Poverty isn't a lack of character; it's a lack of cash | Rutger Bregman

Could the Basic Income pay for itself? People do more work when they have enough money, children stay on at school longer getting better grades, average IQ increases by 14%. There is less crime, better nutrition, less illness, and less alcohol and drug abuse.

Many of our greatest thinkers and artists lived in poverty, just think how much more they could have accomplished if they had enough money to live on?

The right tend to believe that poor people don't try hard enough, but when people become poor they tend to become pessimistic, don't try as much, and may consume more drugs and alcohol. A downward spiral occurs.

"Ideas can and do change the world," says historian Rutger Bregman, sharing his case for a provocative one: guaranteed basic income. Learn more about the idea's 500-year history and a forgotten modern experiment where it actually worked -- and imagine how much energy and talent we would unleash if we got rid of poverty once and for all.