Public Trust Dividend Payments: Reduce Conflict & Increase Wealth Equity, Part One

Although seemingly boring, the Alaska Permanent Fund perhaps represents humanity’s greatest hope to revolutionize human politics increasing peace and equity both internationally and domestically. Widely deploying such dividend-paying public trust funds could bring about greater world peace and domestic equality on a scale rarely seen in human history. The ideal public trust fund has these same five features as the Alaska Permanent Fund:

(1) Government-Proof. No one, in particular no government, has the authority to withdraw or borrow from the trust fund or even use it as collateral for other loans.

(2) Drawdown-Proof. The total yearly sum paid out in dividends to all Alaskans totals to less than that year’s interest profits from the pre-existing principal. Even in a recession, an investment fund will still have some interest income despite the overall value perhaps decreasing.

(3) Single-Purpose Dedicated Source. The payments come directly from the yearly interest profit of the fund. The examples of failed basic income programs due to “lack of funds” are legion. By tying yearly dividend amounts to only interest profit without drawing down on principal, this basic income program can avoid this, the most common reason for failure. Other basic income experiments have failed because the programs were temporary by nature: Their funds have come from general revenues shared with all other government spending, and so when…