Friday, July 20, 2018

Chicago's Next Really Bad Idea: A Guaranteed Basic Income

Money For Nothin': Apparently not satisfied with the already disastrous condition of its finances, Chicago this week said it would like to experiment with a universal basic income, a socialist pipe-dream that pops up every few years as a "New" idea.

A universal basic income, also called a guaranteed government income, isn't one of them.

Far closer to home, as we've noted before, the U.S. has already tested a closely-related idea, the so-called "Negative income tax." Essentially, it's a guaranteed income by another name.

"In each text, the work disincentive effect was disastrous. For every $1,000 in added benefits to a family, there was an average reduction in $660 of wages from work."

So people who got checks stopped working or worked far less.

A universal basic income would destroy any incentive people have for bettering themselves through further education, training, relocating to a better area to find a job, or even just getting up from the couch to look for work down the street.

Such an idea won't work, because it can't.

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/guaranteed-basic-income/ 

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