"Universal Basic Services"--a proposal to give every resident free food, housing, internet etc.

Does the following sound familiar?

Our economy and society depend on public services.  [Unless the author defines "public services" in some bizarre way, this is a crock.  But do go on...]
 
The continuing failure of our government to deliver a high quality of life and prosperity to every resident is eroding the social cohesion on which our society depends, and undermining our ability to address the significant challenges ahead. 

Our economy is not only underperforming, it is floundering [sic] socially.  [Really?  Source?]  Real incomes are dropping, and opportunities for many of our communities are restricted and eroding. It is a dismal picture.

A broad consensus has emerged that the untramelled pursuit of growth does not deliver an equal quality of life for all.  [But you're clearly implying that it should.]  But the most common response to this challenge is to claim that we can't afford to invest more in public services because of the high cost. This is tantamount to saying that we cannot afford to invest in our citizens, in the people we live with and among.

Ah yes, the siren song of "investing" in people whose highest aspiration is...what?

At the Institute for Global  Prosperity we're committed to three things:  public debate on exciting, innovative new ideas; "investment in social infrastructures;" and public policy  aimed at improving the quality of people’s lives.

We've been inspired by other nations' experiments with a "guaranteed basic income."  The idea has been offered and praised by the brilliant former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and would tremendously benefit society by, for example, supporting more aspiring artists who otherwise would have to be working a menial job. 

It's clear that we need to rethink how our economy should work, so that college graduates with valuable degrees in Womens' Studies or African Folklore don't have to take demeaning jobs at Starbucks to survive. 

In this report, we lay out some ideas about how to deliver a great quality of life to all residents by offering more public services at no cost to residents, regardless of national origin.  We'll also link to more radical policy initiatves to increase "social integration and cohesion."  We call this complete set of ideas "Universal Basic Services."

Over 30 million people living in the U.S.--including 23 million undocumented immigrants-- suffer from "food anxiety" at some time during the year.  At the end of the month there's not enough money left on their Electronic Benefit card to ensure they'll be able to afford a decent steak on Saturday. We need to ask: why is that?  Why should residents of a country with lots of food have to worry about whether they'll be forced to suffer with just a sandwich or mac and cheese near the end of the month?

Clearly our income tax system isn't progressive enough.  We need to change the brackets so the well-off pay more, so we can give Universal Basic Services to those who stuggle with a minimum-wage job or are simply overqualified for a menial job.  If we are to "increase cohesion," the sense that we are “all in it together,” we must act where we can have the greatest impact and that is on the cost of basic living.

Our research clearly shows that the most efficient way to improve the quality of life for people with no college or with a degree that won't currently give them a high income is to simply give them "basic services"–food, housing, internet, health care and transportation--the fundamental building blocks for life required by every citizen in the 21st century.

This will dramatically reduce the cost of basic living for the those on the lowest incomes, and will reduce poverty because residents won't have to pay anything for a decent standard of  living.

"It will *make accessible* [love that phrase] a life that *includes participation,* *builds belonging* [another total winning phrase!], *creates a common purpose* and *strengthens the cohesion of society as a whole.*  [Wow!  Total win!  Rainbows and unicorns!]

Our research unequivocally shows that giving every disadvantaged resident "basic services"  such as housing, food, cell phones, internet and transport is guaranteed to reduce their cost of living dramatically.

This looks like any position paper from a leftist "think tank."  It's dirt-easy to imagine Bernie or Hilliary or Rahm or Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton or Maxine Waters endorsing this paper.  It's so goofy--so utterly socialist--that it almost looks like parody.  But it's not:  There really is an "Institute for Global Prosperity," and what you just read is a very slightly edited version of a 58-page paper they wrote proposing Universal Basic Services.

That institute is in London, but my guess is that U.S. Democrat/Socialists will pick this up in a heartbeat and run with it, cuz they know that with half the electorate not having the faintest idea what capitalism his, or how socialism works, or what the Constitution says, the best way to win elections is to promise Democrat voters free stuff--in this case free food, housing, cell phone, internet and transportation.