In recent remarks at the Reagan National Economic Forum, former commerce secretary Gina Raimondo described a universal basic income as “like, the end of America”. She tries to justify her remarks, and her well-funded position, as helping workers affected by AI in trying to get them retrained and getting them new jobs.
Raimondo is particularly skeptical of UBI because she believes work provides Americans with more than a paycheck. She has argued that employment gives people purpose, dignity and a sense of belonging, and she has strongly opposed policies that effectively encourage people not to work. At the same time, she acknowledges that some form of financial assistance could become necessary as technology reshapes the labor market.
Her organization, Raise Us, is instead focused on experimenting with policies such as job training, wage subsidies and wage insurance. The idea is to help workers transition into new careers rather than permanently replacing employment with unconditional government payments. The initiative has attracted funding and participation from major companies, including Amazon, Anthropic, OpenAI and Bank of America.
All four of those companies have market capitalizations well over $400 billion. All four of those companies would likely see massive hits to their bottom line in the form of regulation and taxes if a UBI plan went into effect. Three of the four are actively developing the AI tools which will likely eliminate millions of jobs while Bank of America provides funding for them.
It’s important to ask ourselves what exactly is the end game of an organization like Raise Us. They certainly won’t be lobbying against AI and will not be doing anything to prevent the ensuing job losses.
The money for UBI needs to come from somewhere and corporate profits (even when they try to hide them) are a great place to start looking.
John is the current Editor-in-Chief for The Bay City Beacon. His experience spans nearly 20 years of political reporting across several publications.
