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Gratis geld voor iedereen

Rutger Bregman (Goodreads Author)

4.25 · Rating details · 21,363 ratings · 2,213 reviews

Het probleem is niet dat we het niet goed hebben, het probleem is dat we niet weten hoe het beter kan. In deze tijd, met koopkracht als laatste ideaal, schetst historicus Rutger Bregman nieuwe vergezichten. Van een basisinkomen voor iedereen tot een werkweek van vijftien uur, van een wereld zonder grenzen tot een wereld zonder armoede - het is tijd voor de terugkeer van de ...more

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Paperback, zesde herziene druk, 257 pages

Published November 2016 by De Correspondent (first published September 14th 2014)

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Mar 10, 2019 Jeffrey Keeten rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, the-dutch, politics

”A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realization of Utopias.”---Oscar Wilde.

Rutger Bregman, the Dutch historian, first came to my attention when recently he got into a tiff with Tucker Carlson. The footage and audio was leaked, and though I wasn’t surprised to hear Carlson get upset ...more

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Jan 31, 2017 Mark rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

What a painful book to read during the first week of Trump's administration. I swear every time I finished a chapter, a new policy would be announced that completely moved the needle of social progress in the other direction. Solving poverty with a universal basic income? Nope, here's a Secretary of Labor who thinks the minimum wage is already too high. Reform the banking system so it's not one of the largest drivers of the economy? Let me introduce you to the newest Goldman Sachs exec to run a ...more

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Feb 28, 2020 Mario the lone bookwolf rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 0-social-progress, 0-feminism-equality, 0-civil-disobedience

If you like progressive, pro welfare state, social security, in a nutshell, the Nordic model praising nonfiction with hard facts and undeniable, logical argumentations, some of them the first time presented to a larger audience, this is your new favorite.

After having read Klein, Chomsky, and Ziegler, who are all primarily talking about the problems and showing some ways out of the dilemma, I find this new approach towards less ranting and more solutions very positive. What it differentiates fro ...more

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Mar 08, 2017 Adam rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: economics, utopias, the-left, politics, essays

Capitalist or communist, it all boils down to a pointless distinction between two types of poor, and to a major misconception that we almost managed to dispel some 40 years ago – the fallacy that a life without poverty is a privilege you have to work for, rather than a right we all deserve.

A breezy read with ideas that are backed up by genuinely interesting statistics and anecdotes.

Argues that we can better society and move towards utopia by implementing three ideas: a 15 hour workweek, a univer ...more

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Oct 01, 2016 Yemi Adesanya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Radical ideas, at first glance, but all put forward in this book aren't unreasonable, neither are they unrealistic. They are logically presented and supported with facts and tons of research and history.

It is an enlightening read, and I wish politicians and policy makers would read books like this. If only to widen their imagination and deepen thoughts and debates on possible courses of action on the problem plaguing the world.

Highly recommended. ...more

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Mar 30, 2020 ·Karen· rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Something I hear not infrequently at the moment is a prediction that this crisis is going to really, really make a difference. The world will never be the same again. At that point in the conversation - and there are damned few conversations to be had right now, but nevertheless, at that point I tend to go a bit quiet. Because what I'm thinking is 'BULLSHIT'. (Which I'm too polite to say). 'Cos what I'm thinking is, actually, people have really, really short memories and those who haven't been l Something I hear not infrequently at the moment is a prediction that this crisis is going to really, really make a difference. The world will never be the same again. At that point in the conversation - and there are damned few conversations to be had right now, but nevertheless, at that point I tend to go a bit quiet. Because what I'm thinking is 'BULLSHIT'. (Which I'm too polite to say). 'Cos what I'm thinking is, actually, people have really, really short memories and those who haven't been left unemployed and homeless by the projected economic downturn will go back to Life As They Knew It, and in fact we'll have a sudden surge as everyone tries to catch up with all the holidays they missed and the stuff they didn't buy... Only this morning on German TV there was an idea that the car industry would need a government boost after the corona crisis (Really?!) Subsidies to encourage people to buy cars, and not, as was the case pre-pandemic, to encourage people to buy electric cars, no! The government proposes to use taxpayers' money to pay people to buy ANY kind of car.

But then maybe the idea people are expressing is not so much a prediction as a fervent wish.

And that is not bullshit, not at all, in fact it's reasonable and sensible, because, as Bregman points out in this dazzling work, a sudden shock CAN be a powerful instrument of change. The thing is though that the ideas for change have to already be flying around, like the famous roast chickens in Cockaigne, ready to be plucked from the air. I suppose the radical New Thinking that was gaining currency just before Covid 19 was Climate Change. And now we can all see that life still goes on with all planes grounded and minimal road traffic and a reduction in industrial manufacturing, and surprise! We get a reduction in CO2. Who'd have thought. But a total lockdown is not a viable model for the long term future, I imagine.

So here are some ideas (nothing to do with the climate) to get us started in time for the NEXT crisis:

1. Guaranteed universal basic income.
2. Shorter working hours
3. Open borders

If you live in Germany you can make a start here:

https://www.change.org/p/finanzminist... ...more

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Apr 19, 2016 Peter rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Really wanted to like this. I'm a big fan of The Correspondent's journalism, and believe that basic income is an important idea whose time might have come. It was certainly interesting to learn more about the history, and the few studies that have been undertaken. Also fascinating to learn more about the history and failings of GDP as a measure.

However the attempts to persuade seemed full of holes and contradictions. One minute the author is complaining about how technological progress has slowe ...more

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Mar 03, 2017 Pamela rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I respond to utopian thinking the way any other moderately-informed liberal does: "Well, wouldn't that be nice o_O" But the more I read of Bregman's book, the more my resistance melted away. Why aren't we setting our sights higher than adding a dollar to the minimum wage and opposing Trump's wall? Hell, you wanna address unemployment as a result of automation? Why not support a universal basic income and a shorter work week! You'd also take a couple of steps towards gender equality to boot! By t ...more

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Dec 05, 2017 Katia N rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: economics-and-history

I was probably misguided as I thought this book would deal predominantly with the idea of a basic income. Specifically, i was intrested in the arguments pro and against it and, preferably, an analysis how it is possible to implement, the impact of automation and which steps might be taken right now. But this book is much broader in scope, and at the same time, pretty shallow. The book is more about the current state of the world with inequality, too much work for some and no for the others, the I was probably misguided as I thought this book would deal predominantly with the idea of a basic income. Specifically, i was intrested in the arguments pro and against it and, preferably, an analysis how it is possible to implement, the impact of automation and which steps might be taken right now. But this book is much broader in scope, and at the same time, pretty shallow. The book is more about the current state of the world with inequality, too much work for some and no for the others, the climate change etc.. It states that we need to have some new ideology to tackle these challenges. But it does not go far enough to define this ideology. It proposes 3 broad areas which hypothetically might improve the current state of the world:

- basic income;

- shorter work hours;

- open borders;

I am very sympathetic with all three of them. That was partly the reason why I’ve picked up this book. But though it provides the reader with some historic anecdotes, it does not go far enough to specify where are we specifically in terms of those 3 areas; and what has to be done to get us where we want to be. There are some interesting observations and facts. For example, there is a story how president Nixon was on the verge of introducing the basic income in the US but was stopped by another story of the nineteenth-century English Speenhamland plan. There is also information about the experiments in the 70s Canada and Seattle. But what about more current situation - not much! The main illustration is 13 homeless people in London in 2009. 9 of them apparently has reformed their ways (not sure what happened with another 6). There is no information about Swiss referendum on basic income (overwhelming rejected with 77% against) or the Finland experiment which is currently underway. They’ve just briefly mentioned at the end of the book. These discussions would be much more useful going forward than Nixon’s fiasco. It is not even totally clear whether the author proposes to replace all welfare state wth a regular lump sum payment (quite radical libertarian view) or he wants to give people money on the top of everything else.

On the shorter work hours, quite a bit of a narrative is focused on criticising “bullshit jobs” (bankers of course, but also the lawyers (hopefully only the corporate ones), consultants, marketers etc - journalists as well?). vs very useful jobs of the NY cleaners. I am sure NY cleaners’ job satisfaction is great and they are all happy as ever. But would this very useful and fantastic job satisfy a bright young person on the basis of bringing the huge public value? I know that the bright kids should all start doing research how to solve the global problems instead of doing “bullshit jobs”. But the main question is “how” and “who would pay for it”? I did not find the answer in the book.

The question of open borders is very close to my heart as i seriously believe in it. He is a bit more constructive. He defines 7 perceptive myths about the emigrants. And this discussion is a bit more concrete. But unfortunately, I did not find all of his debunking arguments very convincing. And in this case i cannot see how he can convince someone who is really against this idea. For example, he “debunks” the misconception that all immigrants are criminals. Specially, he talks about the youth crime of the second generation Maroccans in the Netherlands. Apparently, there is no correlation between the ethnicity and the levels of the criminal activity. But that was not the question! The question was is there a correlation between the status (second generation immigrant) and the criminal activity. It is not the same is it? I hope the answer is “no” as well. But such confusion undermines the whole credibility of the debate.

And after all “debunking”, he is appeared to be not really very ambitions at all:

“Opening our borders is not something we can do overnight, of course - not should it be. Unchecked migration would certainly corrode social cohesion in the Land of Plenty.” (That is after a few pages ago he debunked the misconception that the immigrants are undermining the social cohesion!”) So he is thinking just “making a crack in the door” - increase it on 3% (annually?) or something like that.

I do not want to continue listing what i found unsatisfying about this book - you’ve got the picture. There are a lot of pathos and good rhetorics, but that is about it. Apart from a few interesting anecdotes and observations, it was useless for me. It definitely would not make you any wiser if you are interested to find out more about the current theory and practice in the area of basic income. And there are much better books on the state of the world. Even the latest Friedman’s endeavour is better Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations.

...more

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Apr 02, 2019 Bianca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, non-fiction

The modern creed – or worse, the belief that there’s nothing left to believe in – makes us blind to the shortsightedness and injustice that still surround us every day. To give a few examples: Why have we been working harder and harder since the 1980s despite being richer than ever? Why are millions of people still living in poverty when we are more than rich enough to put an end to it once and for all? And why is more than 60% of your income depends on the country where you just happen to ha The modern creed – or worse, the belief that there’s nothing left to believe in – makes us blind to the shortsightedness and injustice that still surround us every day. To give a few examples: Why have we been working harder and harder since the 1980s despite being richer than ever? Why are millions of people still living in poverty when we are more than rich enough to put an end to it once and for all? And why is more than 60% of your income depends on the country where you just happen to have been born?24 Utopias offer no ready-made answers, let alone solutions. But they do ask the right questions.

I’ve had this on my TBR since 2017. Upon watching the viral video of Bregman at Davos berating the billionaires for not paying their fair share of taxes, I felt I had to read his book. For those of you who haven’t seen that short speech here it is https://www.theguardian.com/business/... .

As you can tell from my rating, I’m very happy I read this book. It was riveting, informative, and most importantly, it challenged and changed some of my ideas. I love when this happens.

Bregman is starting to be known as the “universal basic income guy”. I don’t know about you, in the past year or so I’ve come across some articles about this notion, half dismissing it as undoable. Upon reading this book, I’ve changed my mind. It sounds like a far-fetched idea until you read more about it.

In the past, the economists and other people in the know were predicting the working week will be around 15 hrs by 2030. Obviously, it didn’t happen, and it’s unlikely to, if anything, the opposite is true, especially for certain countries in the developed world, especially the USA, Japan, South Korea etc. But many of the more enlightened European countries are moving towards shorter and shorter weekly hours, the Netherlands is at the top with an average of 27.5 hrs/week followed very closely by Germany.

Another thing that Bregman discusses in depth is poverty, homelessness and foreign aid to poor countries. I’m a proud and loud lefty, and even I have, better said, had, some misconceptions about poor people and poverty, and I was far from being one of those people who go on and on about “why don’t they just get a job and why do they keep having so many kids (well, I still think that about everyone – because of overpopulation) and they should stop drinking and smoking (I dislike drinking and smoking in everyone) etc.

The big reason poor people are poor is because they don’t have enough money,” notes economist Charles Kenny, “and it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that giving them money is a great way to reduce that problem.

Those more sceptical will probably huff and puff at all these utopian ideals, but guess what, most good things we take for granted today, such as democracy, women’s right to vote, birth control, you name it, they were all considered “undoable”, “unnecessary” in the beginning. Somebody, usually on the fringes, had an idea, a vision.

Look, I can go on and on about this book. It’s by no means perfect, but it gave me food for thought and it whetted my appetite to read more books/articles on such important issues. If you have any suggestions/links do let me know.

Highly recommended
...more

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Feb 14, 2021 jade rated it liked it

Recommends it for: readers who are new to & interested in UBI, a 15-hour work week, and open borders

Recommended to jade by: a colleague who's been trying to shove "humankind: a hopeful history" down my throat since forever

Shelves: sociopolitical, dutch-authors, non-fiction

“poverty is fundamentally about a lack of cash. it’s not about stupidity.”

a short and concise argument for a modern utopia.

pop historian and journalist bregman lays it all out for the reader: in this day and age, basically everyone in the world is better off than we were for 99% of the time that humans have existed. even the most downtrodden of us have it better than some lowly peasant from the 1500s; we’ve already gone beyond the horizons of what people could’ve possibly imagined in ...more

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May 28, 2017 Adrian Hon rated it liked it · review of another edition

A reasonably good summary of the history of universal basic income and the drive to a shorter working week, although if you've read a few long essays on those topics it's unlikely you'll learn much.

Unfortunately the book is spoiled by a few things. Firstly, while I get that it has a point of view that it's conveying (one that I agree with!), I could've done with more opposing arguments, if only to arm myself in future.

Secondly, one of the arguments is for open borders, which the author suggests ...more

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Jan 19, 2018 Cristina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Loved it.

I'm going to share some of the excerpts I liked.

1. Whether you look at the incidents of depression, burnout, drug abuse, high dropout rates, obesity, unhappy childhoods, low election turnout or social and political distrusts, the evidence points to the same culprit every time - inequality. But hold on -- what should it matter if some people are filthy rich if even those who are very poor are better off than the kings of centuries ago? A lot. Because it’s all about relative poverty. How Loved it.

I'm going to share some of the excerpts I liked.

1. Whether you look at the incidents of depression, burnout, drug abuse, high dropout rates, obesity, unhappy childhoods, low election turnout or social and political distrusts, the evidence points to the same culprit every time - inequality. But hold on -- what should it matter if some people are filthy rich if even those who are very poor are better off than the kings of centuries ago? A lot. Because it’s all about relative poverty. However wealthy a country gets, inequality always rains on the parade. Being poor in a rich country is a whole different story to being poor a couple centuries ago, when almost everybody, everywhere was a pauper.
Take bullying. Countries with big disparities in wealth also have more bullying behavior because there are bigger status differences. (...) the psychosocial consequences are such that people living in unequal societies spend more time worrying about how others see them. This undercuts the quality of relationships, manifested in a distrust of strangers and status anxiety, for example. The resulting stress, in turn, is a major determinant of illness and chronic health problems. But shouldn’t we be more concerned with equal opportunities than with equal wealth? The fact is that they both matter. These two forms of inequality are inextricable. Just look at the global rankings -- when inequality goes up, social mobility goes down.
There’s almost no country on earth where the American dream is less likely than come true than in the US of A. Anybody eager to work their way out from rags to riches is better off trying their luck in Sweden, where people born into poverty can still hold out hope of a brighter future.

2. Imagine this: A welfare mother has her income cut because she hasn’t developed sufficient job skills. The government saves a couple thousand bucks but the hidden costs of children who will consequently grow up poor, eat poor food, get poor grades at school, and be more likely to have a run-in with the law are many times greater.
In fact, conservative criticism of the old nanny state hits the nail on the head. The current tangle of red tape keeps people trapped in poverty, it actually produces dependence.
Whereas employees are expected to demonstrate their strengths, social services expect claimants to prove over and over that an illness is sufficiently debilitating and that chances at getting higher are sufficiently slim.

3. Only Denmark has ever tried to quantify the value of breastfeeding in its GDP. In the US, the production of breastmilk has been estimated at an incredible 110 billion/year (!). About the size of China’s military budget. The GDP also does a poor job of calculating advances in knowledge. (...) If you were the GDP, your ideal citizen would be a drug addict who has cancer, goes through a divorce and pops fistfuls of Prozac and goes bezerk on Black Friday. Mental illness, pollution, crime - in terms of the GDP - the more, the better. That’s also why one of the countries with the highest per capita GDPs, the United States, also leads in social problems. By the standard of the GDP, the worst families in America are those that actually function as families, that cook their own meals, take walks after dinner, and talk together, instead of just farming the kids out to the commercial culture.
We live in a world where the more vital your occupation - cleaning, nursing, teaching - the lower you rate in the GDP.

4. In overworked countries like Japan or the United States, people watch an absurd amount of television -- up to 5 hours a day in the US, WHICH ADDS UP TO 9 YEARS IN A LIFETIME. American children spend half more time in front of the TV as they do at school. True leisure, however, is neither a luxury nor a vice. It is as vital to our brains as vitamin C is to our bodies. There’s not a person in the world who on their deathbed thinks ‘had I only put in a few more hours at the office…’ or ‘sat in front of the Tube some more’.

5. Bullshit jobs. The economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that we’d all be working just 15 hours a week by 2030. That our prosperity would shoot through the roof and we’d exchange a sizeable chunk of our wealth for leisure time. In reality, that’s not at all what has happened. We’re plenty more prosperous, but we’re not exactly swimming in a sea of free time -- quite the reverse. We’re all working harder than ever.
In the previous chapter, I described how we sacrificed our free time on the altar of consumerism. Keynes certainly didn’t see that coming. But there’s still one puzzle piece that still doesn’t fit. Most people play no part in the production of iPhone cases, in their panoply of colors, exotic shampoos containing botanical extracts, or mocker cookie crumble frappuccinos. Our addiction to consumption is enabled mostly by robots and third-world wage slaves. And although agricultural and manufacturing production capacity have grown exponentially over the past decades, employment in these industries has dropped. So is it really true that our overworked lifestyle all comes down to out of control consumerism?
David Graeber wrote a fascinating piece that pinned the blame not on the stuff we buy but on the work we do. It’s titled aptly ‘on the phenomenon of bullshit jobs’. In Graber’s analysis, innumerable people spend their entire working life doing jobs they consider to be pointless. Jobs like telemarketer, HR manager, social media strategist, PR advisor, and a whole host of administrative positions at hospitals, universities and government offices. Bullshit jobs, Graeber calls them. They’re the jobs that even the people doing them admit are, in essence, superfluous.

6. A mere 62 people are richer than 3.5 billion people in the world. (!!!) ...more

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Dec 16, 2020 NAT.orious reads ☾ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: standalones, scientific-genius, advice-on-life

⫸3.25 STARS

This book is for you if… you like great visions more than substantial ideas on how to get there.

⤐ Overall.
Phew. This is an interesting read for sure. If anything, Rutger gives some interesting scientific proof to things I've until now only found morally right, such as a basic income, stop underpaying essential jobs, less working, more recreation, etc. Basically, Rutger describes the Utopia I'm interested in. It's unbelievable how wealthy the bigger part of the society is in th ⫸3.25 STARS

This book is for you if… you like great visions more than substantial ideas on how to get there.

⤐ Overall.
Phew. This is an interesting read for sure. If anything, Rutger gives some interesting scientific proof to things I've until now only found morally right, such as a basic income, stop underpaying essential jobs, less working, more recreation, etc. Basically, Rutger describes the Utopia I'm interested in. It's unbelievable how wealthy the bigger part of the society is in this day and age and how little worth is still ascribes to essential jobs and human life in general.

... on the other hand, Rutger only delivers 50% of what this title promises; the "And How We Can Get There" part. While he throws around whild, utopist and amazing ideas I can mostly get on board with, there are few suggestion of how to actually make said utopia happening.

He's also using a lot of ableist language, which I found extremely off-putting. Together with the aimless throwing around of numbers, those two sorta put me off in the beginning.

I think I found myself another love-hate-book.

‘A single opposing voice can make all the difference. When just one other person in the group stuck to the truth, the test subjects were more likely to trust the evidence of their own senses. Let this be an encouragement to all those who feel like a lone voice crying out in the wilderness: Keep on building those castles in the sky. Your time will come.’

⤐ The book is structured as follows.
1 The Return to Utopia
2 Why We Should Give Free Money to Everyone
3 The End of Poverty
4 The Bizarre Tale of President Nixon and His Basic Income Bill
5 New Figures for a New Era
6 A Fifteen-Hour Workweek
7 Why It Doesn't Pay to Be a Banker
8 Race Against the Machine
9 Beyond the Gates of the Land of Plenty
10 How Ideas Change the world
Epilogue

Notes
Index
Acknowledgements
_____________________
4 STARS. Would stay up beyond my typical hours to finish it. I found some minor details I didn't like, agree with or lacked in some kind but overall, this was enjoyable and extraordinary.

3 STARS. Decent read that I have neither strongly positive nor negative feelings about. Some things irked me and thus it does not qualify as exceptional. ...more

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Aug 20, 2020 Gabrielle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: politics, mandatory-reading, philosophy, read-in-2020, reviewed, non-fiction, own-a-copy

My father once told me that he felt I was very pessimistic, to which I replied that I was too much of a realist to be an optimist. Don’t get me wrong, when stuff is good, I am more than happy to celebrate it, but I’m also not the type to pretend everything is great when things are objectively terrible. The title “Utopia for Realists” grabbed me right away, because I’m pretty sure that if you ask any so-called realist, you’ll find they want nothing more than to believe the world could be a better My father once told me that he felt I was very pessimistic, to which I replied that I was too much of a realist to be an optimist. Don’t get me wrong, when stuff is good, I am more than happy to celebrate it, but I’m also not the type to pretend everything is great when things are objectively terrible. The title “Utopia for Realists” grabbed me right away, because I’m pretty sure that if you ask any so-called realist, you’ll find they want nothing more than to believe the world could be a better place; they just can’t quite see how that might – realistically – happen.

Rutger Bregman’s thesis of how to make the world a better place in a very concrete way is threefold: installing a basic universal income, putting the average working week at about 15 hours, and opening the borders. If you are the type that sees the Scandinavian model in a good light, you won’t need much convincing to hop on his bandwagon, but he’ll nevertheless illustrate his points with solid facts, detailed research and very convincing arguments. Considering that I am one of those weirdos who thinks everyone deserves to be healthy, well-fed, decently housed and properly educated, I found so many things in this book interesting and inspiring.

Near the end of “Bullshit Jobs, A Theory” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), David Graeber mentions the idea of universal basic income as one way to solve this economic and existential crisis that is the BS job conundrum. Bregman explores the concept to demonstrate that when people’s basic needs are met without them having to worry about how to pay the bills, they are happier, healthier and more productive members of their society – which stimulates their local economy much better that letting them live hand to mouth and burden the healthcare system because all they can afford is terrible food. The money from such programs is most often used to go to school, fix residences in need of repair, support a family member’s parental leave and start small businesses. One his of key points in addressing the various ways we can reduce and even eliminate poverty is that when you take care of people, either by giving them cash or putting a roof over their heads, the state saves money and wealth is created. Ergo, all of society stands to benefit (side note: with the pandemic, I think the need for that kind of universal basic income is more obvious than ever because no one should put their or their family’s health and lives at risk to pay the bills).

Bregman also sides with Graeber (he actually refers to his work in this section) on the topic of working fewer hours for greater productivity and a heathier amount of leisure – and thus time to do things that make life more enjoyable and meaningful. He addresses the “crisis” of automation, the disparity between what I’ll call useful jobs and somewhat less useful jobs.

I learned a lot in his section about opening up the borders. I recently read a book that mentions the absolutely terrible practice of human trafficking, and how a lot of border and economic regulations make such a practice almost unavoidable (see “McMafia” https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). Bregman looks at all the usual opposition to open borders, and why the overwhelming majority of them make no sense.

By the time the book wrapped up, I could see how his three suggestions were the most logical and sane ways to eliminate poverty and generally fix a lot of systemic problems that trickle down into all of our lives. Following his recommendation would not lead to a perfect world, but it would certainly improve it significantly, and more importantly, communally.

I appreciate that Bregman didn’t waste time or ink bashing his ideological opponents. Most books about making the world a better place tend to fill many pages describing why the conservatives are wrong and how terrible they are and offer very little in the way of concrete ideas, and this book is the refreshing opposite to that. I doubt that anyone picking it up needs to be convinced that people who think the poor are lazy are wrong, anyway. His tone is conversational, easy to follow and understand even if you don’t have a degree in economics – and he’s often quite funny. And sure, some elements are depressing to read about (like the story of how Nixon’s basic income bill was shot down by Randians using falsified science…), but those are things we need to talk about and think about if anything is going to change. The hardest thing, as he points out, is changing the way we think about certain problems. Cognitive dissonance is one of the biggest hurdle to overcome if the world is to change for the best.

One has to be fair and acknowledge Bregman’s euro-centric bias; he clearly thinks that the USA is a failed experiment (and this book was published 4 years ago, so heaven knows his opinion can’t possibly have improved). It doesn’t really matter that I agree with him, but it has to be kept in mind while reading this book. He also clearly hates bankers – another sentiment I can understand, but that nevertheless colors parts of his analysis.

Overall, a very interesting, easy to read and understand, engaging and ultimately hopeful book about the world we could have. Mario’s review is much more detailed than mine: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ...more

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May 05, 2019 Terence M rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, audible-returned, audible-direct-buy, a-dnf

I am yet to listen to this audiobook. It has such an ugly cover I nearly didn't buy it, but it was an Audible "Daily Deal" for just $2.99 and I was particularly motivated by Jeffrey Keeten's review. ...more

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Aug 10, 2020 Laura Noggle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, 2020

Extremely interesting, and something I've been wondering about/reading up on for years.

Hopefully not just a pipe dream—but I have little faith in humanity at this point. ...more

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Mar 07, 2019 Kevin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: econ-state-welfare

How far can a Western Social Democrat go? This book reaches (runs into?) its limits…

The Good:
--Top marks for accessibility; engaging writing-style especially for Western audiences, like that of David Graeber and Matt Taibbi.
--Dutch historian Bregman joins Development economist Ha-Joon Chang as leading Social Democrats; highlights from this book:

1) UBI, automation, reducing work, and bullshit jobs: the core of the book, with engaging historical narrative and case studies. Also, useful chapter br ...more

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Mar 18, 2017 Nancy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

We have lost our vision, Rutger Bregman writes, mired in old paradigms and blind to the possibilities we should be imagining. We could be realizing the world predicted by 20th c thinkers.

Subtitled "How We Can Build The Ideal World," Utopia for Realists is an international best seller, first published in the Netherlands where it ignited a debate and inspired a movement.

Bregman begins by reminding us of how recently life was a "vale of tears," "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short," as philoso We have lost our vision, Rutger Bregman writes, mired in old paradigms and blind to the possibilities we should be imagining. We could be realizing the world predicted by 20th c thinkers.

Subtitled "How We Can Build The Ideal World," Utopia for Realists is an international best seller, first published in the Netherlands where it ignited a debate and inspired a movement.

Bregman begins by reminding us of how recently life was a "vale of tears," "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short," as philosophers wrote in the 16th c. With the explosion of new technology and prosperity over the last two hundred years, humanity has achieved a standard of living that Medieval folk would consider Utopia; indoor heat and cooling, flush toilets and clean water alone would make them marvel. So would obesity from an overabundance of easily obtained food, the magical ability to protect ourselves from smallpox and polio, and paved roads we travel at 70 mph--without fear of highwaymen robberies.

Have we reached Utopia? Or is there something we can do to make life even better? How can we solve the problems that remain: fearfulness, unemployment, quality of life, poverty.

The welfare state 'from a bygone era' doesn't work today. Globalization and the cost of higher education have impacted the stability of the Middle Class. Upward mobility for the poor no longer happens.

Bregman wants to "fling open the windows of our minds" to discover "a new lodestar." He presents studies and experiments about how we treat the homeless and the poor and challenges our traditional mindset that people are to be blamed for their own poverty--they just have to work hard and save. We have created welfare programs for those in need, which are costly and do not solve the basic problem. What happened to the expectation of the 15-hour workweek? Why are we spending more time working, impacting our health and our families?

Bregman wants us to dream new dreams and embrace ideas that can change the world for the better. Thinking outside the box has made a difference: abolition, universal voting rights, and same-sex marriage, he reminds, were all once considered impossible. All it takes is "a single opposing voice.

The basis of Bregman's new Utopia is a guaranteed basic income. He presents studies that demonstrate the success of such programs. In 1967 universal basic income was supported by 80% of Americans and President Nixon submitted a bill to eradicate poverty.

Other changes he offers include shorter work hours, proven to increase productivity, reconsidering the importance of the Gross Domestic Product as our economic standard of success, improving quality of life, open borders, taxing capital instead of labor, and adjusting salary to a job's societal value. At a time when productivity is a record levels, there are fewer jobs and lower salaries. "We have to devise a system to ensure that everybody benefits," he writes.

There is an old saying: Insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results. Instead of holding more tightly to the old ways we need to envision innovation. Perhaps books like this will spur discussions and reevaluations.

One can only hope.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
...more

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Jun 17, 2019 Ray rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: politics, nonfic

Is it hyperbolic to say that this book may change the world?

If you've already read about Universal Basic Income (UBI), or really anything by a good myth-busting economist which challenges our current era of capitalism, then Utopia for Realists may not teach you too much that you don't already know. Overall Rutger Bregman''s way is just to summarize some main big ideas into a readable paperback, and yet that is the whole point.

There are plenty of graphs which will convince the reader that incom ...more

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Jan 19, 2018 Mehrsa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Makes a solid case for universal basic income using some recent studies as well as some misunderstood older studies. I think I would recommend Graeber or even Doughnut economics for the theory behind some of the concepts in here, but this is a quick read and a great primer on why we have too many bullshit jobs and why poverty is not a moral failing. I'd say read the others first and then come here, but this is a nice start too. Others to read: Scarcity, David Graeber, Picketty, etc... ...more

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Oct 30, 2019 Matthew Quann rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, science

Though its fairly rare for me to read nonfiction--you'll usually find me digesting these books in the audio versions--this book caught my eye during a Kindle sale. I've been trying my best to broaden my understanding of not only the problems facing the world, but reasonable solutions. Utopia for Realists proposes three concepts (universal basic income, a 15-hour work week, and open borders) that often come up during political debates for which I had little opinion prior to reading.

Fortunately, I ...more

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Dec 12, 2016 Kamyar malzoom rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: ready-to-read

I'm getting my masters in finance and going to get my Ph.D. in finance too, so not an economist, but I know a great deal about economics (studied tons of materials both in academic settings and for fun).

This book is NOT realistic AT ALL, the numbers just simply don't add up. If you know anything about macroeconomics and theory of markets, the alternative proposed in this book is just laughable. This guy is a journalist and "historian" (although not really a historian) so it's acceptable that he ...more

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Sep 20, 2017 David rated it did not like it · review of another edition

A poorly argued book about ideas that I agree with. Light on analysis and critical thinking, heavy on speculation, storytelling and context-free statistics.

Could have been an infographic.

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Mar 19, 2019 Conor Ahern rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: trump, economics, politics, audiobook, non-fiction, poverty

I ended up really liking this book. It explores a lot of ideas that we reflexively reject, likely because they go against common sense. Ideas like "just give poor people cash" seem not only politically infeasible, but unwise. And sadly, our politics is dictated by soundbites and conventional wisdom, and we wonder why we only dig ourselves deeper into wealth inequality and dissatisfaction with government at all levels.

This book explores concepts like universal basic income, open borders, and cash ...more

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Jul 16, 2017 Hari Ramachandran rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I loved this book for many reasons but the one thing that stood out was the fact that it made me alter my world view from pessimistic to hopeful, if not completely optimistic.
The author has proposed some radical ideas but has also provided a lot past research and evidence to support these ideas.

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Nov 30, 2020 Rhea (Rufus Reads) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, favorites

Fifteen hour workweek, universal basic income, and open borders... and lots of advice to the progressive liberals on how to walk towards an alternative world, a utopia.

Commendable that such a small book packs so much ~ detailed review to (hopefully) follow once this book's sunk in. ...more

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Sep 11, 2019 Andrew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: politics-and-political-theory, economics-business-finance

Utopia for Realists: How we Can Build the Ideal World, by Rutger Bregman, is a fascinating book about the idea of Utopia in a modern, realistic context. Early concepts of Utopia revolved around basic needs; food falling from the sky, safety and health, and so on. Bregman says we are there already. Food is no longer scarce in most countries, and poverty rates and crime is down globally - to the lowest levels in history. Instead, many nations are grappling with other issues - overwork, obesity, la Utopia for Realists: How we Can Build the Ideal World, by Rutger Bregman, is a fascinating book about the idea of Utopia in a modern, realistic context. Early concepts of Utopia revolved around basic needs; food falling from the sky, safety and health, and so on. Bregman says we are there already. Food is no longer scarce in most countries, and poverty rates and crime is down globally - to the lowest levels in history. Instead, many nations are grappling with other issues - overwork, obesity, lack of leisure time, economic inequality that is reaching levels not seen since medieval times... and so on. How is society to tackle these issues? Bregman makes a few strong arguments, chiefly, a guaranteed annual income. This idea has been experimented and trialed before, notably in Canada and the US, with countries like Switzerland and the Netherlands tinkering with the idea of making it national policy. Bregman argues that giving people money with no strings attached in actually more efficient, encourages growth and productivity, and so much more.

Bregman notes numerous studies and trials of monetary transfers like this. One notable example is a trial in London, England, where 13 homeless "frequent flyers" - in and out of hospitals, jail etc. - were given 3000 pounds flat out, no strings attached. Before, these 13 had been costing the state around 400000 pounds a year (yes, that much) in legal fees, jail costs, healthcare costs, social services costs, and so on. in comparison, 3000 pounds is a very small percentage of their total yearly cost to the taxpayer. This money made a huge impact on the lives of these 13 - in a small period of time, some had enrolled in courses, some were working, some in rehab, and some in new housing. Numerous other studies are cited within the book, pointing to the benefits of basic income and disproving many of the criticisms. Bregman argues that basic income does not make people lazy, but instead motivates them to go back to school, start small businesses, engage in creative passions, and just enjoy life a bit more. After all, nobody regrets not spending enough time at the office on there death beds. Instead, they regret not spending enough time with family and friends, or not pursuing their passions.

Bregman's book is refreshing for a few reasons; first and foremost is the hopeful, upbeat tone. So many political books coming out in modern times are negative. They purport ideas that have little meaning, say almost nothing, and offer no innovation or invention in the field. So many jobs these days - as Bregman quotes, are bullshit. People's lives lack meaning. But this can all be easily changed by opening the door to a few innovative ideas. Basic income. Shorter work weeks. Paying public service workers like nurses, teachers, garbage collectors etc. more money, and paying lobbyists, corporate lawyers and hedge fund managers less. Encouraging banks to hold more assets. And so on. This book is fascinating, simple in conception, and very interesting. It is certainly a recommended read for those looking for a good introduction to the idea (not the quantitative analysis) of basic income. It is also a left leaning book that is not disparaging to the right, and has respect for other fields, ideologies and ideas. A great book. ...more

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Apr 27, 2018 Tuncer Şengöz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: politics

Stunning book on basic income, lesser working hours (and leisure), poverty and a world with no borders.

I underlines this paragraph: "Sadly, the underdog socialist has forgotten that the story of the left ought to be a narrative of hope and progress... The greatest sin of the academic left is that it has become fundamentally aristocratic, writing in bizarre jargon that makes simple matters dizzyingly complex. If you can't explain your ideal to a fairly intelligent twelve-year-old, after all, it' ...more

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Feb 20, 2019 Maru Kun marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Great clip here where Rutger Bregman points out that Fox New's Tucker Carlson is "a millionaire funded by billionaires" and as a result gets called a "moron" and told to "f**k off" by Carlson simply for stating the obvious.

Very entertaining and well worth a watch. Strangely Fox News decided not to broadcast the clip but it was leaked anyway.

Historian who confronted Davos billionaires leaks Tucker Carlson rant ...more

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About Rutger Bregman

Rutger Bregman

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Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian, author and journalist. He studied at Utrecht University and the University of California, Los Angeles and is known for popularizing topics related to social and economic innovation measures and their history through, among others, universal basic income and shorter work weeks.

Rutger Bregman is a journalist at The Correspondent, and one of Europe's most prominen ...more

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“The great milestones of civilization always have the whiff of utopia about them at first. According to renowned sociologist Albert Hirschman, utopias are initially attacked on three grounds: futility (it’s not possible), danger (the risks are too great), and perversity (it will degenerate into dystopia). But Hirschman also wrote that almost as soon as a utopia becomes a reality, it often comes to be seen as utterly commonplace. Not so very long ago, democracy still seemed a glorious utopia. Many a great mind, from the philosopher Plato (427–347 B.C.) to the statesman Edmund Burke (1729–97), warned that democracy was futile (the masses were too foolish to handle it), dangerous (majority rule would be akin to playing with fire), and perverse (the “general interest” would soon be corrupted by the interests of some crafty general or other). Compare this with the arguments against basic income. It’s supposedly futile because we can’t pay for it, dangerous because people would quit working, and perverse because ultimately a minority would end up having to toil harder to support the majority.” — 28 likes

“Poverty is fundamentally about a lack of cash. It’s not about stupidity,” stresses” — 24 likes

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