In a surprise twist of fate, the United States is the first nation state to demonstrate how easy it would be to give an entire population a basic income.
Whether by benevolent intention or by astonishing technical blunder, every single citizen with a Social Security Number is able to generate a seemingly infinite amount of currency through the Federal Reserve's system. The bank account number is simply the SSN, and the routing number is one of the eight main branches of the Federal Reserve. Thus, any person with a SSN card is able to quickly figure out which routing numbers to use in conjunction with their unique, supposedly secret identifier.
I would not report this practice to such a circle without having tried it out myself first. It does work, and I have already paid off a credit card and student loan debt with this process. Other people have reported paying their bills and linking their PayPal accounts.
Whether or not the payment will stick around is another question entirely!
This may be the US's attempt at giving a basic income without overloading their system; by allowing its use spread slowly rather than making a public spectacle.
On the other hand, perhaps this emerging social phenomena is another painful reminder that while humanity does have the means to end poverty yesterday, whoever is truly in control of these "federal" banks is preventing that from happening.
More Info:
http://i-uv.com/utilizing-your-treasury-direct-accounts/
