“The pinnacle of capitalism is still flawed. Any idea that it’s perfect — this idea of the perfect union — is deeply flawed as a concept and always has been.” — Keith Teare

With July 4 finally done, we can look forward to the next American revolution. Just as AI is revolutionizing the economy, so too are radical ideas about harnessing this disruption for the benefit of all Americans. One idea that is acquiring more and more currency in and out of Silicon Valley is what we might call universal basic capitalism.

Six months ago, nobody knew what “universal basic capital” even meant. Now everyone is talking about it. What if the answer to inequality, AI disruption, and the slow hollowing out of the American economy isn’t a return to socialism — but a new, more distributive kind of capitalism? As That Was The Week’s Keith Teare argues in our weekly tech roundup, universal basic capitalism offers the best way to simultaneously empower all Americans without turning them into the welfare “queens” so disparaged by neo-liberals.

Economists agree that AI is going to eliminate vast numbers of jobs, probably within the decade, certainly in time for America’s 300th anniversary. One fix is the democratic socialist strategy of tax and spend through the state. Universal basic capitalism, in contrast, takes the wealth generated by AI companies, puts it into a sovereign wealth fund, and distributes the dividends directly to citizens. Rather than an ever-more-bloated bureaucracy redistributing wealth, the state miraculously shrinks.

It’s a neat idea. Instead of welfare queens, we get shareholding kings. But is this really the next American revolution? Or just the trickle-down economics of the DOGE crowd for an AI age of mass unemployment?

Five Takeaways

• America the Beautiful — and Its Profound Flaws. Trump winning is evidence the people still rule. But capitalism at its best still has huge swathes of poor people. The perfect union is deeply flawed. America has peaked. The next 250 years are not a foregone conclusion.

• 1,200 New Millionaires a Day. America added 1,200 new millionaires a day last year: nearly 24 million total. China: 5 million. US GDP per capita: $85,000. China: $20,000. California house prices do a lot of the work. Highly skewed toward coastal cities.

• Universal Basic Capital vs Democratic Socialism. UBC: the sovereign wealth fund distributes AI dividends; the state shrinks to an administrative function. Democratic socialism: seize the state and spend. Under UBC, the state doesn’t grow — it becomes a shareholder in the fund.

• The AI Jobs Debate. Short term: companies using AI are hiring faster. Amazon and Microsoft putting thousands of engineers on the front line. Long term (Brynjolfsson): automation accelerates. Things you need a front-end engineer for today will be done by agents tomorrow. Declining employment — which could be a good thing with UBC.

• Om Malik, 1967–2026. Founder of GigaOm. Co-hosted the Crunchies with Mike Arrington. Liberal humanist. Photographer. Became a capitalist to be independent. Without GigaOm and TechCrunch, there would be no Substack. The line runs from the NYT to GigaOm to TechCrunch to Substack to TWTW. Thank you, Om.

About the Guest

Keith Teare is a British-American entrepreneur, investor, and publisher of That Was The Week. He is a co-founder of TechCrunch and Andrew’s regular TWTW co-host.

References

That Was The Week by Keith Teare: thatwa.st
Erik Brynjolfsson, Stanford — AI and long-term job automation
Jennifer Harris, “The Generational Force Hollowing Out the Economy,” NYT
Om Malik (1967–2026) — founder, GigaOm; venture capitalist, True Ventures

About Keen On America

Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.

Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow

Chapters:

00:00:31 July 4, recording on the 250th
00:01:46 Keith’s thirty years in America
00:03:44 America the Beautiful: the editorial
00:05:54 1,200 new millionaires a day
00:20:00 Universal basic capital vs democratic socialism
00:28:20 Brynjolfsson and the AI jobs debate
00:31:21 Om Malik dies at 59
00:35:08 Jennifer Harris: AI hollowing out the economy
00:37:30 Fish and chips and the World Cup