In an open letter, eleven mayors are calling for a guaranteed income for all. Of course, they don;t have the money to pay for such a vote-buying, economy destroying plan, so they are calling for federal and state financing of the program.
The problem is that federal governments and state governments don't have the money for such a plan either.
From the letter:
Economic insecurity isn’t new and poverty itself is violent. We need a policy solution that is as bold as it is innovative and as simple as it is ambitious. We must fight every day for a more just economy, because what happens to one of us happens indirectly to all of us and we are in this fight together. That’s why, as mayors of 11 American cities with a collective population of about 7 million, we are launching Mayors for a Guaranteed Income. This coalition will invest in additional guaranteed-income pilots and advocate for state and federal cash-based policies...
A guaranteed income is a monthly cash payment given directly to individuals. It is unconditional, with no strings attached and no work requirements. A guaranteed income is meant to supplement, rather than replace, the existing social safety net and can be a tool for racial and gender equity. Direct, unconditional cash gives people the freedom to spend money on their most immediate needs — be it food for their household, repairing a car to get to work, medicine to treat a loved one or simply rent.
These are the 11 mayors who signed the letter:
- Michael D. Tubbs is the mayor of Stockton, Calif.
- Chokwe Antar Lumumba is the mayor of Jackson, Miss.
- Melvin Carter is the mayor of St. Paul, Minn.
- Ras J. Baraka is the mayor of Newark, N.J.
- Aja Brown is the mayor of Compton, Calif.
- Eric Garcetti is the mayor of Los Angeles
- Adrian Perkins is the mayor of Shreveport, La.
- Libby Schaaf is the mayor of Oakland, Calif.
- Stephen Benjamin is the mayor of Columbia, S.C.
- Keisha Lance Bottoms is the mayor of Atlanta
- Victoria R. Woodards is the mayor of Tacoma, Wash.
This might be called an "Guaranteed Income" but what it is a shift in income since some have to pay for it somehow. It is a shift of income away from workers and producers to non-workers.
It is yet another lefty plan to kill incentive and destroy the economy.
The march of the economically ignorant mad left continues.
The march of the economically ignorant mad left continues.
-RW
A great response to those proposing a government guaranteed income was written by Carmen Elana Dorobat responding to a minimum wage proposal in Great Britain:
ReplyDelete"The market is harsh, that is true. Its unyielding law of consumer sovereignty does not compensate entrepreneurs—or workers, by extension—for past merit or vested interests. At the same time, for workers, having a low-paying job is better than having none at all. It is a dignified way of earning one’s living, and more importantly, it gives one the opportunity to become ‘a good worker’ and to ‘prove their worth’. This is much more than can be said for living on government welfare.
Moreover, give the market breathing space and it will lift the same people it allegedly underpays out of poverty. Over the past few centuries, only capital accumulation and the division of labor have allowed people to move up to better employments and higher wealth levels. In this sense, we could even go as far as to call the market the ‘best operating charitable organization’. As the division of labor intensifies and extends, it embraces more and more of the (world’s) population, while strengthening social ties between individuals of varying physical or intellectual abilities."
sadly this understanding is not widespread.
Good quote. Capital accumulation/investment, division of labor, specialization, comparative advantage...the fount and life-blood of a rising standard of living for all.
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