It was a different world in 1972.
Most Americans still believed in conservative values and rational economics.
I would estimate that today somewhere around half do not.
MALE! Make America Like Europe! A country full of layabouts who are more like a flock of animals in the zoo. Yeah, that’s the ticket! And guess who the “beneficiaries” would be? Most likely White Trash, Blacks and Illegal Aliens. Decent Hispanics, who are citizens by and large are good workers.
Since that time, the American public has been dumbed down big time.
About “testing” the UBI. They give some money to about 1,000 people. Sorry, but you cannot test the UNIVERSAL BI on 1,000 people. Elementary. 1,000 is not universal. Universal = all.
Obviously the “test” will go well. The people who get the money will declare it a success. They testify that they no longer have to eat cat food and can get the tatoo they always wanted. This is not enough to raise taxes, so it’s all apparent benefit. They declare the “pilot” program a resounding success.
If it’s actually implemented, there is an effect on taxes, and big time. Plus it reduces the value of money, causing the recipients to demand more, which also saps the strength of the currency, leading the folks to go to the streets crying for more, which .... repeat until oblivion.
I remember that. I often chide my friends about how McGovern wanted to pay everyone $1000 if they would vote for him.
When the $1000/month guaranteed checks actually begin to arrive into Americans’ mailboxes from Fed.gov, at that point, $1000 will have the purchasing power to just about get you a Big Mac and Happy Meal.
Do democrats ever come with any ideas that don’t involve lunacy?
I estimate 60 million would have no problem with a monthly government check. Can a candidate entice enough to pull it off?
we’ve experimented with basic income for 50 years - it’s called welfare. And 50 years of experience has proven definitively that monthly allowances do not create middle class workers.
the lesson here is that the lefts bad ideas never go away.
They just keep coming back again and again and again, wearing away resistance.
This is why polite is a loser strategy against the left.
Always has been. Always will be. The pearl-clutches and hand-wringers have never been anything but a force multiplier for the left.
McGovern started the march to the left in the Democrat party that has now given us a party that embraces infanticide, wants to tear up the Constitution and openly espouses socialism. We can only hope enough of the American people wake up and stop this rush to destroying the country. Reagan was right we are one election away from tyranny.