"Free Money" to be handed out by Leftists in California

"To each according to his need . . . "

STOCKTON (Stockton Record)  —  A consortium of policy experts, researchers and academics has awarded $1 million to Stockton to fund an experiment that aims to assess the social benefits of providing a guaranteed monthly income for one or more years to a tiny segment of the city’s residents, Mayor Michael Tubbs announced Wednesday.

Tubbs said the stipends will be awarded with no strings attached. The aim will be to ease the daily strain of barely scraping by that is experienced by the one-fourth of Stockton’s population that lives below the poverty line.

The mayor unveiled the initiative, dubbed the “Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration,” or SEED, at a news conference at the south side’s Sierra Vista public-housing development. No public funding will be used for SEED, Tubbs said.

“What we are going to pilot in Stockton is a bold idea — not a new idea, but an idea whose time has come,” said Tubbs, adding that SEED will put Stockton “in the center of a national conversation ... on how folks can enjoy the American Dream we all hold so dear.”

The Economic Security Project, which is funding SEED, echoed Tubbs in a statement this week that states, in part, that it is time “to think seriously about how recurring, unconditional cash stipends could work, how to pay for them, and what the political path might be to make them a reality.”

ESP co-chairwoman Natalie Foster said in an interview that her organization considered as many as 30 cities for the funding before choosing Stockton.

She said Stockton’s diverse demographics provide “a snapshot of America” and added that her group was impressed that Tubbs already was very well-versed in the concept of “guaranteed income” when the possibility of the grant was first discussed with him.

Stipends are not expected to begin to be distributed until at least the second half of 2018. Foster said recipients could include those who have been unable to make ends meet for years, as well as the formerly middle class families whose quality of life has diminished in an age when the cost of living keeps increasing but salaries often do not.

She said recipients will be allowed to spend their stipends as they see fit, adding that uses could include going back to school, entering a training program, or simply to help meet the basic expenses of day-to-day life.

“Fifty percent of Americans today could not pull together $400 if they were surprised with a $400 dollar bill,” Foster said. “That shows how volatile income is.”

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Money for Nothing

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