We saw the topic of universal basic income go from a fringe topic to receiving mainstream coverage.

A few years ago, when the Manna Project was started (under Grantcoin at that time), the conversation of basic income was relegated largely to intellectual circles. It was something that college professors, idealists, and dreamers discussed. Certainly, it was not a subject for legitimate conversation.

All that changed. Yesterday there was an article posted in The Hill, which is one of the leading sites that covers Washington politics.

http://thehill.com/opinion/finance/398022-universal-basic-income-a-solution-to-a-looming-problem

Over the course of the last week, we saw many major publications and mainstream individuals discussing this idea.

Here is an article from Bloomberg where former President Barack Obama touts a basic income idea which he believes could be a success with the help of tech leaders such as Jeff Bezos.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-07-18/universal-basic-income-gets-nod-from-obama-bezos-should-fund-it

A Chicago politician proposes a basic income in that city as covered by Fox Chicago.

http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/local/chicago-could-soon-test-universal-basic-income-program

Then we have Andrew Yang who is running for President who is openly supporting UBI. A recent congressional upset in NY was done by a woman who is a supporter of it. Then we have Former Secretary of State, James Baker, who proposed a carbon dividend paid to all Americans out of a carbon tax pool.

Whether any of the ideas presented by these different individuals, from opposing political arenas, ever get implemented is secondary at this point. What is important is we are seeing the conversation move towards subjects such as income inequality, job replacement due to automation, and human suffering.

This was not the case 3 years ago when the Manna Project started.

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