Rutger Bregman Quotes

Some people have proposed universal basic income, UBI, basically making sure that everybody gets a certain amount of money to live off of. I think that's a wonderful idea. The problem is, we haven't been able to guarantee universal healthcare in this country.

Expanding the EITC can get us close to a universal basic minimum income.

A universal voucher program would change the face of poverty in this country.

I don't see basic income as a panacea, but we must have a new income distribution system. The old one has broken down irretrievably.

No one is suggesting societies the world over should implement an expensive basic income system in one stroke.

A universal cash transfer in the form of a minimum guaranteed income would mean that automatically everyone has something to fall back on without having to deal with the vagaries of their local panchayat.

While it won't solve all the world's ills - and ideas such as a rent cap and more social housing are necessary in places where housing is scarce - a basic income would work like venture capital for the people.

The concept of UBI (universal basic income) is a good concept and when Arvind Subramanian had started it, I told him that Indian politicians will say continue the existing subsidies and give this over and above.

We need to make sure middle-class people are able to pay the bills. We need to make sure that poor people don't starve. Those are values, too.

On the one hand we have got to ask, are there some areas of universal benefits that are no longer affordable? But on the other hand let us look at the issue of dependency where we have trapped people in poverty through the extent of welfare that they have.

Even the best community organizations and faith-based initiatives and the extraordinary charity of Americans across the country can't carry the brunt of eliminating poverty.

I was once a welfare recipient and am very aware of the successes and failures of this critical safety net. There are those that would have us believe that those receiving TANF benefits are lazy, shiftless, freeloaders who are just sitting around thinking of another way to suckle from the government teat.

Abolish Poverty

Guaranteed income schemes can take various forms, but in the simplist the government sends every citizen an annual check in an amount sufficient to keep the worlf from the door when misfortune strikes, but not large enough to satisfy anyone's idea of a good life.

[There should be] a legal guarantee of subsistence for all the destitute ... whether deserving or not.

Crowdfunding companies like GoFundMe are in themselves not evil. But the fact that we have to rely on them to pay for our basics is.

I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair, I'll fix it.

A universal basic income would be the best way to give everyone the opportunity to do more unpaid but incredibly important work, such as caring for children and the elderly.

Public social services, infrastructural policies, and so on are vital. But a basic income should be part of a package of reforms.

We must have a welfare system that we can afford, which will mean giving greater attention to directing the welfare program toward its primary purposes and its intended beneficiaries.

You are not going to lift everybody out of poverty through the kindness of wealthy people.

I've always thought my main concern is to alleviate the burdens on people, who were earning less money, perhaps than £80,000.

The matter of social security and these grants is to help to address the levels of poverty in the country.

Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.

When you talk about war on poverty it doesn't mean very much; but if you can show to some degree this sort of thing then you can show a great deal more of how people are living and a very great percentage of our people today.