Posted on 12/17/2013 4:19:00 PM PST by mandaladon
MSNBC HOST’S RADICAL IDEA: ‘EVERY NON-INCARCERATED ADULT CITIZEN GETS A MONTHLY CHECK FROM THE GOVERNMENT’
On Tuesday’s edition of MSNBC’s “The Cycle,” co-host Krystal Ball suggested that the United States implement a minimum guaranteed income for every “non-incarcerated adult citizen.” The enormous entitlement program would “eliminate poverty” completely, Ball claimed.
Referencing protests occurring across the globe, the MSNBC host made her pitch for a “monthly minimum income” or a “mincome.” The free government money would not only solve poverty, but it would not create deincentives to work, she claimed.
“The basic concept is simple,” she said. “Every non-incarcerated adult citizen gets a monthly check from the government. Other safety net programs are jettisoned to pay for the mincome, and poverty is eliminated.” “Now I know what you’re thinking: ‘This is some crazy left-wing utopian idea that only Marxists like Krystal Ball and Pope Francis could possibly support,’” Ball continued. She then argued that the idea “has found support on the right,” citing Reason’s Matthew Freeney who suggested giving the poor “cash.”
Ball went on to cite a study about a Canadian town in the 1970s that reportedly implemented a minimum income and “not only was poverty eliminated, but the disincentives to work has a minimal effect on productivity.”
“We tend to think of poverty, homelessness, despair as inevitable but mincome makes you realize — in a country as rich as ours — we allow those outcomes as a choice. We could decide to eliminate poverty and it wouldn’t even take a Christmas miracle,” Ball said.
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
That's the very definition of what Milton Freidman was advocating for.
I'm all in favor of giving every legal adult American citizen an annual subsidy, say $7,500 in exchange for completely abolishing all the poverty programs, bureaucracies, and such.
With all the poverty programs gone and onerous regulations on employers (no more FICA or unemployment taxes), productivity would skyrocket.
> Krystal Ball suggested that the United States implement a minimum guaranteed income for every “non-incarcerated adult citizen.” The enormous entitlement program would “eliminate poverty” completely, Ball claimed.
Thanks mandaladon.
Hey Krystal, you’re free to move to Canada any time you want.
Buh-bye
Hey , you forgot to throw in free green fees for everyone.
Why stop at a guaranteed check?
If a government payment guarantees that poverty will be eradicated, why not write a much bigger check, and make everybody rich? Not only will poverty be eradicated, but happiness will surround the whole world, and we can all afford the finer things in life, including mansions and a Mercedes or two in every home garage, and chauffeurs to drive them (question is, who will be the chauffeurs?) and a private jet (who’s going to fly them?) and an island paradise for each of us all (who’s going to maintain them?, a gorgeous wife (or husband), etc.
With everybody being wealthy, who’s going to be producing anything or working? Even if not taken to the point of making everybody wealthy, who is going to do the work if nobody needs to work? Who’s is going to produce anything at all? What would be the function of government if nobody is working or producing anything?
We could all sit on our asses, and wait for the checks to arrive. But then, where would the funding come from if nobody is working? Why would anybody choose to work, if there is no need to do so?
Krystal Ball is absolutely NOT a tea party member.
Huh!
“...other safety net programs would be jettisoned...”
We’d have to pay the permanent slackers close to $70K to make up for the cumulative impact of welfare, unemployment, Medicaid, disability, food stamps, child care, work training, etc.
There is no one in Hussein's government more communist than she is and she will say so. She is mad at Obama due to any person having to pay for healthcare.
She is an educated, master's degree holding, communist. She listens to Aljazeera for her news as they are the only ones that tell the truth, according to her.
I have written about her a few times on here but every time liberals want to do something, it's already been thought of by my sil.
Before everyone jumps the shark about this it has a lot in common with Milton Friedman’s negative income tax. Where this woman misses the point is that you DO HAVE TO WORK 40 hours to qualify. Of course, this also quite a disincentive for corporations to pay a higher wage when an employee gains experience.
Smashing idea. Let’s make it a million dollars a month. No, a billion! We’ll all have yachts and Gulfstream jets.
I’ll play along. Let’s say by some magic this happens, all agencies are ended, those grunts lose their jobs and every able bodied person gets ‘free’ money. Ok, so far so good.
So tell me, what happens when the druggie spends the total of his ‘free’ money inside of a month? Or the gambler goes through his ‘free’ money inside a day? I can come up with tons of scenarios where the money is gone in short order.
So what happens then? Are those sad sacks left to fend for themselves? No one is going to petition the government and the evil greedy businesses to provide for the homeless, hungry, drugged up downtrodden? Really?
Human nature is what it is and sadly, a body of men/women who control government, try as they may, have not been able to get around that reality.
Combined with real control of the southern border, and one-way bus tickets to farming country for the former welfare recipients, this shows real promise.
No money? What a shame. There's fruit and vegetables need picking. Time's a-wasting, get off your lazy @$$ and pick them, or starve in a ditch, your choice.
This idea is proposed by Charles Murray, co-author of the Bell Curve.
This idea was in the summary and recommendations, near the end of the book.
Most people didn’t get to it, because the ideas on IQ were controversial and sucked all the air out of the discussion.
If everybody started with a subsistence income level, no need to have minimum wages, no need to deal drugs, and lots of things become worth discussing.
Charles Murray is a prolific author, libertarian thinker, like Friedman.
Yeah, but I think I deserve a little more than some of the other guys.
I can't figure out if liberals are actually this stupid, or if they just believe (maybe correctly) that most of their fellow citizens are.
They turn to family, community organizations, and private charities for assistance, not to taxpayers. Or the gambler goes through his ‘free’ money inside a day?
Said gambler would likely take control of his/her addiction since there would be no entity to feed the addiction.
I can come up with tons of scenarios where the money is gone in short order.
I've got answers for all.
Get rid of all welfare. Give the poor a direct, annual cash subsidy. Not a monthly subsidy, an annual one. If the poor wants it monthly, I'm sure they can set something up with their financial institution.
So what happens then? Are those sad sacks left to fend for themselves?
Private, religious, and business charities would still help the poor.
No one is going to petition the government and the evil greedy businesses to provide for the homeless, hungry, drugged up downtrodden? Really?
Not if they're given a cash subsidy they won't.
Nope. Per Friedman's plan, all one has to do is simply file their taxes. This forces everyone to comply in order to receive the subsidy.
There would be a greater incentive to work if one were to receive the subsidy, and there would be tons more jobs created too.
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