Posted on 10/04/2019 8:20:21 PM PDT by fwdude
The first data from an experiment in a California city where needy people get $500 a month from the government shows they spend most of it on things like food, clothing and utility bills.
The 18-month, privately funded program started in February and involves 125 people in Stockton. It is one of the few experiments testing the concept of “universal basic income,” an old idea getting new attention from Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination.
Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs has committed to publicly releasing data throughout the experiment to win over skeptics and, he hopes, convince state lawmakers to implement the program statewide.
(Excerpt) Read more at fortune.com ...
Just skip through the endless money orchard and grab arms-full.
they spend most of it on things like food, clothing and utility bills...
You mean the things other people pay for with their WORK INCOME?!?!
I wondered why there was such a rush on Pappy Van Winkle. Now I know.
People in the program get $500 each month on a debit card, which helps researchers track their spending. But 40% of the money has been withdrawn as cash, making it harder for researchers to know how it was used. They fill in the gaps by asking people how they spent it.
Yeah, I’ll bet they’re completely honest answering those questions, too.
Exactly. I don’t know the circumstances of these people’s lives, whether they’re just poor or mentally retarded or physically disabled, but those who aren’t could be paid to pick up trash on the streets, plant flowers in the town center, paint curbs, etc. for the money they get. I’m sure the unions won’t allow it though.
The ones you mentioned are already getting help.
And you’re right.
That is $500 confiscated from someone with a job who had to work for that money.
Gee that sounds really fair.
Lots of fungible stuff can be bought and traded or resold to get drugs. And since it’s free money, who cares what the exchange rate is?
Tattoos and weed. The rest, they wasted.
Bump! You are 100% correct. This is why the program will never be popular. The payers will always resent the payees.
Money is fungible, and existing money spent on bills and groceries that is replaced by “free” money will just be spent on the irresponsible vices that make many of these people poor to begin with.
Poverty is most often a mindset, which can’t be cured by cash.
from a bankrupt city with a very high crime rate, reported and otherwise
basically, a city which had great potential and has been destroyed from within, including its sick politics
sort of like a number of cities, come to think on it...
alas
“they spend most of it on things like food, clothing and utility bills...”
I believe the “working poor” are receiving the money. My question, what are they sending their own income on and is that being monitored?
This is exactly how the food stamp black market operates. You can buy ANYTHING with food stamps if you have an exchange agent and are willing to pay a premium.
Like the useless 0bammy says, you didn’t make that.
If it weren’t for the muzzies, we wouldn’t have made it to the moon.
It’s better for all when you spread the wealth around.
Good point. Although were it to become policy it would be coming out of working man’s wallet.
On the point about money being fungible, that’s a pretty good example of what the state governments have done with lottery money. At least when I was in Florida and they started the lottery that’s what they did. They gave the lottery money to the school systems and then cut the school system’s budgets. That way they had more tax money to piss away elsewhere.
“...they spend most of it on things like food, clothing and utility bills. “
>>>>>>>>>>
Assuming they were spending money on food, clothing and utilities before, it is disingenuous to say they are spending the extra $500 on those items.
It does not answer what they are doing with the additional $500.
I favor this if it replaces all other monetary aid and if it means stricter guidelines for SNAP. Also when the money is spent no do-overs.
Still hasn’t stopped the state from giving our money away up to this point.
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