#guaranteed basic income

[pixierainbows]

“ Nessa ( A fisherwoman who loves sea shanties. ) :

I've been chatting to Mayor Merritt about guaranteed basic income

for Azoria but she seems less than excited about it. “

[gemsofthegalaxy]

Fellow Canadians!

I just got a link to this letter writing campaign in my email inbox. If you're in support of Guaranteed Basic Income as a solution to poverty and the goddamn cost of living crisis in this country, consider using it to contact your representatives and let them know you support the bill.

[juicetrump2]

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Harris County to block program that would give cash to poorest households

The program would give roughly 1,900 households payments of $500 for 18 months with no strings attached. Paxton called it “plainly unconstit

Harris County (Houston) decided to use FEDERAL COVID-19 funds to implement a pilot guaranteed income program to 1,900 of the county’s poorest residents. The pilot would give households with incomes 200% below median $500/month for 18 months to spend any way they wish [no restrictions]

A republican state representative from a suburban area of the county protested the decision and then asked the previously impeached [for ethics violations] Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to declare the program unconstitutional. Paxton complied falsely stating that such programs provide NO BENEFIT so public funds cannot be used.

This is despite other counties/cities in Texas having previously implemented similar programs and the overwhelmingly positive results other guaranteed basic income pilot programs have demonstrated in other states and countries.

It is quite common for the nazi GOP leadership in Texas to undercut progressive programs in Travis (Austin) and Harris counties by either declaring them illegal via edict or ramming through laws making the local efforts to improve the lives of their citizens, illegal.

Because Harris and Travis counties and the cities of Houston and Austin are overwhelmingly Democrat they are most often have their local authority undermined for purely partisan reasons.

Austin's guaranteed basic income pilot program was a hit. A GOP state senator doesn't want it to happen in Houston

Guaranteed basic income for 135 Austin families showed the plan might work for everyone, but a GOP state senator doesn't want that to happen

Applications have opened for a huge new guaranteed-income pilot in Illinois that officials say is the biggest program of its kind

The $42 million pilot will give $500 a month to 3,250 households in Cook County for two years with no strings attached.

[intelligentchristianlady]

Austin's guaranteed basic income pilot program was a hit. A GOP state senator doesn't want it to happen in Houston

Guaranteed basic income for 135 Austin families showed the plan might work for everyone, but a GOP state senator doesn't want that to happen

Lots of links in this article if you want to drill down.

[npi]

The first results from the world’s biggest basic income experiment

The first results from the world’s biggest basic income experiment “Money always helps, but for the very poor, one lump sum can last a long time,” Dylan Matthews reports.

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[npi]

Guaranteed basic income could substantially improve economic security in the Pacific Northwest

In recent years, there’s been an increasing amount of discussion about bringing guaranteed basic income (GBI) to jurisdictions across the United States. GBI is a proven tool for improving social, economic, and health inequities; it entails providing periodic cash payments to people, like the economic assistance payments provided to millions of Americans during the first two years of the COVID-19…

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[mitchipedia]

Chicago posed to create one of the nation's largest "guaranteed basic income" programs

Chicago is getting ready to create one of the nation’s largest “guaranteed basic income” programs. 5,000 low-income households would get $500 per month.

Benefits programs get opposition from people who fear freeloaders. And that opposition comes from people at all income levels. Rich people don’t like the idea of poor people freeloading off government welfare. But the working poor don’t like the idea either.

But the benefits to society of providing people with the essentials needed to live, far outweigh the potential freeloader costs.

LIkewise, means-testing and targeted programs such as food stamps are more expensive than just giving people money.

Indeed, social scientists have studied the causes of poverty—are poor people stupid? Lazy? Mentally ill? And it turns out the reason for poverty is that people don’t have enough money, and what they need is more money. Sometimes the simple, obvious answer is the right one.

At least one opponent says the Chicago program is a bad idea because so many low-skill jobs are currently available—employers are finding it hard to find people to hire.

My bet is those jobs simply don’t pay enough. Certainly, minimum wage isn’t enough to live on nearly everywhere in the country—and if an employee doesn’t get enough to live, they turn to social welfare programs, meaning taxpayers subsidize the employer’s profits.

Yes, the Walmart family mansions and Jeff Bezos’s recent jaunt into space were partly paid for by your tax dollars and mine, in the form of subsidies to Walmart and Amazon employees who don’t make enough salary to live on. Why don’t we just give the money directly to the people, and require Walmart and Amazon to pay a living wage?

My prediction is Chicago’s social welfare program will prove successful, and generate more wealth to the community than it costs. And then it’ll be shut down, because voters are short-sighted that way.