On October 16, Chris Hughes (Facebook co-founder) and Eduardo Porter (NY Times columnist) debated basic income on CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria.

Arguing in support of basic income, Hughes not only emphasized that job security is falling, but also that Americans are currently living on less than they were 20 years ago. He cited a federal report published in May 2016, finding that nearly 50% of Americans could not find $400 in the case of an emergency—but rather that they would have to borrow or sell something to come up with that amount of money.

Arguing against basic income, Porter said he is confident we will be able to create other demands and find new jobs for people—given that humanity has done so in the past. He estimates that the cost of an American UBI would equal the total amount of federal government expenditure today. Furthermore, he believes that if the US were to implement a basic income, it should be conditional.

Watch the debate here:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/10/14/exp-gps-porter-hughes-ubi-debate.cnn

Photo: CNN, screenshot from debate.