A number of historical videos and books on the historic UBI debate in North America in the 1960s and 1970s (see post) are accessible on the Internet. A selection of them is gathered here. Book by U.S. economist John K. Galbraith, 1958: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson declares “War on Poverty” in 1964: Robert Theobald, Michael Harrington, Gunnar Myrdal, H. Stuart Hughes, Linus Pauling, John William Ward, Everett C. Hughes, et al., 1964: Open Memorandum of “The Ad Hoc Committee on the Triple Revolution” sent to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and its government, 1964 Robert Theobald’s Reader, 1966: With contributions from Theobald, Erich Fromm, Marshall MC Luhan, et al. Speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967: Studs Terkel’s radio interview with Dr. Read More …

In recent years, interest in the idea of a UBI and its empirical testing has been growing rapidly in numerous countries around the world, and it seems to be increasingly spreading into politics. Some Examples (click to expand): >>See a list of past, present, and planned UBI-pilots in the world Looking back into history, one discovers that there was already a time of intense debate and social experimentation about a universal basic or “guaranteed” income. Not everywhere in the world, but in North America. Its story is worth knowing for contemporaries interested in the topic. With World War II, North American economies eventually left the depression era and moved toward the postwar period, which became the epoch of prosperity for Read More …