First Congress of US Basic Income Guarantee Network:
Fundamental Insecurity or Basic Income Guarantee
March 8-9, 2002
The CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York City
Sponsored by: The Center for Social Justice, School of Social Welfare, Stony Brook University, The Center for the Study of Culture, Technology, and Work at the CUNY Graduate Center, Continuing Education and Public Programs at the CUNY Graduate Center, and The Citizen Policies Institute
This past March, at the end of the longest period of uninterrupted economic growth in U.S. history, millions of U.S. workers remained in poverty. Apparently, even in the best of times, the market economy cannot eliminate poverty on its own without a change in policy. By March of 2002, millions of Americans can be expected to fall deeper into poverty. One policy -- or perhaps
the only policy -- that could completely eliminate poverty is the Basic Income
Guarantee (BIG). This policy is the assurance by the federal government that
no citizen's income will fall below a minimum level for any reason. The
term Basic Income Guarantee was chosen because it is similar to both basic
income -- (as the best-known version of BIG is known in Europe today) and
guaranteed income -- (as the idea was known in the United States when it was
seriously considered in the 1960s and 70s). The U.S. Basic Income Guarantee
Network (USBIG) is an organization dedicated to increasing public discussion
of the Basic Income Guarantee. As part of this effort, USBIG will hold its first Congress on March 8-9, 2002 at The CUNY Graduate Center. The purpose
of the Congress is to bring together a wide group of academics, policy
analysts, students, activists, and others interested in exploring the merits
of BIG. It will consist of a series of panels, discussion groups, and
speakers and it will include an organizational meeting for USBIG.
Confirmed speakers include:
Stanley Aronowitz - Guy Standing - Brazillian Senator Eduardo Suplicy -
Anne Alstott - Harold Watts - Alice O Connor Frank Kirkland - Sumner M.
Rosen - Edward N. Wolff - Walter Williams - Robinson Hollister - Mimi
Abramowitz - Steven Pressman - Ruth Brandwein - Barbara Bergmann - Joel
Blau - Jeff Manza - Fred Block - Allan Sheahen - Irwin Garfinkel -
Steven Shafarman - Walter Van Trier - Robert Harris; Charles M.A. Clark; and
others.
The conference will include a series of panel discussions, a round table of
activists, a keynote address by Senator Suplicy, an organizational meeting
for USBIG, and a screening of the film "A Day's Work, a Day's Pay" by
Jonathan Skurnik and Kathy Leichter.
To register, send your name, address, telephone number, email address,
affiliation (if applicable), and the registration fee of $25 ($15 for
students, the unemployed, and anyone on public assistance) to:
Edith Lundgren, The SUNY School of Social Welfare at Stony Brook, Health
Sciences Center Level 2, Stony Brook, NY 11794. Or, register in person or by
phone at Continuing Education and Public Programs, Rm 8111 at the CUNY
Graduate Center, 212-817-8215.
Registration is limited so please reserve your space early.
The conference organizer is Michael Lewis, of the SUNY School of Social
Welfare, Stony Brook, with the assistance of the conference committee: Eri
Noguchi, of Columbia University, Stanley Aronowitz and Heather Gautney of
the CUNY Graduate Center, and Karl Widerquist of the Educational Priorities
