The next "great" Democrat scheme: Universal Basic Income

Ever heard of a thing called "Universal Basic Income"?

It's the latest "great idea" by U.S. Democrats and so-called "progressives."  Got any idea what it is?

Well, Dems say they want to give every person in the U.S. a monthly check.  Wow!!

See, Dems think it's just awful that people have to work menial jobs paying minimum wage.  So they'll save people from that hell by paying them, oh, a couple of thousand bucks a month or so.

See, Dems don't think the government is spending enough on welfare now.  And of course the fed government only has a debt of, oh, $20 Trillion or so, so why not borrow a lot more billions from China and give the cash to people so they don't have to work, eh?

Like "free" health care and "free" college for all, this sounds absolutely fabulous to stupid people.  But even leaving aside the fact that we don't have the money to do it, the fact is it has absolutely awful results.

Obviously this doesn't stop "progressives" or Dems:  They don't give a damn what the results are as long as a program wins them more votes.  Unfortunately the pressure to give voters more "free stuff" infects even some conservatives and libertarians, so we'll see more pressure to do this.

Finland--a highly progressive Scandinavian country--has been experimenting with a guaranteed income for all, but is abandoning it. Starting in 2017, the two-year Finnish program selected 2,000 unemployed people and gave them about $678 every month for doing ... nothing. The government hoped many participants would flood back into the labor market.

But Finland is already backing off.  People simply did what most working people knew they would do:  they sat around and didn't work.

Yet here in the U.S. more pols--loving the idea of using taxpayer dollars to bribe voters--are climbing on the idea.  The city of Stockton, Calif., for instance, will launch its own basic income program this August, backed by a $1 million grant from Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes. Other cities are toying with the idea.

Experience and common sense show that if you subsidize something, you get more of it.  But progs apparently don't believe this, and no amount of examples will get them to understand.

And when these programs produce awful results, progs will blame Republicans for not doing it right.