5 years ago
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Chicago may become the largest US city to test a universal basic income scheme
Chicago could become the largest city in the US to test a universal basic income programme, if its local government takes up a new proposal to start handing out $500 (£385) a month to some households for free. City lawmakers have voiced support for legislation that would trial a basic income scheme for 1,000 families in Chicago.
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https://www.independent.co.uk
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It's always a "trial" so the media can talk about it, because there is no way to afford to scale it up.
Granted, universal basic income can’t work, and yes it’s a sham, and thank the stars because the abuses would be nightmarish, but none of that’s because there isn’t money. In the last budget, turns out we had an extra hundred billion dollars kicking around. There wasn’t even a debate before making an extra twelve-digit check out to war profiteers. After the thirteen-digit check as per usual, right? We burn money. That’s not the problem. The follow-on economic and political effects are.
A hundred billion is a rounding error for the military-industrial complex. They could probably find that as loose change in the couch cushions in the pentagon.
At the city or state level, they don't get to print their own money when they want more, so UBI simply can't scale unless it's done at a national level where money doesn't matter.
And the profiteers are still going to get theirs. A portion of that money comes back as "campaign contributions" to ensure that they do.