The video opens with Rutger Bregman’s impassioned speech framing universal basic income (UBI), also called the citizen’s dividend or “free money for everyone,” as a transformative idea that could bridge left‑right political divides and eradicate poverty. The narrator then surveys a wide‑ranging roster of historical and contemporary figures who have championed UBI, highlighting the breadth of support across ideology, geography, and profession. Early proponents include Thomas Paine (author of Agrarian Justice) and Julius Caesar (who allegedly left a third of his wealth to Roman citizens). The list moves through philosophers, economists, religious leaders, and modern tech and business moguls such as Pope Francis, Milton Friedman, Friedrich von Hayek, Alan Watts, Aubrey de Grey, Richard Branson, Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, Andrew Yang, Tulsi Gabbard, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Tim Cook, Larry Page, Ray Kurzweil, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Penn Jillette, Edward Snowden, Michael Alexander, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The narrator emphasizes that UBI is one of the few policies capable of uniting both Republicans and Democrats, underscoring its potential as a “greatest idea” in human history.
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I want to share a big idea with you. In fact, I believe it could be one of the biggest ideas of the 21st century. It's an idea that could unite politicians from the left to the right in fixing our broken social security system. It's an idea that could give dignity to millions and accomplish what we should have accomplished long ago, especially in our rich and wealthy countries, eradicating poverty. But first, I have to be honest with you. It's actually not my idea. No, in fact, it's the idea of this man, Thomas Paine, who sadly wasn't able to make it today because, well, he died 200 years ago. But it was also the idea of these guys, some of history's greatest thinkers. Now I can hear you think, what kind of idea could unite men so different, such as the civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King on the one hand and the free market economist Milton Friedman on the other hand? What kind of idea could unite thinkers so different, such as Thomas Paine, who thought that the government is the solution to most of our problems, and on the other hand Friedrich von Hayek, the Austrian economist who said that, well, the government is in fact the problem most of the time. What is this idea that goes against the spirit of our times, right through the old political divisions between the left and the right? What is this great idea, this utopian idea that so many of history's greatest thinkers have been dreaming about for centuries, yet which has failed to come true so far? Well, some people call it the citizen's dividend. Other people call it the basic income. Now I like to call it free money for everyone.
Welcome back to the channel. I hope you're all having a great evening. So I think that was a fitting introduction to this video of notable universal basic income advocates. That opening speech was done by— we drop down here in the continent of Europe as there is a great deal of uh, people globally all out throughout human history who've championed, uh, this idea of universal basic income. This gentleman's name was Rutger Bregman. He's an interesting Dutch author, I think, who's gained quite a bit of notoriety in modern history, um, speaking about universal basic income. The citizen's dividend is championed in modern-day history, or, uh, brought up, uh, more notably, uh, by figures like Thomas Paine, American historian. But we're just gonna jump around and look at some of the, uh, names of individuals who participated in what could be the greatest idea in human history. And, um, right away I recognize some of these names. I'm not gonna read them all. But we're going to try to hone in on some you might know. A lot of people are familiar with Alan Watts, a British writer. Especially there's been a kind of resurgence of Alan Watts material in modern-day history. Let's see if we recognize anyone else. Of course, I'm sure every one of them are great in their own right. Right. Aubrey de Grey. Right. People have probably noticed him in modern-day history. Again, these are all people who champion universal basic income. So we understand that some people are not very excited about the idea. But it may interest some of you all to know some of the people who have been behind this idea, have pushed this idea. And in today's period, whereas many of them didn't have the opportunity, we now have the technology to make many ideas like this possible, right? Of course, if you're a Catholic numbering in the billions, you would recognize Pope Francis, uh, who, uh, went on record, uh, saying that universal basic income should be brought to the people. Um, And although, um, I recognize some of these people, I was more so trying to fix on some of you, uh, some of the people most people recognize. Many of you might know Richard Branson, British business magnate, uh, owner of Virgin Records. You might know him more so familiar with Virgin Airlines and the Virgin Space Program. Um, when we get down here to the Americas, United States and Canada, many of you probably are American like I am. Uh, you probably remember Jack Dorsey, who was the former founder, uh, CEO of Twitter. He actually the founder. Um, and of course we know Elon Musk, uh, bought out Jack Dorsey. But that's not to be, uh, to minus Elon Musk from the list because he does make the list. Uh, many of us know about his present-day affiliation with Donald Trump, but, uh, a lot of people don't know that Elon Musk was a big supporter of an American presidential candidate by the name of Andrew Yang, who kind of brought back a big spotlight on on universal basic income. Of course, we see Andrew Yang on the list. Tulsi Gabbard, right? Very interesting. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Tim Cook of Apple, Larry Page, one of the founders of Google, Ray Kurzweil, Neil deGrasse Tyson, or deGrasse Tyson, Penn Jillette, the magician, many of you all might know. Um, and, uh, many, again, many of these things, Edward Snowden, right? And then some people you may not know, or maybe you do know. Michael Alexander, American entrepreneur, CEO of BitcoinMYK and Futurist, right? You may or may not know who that is. Uh, Be quiet, folks. Don't give it away. Don't give it away. And as we go further around the world, right, some of these people even I may not recognize, but I do recognize the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize laureate of South Africa, right? Again, getting back to the kind of the progenitor of the modern-day universal basic income. Thomas Paine, philosopher, founding fathers of— yes, that's right— United States of America, famous for his pamphlet Agrarian Justice. right? And, um, the Citizens' Dividend, which was kind of coined under him, um, and, uh, so much more notable famous people, right? Um, Greg Mankiw. Uh, one of the greatest economists in our present day time. But even if you want to take it back a little further, uh, down the line, uh, from 300 years ago with Thomas Paine, you can find yourself all the way back to what would be ancient Rome with figures like Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar, who basically, who had amassed one of the world's largest fortunes, right? Probably a third of the planet, to leave all that wealth to the citizens of the Roman Empire, right? Which some people will say, well, you know, that's not really universal basic income. But when you have that much capital, Uh, maybe we can make a, basically an exception to count him in there, right? When you can control that much of the global world's resources, right? Um, and so all very interesting, interesting things with these very smart, intelligent the most intelligent people in the world from every area of the world. And as people like Rutger Bregman brought up, that not only that, but even if you were to zoom in on American politics, do you, do you understand that the policy of universal basic income is one of the only policies that can cross aisles and was able to unite both Republicans and Democrats, right?
