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Ashley Thompson
Mrs. DeBock
English 4 Honors
What if the United States Government adopted a universal basic income program?
The United States Government should adopt universal basic income as a national program.
Universal basic income can lead the way to a declining low class and provide help to disabled,
pregnant, or otherwise unable to work persons, even though people claim it to lead people to not
working.
Annotated Bibliography
"About Basic Income." About Basic Income. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
In this article, the author describes what exactly basic income is and who would receive
it. It answers questions that cover who can receive it, how much certain citizens would receive
(ex: big families vs. single house owners), how it can be paid for, how it affects the class
structure, and the negative aspects of the whole subject. The article also goes in depth about the
history of basic income from different scholars perspectives. This article will help the research
into basic income by providing me with information such as who should receive it and how
much a certain person should receive as well as backing up information on the history of success
or failure of the suggested program.

Category, By Income. "Guaranteed Annual Income." Guaranteed Annual Income. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
This article describes proposal for two different types of universal basic income, negative
income tax and universal demogrant, to improve social security in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
in 1994. NIT is a form of basic income that doesnt call for extra taxing on the public that is

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determined by the amount of income per household. UD, however, is a type of income that
increases federal taxing and is given to all households, regardless of income. It describes the pros
and cons of each type of basic income while also providing charts comparing the government
funds to income tax and how these basic income ideas impact the two. This article will back up
the pros behind the Universal Demogrant branch of universal basic income through the charts
and numbers provided.

Radulich, Mark. "A Basic Income Guarantee Can and Should Replace Welfare." Welfare. Ed. Margaret
Haerens. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "On Welfare and
the Alternatives." 411mania.com. 2007. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Sept. 2016.

In this article, Mark Radulich compares the universal basic income proposal to the
already existing welfare program. He states how the the current welfare program is a great
program in theory, but is failing a lot of families due to racial and other bias.He states how
poverty is often misunderstood and how those in power just assume that the welfare program is
succeeding. Radulich proposes that universal basic income should replace welfare due to its
more equal and fair policies. This article will help in disproving welfare and add support to
replacing it with a universal basic income program.

Surowiecki, James. "The Case for Free Money." The New Yorker. N.p., 13 June 2016. Web. 23
Sept. 2016.
This article describes the experiment called Mincome in Duaphin, Manitoba, Canada,
which was when the government of the area decided to give out checks to every family in the
area to see if it had any kind of positive result on the town. It states how the experiment was

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enacted in 1979, but was scrapped and forgotten. It was not Until a researcher, Evelyn Forget,
decided to dig up the numbers to see what had happened. The article states that she found that the
town had improved drastically and many stereotypes and assumptions made about the program
were contradicted during this experiment. This article will be used to back up the argument for a
universal basic income through the fact that it describes a successful experiment in attempting it.

Griffith, Jeremy. "Libertarians Rightly Support Basic Income for All." The US Libertarian
Movement. Ed. Michael Ruth. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2016. Opposing
Viewpoints. Rpt. from "The Libertarian Case for the Universal Basic Income."
OpedSpace.com. 2015. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 22 Sept. 2016
In this article, Jeremy Griffith describes how the welfare system is lacking and should be
replaced by universal basic income. Griffith describes that welfare helps to humiliate the poor
and is extremely ineffective. The call for this program, however, would also call for societal
changes, describes Griffith. He mentions that even though there exist many obstacles, basic
income is capable of becoming a secure and dependable program. This article will help with
research into basic income by providing a standpoint against the current welfare program and
how it needs to be taken down in order to help the United States society to move forward.

Porter, Eduardo. "A Universal Basic Income Is a Poor Tool to Fight Poverty."The New York
Times. The New York Times, 31 May 2016. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.
In this article, Porter describes both sides of the argument for and against a universal
basic income. He mentions how prices would be covered through taxes and how such taxation
could very well hurt the poor more than help them. He also states that working helps to organize
peoples lives in a healthy manner and that UBI would persuade people to stop working and fall

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into a hole of unhealthy, lazy habits. He recognizes that poverty does indeed need fixing,
especially since the United States poverty levels are so high, but UBI is not the correct way to
go about fixing it. This article will be used to aid in posing a counterpoint in research for basic
income so to pose as a base to argue against.