From spring 2021:
“The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, is launching an experiment in which hundreds of individuals will receive free money for a period of two years, following a similar — and advocates say successful — guaranteed income pilot program in Stockton, California. Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, a Democrat and member of the advocacy group Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, first presented the idea in March 2019 to help the city’s struggling citizens. Now, after the COVID-19 pandemic put plans on hold, Baraka is unveiling a pilot program called the Newark Movement for Economic Equity. The two-year program will pay a random selection of 400 Newark residents, ages 18 and older and with household incomes that are 200% below the federal poverty level, a sum of $12,000 each, over two years. Half of those individuals will receive $500 monthly payments, with the other half receiving four payments of $3,000, paid out semi-annually.”
These ARE reparations; they are being done in the blackest parts of NJ.
Another poster points out that the SALT deduction should be eliminated because the state taxes are what allows these states to piss away money like this while asking federal taxpayers to subsidize them. As a NJ resident (we have high municipal taxes here), I agree; Trump’s income tax overhaul left many NJ homeowners better suited to taking the increased standard deduction than use the SALT deduction anyway. I’m not weeping for anyone who pays $24K in municipal taxes; they can afford to lose the deduction.
It is amazing how unintelligent human beings can get when they have zero practical experience.
I can almost imagine a future where plumbers, carpenters, construction workers, grocers, farmers, and house painters are deified because they saved civilization from having to move back into caves.