Free Republic

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Illinois lawmakers are considering a bill that would create a state-based guaranteed income program. State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) sponsors Senate Bill 3462, which calls on Illinois to adopt such a program after the 2027 calendar year. Through this legislation, residents who meet certain qualifications would be eligible for monthly $1,000 cash payments, regardless of immigration status. It’s unclear how long the payments would last. According to the bill’s language, those potentially eligible for $1,000 cash payments include people who: Provide care for a child or other specified dependent Recently gave birth or adopted a child Enroll...

A group of just over 100 homeless people in California's Los Angeles County and San Francisco Bay Area were given $750 per month for a year — no questions asked. The newly released results of the first six months of the study into the impact of a basic income and social support intervention reveal what the recipients spent the influx of cash. ... Those who received the $750 monthly stipend were less likely to remain unsheltered and closer to having enough money to meet all of their basic needs as compared to a control group who accessed usual homeless services,...

As finance and development ministers and legislators gather in Morocco for the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), from Oct. 9 to 15, the pressing issue of runaway global inequality will loom large on their agenda. Governments can use various tools to address inequality, including fair taxes, quality public services and just labor conditions. And an important tool they should consider now is universal social security, a set of policies and programs designed to ensure financial security across a person’s lifetime. The World Bank and IMF wield substantial influence by funding and shaping social...

CHICAGO (CBS) –Mayor Brandon Johnson spoke Friday in favor of a basic income guarantee program at a conference held in Chicago. "We are ushering in a more dynamic, prosperous economy by giving people a guarantee that their lives have meaning," Johnson said. About 3,200 families are receiving direct payments in the first-ever Cook County Promise Guaranteed Income pilot program for low-earning households.

In a development straight out of a dystopian sci-fi thriller, fast food giant Wendy’s has embarked on a chilling experiment, replacing its drive-through order takers with an AI chatbot powered by Google software. This technological takeover aims to streamline the ordering process by training the AI to understand customer requests and decrease waiting times at the drive-throughs. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, Wendy’s is set to launch this eerie transformation in its home state of Ohio, starting with locations in Columbus. The company plans to implement the change in June, all in the name of shorter lines...

A team of researchers at the University of British Columbia, working with two wealthy donors has found that transferring money from rich people to poor people can increase the level of happiness reported by the poor people who receive the money. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes experiments they conducted that involved transferring money from rich people to poor people in both rich and poor countries. There is an old proverb that says "you can't buy happiness." But that may not be true, at least for people living at the lowest...

Residents, which includes illegal immigrants, of Cook County, Illinois, will be eligible to apply. To receive the assistance, applicants must be adult residents of Cook County, which includes parts of Chicago, and make an income of below 250% of the federal poverty level. ***** The government's press release state’s that 36% of county residents are eligible to apply, and the program is funded through the American Rescue Plan, which was launched to help struggling Americans dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 140 people experiencing homelessness in Denver will each be provided up to $1,000 in cash a month for up to one year as part of a basic income program designed to help "lift individuals out of homelessness," the city announced last week. The $2 million contract with the Denver Basic Income Project was approved by the City Council and will provide direct cash assistance to more than 140 women, transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, and families in shelters. "Just as important as housing and shelter is a regular source of income for those experiencing homelessness," Mayor Michael B....

I have often wondered how to determine when the United States of America is approaching a catastrophic financial crisis, similar to the stock market crash of 1929. President Biden will never provide us with that information because it would further expose him as a dysfunctional, incompetent, nowhere man sitting in his nowhere fake office land. Biden, as the captain of the Titanic, would yell, "Full speed ahead. Maybe we'll get lucky and hit a mine!" You get the point. The Biden administration, better known as dysfunction junction, still blames Trump for their disastrous tenure in office: "Hey, look over there...

Pennsylvania Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf is pushing state legislators to pass a bill that would send checks up to $2,000 to households with income under $80,000.

Ukraine just silently announced it’s the first country to implement the WEF’s ‘Great Reset’ by setting up a social credit application combining Universal Basic Income (UBI), a Digital Identity and a Vaccine Passport all within one app. Similar systems in other countries too. The Social Credit Score System is silently being implemented around the world.

Welfare is often sold as a means to help people lift themselves out of poverty, but every piece of data ever accumulated on the topic reveals the opposite is true. With few exceptions, welfare becomes a generational problem as families who become dependents of government remain dependents of government. There are ways to properly assist those in need without locking them into the welfare state. Jobs programs, education programs, and temporary relief funds can help people get a leg up from their circumstances, but Democrats know these types of programs do not accomplish the singular goal of the welfare state:...

One of the favorite utopian goals of the left-wing loons — from members of "The Squad" to Andrew Yang — is the guaranteed-to-fail fantasy of Universal Basic Income...or, as Dire Straits said in their 1985 hit, "Money for Nothing." This welfare-on-steroids plan has already been tried and failed in Ontario, Canada and Finland, but progressive hopes spring eternal in California, where many new ideas — business concepts, laws, social experiments, fads, drugs (legal or not), or whatever — are often tried. It's a type of proving ground, if you willStockton, California has tried an experiment of its own, giving $500...

..the government of President Emmanuel Macron announced an "inflation allowance" that will send at least 100 euros (116 US dollars) to 48 million people in France. The move comes with less than six months until voters go to the polls next year in the presidential election. For those in France who's income is below 2000 euros a month the payout will be even greater perhaps as much as 200 to 300 euros. Also this week legislative action to allow school principals in France to have knowledge of the vaccination status of school students. It was a matter that caused a...

The votes — 36-0 in the Senate and 64-0 in the Assembly — showed bipartisan support for an idea

Residents in cities across the country are receiving $500 per month payments as part of a no-strings-attached experimental universal basic income program.... ...places from Compton, California, to Richmond, Virginia, are trying out pilot guaranteed income programs as researchers hope the results give them a fuller picture of what happens when a range of people are sent payments that guarantee a basic living, AP reported. ... ...Center for Guaranteed Income Research co-founder Stacia West, who is evaluating more than 20 similar pilot programs, is interested in seeing how spending compares to cities like Stockton, California, where more than a third went...

Like a lot of other Americans, I have been shocked in recent weeks at the number of businesses that cannot find workers. My daughter and I stopped at a fast-food restaurant here in South Bend, Indiana, two weeks ago on our way home from Chicago. After waiting 40 minutes in the drive-thru line, the beleaguered employee at the window handed us our food and apologized profusely. "I'm so sorry. We are way understaffed," he explained. "I have to close the store." This was 5:30 on a Saturday evening. How much money did that particular store lose, having to close for...

Many people think that a universal basic income (UBI) would be a good substitute for the welfare state. Under this proposal, each person resident in a country would receive a guaranteed income, sufficient to live at a modest level. People would get the money unconditionally. Unlike welfare payments, the UBI would not be lessened if people earned money in addition to the amount it provided, and, because it is not means tested—absolutely everyone gets it, even billionaires—it requires no complex bureaucracy to administer.The UBI would cost a great deal of money, but its defenders claim that since it is a...

Something strange is going on out in Marin County, California. The elected officials there have instituted a pilot program offering a universal basic income in the form of a monthly stipend to a limited number of participants. That in and of itself isn’t unique, as programs such as this have been tested in other places, such as Stockton, California. A couple of aspects of this program, however, really are unique. The most glaring among these is the fact that in order to qualify, participants have to be women. No males need apply. On top of that, the program is not...

PITTSBURGH — A record 745,000 Americans filed for jobless benefits for the first time last week. With so many people seeking financial help, the city of Pittsburgh is trying a new approach: handing out money. Pittsburgh is one of 30 cities across the country participating in a pilot program that provides free money to certain families who are struggling. “The best way to break the cycles of poverty is to give people money,” said Mayor Bill Peduto (D-Pittsburgh). 100 low-income African American women, who are working and have families, will receive $500 every month for two years. No tax dollars...