson called it a “superhuman” moment, adding that Aurora’s trucks can now carry freight 1,000 miles in 15 hours — faster than what a human driver can legally accomplish.
techcrunch.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:42 PM
"Today, the company has 30 trucks in the fleet, 10 of which are operating driverlessly. That fleet is expected to grow to more than 200 trucks by the end of the year. Urmson said the company’s trucks have racked up 250,000 driverless miles as of January 2026 with a perfect safety record."
Reposted by Scott Santens
I have zero patience for Democrats saying we can't accomplish bold legislation like universal basic income and single-payer healthcare.
If they're not going to read the room that we need to tax the rich at a large rate and abolish ICE, they need to be voted out.
#UBI #M4A
If they're not going to read the room that we need to tax the rich at a large rate and abolish ICE, they need to be voted out.
#UBI #M4A
If there's one thing I've learned this past year between Trump and Mamdani, it that it's actually extremely easy to get you what you want in the government. I never want to hear any excuses from Democrats ever again on why they can't get anything done.
February 13, 2026 at 4:10 AM
Evidence from a natural experiment in India that provided UBI to all farmers suggests that the binding constraint on investment may be uninsured risk. Rather than more credit, what farmers need is credible downside protection that makes them willing to use existing credit for productive investment.
Guaranteed income as insurance: How safety nets in India encouraged productive investment in agriculture
In India, a guaranteed income programme acted as insurance rather than a substitute for credit, reducing downside risk for small farmers and increasing their willingness to borrow – unlocking large cr...
voxdev.org
February 13, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Evidence from a natural experiment in India that provided UBI to all farmers suggests that the binding constraint on investment may be uninsured risk. Rather than more credit, what farmers need is credible downside protection that makes them willing to use existing credit for productive investment.
Reposted by Scott Santens
Eighteenth-century thinkers wrestled with ideas similar to universal basic income long before modern debates. See how early philosophers and economists discussed unconditional support and social security in ways that echo today’s UBI conversations zurl.co/tfCr9
Eighteenth-Century Takes on Basic Income - JSTOR Daily
Universal basic income has gotten some serious twenty-first-century play, but the idea is hardly new.
zurl.co
February 13, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Eighteenth-century thinkers wrestled with ideas similar to universal basic income long before modern debates. See how early philosophers and economists discussed unconditional support and social security in ways that echo today’s UBI conversations zurl.co/tfCr9
Reposted by Scott Santens
This is just like UBI. Every study shows it works and is more cost effective but societies‘ hatred of poor people means we‘d rather pay more to make them suffer.
Anderson Cooper: “So it's more expensive to have a chronically homeless person living on the streets than it is to actually subsidize an apartment for them?”
Answer: “Yes, we’re paying more as taxpayers to walk past that person on the street and do nothing…” #HousingFirst
Answer: “Yes, we’re paying more as taxpayers to walk past that person on the street and do nothing…” #HousingFirst
100,000 Homes: Housing the homeless saves money?
Giving apartments to the chronically homeless can save taxpayer dollars, advocates say
www.cbsnews.com
February 13, 2026 at 2:41 PM
This is just like UBI. Every study shows it works and is more cost effective but societies‘ hatred of poor people means we‘d rather pay more to make them suffer.
Reposted by Scott Santens
As a direct result of the obscene actions of Russell Vought and Elon Musk in destroying USAID, we can expect “at least 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030, if the current funding trend continues.
About 2.5 million of those deaths are projected to be children under the age of 5.”
About 2.5 million of those deaths are projected to be children under the age of 5.”
One year on from dismantling of USAID, study projects that global aid cuts could lead to 9.4 million deaths by 2030 | CNN
It’s been one year since the Trump administration dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with aid cuts leading to the closure of HIV clinics in South Africa, the termination o...
www.cnn.com
February 13, 2026 at 3:00 PM
As a direct result of the obscene actions of Russell Vought and Elon Musk in destroying USAID, we can expect “at least 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030, if the current funding trend continues.
About 2.5 million of those deaths are projected to be children under the age of 5.”
About 2.5 million of those deaths are projected to be children under the age of 5.”
Reposted by Scott Santens
UBI is the equivalent of watering a plant so that it can survive and thrive.
We don't expect a plant to earn the right to live and grow, I don't see why that logic shouldn't also apply to humans.
We don't expect a plant to earn the right to live and grow, I don't see why that logic shouldn't also apply to humans.
February 12, 2026 at 9:02 PM
UBI is the equivalent of watering a plant so that it can survive and thrive.
We don't expect a plant to earn the right to live and grow, I don't see why that logic shouldn't also apply to humans.
We don't expect a plant to earn the right to live and grow, I don't see why that logic shouldn't also apply to humans.
Reposted by Scott Santens
Just realized, UBI could also increase volunteerism, as people wouldn't require the pay from those positions as desperately.
February 12, 2026 at 7:21 PM
Just realized, UBI could also increase volunteerism, as people wouldn't require the pay from those positions as desperately.
Universal basic income is not the ENTIRE solution. Of course we need other things too (like M4A) but it's the missing floor that can rise as GDP rises. Plus UBI will empower a lot of work, paid and unpaid, and create jobs by its spending. With that foundation we can better achieve what else we need.
February 12, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Universal basic income is not the ENTIRE solution. Of course we need other things too (like M4A) but it's the missing floor that can rise as GDP rises. Plus UBI will empower a lot of work, paid and unpaid, and create jobs by its spending. With that foundation we can better achieve what else we need.
Reposted by Scott Santens
The Trump administration is incarcerating migrant girls in, essentially, a forced pregnancy camp.
Trump administration is sending pregnant migrant girls to South Texas shelter flagged as medically inadequate
Government sources and advocates for the children worry the goal is to concentrate them in Texas, where abortion is banned.
www.kut.org
February 12, 2026 at 4:30 PM
The Trump administration is incarcerating migrant girls in, essentially, a forced pregnancy camp.
Reposted by Scott Santens
There it is: one of the first times anyone in the Trump admin has admitted that protestors & bystanders are legally permitted to protest & document DHS activity.... Just two days ago, this same crowd spent hours claiming DHS agents have been "under attack" in MSP & beyond...
under questioning by Rand Paul, ICE officials confirm that yelling at officers is not assault and recording officers is not a crime
February 12, 2026 at 5:19 PM
There it is: one of the first times anyone in the Trump admin has admitted that protestors & bystanders are legally permitted to protest & document DHS activity.... Just two days ago, this same crowd spent hours claiming DHS agents have been "under attack" in MSP & beyond...
Remember the monthly child tax credit in 2021 that was a basic income for 40 million families for six months? One of the results of that policy was that fewer parents sold their blood plasma.
February 12, 2026 at 6:02 PM
Remember the monthly child tax credit in 2021 that was a basic income for 40 million families for six months? One of the results of that policy was that fewer parents sold their blood plasma.
Reposted by Scott Santens
All I have to say to every politician in Canada is simply this , UBI now . UBI is that loud enough !!!!!
a close up of a man 's face with the words did you hear me
ALT: a close up of a man 's face with the words did you hear me
media.tenor.com
February 12, 2026 at 7:35 AM
All I have to say to every politician in Canada is simply this , UBI now . UBI is that loud enough !!!!!
Reposted by Scott Santens
I think I'd be more inclined to believe the worst predictions about AI replacing everybody if the people making the predictions were lobbying for universal basic incomes and expanded safety nets instead of giving them personally $20/month
February 12, 2026 at 12:50 PM
I think I'd be more inclined to believe the worst predictions about AI replacing everybody if the people making the predictions were lobbying for universal basic incomes and expanded safety nets instead of giving them personally $20/month
Reposted by Scott Santens
We really need Universal Basic Income 😐
February 12, 2026 at 4:19 PM
We really need Universal Basic Income 😐
Reposted by Scott Santens
Yay! First social security check has arrived in my bank account. Only makes me feel more strongly that we need UBI for everyone ...
February 11, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Yay! First social security check has arrived in my bank account. Only makes me feel more strongly that we need UBI for everyone ...
Reposted by Scott Santens
If you want AI proliferation, you must support Universal Basic Income. Otherwise, your ethics are compromised.
If we gave everyone subsistence, no, we wouldn't have a lazy society. There's no limit to what people might do if their basic needs were met... we'd have less peril and more innovation.
If we gave everyone subsistence, no, we wouldn't have a lazy society. There's no limit to what people might do if their basic needs were met... we'd have less peril and more innovation.
February 11, 2026 at 6:20 PM
If you want AI proliferation, you must support Universal Basic Income. Otherwise, your ethics are compromised.
If we gave everyone subsistence, no, we wouldn't have a lazy society. There's no limit to what people might do if their basic needs were met... we'd have less peril and more innovation.
If we gave everyone subsistence, no, we wouldn't have a lazy society. There's no limit to what people might do if their basic needs were met... we'd have less peril and more innovation.
Reposted by Scott Santens
Here's the person who's been nominated to replace Chrystia Freeland in the upcoming byelection
Dr. Danielle Martin, Family Medicine Chair at UofT who has prescribed basic income.
Dr. Danielle Martin, Family Medicine Chair at UofT who has prescribed basic income.
February 11, 2026 at 7:17 PM
Here's the person who's been nominated to replace Chrystia Freeland in the upcoming byelection
Dr. Danielle Martin, Family Medicine Chair at UofT who has prescribed basic income.
Dr. Danielle Martin, Family Medicine Chair at UofT who has prescribed basic income.
Reposted by Scott Santens
I think the best thing the left can do RE: AI is push as much regulation as they can and then say “Also let’s make human dignity job-independent”.
Good way to reframe uni healthcare, housing assistance, and maybe some form of basic income
Good way to reframe uni healthcare, housing assistance, and maybe some form of basic income
February 11, 2026 at 10:08 PM
I think the best thing the left can do RE: AI is push as much regulation as they can and then say “Also let’s make human dignity job-independent”.
Good way to reframe uni healthcare, housing assistance, and maybe some form of basic income
Good way to reframe uni healthcare, housing assistance, and maybe some form of basic income