They didn’t quite win the lottery, but thousands of low-income Americans are receiving regular payouts from the government as part of a sweeping social experiment aimed at answering the question: What would happen if you addressed poverty by sweeping aside the programs, regulations, the means-testing and the oversight and just gave people unconditional cash?
It’s a time-honored idea that in its day was offered by figures as unlike as Napoleon, Huey Long and Martin Luther King Jr., and championed in turn by socialists, libertarians, Silicon Valley tycoons and right-wing economists such as Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman.
Backers say the goal is to lay the groundwork for a national guaranteed basic income program, a policy that has long held appeal for free-market fans as a replacement for the $1.1 trillion federal social welfare network and the vast bureaucracy that administers it. For many on the left, however, the idea is not to replace the current system but augment it.
Supporting the local campaigns is a national network of private foundations and community organizations, backed by advocacy groups including the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee, Income Movement, and Mayors for a Guaranteed Income.Basic Income Lab and the University of Pennsylvania Center for Guaranteed Income Research.
“The important thing about all these pilots is they’re signaling a renewed interest in a very, very old idea explored by both conservatives and liberals, and looking for new ways to apply it in a period in which all of us can agree there’s a lot of uncertainty,” Mr. Kline said.
The pandemic stimulus checks of 2020 and 2021 offered a nationwide introduction to the idea of sending government payouts to most Americans — with no expectations other than helping them through difficult times. Some cities have also tapped into the 2021 American Rescue Plan to help fund the pilots. “There’s several studies out there that look at how low-income people spend windfalls, or spend cash if they’re given cash instead of benefits,” said Mr. Tanner. “There’s no evidence that they’re more prone to vice goods than the general population. They’re not more likely to use it for liquor or drugs or even frivolities like movies. They spend in about the same proportion on these things as the general population.
gives up to $2,000 per month for three years to 25 Black individuals and families. Georgia’s In Her Hands initiative gives an average of $850 per month for 24 months to 650 Black women.gives $500 per month for 18 months to “75 artists, culture bearers, and creative workers” in St. Paul and Otter Tail County.
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