Alaska operates the closest thing to a universal basic income in the United States by literally paying its residents an annual cash dividend just for existing within the state borders.

A closer look

Alaska operates the closest thing to a universal basic income in the United States by literally paying its residents an annual cash dividend just for existing within the state borders. The money comes from a massive state-owned investment fund powered by oil revenues, ensuring that every citizen gets a cut of the corporate extraction happening in their frozen backyard. Instead of letting fossil fuel executives run off with all the cash, the state government forces them to share the wealth, resulting in yearly checks that people use for everything from college tuition to buying a new snowmobile. It is a rare, wildly successful example of socialist-style wealth distribution thriving in one of the most aggressively conservative places on earth!