Former SEIU President Discusses a Bold Vision For the Economy – A Universal Basic Income on His Book – EXTENDED VERSION

FEATURING ANDY STERN – What would you with your life if you didn’t have to worry about earning a salary and your most basic needs were met? That is a question that only the independently wealthy in our country have the luxury of contemplating. You might become an artist, a writer, a tech innovator, a chef – the possibilities are endless.

But of course you can’t imagine such things. You and I have to worry about where we get our health insurance, how we might juggle two jobs to make ends meet, how we are going to pay for child care or rent. A vast majority of Americans are stuck working in an economy that is not working for them – one where jobs are part time, pay is dismal, the so-called “gig-economy” is ever dominant, and unionization is stagnant.

Andy Stern, former president of one of the nation’s strongest unions, SEIU, has offered the idea of a universal basic income (UBI) as a solution to our rapidly transforming economy. Citing the increasing replacement of human workers with an automated workforce, Stern, in a new book, has made a strong case for why we need a universal basic income now more than ever.

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Andy Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a 2.2 million strong organization. He served on the Simpson-Bowles commission and is currently the Ronald O. Perelman Senior Fellow at Columbia University’s Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy. He is the author of Raising The Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream.