From Chelsea, Massachusetts to Compton, California, mayors have joined an initiative that gives a modest-sized selection of residents a monthly stipend.
Though it is in its pilot phase, the program comes at a time when many Americans need it the most. The largest universal basic income program to date, the cash transfer initiative is designed to curb gross wealth inequities that spiked even more during the coronavirus pandemic. To study the impact of the frequency of disbursements, 50 percent will get payments on a bi-weekly basis, and the remaining 50 percent will receive payments twice yearly.
The guaranteed income program started as an idea in , from Michael D. Tubbs, who was the newly elected mayor of Stockton, California, a San Francisco suburb. He asked a simple question. What happens if you supplement household incomes with a no-strings attached stipend? The youngest mayor to be elected in a major U. It was quite hard for a capitalistic-centric economy to give away free money. When people have a basic income to meet their daily needs they are productive citizens.
But, detractors hypothesized that the initiative would attract freeloaders who would siphon from the system. The unspoken underlying image is that of the Ronald Reagan myth of a single, Black mother who is a welfare queen and exploits the system. But, two administrations before Ronald Reagan, a Republican president, believed in universal income. The Family Assistance Plan proposal died in the Senate, but was a way that Nixon attempted to address a then growing wealth gap.
Who would America be if that was done? Tubbs moved forward in Speed up, almost two years later, the pilot program proved to be successful. The results showed that employment rose for participants , reduced feelings of anxiety and depression, as well as, decreased the fluctuation of housing security in a city where encroaching Silicon Valley developers began to sniff out.
