UBI and Chicago. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? [VIDEO]

UBI and Chicago. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? [VIDEO]

UBI and Chicago. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? [VIDEO]

Poet Carl Sandburg once called Chicago, “Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat. . . City of the Big Shoulders.” Yeah, and if a Chicago alderman and the mayor get their way, Chicago may become “City of the UBI,” too.

‘UBI’ in this case means “Universal Basic Income,” and Chicago Alderman Ameya Pawar wants 1000 Chicago families to get UBI — at a tune of $500 per month. For what? Well, basically doing nothing. What’s more, most of Chicago’s lawmakers (Democrats, in case you’re wondering) think that this is a peachy idea. Reportedly Pawar is already working with Mayor Rahm Emmanuel to flesh out the program, too.

What could possibly go wrong?

Let the man in the wacky cow print jacket explain it all:

Wait, there’s more. Like Finland has already tried this, and it turned out to be a fustercluck, so they ended their experiment in April. As a professor of social policy at the University of Helsinki said:

“There is a problem with young people lacking secondary education, and reports of those guys not seeking work. There is a fear that with basic income they would just stay home and play computer games.”

Gee, ya think?

But it’s not just Finland who’s tried this, either. In fact, the good old US of A has tried something similar. In the 1970’s, the US tried ‘negative income tax,’ which added $1000 in benefits to families. The result? An average wage reduction of $660 from work.

Yet on the Left Coast, Stockton, CA — which apparently didn’t take a cue from these failures — will soon be giving 100 residents $500 per month for 18 months. And now Chicago, bigger by far than Stockton, just might try this socialist experiment for themselves, too.

What’s the definition of stupidity? Doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. Oh, wait, the problem is that nobody has really implemented socialist concepts correctly. That’s their mantra, isn’t it?

Behold, the Socialist flow chart:

However, some really big names in business are embracing this idea, like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. What’s more disturbing, even some conservative-libertarians are buying into this, like Charles Murray. The thought is that giving out these freebies will shrink the welfare state. However, if and when we get a Democratic president again, along with a Democratic congress, it’ll be Katie-Bar-the-Door for both the welfare state and UBI.

But how could UBI possibly work in a place like Chicago? Last year The Fiscal Times ranked 116 big cities according to their economic health. Guess where Chicago ranked? Dead. Last. The Windy City, the City of Big Shoulders, is broke.

And now Chicago is also the Rat Capital of the US — no, not the two-legged type, the creepy little four-legged kind. I think they have much bigger things to worry about than a futile exercise in socialism.

Do you remember the 1985 song by the British band Dire Straits? It was called “Money for Nothing,” and the first verse went like this:

“Now look at them yo-yos, that’s the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free.”

And if Mayor Rahm “Rahmfather” Emmanuel and his toady alderman Pawar get their way, you can forget Chicago being the “City of Big Shoulders.” Instead, it’ll become “City of the Lazy Asses,” after residents decide that money for nothing is a much better deal than getting off their butts and going to work for a living.

Written by

Kim is a pint-sized patriot who packs some big contradictions. She is a Baby Boomer who never became a hippie, an active Republican who first registered as a Democrat (okay, it was to help a sorority sister's father in his run for sheriff), and a devout Lutheran who practices yoga. Growing up in small-town Indiana, now living in the Kansas City metro, Kim is a conservative Midwestern gal whose heart is also in the Seattle area, where her eldest daughter, son-in-law, and grandson live. Kim is a working speech pathologist who left school system employment behind to subcontract to an agency, and has never looked back. She describes her conservatism as falling in the mold of Russell Kirk's Ten Conservative Principles. Don't know what they are? Google them!

8 Comments
  • Jim says:

    “Now Chicago Alderman Ameya Pawar wants 1000 Chicago families to get UBI — at a rate of $500 per month. For what? Well, basically doing nothing.”

    In Australia such [welfare] handouts, given to aboriginals, are called ”sit-down money”. In the absence of meaningful daily occupation, also called work, any guesses about what the money is used to purchase? Hint: a liquid served in chilled cans.

  • Skid Marx says:

    Yay! Everyone gets free ice cream! No pesky debit cards so you can go to the crackhouse or the cockfight there in the glorious People’s Republik of Chicago. Nice little ca$h handout you got there comrade and it would be a shame if anything happened to it so don’t forget to vote democrat because mommygov loves you.
    I’ve always thought of the steaming pile on Lake Michigan as the home of the Communist Party USA.
    Cruella Pantsuit Princess got her start there and Hussein Hopenchange aka Dingle Barry spent some time there turning the Southside of Chicago into a utopian paradise on earth.

  • Brian Brandt says:

    There used to be a D.J. – Harvey in the Morning – on Philadelphia radio who did a segment every few months called ‘Misconstrued Lyrics.’ One of the most misconstrued was –

    “That ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
    Money for nothin’ and your CHECKS for free.”

    • Marta Hernandez says:

      I think I vaguely remember that! LOL

      There was an entire book written on misconstrued lyrics, including “Lovin an alligator,” and “wrapped up like a douche.” I crack up!

  • GWB says:

    1000 Chicago families to get UBI — at a tune of $500 per month.
    So, 1,000 families out of… 2.7 million people. assuming 4 people per family* that’s about 2/100ths of a percent of the population. You think that’s a meaningful sample? I don’t (as an engineer, nor as a mathematician). Think that will stop them from using the program’s “success” to try and implement it across the whole city? Ha!

    Know how many people there are in Stockton? 320,554 estimated for 2017. 100 people. That’s actually a higher percentage: THREE 100ths of a percent.

    So, let’s do the numbers for both, if they fully implement…….
    Stockton – 320,554*$500 = $160,277,000. That’s right, $167 MILLION per MONTH.
    Chicago – (2,700,000/4)*$500 = $337,500,000. That’s right, assuming 4 people in a family (average), Chicago still comes in at $337 MILLION per MONTH.

    I’m sure neither city will have any trouble coming up with that sort of money – on TOP of their other budget items, like garbage collection and roads – each and every MONTH.

    There is a fear that with basic income they would just stay home and play computer games.
    No, there is an absolute certainty that’s what many of them will do. And a lot more will do it every generation as those with a work ethic will be winnowed out.

    Alongside the sheer stupidity of the economics, there’s the whole issue of unintended consequences. What will happen to the population in both those cities? I predict it will skyrocket – and not necessarily increase in the number of warm bodies.
    I predict Chicago will suddenly have a lot more “families” – Mama with one name will claim her three kids, and Mama with first kid’s name will claim a family with three kids, and Mama with name of middle child will claim a family with three kids……. No, it won’t be a majority, nor will it push them over the top in breaking the bank, but the fraud will cost them a lot and benefit a lot of criminals and drug addicts.
    I predict Stockton will suddenly have a boom in children. Mama’s family will grow. Just like Chicago, this won’t be enough to break the bank (like Chicago, the program itself will do that), but it is part and parcel of a welfare program.
    And don’t think there won’t be rich people doing it, too. But poor people will have a lot more incentive.

    UBI is an essential piece of socialism. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” right?
    If we were all angels, it would work.
    Of course, if we were all angels, we wouldn’t need it.

    • GWB says:

      Forgot my “*”:
      * I think 4 is probably a decent number, centering on some measure of large families, a lot of single parents with ~2-3 children, and some number of singles. Of course, if the number per family unit goes down the number of families (and the costs I calculate) go up.

      Other fraud bit I forgot to mention: Daddy will also claim those three kids – no matter which ones are his, nor whether he’s actually there or not.

  • Gorio says:

    Let’s see what happens once tax time rolls around… LOL, morons….

  • Gorio says:

    $500.00/month. That would be about 1.5 ounces of California’s finest green, seedless….

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