In this CNN Opinion piece, Sutter highlights child poverty as a major issue in America, since even the wealthiest areas like Silicon Valley still see large numbers of children living in poverty; in total, child poverty costs the US $500 billion each year. Sutter then introduces the universal basic income as a possible remedy to the social issues seen in America today and discusses the history of basic income support in US history. To further understand the idea, Sutter visits a town named Cherokee, North Carolina, where each resident receives, essentially, a basic income from the profits of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation’s casino. This tribe owns all of the land in the town and decided to split the casino’s revenue equally among its contributing members, leading to initial dividends of a few hundred dollars but now reaching over $10,000 per citizen per year given biannually. This policy has led to long-term positive effects for Cherokee citizens in education, health, and poverty alleviation.
John Sutter, “The argument for a basic income”, CNN, 9 March 2015.
