Written by Will Seykora
Los Angeles Democrats have established a “Guaranteed Income Program” project that will give out $1,000 to 1,000 poor citizens every month for the next three years. This is going to end up costing taxpayers at least $12 million. This was passed 4-1 by the Board of Supervisors, Holly Mitchell and Sheila Kuehl co-authored this proposal citing a report from a far-left think tank arguing that economic inequalities stem from race and race alone. The measure states “Racial discrimination by employers continues to be a significant factor,” going further to claim “Housing discrimination and exclusionary zoning have kept Black families and other families of color locked out of neighborhoods from which good jobs, good schools, parks, and community amenities are easily accessible. We must fundamentally shift the idea that people who face financial insecurity have somehow failed, and instead, recognize that it is the inequity and lack of access built into our economy and government assistance programs that have failed us.”
This extreme leftist proposal has not gone without criticism. Los Angeles County GOP spokeswoman Julie Haff spoke with The Federalist and said “if the government wants to help out citizens, they should help out small businesses, or help out landlords who have lost out on a lot of revenues because of COVID.” Then stating “They shouldn’t be using tax dollars just to give away free money to people,”
So it is no surprise that a majority of cities experimenting with these “safety nets” are in some of the radical left areas of California like Stockton who began to give out $500 per month for 125 residents for two years. While Democrats in congress explore how to turn Covid stimulus checks into monthly recurring payments for all Americans, California cities such as Los Angeles and Stockton have become guinea pigs for this socialist experiment in universal income. Something self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders suggested during both his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
Photo via Unsplash
