Amid fears that technology may be quietly eliminating many basic jobs, late last month several U.S. lawmakers “proposed legislation that would dole out regular stimulus checks — or guaranteed income — through monthly payments of up to $1,200 for adults and $600 for children,” according to a local news report from WCCO TV:
The program, if the legislation were to pass, would not immediately begin sending out $1,200 checks to most Americans. Instead, it would create a $2.5 billion grant program to fund pilot guaranteed income programs across the country. The programs would be studied from 2023 to 2027 and then the national program would begin in 2028, Minneapolis’ WCCO-TV reported. Then the legislation would provide $1,200 per month to people making $75,000 or less per year. The heads of households with an income of up to $112,500 would receive $1,200 under the program. And $600 would be provided for each minor child.
Though it’s a long way from becoming law, one of the legislators proposing it says “We need a paradigm shift in how we measure and evaluate our economy. If my district, New York’s 16th, was a country, it would have the 8th worst inequality in the world. Our barometers for economic success, as well as our policies, must be centered around meeting basic levels of care and dignity for all of our people.”
The bill proposes that a new Office of Guaranteed Income Programs be established in the U.S. Treasury Department to oversee all the payments. Though it seems like this would cost something like a trillion dollars a year…
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