
Raising the Floor
How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $15.47
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Chris Sorensen
About this listen
Andy Stern, the former president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), spent four years traveling the country and asking economists, futurists, labor leaders, CEOs, investment bankers, entrepreneurs, and political leaders to help envision the US economy 25 to 30 years from now. He vividly reports on people who are analyzing and creating this new economy - such as investment banker Steve Berkenfeld; David Cote, the CEO of Honeywell International; and Andy Grove of Intel.
Through these stories, we come to a stark and deeper understanding of the toll technological progress will continue to take on jobs and income and its inevitable effect on tens of millions of people. But there is hope for our economy and future. The foundation of economic prosperity for all Americans, Stern believes, is a universal basic income. The idea of a universal basic income for all Americans is controversial, but American attitudes are shifting. Stern has been a game changer throughout his career, and his next goal is to create a movement that will force the political establishment to take action against something that many on both the right and the left believe is inevitable.
©2016 Andy Stern (P)2017 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Give People Money
- How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World
- By: Annie Lowrey
- Narrated by: Annie Lowrey
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine if every month the government deposited $1,000 into your bank account, with nothing expected in return. It sounds crazy. But it has become one of the most influential and hotly debated policy ideas of our time. Futurists, radicals, libertarians, socialists, union representatives, feminists, conservatives, Bernie supporters, development economists, childcare workers, welfare recipients, and politicians from India to Finland to Canada to Mexico - all are talking about UBI.
-
-
Liberal whine-fest rather than serious discussion
- By Jason on 07-25-18
By: Annie Lowrey
-
The Complacent Class
- The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream
- By: Tyler Cowen
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since Alexis de Tocqueville, restlessness has been accepted as a signature American trait. Our willingness to move, take risks, and adapt to change have produced a dynamic economy and a tradition of innovation from Ben Franklin to Steve Jobs. The problem, according to legendary blogger, economist, and best-selling author Tyler Cowen, is that Americans today have broken from this tradition - we're working harder than ever to avoid change.
-
-
MUST READ
- By RJW on 05-06-17
By: Tyler Cowen
-
The System
- Who Rigged It, How We Fix It
- By: Robert B. Reich
- Narrated by: Robert B. Reich
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Millions of Americans have lost confidence in our political and economic system. After years of stagnant wages, volatile job markets, and an unwillingness by those in power to deal with profound threats such as climate change, there is a mounting sense that the system is fixed, serving only those select few with enough money to secure a controlling stake. With the characteristic clarity and passion that has made him a central civil voice, Robert B. Reich shows how wealth and power have interacted to install an elite oligarchy, eviscerate the middle class, and undermine democracy.
-
-
Turn Off Your TV. Wake Up and Listen Now!
- By Benchmark on 03-25-20
By: Robert B. Reich
-
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
- By: Thomas S. Kuhn
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were - and still are. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is that kind of book.
-
-
The problem is not with the book
- By Marcus on 08-09-09
By: Thomas S. Kuhn
-
The War on Normal People
- By: Andrew Yang
- Narrated by: Andrew Yang
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The shift toward automation is about to create a tsunami of unemployment. Not in the distant future - now. One recent estimate predicts 13 million American workers will lose their jobs within the next seven years - jobs that won't be replaced. In a future marked by restlessness and chronic unemployment, what will happen to American society? In The War on Normal People, Andrew Yang paints a dire portrait of the American economy. Rapidly advancing technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation software are making millions of Americans' livelihoods irrelevant.
-
-
I Would Vote For Him
- By Tommie Sexton on 07-09-18
By: Andrew Yang
-
That Used to Be Us
- How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back
- By: Thomas L. Friedman, Michael Mandelbaum
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America has a huge problem. It faces four major challenges, on which its future depends, and it is failing to meet them. In That Used to Be Us, Thomas L. Friedman, one of our most influential columnists, and Michael Mandelbaum, one of our leading foreign policy thinkers, analyze those challenges - globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation's chronic deficits, and its pattern of energy consumption - and spell out what we need to do now to rediscover America and rise to this moment.
-
-
We have met the enemy and it is us.... Pogo
- By Soudant on 09-16-11
By: Thomas L. Friedman, and others
-
Give People Money
- How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World
- By: Annie Lowrey
- Narrated by: Annie Lowrey
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine if every month the government deposited $1,000 into your bank account, with nothing expected in return. It sounds crazy. But it has become one of the most influential and hotly debated policy ideas of our time. Futurists, radicals, libertarians, socialists, union representatives, feminists, conservatives, Bernie supporters, development economists, childcare workers, welfare recipients, and politicians from India to Finland to Canada to Mexico - all are talking about UBI.
-
-
Liberal whine-fest rather than serious discussion
- By Jason on 07-25-18
By: Annie Lowrey
-
The Complacent Class
- The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream
- By: Tyler Cowen
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since Alexis de Tocqueville, restlessness has been accepted as a signature American trait. Our willingness to move, take risks, and adapt to change have produced a dynamic economy and a tradition of innovation from Ben Franklin to Steve Jobs. The problem, according to legendary blogger, economist, and best-selling author Tyler Cowen, is that Americans today have broken from this tradition - we're working harder than ever to avoid change.
-
-
MUST READ
- By RJW on 05-06-17
By: Tyler Cowen
-
The System
- Who Rigged It, How We Fix It
- By: Robert B. Reich
- Narrated by: Robert B. Reich
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Millions of Americans have lost confidence in our political and economic system. After years of stagnant wages, volatile job markets, and an unwillingness by those in power to deal with profound threats such as climate change, there is a mounting sense that the system is fixed, serving only those select few with enough money to secure a controlling stake. With the characteristic clarity and passion that has made him a central civil voice, Robert B. Reich shows how wealth and power have interacted to install an elite oligarchy, eviscerate the middle class, and undermine democracy.
-
-
Turn Off Your TV. Wake Up and Listen Now!
- By Benchmark on 03-25-20
By: Robert B. Reich
-
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
- By: Thomas S. Kuhn
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were - and still are. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is that kind of book.
-
-
The problem is not with the book
- By Marcus on 08-09-09
By: Thomas S. Kuhn
-
The War on Normal People
- By: Andrew Yang
- Narrated by: Andrew Yang
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The shift toward automation is about to create a tsunami of unemployment. Not in the distant future - now. One recent estimate predicts 13 million American workers will lose their jobs within the next seven years - jobs that won't be replaced. In a future marked by restlessness and chronic unemployment, what will happen to American society? In The War on Normal People, Andrew Yang paints a dire portrait of the American economy. Rapidly advancing technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation software are making millions of Americans' livelihoods irrelevant.
-
-
I Would Vote For Him
- By Tommie Sexton on 07-09-18
By: Andrew Yang
-
That Used to Be Us
- How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back
- By: Thomas L. Friedman, Michael Mandelbaum
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America has a huge problem. It faces four major challenges, on which its future depends, and it is failing to meet them. In That Used to Be Us, Thomas L. Friedman, one of our most influential columnists, and Michael Mandelbaum, one of our leading foreign policy thinkers, analyze those challenges - globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation's chronic deficits, and its pattern of energy consumption - and spell out what we need to do now to rediscover America and rise to this moment.
-
-
We have met the enemy and it is us.... Pogo
- By Soudant on 09-16-11
By: Thomas L. Friedman, and others
-
The Tipping Point
- How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.
-
-
My tipping point…for audio
- By Mod on 04-17-12
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
The Western Canon
- The Books and School of the Ages
- By: Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: James Armstrong
- Length: 22 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Harold Bloom explores our Western literary tradition by concentrating on the works of twenty-six authors central to the Canon. He argues against ideology in literary criticism; he laments the loss of intellectual and aesthetic standards; he deplores multiculturalism, Marxism, feminism, neoconservatism, Afrocentrism, and the New Historicism. Insisting instead upon "the autonomy of aesthetic," Bloom places Shakespeare at the center of the Western Canon.....
-
-
A personal and opinionated book on the Canon
- By Steffen on 07-23-12
By: Harold Bloom
-
Saxons, Vikings, and Celts
- The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland
- By: Bryan Sykes
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
WASPs finally get their due in this stimulating history by one of the world's leading geneticists. Saxons, Vikings, and Celts is the most illuminating book yet to be written about the genetic history of Britain and Ireland. Through a systematic, ten-year DNA survey of more than 10,000 volunteers, Bryan Sykes has traced the true genetic makeup of British Islanders and their descendants.
-
-
Thesaurus taxing mind numbing travelog
- By Twang on 01-07-14
By: Bryan Sykes
-
Reconsidering the American Way of War
- US Military Practice from the Revolution to Afghanistan
- By: Antulio Joseph Echevarria
- Narrated by: James Killavey
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook challenges several longstanding notions about the American way of war. It examines US military practice (strategic and operational) from the War of Independence to the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan to determine what patterns, if any, existed in the way Americans have used military force. Echevarria surveys all major US wars and most every small conflict in the country's military history.
-
-
Excellent overview of complex subject
- By Joe on 11-25-14
-
An Army at Dawn
- The War in North Africa, 1942-1943
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: Rick Atkinson
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, An Army at Dawn is history of the highest order - brilliantly researched, rich with new material and surprising insights, the deeply human story of a monumental battle for the future of civilization. "An absolute masterpiece," says Andrew Carroll, author of War Letters, "This book is storytelling - and history - at its most riveting."
-
-
Abridging too far?
- By Jeremy on 02-19-03
By: Rick Atkinson
-
The Enlightenment
- And Why It Still Matters
- By: Anthony Pagden
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of our most renowned and brilliant historians takes a fresh look at the revolutionary intellectual movement that laid the foundation for the modern world. Liberty and equality. Human rights. Freedom of thought and expression. Belief in reason and progress. The value of scientific inquiry. These are just some of the ideas that were conceived and developed during the Enlightenment, and which changed forever the intellectual landscape of the Western world.
-
-
A thorough political tract rather than history
- By Jacobus on 03-08-14
By: Anthony Pagden
-
The Signal and the Noise
- Why So Many Predictions Fail - but Some Don't
- By: Nate Silver
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nate Silver built an innovative system for predicting baseball performance, predicted the 2008 election within a hair’s breadth, and became a national sensation as a blogger - all by the time he was 30. He solidified his standing as the nation's foremost political forecaster with his near perfect prediction of the 2012 election. Silver is the founder and editor in chief of the website FiveThirtyEight. Drawing on his own groundbreaking work, Silver examines the world of prediction, investigating how we can distinguish a true signal from a universe of noisy data.
-
-
Learn About Statistics Without All The Math
- By Scott Fabel on 03-09-13
By: Nate Silver
-
How Not to Be Wrong
- The Power of Mathematical Thinking
- By: Jordan Ellenberg
- Narrated by: Jordan Ellenberg
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ellenberg chases mathematical threads through a vast range of time and space, from the everyday to the cosmic, encountering, among other things, baseball, Reaganomics, daring lottery schemes, Voltaire, the replicability crisis in psychology, Italian Renaissance painting, artificial languages, the development of non-Euclidean geometry, the coming obesity apocalypse, Antonin Scalia's views on crime and punishment, the psychology of slime molds, what Facebook can and can't figure out about you, and the existence of God.
-
-
Great book but better in writing
- By Michael on 07-02-14
By: Jordan Ellenberg
-
Winners Take All
- The Elite Charade of Changing the World
- By: Anand Giridharadas
- Narrated by: Anand Giridharadas
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas takes us into the inner sanctums of a new gilded age, where the rich and powerful fight for equality and justice any way they can--except ways that threaten the social order and their position atop it.
-
-
Profound.
- By Amazon Customer on 10-10-18
-
The Language Instinct
- How the Mind Creates Language
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this classic, the world’s expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution. The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association....
-
-
Absolutely Amazing and Interesting
- By J. C. on 10-28-12
By: Steven Pinker
-
Utopia for Realists
- How We Can Build the Ideal World
- By: Rutger Bregman
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Utopia for Realists is one of those rare books that takes you by surprise and challenges what you think can happen. From a Canadian city that once completely eradicated poverty to Richard Nixon's near implementation of a basic income for millions of Americans, Bregman takes us on a journey through history and beyond the traditional left-right divides as he champions ideas whose time has come.
-
-
Doesn't address the real question
- By Jen on 07-06-19
By: Rutger Bregman
-
The Founder's Dilemmas
- By: Noam Wasserman
- Narrated by: Mark Mosely
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: should they go it alone, or bring in cofounders, hires, and investors to help build the business? More than just financial rewards are at stake. Friendships and relationships can suffer. Bad decisions at the inception of a promising venture lay the foundations for its eventual ruin.
-
-
Too much talk on the data
- By Stanley Tan on 10-02-14
By: Noam Wasserman
Critic reviews
What listeners say about Raising the Floor
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Some person
- 10-13-18
interesting views
Not sure how a UBI would ultimately effect us as a country money wise but I do find the idea intriguing.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- jurine
- 12-12-19
a deep dive into the future of work
I loved this book. there is a sense of urgency for this country moving toward UBI
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- champ
- 04-24-21
Andy Stern is the man,!
loved it and his book is so relevant in today's time. universal basic income is going to happen soon.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- logan
- 06-21-17
Insightful & I'll definetly share with everyone
The book was a bit "wordy", and could be 15% shorter without losing and information and would probably make it a more effective read. But overall a great book and I will recommend it profusely.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chase
- 06-18-17
Insightful
I loved it. listen to it and really consider all it has to offer. This is a real solution for all.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Aaron Van Winkle
- 09-24-19
This is checking fire
UBI many be able to be grasped very soon. Andrew Yang Freedom Dividend. Love it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mira Krishnan
- 08-04-18
Book is hyperbolic. Narrator is not an asset.
If I review this book in a quip, it is that I went in an avid supporter of the concept of a universal basic income, and I had to do my very best to still support the idea that both Stern and I support after listening to his book, because I found it in many places hyperbolic and exhausting. He lays out really only the far left justification for UBI. This is not a book that is likely to convince moderates, let alone libertarians, which is unfortunate, because many moderates and conservatives also support UBI. He speaks to a number of entrepreneurs, but his conversations with them are often antagonistic, and then his post-hoc consideration of them is often combative. It is also almost purely an emotional argument. What I had been looking for was a book that rigorously analyzed the viability of UBI and the factors that would make it succeed - this is really only a book on the motivational aspects. There is almost no critical analysis. There is discussion of pilots and trials elsewhere in the world, but almost none of it is critical and it is very surface. For instance, this book really takes no critical look at the challenges that have emerged in European implementations.
As another example of the surface nature of the book, he attacks Piketty, but he does this after admitting that he only read the first 60 pages of his book, and he clearly does not understand the full argument or the data Piketty provided.
The far leftishness of this book is also interesting in that Andy Stern is a really interesting character - he left SEIU to do this work, and he makes the argument, interestingly, that unions may not be the right vehicle for 21st century equity, something I did not expect to hear in this book (although it's a good argument). Outside of these unexpected departures, however, the tenor of the book is predictable from the outset.
In the end, this book is really only a strong recommend to individuals on the far left who have not considered UBI - in that case, he makes a strong argument that UBI might be a better use of US government funds than the myriad of current programs we offer as a social safety net. For everyone else, I guess the message is just that if we want to get this done, we're going to have to figure out how to get along, hold our noses, and just get this done.
The narrator is another issue... he has an exaggerated speaking style, that when meshed with some of Stern's more unreasonable positions, sounds comedic and absurdist. The narrator in this case, probably more than any Audible book I've listened to, is a serious disservice to the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- DF
- 05-27-18
Interesting content terrible reading
The content is so interesting that it’s a shame the reading makes it almost unlistenable
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mike French
- 07-11-22
Bad narration
The narrator was terrible. He would add inflections at the wrong points and his rhythm was so sing-song and repetitive that it made focusing on the points being made very difficult. I would not recommend this book as a book on tape.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John Ludemann
- 12-27-19
This voice actor needs to be fired
This fellow makes it almost impossible to listen to this book!
His voice is like nails across a chalk board!!!
I cannot be the only person that feels this way.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful