What Has Universal Basic Income (UBI) To Do with Covid, War & Tony Blair?

In March 2022, The Irish Times called it ‘A welcome step’: Ireland’s first basic income scheme on the way’ where artists will get €250 a week in a pilot scheme but many want to see it extended to all.

Five months later and it had increased to €325 with The Irish Times called it a ‘seismic leap forward’ where some 2,000 artists will be guaranteed that weekly wage amount.

In Ireland it is being promoted as “money for nothing” and “no questions asked”. It is the exact same when furlough money was being paid.

When in the history of time has there ever been a “free lunch” (I’ll get to that later on in the article).

Even one of Ireland’s most well-known economists who writes for The Irish Times thinks it’s a good idea. In an article in 2017 David McWilliams floated the idea on his own blog. This was the same guy who was a huge fan of furlough money in 2020.

McWilliams also was a Young Global Leader but has now graduated to become a member of the World Economic Forum (“WEF”).

Coincidentally, his own podcast on 2 March 2021 was titled ‘Building Back Better’.  Where have we come across that before?

Just across the Irish Sea in the UK, a document was published on the UK Parliament website in June 2022 called ‘Potential merits of a universal basic income‘.

They are obviously taking the idea of UBI very seriously and moving it along rapidly. The links to the UK parliament and ex UK parliamentarians doesn’t end there however. That war-monger in chief and ex PM of the UK, Tony Blair, is also involved as this tweet shows from Tascha Labs.