Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, publicly endorsed basic income at least as early as March 2014. Has been increasingly talking about it lately. In a blog on the upsurge in uncertain employment, published on August 24, 2015, Reich concluded, “Ultimately, we’ll need a guaranteed minimum basic income. But I’ll save this for another column.”

It turns out that that other column was his Labor Day message. The entire post is reproduced below in full:

Labor Day 2028 When more and more can be done by fewer and fewer people, profits go to an ever-smaller circle of executives and owner-investors. WhatsApp’s young co-founder and CEO, Jan Koum, got $6.8 billion in the deal. What to do? We might try to levy a gigantic tax on the incomes of the billionaire winners and redistribute their winnings to everyone else. But even if politically feasible, the winners will be tempted to store their winnings abroad – or expatriate. In effect, this would be a basic minimum income for everyone. This outcome would also be good for the handful of billionaire executives and owner-investors, because it would ensure they have customers with enough money to buy their labor-saving gadgets. Happy Labor Day.

Reich’s focus on Basic Income is important for U.S. politics, because, although a significant grassroots movement for it is growing in the United States, and public support for the idea is increasing, it is still far outside the centers of power. Reich is the first major U.S. politician in decades to make such a strong endorsement of Basic Income. He has linked basic income to labor market uncertainty, to climate change strategy, and to automation. His choice to make it the focus of his Labor Day column indicates that he believes this policy is a central strategy to supporting workers in a difficult labor market.

The column quoted in full is taken from:

Robert Reich, “Labor Day 2028,” Robert Reich.org, August 31, 2015

He’s earlier column previewing his comments on basic income is:

Robert Reich, “The Upsurge in Uncertain Work,” Robert Reich.org, August 23, 2015

For additional info about Reich and the basic income see these two articles:

Basic Income News, “Former Labor Secretary Endorses BIG, calling it “almost inevitable,” Basic Income News, March 14, 2014

Basic Income News, “Former Secretary of Labor endorses introducing a carbon tax and using the revenue to support BIG,” Basic Income News, June 17, 2014