Posted on 02/11/2019 8:04:21 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The idea of giving poor people cash with no strings attached in lieu of government welfare payments has been floating around the leftist fever swamps since the 1960s. It's called universal basic income and Chicago will apparently develop a pilot program to test it.
Some Chicago families could start collecting a $1,000 check every month with no strings attached. That's the new proposal from a task force created by Mayor Emanuel.
The idea is to break the cycle of poverty. The pilot program would give 1,000 struggling Chicagoans $1,000 a month.
Supporters say people could use the extra cash to cover unexpected emergencies, increase their savings and improve their health.
The money would come from a mix of city funds and charity.
It's a seductive idea. Even some libertarians like Charles Murray think it's worth a shot. With one dollar out of every three spent by the government on social welfare programs going to feed the bureaucracy, the idea of giving the poor direct cash payments seems an attractive way to save taxpayer money.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
Finland ended a similar experiment in April and the results have just been released.
Distributing free money to the unemployed improves their well-being, but doesn’t appear to have any significant impact on their job prospects.That’s according to the preliminary results of a landmark experiment in Finland, the first country in the world to trial a basic income at a national level.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
The Nordic social welfare champion spent the last two years handing out 560 euros ($635) per month to a randomly selected group of 2,000 jobless people aged between 25 and 58. The basic aim was to explore new ways of distributing social security in a world where more workers are threatened by automation and fewer are likely to take on traditional nine-to-five jobs. The current system is seen as too bureaucratic and often dissuades people from taking on temporary or part-time work.
This thread needs a picture of Barney Fife saying “If you give em an inch they’ll take a foot. If you give em a foot they’ll take a yard.
Chicago has been doing this for decades... at election time.
Now they won’t have to beg on the corners for their drugs and their hooch.
Isn’t a similar stipend what “minimum wage” was originally for?
A dole is a dole, no matter how it is rebadged or redesignated.
Time to up my investments in liquor, gaudy bling, tasteless clothing and spinny rims.
The government should just give it to the crack dealers directly.
A bankrupt city suddenly has money?
$1000 — that’s a lot of pints of the cheap stuff.
I identify as a Chicagoan. Can I still get the $$$?
I saw this story a couple of days ago and wrote the reporter asking questions.
“My question is: If this is considered income, would this be taxed ?
It appears it would have to be fed & state income taxed, plus payroll taxed - who would pay the employer’s side of SS & Medicare ?
Plus I didn’t know the City of Chicago had an Earned Income Tax Credit.”
so far, no response.
Stockton Ca is starting its version this year.
I can’t believe the authors of these lamebrain ideas do not see that they eventually have to run out of other people’s money.
WORK...jobs are what break the cycle of poverty...not handouts. Give a fish..teach how to fish...etc!
‘The idea is to break the cycle of poverty.”
Those folks will have all the drugs, pot and alcohol they want. They’ll be liv’in high on the hog!
A bankrupt city suddenly has money?
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Haven’t you been paying attention? The government can, like, you know, like just spend the money.
Some Illinois “lawmakers” want to make Chicago the 51st state...
Doe Chicago have that kind of money just lying around?
And those who get this cash will invest it wisely in durable goods, growth funds, education and useful money-making assets.
Cigarettes, whiskey and wild, wild women.
They will still do that, just not until the eight or ninth of the month.
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