Showcasing Real-Life Stories of UBI With Conrad Shaw

My guest on this episode of Punk Rock HR Podcast is Conrad Shaw . He is a writer, filmmaker, co-founder of Comingle.us, and a universal basic income (UBI) researcher. Conrad is a font of wisdom about UBI, and we discuss what it is, how it works, his upcoming documentary series “Bootstraps” and more.

I know Conrad as the UBI guy, but he’s had a long career across various fields and interests. He was a mechanical engineer who went to New York to pursue acting and filmmaking. Now, he’s using his talents to advocate for UBI and show people how a living wage can transform people’s lives.?

Punk Rock HR is proudly underwritten by Betterworks. The world’s most dynamic organizations rely on Betterworks to accelerate growth by supporting transparent goal setting, enabling continuous performance and learning from employee insights. Betterworks is on a mission to help HR leaders make work better. Discover how they can help you by visiting?www.betterworks.com.?

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Universal Basic Income 101

We’ve talked about UBI on this podcast before, which I’m passionate about. Conrad has his own philosophical outlook on UBI.?

“It's power to the people in the most direct and simple way possible, which is money,” he says. “Money is power. And it's ensuring that everyone in society has a reliable regular income floor.”

One common scenario of UBI is that the government gives everyone an extra $1,000 a month, regardless of their wealth, income, or other circumstances. That’s just one concept of how UBI could be funded. But Conrad explains it differently — everybody starts with $1,000, but high earners ultimately fund the program through taxes on their other income.?

“So people say, ‘Why would you give a thousand bucks a month to Bill Gates? He doesn't need it,’” Conrad says. “And it's like; It's his first $1,000 a month, and then he pays a million dollars on the other hundred million he made, and he's helping fund the program.”

Using Stories to Humanize UBI?

The benefits of UBI are backed by research, but data doesn’t sway people as much as stories do. So Conrad and his partners developed the docu-series “Bootstraps” to humanize the concept and share 11 households’ real-life, human stories of UBI in action.

“Essentially, we set up our own form of basic income experiment with the purpose of telling stories. A qualitative rather than a quantitative experiment,” Conrad says. “And we picked 20 different people from all over the country from different walks of life — from homeless to solidly middle-class families, individuals.”

What surprised Conrad the most during this process was how quickly UBI helped these people change their lives. One household avoided foreclosure on their home, while another person recovered more quickly from hurricane damage.

“Bootstraps” was intended to be a 1.5-hour film, but the filmmakers uncovered so many impassioned stories that the final result is a series of episodes.?

Helping People Thrive

One concern or criticism of UBI is the fear that people will spend their money irresponsibly, such as people battling addictions turning to drugs or alcohol. But Conrad believes that UBI can be part of the support they need to become sober.?

“You're giving people money, but it's not replacing all the rest of the government,” he says. “The question to then ask is, ‘What are the programs for people who are still dealing with addiction to help them, especially now that they have an income source, through rehab, through reconnection to society?’”

Another common argument for UBI is that people will no longer want to work. Conrad argues that UBI can help people get closer to their purpose —professionally and personally — and free the workforce from people who don’t want to be there.

“In a world where your basic existence is supported to a degree, where you have that security just sort of built in and that trust that's going to be there permanently, your focus can completely change from ‘what I have to do’ to ‘what I want to do,’” Conrad explains. “And so it becomes a lot harder to staff bullshit jobs, I think.”

People in This Episode

Conrad Shaw: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Comingle website, Medium (writing), LinkedIn

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