The gap between rich and poor has some people revisiting a controversial idea: Should welfare be scrapped in lieu of a basic, guaranteed, monthly income?

The idea of a basic universal income isn't new. In the 70s, Manitoba experimented with the idea with a short-lived program called Mincome. More recently, the 2016 Ontario budget included a small paragraph about plans for a Basic Income pilot project.

And now, basic universal income is about to be tested out in the U.S. But it isn't a government initiative, it's coming out of Silicon Valley. Startup incubator Y Combinator has announced plans to give a guaranteed basic income to people in Oakland, California. Noah Kulwin is the Associate Editor of tech industry site ReCode, and he's been following the development of the project closely.