Carolyn Mehta served as a field organizer with President Obama's re-election campaign in 2012 and as the voter engagement director with S.O.U.L. Chicago. A lifelong advocate for economic and social justice, Carolyn Mehta recently managed a universal basic income (UBI) pilot project in Chicago.UBI is a guaranteed, unconditional regular payment by the government to every person in the country, sufficient to meet basic living expenses. Discussed for at least 500 years since Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, it’s receiving serious attention again because of the potential for robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to eliminate more jobs than they create, leaving large swaths of the population unemployed.There are several advantages to UBI, and several disadvantages as well. If the payment were robust enough to justify the elimination of welfare and unemployment programs, it would save governments billions in the administration of those programs. Workers would have greater flexibility to seek out the best job opportunities, go back to school, or take time off work to care for a family member. UBI would also help stabilize the economy during economic downturns.The most obvious disadvantage is the cost of any UBI program, which is estimated to run into the trillions of dollars annually, even with projected savings in other assistance programs. Some also suggest that UBI could be inflationary by spurring spending, and thus demand.Some leaders in the American economic landscape, such as Bill Gates and Elon Musk, believe that UBI is inevitable. If they’re right, it will likely be implemented only after a major overhaul of the welfare system.
