East Coast State Approves Universal Basic Income Scheme

Another day, another conspiracy theory has turned into a conspiracy fact.

Many of us have long warned that the stimulus checks during the Covid era would turn into a permanent universal basic income program. …

Today, that prediction has come true.

Massachusetts has become the first East Coast state to approve a broad universal basic income program that will begin this week.

Applicants will have roughly 2 months to apply for this window of the planned guaranteed income program until the window opens back up.

Sources claim that new applicants will be approved on a ‘rolling’, continuous basis.

Washington Examiner broke the news:

Massachusetts residents only have to wait one more week before a guaranteed income program for $500 monthly payments will start accepting applications.https://t.co/95b1N76953

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 25, 2023

Individuals also mentioned how stimulus programs in other states like Michigan and California have slowly morphed into permanent universal basic income schemes, or at least the push for one:

On June 5, Ann Arbor City Council is poised to vote on a contract for the #UMPovertySolutions to both administer and evaluate the pilot effort for a guaranteed basic income program https://t.co/twG7gRZ6Ic

— Lauren(Fitch)Slagter (@LaurenSlagter) May 30, 2023

The Long Beach Pledge is providing financial support to our most vulnerable families.

We look forward to distributing these funds, evaluating the positive impacts of this pilot program, and identifying expanded opportunities for guaranteed income programs! https://t.co/N8MgqILNZK

— Office of Mayor Rex Richardson (@LongBeachMayor) May 30, 2023

According to Washington Examiner:

The income requirement for a household’s eligibility depends on how many people live in the household.

Households of two people, such as mother and child, will be eligible if they make no more than $49,300 a year, and households of three will be eligible if their annual income does not go over $62,150.

The income limit increases slightly with every additional household member.

 

Would $500 a month help longtime residents of Louisville’s Russel neighborhood avoid getting pushed out? And what can Philly learn from this pilot program? Read on from @NextCityOrg and @BrokeinPhilly https://t.co/FTT88HYeSF

— Eugene Sonn (@EugeneSonn) May 30, 2023

Bloomberg reports that New York City’s UBI pilot has also become a permanent feature of the city:

Local guaranteed income pilots like the Bridge Project, which give out direct payments without conditions like work requirements, gained popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Led by mayors, county leaders and nonprofits, the initiatives put forth both immediate and longer-term goals: to address economic inequality and racial disparities in their own regions, to break down stigmas about poverty, and to establish political will for a national guaranteed income program.

Most of the pilots thus far have lasted only a few years, and focused on generating research on the effects of consistent cash on particularly vulnerable populations.

As the Bridge Project recruits a new cohort of mothers to receive benefits, it is transitioning from a piloting-and-research phase into a more permanent one, says Megha Agarwal, the executive director of the Monarch Foundation and of the Bridge Project, which she co-founded.