Nothing epitomizes the American Left’s intellectual dishonesty better than its use of the word “free” to accompany some government giveaway. Be it “free” college or “free” health care, there is nothing remotely free about the transfer of costs from one group of Americans to another.
Additional Democrat-sponsored wealth transfers are on the horizon. In Chicago, Alderman Ameya Pawar has proposed legislation that would provide 1,000 families with a universal basic income (UBI) of $500 per month. “Nearly 70 percent of Americans don’t have $1,000 in the bank for an emergency,” Pawar declared. “UBI could be an incredible benefit for people who are working and are having a tough time making ends meet or putting food on the table at the end of the month.”
UBI is not a new concept. As columnist Nathan Heller points out, magistrates from the English village of Speenhamland tried a version of it in 1795, spurred by a price rise in grain that was increasing poverty, even among the gainfully employed. By 1834, for a variety of reasons, “everyone agreed” the program had failed.
In modern day America, the bogey man is automation. Citing companies like Tesla, Amazon, and Uber, Pawar posited that many jobs sustaining middle-class employment will become obsolete, and that more unemployed Americans will fuel political polarization. “We have to start talking about race and class and geography, but also start talking about the future of work as it relates to automation. All of this stuff is intertwined,” Pawar asserts.
Pawar should also be talking about how a nearly bankrupt Illinois has the worst credit rating in the nation; its Democrat-led legislature has failed to address retirement-system debt that has skyrocketed to nearly $11,000 for every man, woman, and child in the state; and that Moody’s Investors Service stripped Chicago’s bonds of their investment-grade status — prior to the UBI giveaway Pawar envisions.
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