We tried UBI with the multiple stimulus checks. The result was inflation, which more than ate that all up.
This isn't UBI.
LA County's guaranteed income program to give some foster youth $1k per month
41–50 of 97 posts
Re: LA County's guaranteed income program to give some foster youth $1k per month
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe its frowned upon for people of all social classes, but there's less discussion about those who "don't have to work" because taxpayers are not funding their lives.
> taxpayers are not funding their lives Right, because they all still pay their fair share of taxes, medicare, and social security?
The top 5% of earners paid 62.7% of all federal income taxes in recent years[1], so I'd imagine that yes, they do pay their fair share.
[1]https://taxfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/FedData...
Re: LA County's guaranteed income program to give some foster youth $1k per month
#43We tried UBI with the multiple stimulus checks. The result was inflation, which more than ate that all up.
Sadly UBI will probably work best when it's not U.
Re: LA County's guaranteed income program to give some foster youth $1k per month
#44If it's means tested, what about this is guaranteed income? This just sounds like welfare
Some programs are means tested at the beginning, and then you "can't lose it" - iirc Calgrants are/were this way. If you qualified, you qualified, and then you wouldn't lose it during your 4 year college stay even if your situation changed.
Doing these types of programs can avoid the "welfare gap" where there's a period where earning more to try to get off welfare actually hurts you - this will occur if you're getting a $X benefit that goes to $0 when your income increases above a certain level.
Much better to have it taper off in such a way that you never lose more than $1 for earning another dollar.
Re: LA County's guaranteed income program to give some foster youth $1k per month
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
25% of foster kids end up homeless after aging out of the system. Direct cash transfer value is mostly proven from a social work/benefit perspective. Sure, coaching and counseling through social services must also be provided to help underprivileged humans take care of themselves and reach their full potential, but cash benefits help, full stop. The moral hazard argument needs to die. There is a difference between st…
No they have a point and you're covering your eyes and ears to the problems you make. I received $20k when I was 16 for reasons related to my mothers death. I did not spend that money wisely at all (literally drugs). It's one thing when we're talking about fully developed adults (the 25yo kind, not the 18 ones) getting a UBI and another when we're talking about kids in bad environments with poor mentors. I wish someo…
From the article:
>Two hundred randomly selected former DCFS foster youth across the county between 21 and 23 years of age will now receive $1,000 a month for the next two years
Both literally and in terms of maturity, 21 is closer to 25 than it is 16.
Also one lump sum payment is much easier to waste than an ongoing monthly payment.
Re: LA County's guaranteed income program to give some foster youth $1k per month
#46As a programmer from a bad family, group home, foster family background myself. $1k per month without working or struggle would have destroyed me. Imagine all the weed and whiskey I could have bought for that? (Which is what I would have done) Instead of working I would have been lazy. Homelessness and hunger was my major motivator and made me work in fast food while dreaming of computers. The lack of struggle would…
Studies like this are important to separate data from anecdotes and conjecture. There are a lot of comments and conjecture that this will kill drive and increase drug use, but without actual data those are just hypothesis. It is an interesting question around ethics of studies though. I'd be interested to see the ethics review for this study.
I commented elsewhere that this happened to me. I might be an anecdote to you but I'm living out a case study from my perspective. I actually fully support things like a UBI but we can't ignore the problems it creates and damage it will cause. I know a huge point of the UBI is a lack of means testing but even Andrew Yang's proposal included an basic age cutoff.
Personally I think we need to accept that there should be some means testing but it just dictates whether the individual has control of the funds today or whether it goes into a trust that can only be used on specific things (food, shelter, recovery programs, etc.) and becomes completely available after some conditions are met (like a retirement fund).
Re: LA County's guaranteed income program to give some foster youth $1k per month
#47As a programmer from a bad family, group home, foster family background myself. $1k per month without working or struggle would have destroyed me. Imagine all the weed and whiskey I could have bought for that? (Which is what I would have done) Instead of working I would have been lazy. Homelessness and hunger was my major motivator and made me work in fast food while dreaming of computers. The lack of struggle would…
25% of foster kids end up homeless after aging out of the system. Direct cash transfer value is mostly proven from a social work/benefit perspective. Sure, coaching and counseling through social services must also be provided to help underprivileged humans take care of themselves and reach their full potential, but cash benefits help, full stop. The moral hazard argument needs to die. There is a difference between st…
The research on the effects of cash transfers are not universally positive. This study found a significant negative effect on employment: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4375359
We are in the “needs more research” stage of this question, not the “tell the people who are asking to shut up” stage.
Re: LA County's guaranteed income program to give some foster youth $1k per month
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
25% of foster kids end up homeless after aging out of the system. Direct cash transfer value is mostly proven from a social work/benefit perspective. Sure, coaching and counseling through social services must also be provided to help underprivileged humans take care of themselves and reach their full potential, but cash benefits help, full stop. The moral hazard argument needs to die. There is a difference between st…
> Direct cash transfer value is mostly proven from a social work/benefit perspective. There is basically nothing in social sciences that are a consistently reproducible fact. “Mostly proven” is Orwellian double speak akin to “the science is settled”
Regardless of what you see as an exaggeration on his part, the evidence is he's referring to is surely better than the individual anecdote of the parent post.
Re: LA County's guaranteed income program to give some foster youth $1k per month
#49As a programmer from a bad family, group home, foster family background myself. $1k per month without working or struggle would have destroyed me. Imagine all the weed and whiskey I could have bought for that? (Which is what I would have done) Instead of working I would have been lazy. Homelessness and hunger was my major motivator and made me work in fast food while dreaming of computers. The lack of struggle would…
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Re: LA County's guaranteed income program to give some foster youth $1k per month
#50As a programmer from a bad family, group home, foster family background myself. $1k per month without working or struggle would have destroyed me. Imagine all the weed and whiskey I could have bought for that? (Which is what I would have done) Instead of working I would have been lazy. Homelessness and hunger was my major motivator and made me work in fast food while dreaming of computers. The lack of struggle would…
You are not everyone else.
If I didn't have financial support from my family, I would be homeless or dead today.
No amount of motivation is enough to overcome my executive dysfunction (ADHD).