by Andre Coelho | Jun 14, 2019 | News
Rashida Tlaib. Picture credit to: HuffPost.
On the 30th of May, 2019, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib hosted the 13th Congressional District Women and Families Roundtable with community members and advocates from across the Redford district (Michigan) (1). The roundtable took place at the Redford Community Center in Redford Township, and was attended by elements of local advocacy groups, teachers, union members and community members at large.
She stated that “This roundtable was the first of many that we will have to make sure we are staying rooted in what the community needs back here at home, not in Washington, D.C”, concluding that “The LIFT+ Act is just one part of ensuring that our families have the resources they need to thrive”.
The bill LIFT+ (Plus) Act announcement was made at this roundtable venue, with community members and advocates from across the district. According to Tlaib, the bill can put money in people’s pockets, through a refundable tax credit that can be paid monthly, to buy just about anything people struggle to purchase today. Community members broadly agreed that the issues most affecting them are income equality, livable wages, leave policies, comprehensive and affordable health care, and affordable childcare.
The bill itself (LIFT – Livable Incomes for Families Today), now introduced by Rashida Tlaib, is complementary to a previous text (S.4 bill) introduced by Senator Kamala Harris earlier this year (January 3rd), under the same name (LIFT). It intends to “provide relief for low and moderate-income households by introducing a new tax credit for working class individuals and families”. Under this policy, a tax credit of up to 3000 $/year (250 $/month) per adult is attributed, while families can get up to 6000 $/year (500 $/month). Eligibility is not dependent on being filed for paying taxes, so any adult can qualify if earning less than 50000 $/year (or less than 100000 $/year for constituted families). No conditions are put on how beneficiaries spend the money.
The scheme is designed as a NIT (Negative Income Tax), being dispensed on the basis of the preceding year’s tax record of the individual/family, phased out linearly when individual gross earnings fall into the 30000-50000 $/year amount. According to the authors and their teams, the LIFT+ Act would lift about 3 million children and 9 million families out of poverty, and effectively increase the earnings of about 123 million workers.
Note (1) – Redford is a town on the western border of Michigan’s largest city, Detroit, with around 48400 inhabitants
by Andre Coelho | May 27, 2019 | News
Tomas Vargas, a recipient of Stockton’s “universal basic income” program.
Although the Stockton SEED (Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration) basic income-type experiment is still ongoing, some encouraging signs are already showing up. Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs already says that “I think the data shows that people make good decisions, people are healthier, happier”, and a few of the program’s beneficiaries have already given positive feedback.
That is the case of Stockton resident Tomas Vargas, who earns less than the official poverty line, which at the moment stands at 46000 $/year. His view of the program and his personal experience has been recorded on a short podcast on Capital Public Radio, after he knew he would receive 500 $/month, no strings attached, for 18 months (more details of the program in previous news articles). Although that value amounts to only about 20% of Vargas earnings, and to 13% of the poverty line, he still says that “It makes a difference on choices I can make”. He talks about a “big stress relief”, and has a clear notion that the experiment will have an impact for the future of the basic income policy, at least in Stockton.
Although briefly, Tubbs skimmed through the UBI experiment in the latest State of The City 2019, where he delivered an hour-long, much appreciated speech focusing on poverty, crime, housing and community building.
More information at:
Rich Ibarra, “Low-Income Stockton Residents Praise City’s ‘Universal Basic Income’ Program”, Capital Public Radio, May 22nd 2019
Rich Ibarra, “Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs Delivers 2019 State of The City”, Capital Public Radio, May 23nd 2019
Kate McFarland, “STOCKTON, CA, US: New Details Revealed in Planned Basic Income Demonstration”, Basic Income News, 23rd August 2018
by Andre Coelho | May 23, 2019 | News
Picture credit to: Bright Horizons
A few low-income families with children, in the United States, are about to receive 20 unconditional checks, and be subject to an overall health analysis, both mothers and their children. The program is called “Baby’s First Years” and is a research initiative from the New York University.
Starting next month, 1000 mothers will be randomly selected from poor households in New York, New Orleans, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Omaha (Nebraska). 400 of these mothers will be given 333 $/month, for 20 months, with no strings attached, while the other 600 study participants will only receive 20 $/month during the same period (this should be the control group). The study will focus on early-stage child development, hence the women in question will be mothers to new-born babies, but living below the federal poverty line, which for a parent in a family of four roughly equates to 1070 $/month (single income in the family). For comparison purposes, the living wage of an adult in a family of four, in New York, has been calculated as 4940 $/month (single income in the family). So, the experiment being rolled-out is testing the effects of a 7% (the percentage varies according to the living wage of the other cited cities) share of the living wage, even though it represents around 33% of the poverty line wage.
Researchers want to determine “whether money has a causal impact on children and families”. This relationship has already been established in other research studies, although less evidence exists on the impact on new-born babies and their mothers. According to Katherine Magnuson, one of the involved researchers and professor at University of Wisconsin, more than allowing these mothers to more easily buy essential products for their children, the point of the study is to know if the money can “help free up some of the mental bandwidth that gets gobbled up by living in poverty”. Again, the relationship between poverty and diminished brain functions has already been demonstrated through research, but not specifically involving mothers and their new-borns development.
The team theorizes that not only the money itself, but the simple regularity of the payments is in itself a stabilization factor, due to its predictability. That can lead to alleviating stress, hence more positive relationships between mothers and their children. In the words of Katherine Magnuson, “If you’re not worried about your bus pass, you’re going to be a lot more able to have a conversation with your 2-year-old”. That extra cash may prove enough to free up what researchers call “cognitive load”, and naturally allowing mothers to focus more on their children and their future, instead of worrying about bills to pay.
Several outcomes will be analysed, such as children’s overall health and brain activity (with EEG scans), as well as behaviour and language monitoring. IQ tests will also be applied, for children older than two-years old. Mothers will also be monitored, specially concerning their health, stress levels and interaction with their children.
Lisa Gennetian, one of the study’s lead researchers summarizes the intent of this work: “What is in the best interest of children is really what our study is designed to answer (…) I think the policy implications are much broader than UBI (universal basic income)”. That view may be a consequence of a too narrow interpretation of a broader UBI definition, but still the “best interest of children” should, in principle, have a positive impact on the adults they will one day become, and the society they will help to create.
Possible similarities may exist with the Magnolia Mother’s Trust, an initiative designed to help young African mothers in the United States, financed by the Economic Security Project.
More information at:
Leslie Albrecht, “Low-income moms in four U.S. cities are being paid $4,000 a year, with no strings attached”, Market Watch, May 12th 2019
Jessica Hagen-Zanker et al., “Understanding the impact of cash transfers: the evidence”, Overseas Development Institute, July 2016
André Coelho, “United States: The Magnolia Mother’s Trust innovates and starts a basic income-like experiment with African American women”, Basic Income News, November 11th 2018
by Andre Coelho | Apr 24, 2019 | News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz4ZflSFVrs
Andrew Yang, the only Democrat presidential candidate to the US elections in 2020 announcing a basic income policy in his platform, has been on CNN Presidential Town Hall, solo featured on the latest 14th of April.
At this televised campaign event, Yang was clear about his intentions to help Americans transition through these present times of great transformation and uncertainty. Central to his campaign is the Freedom Dividend policy (unconditional 1000$/month for every adult starting at 18) which, according to him, will be a key policy to help people to retrain, gain other skills and stay active in entering this new age of automation. He points out other potential benefits to be gained from the Freedom Dividend, such as deep reduction of bureaucracy, paternalism in social services, stigma for beneficiaries and social security running costs. He also referred the increased leverage power accruing to individual workers and unions, if they had such a thing as the Freedom Dividend to fall back onto.
In the show, he was faced with most of the important questions asked to any presidential candidate, namely related to policies in economy, employment, health, education, housing, drug use and possession and gun control. The environment was, however, a clear absence in this CNN’s Town Hall show, which could be an indication of what really are the priorities in the minds of American people. Specifically, speaking about the employment issue, Yang was direct to say that “the goal should not be to save jobs, the goal should be to make our lives better”, which is very different from what other Democratic candidates (e.g.: Bernie Sanders) are saying (Federal Jobs Guarantee). Nevertheless, Andrew Yang is certain that the Freedom Dividend “does not solve all problems for all people, but it will move us in the right direction”.
Faced with the inevitable question on how to pay for the Freedom Dividend, Yang underlines the importance of “we have to go where the money is”. As an experienced entrepreneur, and specifically one related to technology, Yang has an idea about how much money tech giants (e.g.: Facebook, Uber, Google, Amazon) have, and how much they owe in federal taxes. So, according to him, effectively taxing these companies will make up for the most part of the Freedom Dividend cost, plus any savings possible from eliminating obsolete social benefit schemes (due to the implementation of the dividend).
He also attributes the rise of hate ideologies (e.g.: white supremacy) as a result of a dysfunctional economy, because poor, stressed people are easier to scare into these hateful discourses. Removing, therefore, “the economic boot off people’s throats” will definitely help diminish these polarizing hate agendas which, according to him “have no place in our society”. Yang also believes the Freedom Dividend will improve people’s chances of getting better housing conditions (although refers municipal intervention as important, in order to provide for affordable housing) and better school performance. On the latter, he cites research that says 75% of kid’s performance at school depends on non-school factors, among which one of the most important is economic condition. Hence, the Freedom Dividend can also help kids learn more, and better.
More information at:
André Coelho, “United States: Andrew Yang is not only talking about basic income: if elected, the idea is to implement it”, Basic Income News, 15th March 2019
Jason Burke Murphy, “Unites States: Andrew Yang reaches milestone: likely to be in a televised debate”, Basic Income News, 19th March 2019
by Andre Coelho | Apr 13, 2019 | News
Ras Baraka (in Wikipedia)
Ras Baraka, present-day mayor of Newark, has announced the intention of rolling out a universal basic income (UBI) pilot program in the city. Newark, a city just outside Manhattan island, is plagued by poverty (around one third of its population lives under the poverty line), and that is the prime motivation for going through with the pilot.
Baraka has said that “We believe in universal basic income, especially in a time where studies have shown that families that have a crisis of just $400 a month may experience a setback that may be difficult, even impossible to recover from”. No specifics were put forward on how or when this pilot is going to be executed, but the idea is to test what happens when people are given an income, regardless of their employment status. Those specifics will be studied by his administration staff, as part of the pilot’s planning.
If Newark goes ahead with this UBI pilot program, it will be the second city in USA to carry on an experiment with unconditional cash stipends, after Stockton, California. The Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED) had been planning the experiment for about 18 months, before it started in February 2019. Under the SEED pilot, 130 adults will receive 500 $/month, unconditionally, for 18 months, while monitored for spending and saving habits, their quality of life and financial stability.
More information at:
Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks, “Will ‘basic income’ become the California norm? Stockton starts $500 no-strings payments”, The Sacramento Bee, February 15th 2019
Sara Bizarro, “UNITED STATES: Stockton, California plans a Basic Income Demonstration”, Basic Income News, November 21th 2017
Jack Crowe, “Newark to Test Universal-Basic-Income Program”, Basic Income Today, March 18th 2019
