Newest Dem proposal: Give everyone a monthly check *even if they're unwilling to work*

Yesterday I told you about the faaabulous "Green New Deal" being pushed by the socialist Democrat pols--including all the leading Democrat presidential candidates.  Part of that "deal" includes a thing called "universal basic income" or "guaranteed income."

Under this "deal" the Dem pols would give everyone a check every month--"no strings attached." 

That is, recipients wouldn't have to be trying to find a job, or be disabled (unable to work), to get the cash. They wouldn't even have to take a job if they were offered one.  The Dem pols' "Green New Deal" proposal actually said they'd give a check to people even if they were unwilling to work.

As you might guess, hard-working Americans have a real problem with the idea of their hard-earned tax dollars being taken by Democrats and given to slugs who aren't willing to work, but the Democrat pols couldn't care less, because they know that promising "free stuff" wins them millions of votes--even from college students and grads, who should know that such a policy is a recipe for total disaster.

You'd think that Dem congresscreeps and presidential candidates would know that too, eh?  But if they do, they're pretending they don't--in order to win the votes of tens of millions of lazy Americans. Because the real goal of this proposal is...political control and power.

Stockton, California--a city so poor or mis-managed that it was forced to declare bankruptcy five years ago--is planning to try a "guaranteed income" to see what effect it'll have on citizens.  At the urging of a "dynamic" black mayor, using a million bucks from by a liberal foundation, a few dozen families will get a check for $500 a month, with absolutely no strings attached.  The charming communists at National Public Radio interviewed Stockton's "dynamic" mayor Michael Tubbs to learn all the fantastic benefits of giving taxpayer money to people who won't work.

SHAPIRO: How is this going to work exactly?

TUBBS: So from now until June we'll do a community engagement process to come up with the selection criterion for the families who will be selected. Those families will receive $500 a month for the next year to 18 months with the idea to really elevate the story of working-class people everywhere. People are working very hard and struggling and unable to make basic ends meet. So we were able to get a grant of $1 million from the Economic Security Project to really test this idea.

SHAPIRO: So this is not going to cost taxpayers anything? It's being paid for by a grant?

TUBBS: It doesn't cost tax payers anything. It's paid from $1.2 million in philanthropic funding. So the idea is that in the next couple of years, we'll have some data that will tell us whether this is a solution that is viable or not.

SHAPIRO: One principle of capitalism is that if you work hard, you'll get ahead. And you can argue whether or not that that's true.

Notice how deftly the NPR interviewer reinforces the belief among his liberal/socialist/Democrat listeners that hard work does NOT help people get ahead in life.  Amazing, but true to form.

SHAPIRO: But the idea is that it [getting a job?] gives people incentive to go to a job every day and earn money, even though it may be an unpleasant experience. This program [free money] and the idea of a guaranteed basic income seem to guarantee that people will get money whether or not they earn it. Does that undermine the incentive for people to have a job and be productive members of society?

This is called a "softball."  When the NPR dweeb phrases the question like that, he knows the dynamic black mayor will say, what?  "Yes, you're totally right, it'll undermine..."  Obviously not. 

TUBBS: I would disagree. But I also think...there are some things that you don't earn. Some things are rights. And I do think that people deserve a basic economic floor so the bottom doesn't fall out under them. People working 14-hour days, working incredibly hard and being rewarded with wages that haven't kept up with the cost of inflation over the past two generations, that's problematic for me as well.

So I definitely believe in the work ethic of working. And I don't think $500 a month, according to the research and evidence from other trials done over the past three decades, will make it so that people won't work.  In fact I think will make people work better and smarter and harder...

This, folks, is what passes for brilliant thinking in "progressive" circles.  'I think giving people a monthly check will NOT cause 'em to stay home and get stoned, but will actually get them to work harder.'  Uh-huh.  Does anyone other than "progressives" believe that?

...and also be able to do things like spend time with their families.  'Cause we're not robots. We're not just designed just to work all day and run a rat race. We're designed to be in community, to volunteer, to vote, to raise our kids. And I think the more inputs and investments we can give in people to do those things, the better off we are as a community.

SHAPIRO: Stockton declared bankruptcy five years ago. Right now this city of more than 100,000 people has 1 in 4 people living below the poverty line. By any measure, this is a place that is struggling. Do you imagine that a handout like this could turn those trends around?

TUBBS: Again, I would push back a little bit on the characterization as a handout.

So he's saying free cash--not based on disability or having reached retirement age after a lifetime of working--is NOT a handout?  This guy has a great future as a Democrat strategist.

TUBBS: I would say a hand up or an opportunity. And I would say I think this in concert with many of the other things we're doing will. So just two weeks ago, I announced a $20 million scholarship fund so that every kid who graduates from our larger school district, they get a guaranteed scholarship for four years....So the statistics you mentioned are definitely harrowing and mandate that we be bold and creative 'cause the status quo was failing and it doesn't work for anybody.

SHAPIRO: What's the end game here? If this is successful, do you imagine a scenario years from now where everyone who lives in Stockton gets this monthly check or where nobody needs it anymore, you graduate out of it? How does that work eventually?

TUBBS: Well, I think the idea is like in Alaska. So Alaska has this permanent dividend fund that's been around for a generation where just for being an Alaskan citizen, as being part of that social contract, you're given a check every year. And I think for something like this to work on a city level, it has to be a state or national policy. But again, before we can even call for that, we need to see if it works and we need to try it. And if it doesn't work, there's a conversation about, OK, well, why didn't it work and how can this apply to the next solution we need to implement?

SHAPIRO: Mayor Michael Tubbs of Stockton, Calif., thank you for joining us.

This, folks, is the wave of the future under Democrat socialism.  And the Dems are winning thousands of supporters every day with "free money!" proposals like this.

But of course, it's NOT free.  Certainly it's free to the recipients, but it has to come from somewhere. If you ask 'em where all the extra money will come from and you get either a blank look, or "We'll tax the rich."  Take all the wealth of the top 1 percent and you wouldn't even get close to having enough to make this crazy proposal work.

But of course, that's not the point--which is to win Democrats control of the entire gruberment.  And thanks to abysmally stupid voters, they've got a great shot at it.