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.