I hope we see more of this, including at the national level. When you’re living in poverty it’s easy to make choices out of desperation rather than what might be a positive medium or long-term step. Simply knowing that you don’t need to worry about the bare minimum amount of money can be life-changing. We really need to move beyond the brutalist notion that what the impoverished really need is to feel the pain of their lack and that this is what will motivate them. It’s a cruel notion and what’s more, it doesn’t even work.
Okay sure but who’s going to fill up all the for-profit prisons and act as military gun fodder? Won’t somebody please think about the military industrial complex??
Sounds like socialism…you know, the thing that all these oppressed communities are frothing at the mouth to prevent.
America has become so low on the taking care of our own scale that we have nowhere to go but up. I think this opens up the possibility of us putting in more programs at a local level. We all have to do our part and not expect people to swoop in and take care of us. We also have become numb to nothing happening with our federal government, we can’t give into that. It’s our local levels that make the difference, that’s why the nazis, evangelicals classists, and/or racists go after those first.
There are currently 47 active guaranteed income initiatives across the country, almost half of which target mothers and low-income people. Policymakers have also recently greenlit guaranteed income pilot programs in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Harris County, Texas, and Rochester, New York. While some of these programs are income based or target those impacted by racial inequity, others target different marginalized groups, like Durham, North Carolina’s cash assistance pilot for formerly incarcerated people.
Advocates across the board say guaranteed income programs uplift their participants and provide them autonomy. Research suggests that these programs, including the expanded child tax credit, enhance participants’ well-being, self-determination, and financial stability.
Problem is the true benefits will be seen if we convert all cash assitance to a citizens income. No one losing out because they can’t navigate the beuracracy and only a minimal staff is needed for issues with no “work” being done to determine if they are eligible.
