Montgomery County- Universal Income

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd immediately leave if it ever happened. The county already is deep in the hole and its finances already stink. They'd have to raise taxes even more. And why the hell would I pay more taxes to give UBI to citizens from other countries that are here illegally? MoCo rolls out the red carpet for illegal immigrants.

While I'm not a huge fan of UBI, MoCo bond rating is a AAA. I assume you know what that means, right?

I assume you had actually kept up with the news regarding the fact that MoCo was already warned prepandemic about its bond rating dropping. I assume you know what that means, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
There is a rich neighborhood in MoCo that refuses to allow a bus stop in their neighborhood because of traffic concerns. But there is one section of that neighborhood that is lower income, and that bus stop would help the people there.

Name it here.

A few years ago - Potomac.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/transportation/ride-on-adds-route-to-tobytown/

I live not too far from that area, and I did notice a lack of bus stops along River road when I first moved here. I recall some of the residents fighting the bus stop due to traffic concerns. The bus service stops at 7pm. So, if you are a working poor person, your shift better end early enough to catch the bus. That road is not conducive to walking, either.

Tobytown has a very interesting history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd immediately leave if it ever happened. The county already is deep in the hole and its finances already stink. They'd have to raise taxes even more. And why the hell would I pay more taxes to give UBI to citizens from other countries that are here illegally? MoCo rolls out the red carpet for illegal immigrants.

While I'm not a huge fan of UBI, MoCo bond rating is a AAA. I assume you know what that means, right?

I assume you had actually kept up with the news regarding the fact that MoCo was already warned prepandemic about its bond rating dropping. I assume you know what that means, right?

yes, and now it's at AAA, during the pandemic. Not too bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alaska currently pays its residents $1000 to $2000 per person. They've been doing this for a while.

Some places in NoVa are looking at doing the same thing - Arlington and Alexandria. DC also does this. So for those who say they will move to NoVa, good luck.

https://www.npr.org/local/305/2021/10/26/1049266089/montgomery-county-to-weigh-sending-800-a-month-to-low-income-families-for-two-years

The folks who are going to be in the pilot will be vetted by the county. You can't sign up for it. The county will hand select the people.

While I'm not a fan of UBI, at least it's not a free for all.

Whether the money comes from special appropriation budget or federal money (as NoVa is doing), it ends up in the same pot that gets doled out however the county sees fit.

How did the Stockton experiment go?

So, I am guessing Alaska is poverty free now right? Or do people choose not to work and make do on the handout?

I don't know the particulars, but I do know that AK has a high % of alcoholics and drug addicts. As a red state, they don't seem to have a problem with UBI.

IMO, the only reason they vote R is because of oil, which they heavily depend on. And probably access to guns.

[Anonymous]

Stop talking about Alaska. Alaska has a fund that self funds itself to pay for $1000 checks to its residents. What Alaska isn't doing is taxing its residents to pay for those checks. That's a gigantic difference. AK funds through financial investments in oil while what is being proposed is a wealth grab through taxation by the state to redistribute wealth. They aren't even comparable.

Lol, and for this talk of being like Nordics....Norway too has so many social benefits specifically because they also invest in oil and have a sovereign wealth fund. Theirs is worth over a trillion dollars. So ironic AK and Norway are now being brought up when they enrich themselves off of polluting the planet that significantly harms a ton of poorer nations threatened by climate change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And, where will they get the money from? More taxes.

Actually they would get a foundation to fund about 90% of it

You are wrong. Tax payers will foot 2/3 of the bill, not 10%.
“
Montgomery County will work with the Meyer Foundation, a foundation that “pursues and invests in solutions that build an equitable Greater Washington community in which economically disadvantaged people thrive,” according to its website.

The initial rollout of the pilot will consist of $1,993,832 from the county government’s general fund reserves, and $1 million from the Meyer Foundation, council staff documents show. The total cost of the pilot for 24 months is $5.76 million.”

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/county-to-try-income-boost-program-in-which-300-households-get-800-a-month/

Btw, the foundation did not say whether it will put another million for the second year.
MC tax payers likely will put 5 millions for the two year period. Of course, the recipients may have withdrew syndrome after two years so county may have to pay the families for future years. That will create unequal among the poor so it will need to expand to include all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd immediately leave if it ever happened. The county already is deep in the hole and its finances already stink. They'd have to raise taxes even more. And why the hell would I pay more taxes to give UBI to citizens from other countries that are here illegally? MoCo rolls out the red carpet for illegal immigrants.

While I'm not a huge fan of UBI, MoCo bond rating is a AAA. I assume you know what that means, right?

I work for the county, in the finance/budget area. The government is rotting from within. The average resident can't see it yet, but it's happening. We are in the black for the first time in years, and instead of using the additional funds to identify and correct structural deficits in service delivery, it will likely all go to fairly large raises for employees -- because it's an election year.

Everything now is for show. It's never about substance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop talking about Alaska. Alaska has a fund that self funds itself to pay for $1000 checks to its residents. What Alaska isn't doing is taxing its residents to pay for those checks. That's a gigantic difference. AK funds through financial investments in oil while what is being proposed is a wealth grab through taxation by the state to redistribute wealth. They aren't even comparable.

Lol, and for this talk of being like Nordics....Norway too has so many social benefits specifically because they also invest in oil and have a sovereign wealth fund. Theirs is worth over a trillion dollars. So ironic AK and Norway are now being brought up when they enrich themselves off of polluting the planet that significantly harms a ton of poorer nations threatened by climate change.

Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the taxes are much higher on the middle class. The lowest tax rate is 38% in Norway, and this is after lowering them recently, as even the Nordics aren't on board with nordic socialism so much anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$800 gets you:
Grocery expenses for a family of 4 for a month
Cable, wifi, internet and a phone plan

So take your pick of the 2. The rest of the time you would have to live under a bridge

You must be joking. We are at 375-400+/week now for a family of only 3. We eat dinner at home 6 days a week. Poor folks do 7 days a week.

Poor folks are eligible for 15 federal food assistance programs, including SNAP, WIC, emergency food distribution and school breakfast, lunch, dinner and summer food programs.

This does not include cash assistance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what’s going to happen is that people won’t like how far left the county is moving and will start voting those people out of office. I also wonder if with the current governor election in Virginia if they’re going to look across the river and vote Republican because they don’t want to see that happen in their county/state. I’m probably exaggerating the situation but if I thought of it I’m sure others have as well.

No they won’t. There is no too far left in MOCO these days. Anything goes.

Yep. Jawando and Elrich got rid of SROs in schools. This is the logical next step for them to pursue. As left as we can go is their motto. And people keep voting for the same types of politicians, so it’s what the public wants.

Actually, I hope we move leftward over the next election. First of all it would be nice to not have to fight against a Republican governor. Secondly I hope we can kick the developer-funded councilmembers out. Will be nice to see Riemer and Friedson gone, those two are the worst. The only really good councilmember we have is Jawando.
Elrich 200% must be re-elected. Would be great to elect someone like Brandy Brooks to the Council, and I also like Kristin Mink. There are great candidates for D2 and D4 as well. We need fewer white men on the council.

Montgomery County is changing and that’s a really good thing. It doesn’t have to be all posh and white. I’d gladly kick out some of the multimillionaires if they are the ones trying to block progress for everyone else. Fewer mega rich people is fine if it means less income inequality. I’d like MoCo to be the national leader in reducing income inequality and making more progress in racial justice.

If you don’t like it, you can leave. That means fewer reactionaries in the way of the rest of us in creating the kind of society we want to live in. Get the knuckledraggers out of the way and we can build a Scandinavian type system right here in America.

Lol, racist demands white people move so that they can setup a society modeled after gigantically majority white countries.

Oh the hypocrisy.

Goddamn you looney bins in Takoma Park and Silver Spring are truly, mind warpingly stupid.

Not to mention that lots of the people calling for European style welfare states don't really understand how most people in Europe live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop talking about Alaska. Alaska has a fund that self funds itself to pay for $1000 checks to its residents. What Alaska isn't doing is taxing its residents to pay for those checks. That's a gigantic difference. AK funds through financial investments in oil while what is being proposed is a wealth grab through taxation by the state to redistribute wealth. They aren't even comparable.

Lol, and for this talk of being like Nordics....Norway too has so many social benefits specifically because they also invest in oil and have a sovereign wealth fund. Theirs is worth over a trillion dollars. So ironic AK and Norway are now being brought up when they enrich themselves off of polluting the planet that significantly harms a ton of poorer nations threatened by climate change.

An inconvenient truth for some progressives, who prefer to focus only on certain facts when making their case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what’s going to happen is that people won’t like how far left the county is moving and will start voting those people out of office. I also wonder if with the current governor election in Virginia if they’re going to look across the river and vote Republican because they don’t want to see that happen in their county/state. I’m probably exaggerating the situation but if I thought of it I’m sure others have as well.

No they won’t. There is no too far left in MOCO these days. Anything goes.

Yep. Jawando and Elrich got rid of SROs in schools. This is the logical next step for them to pursue. As left as we can go is their motto. And people keep voting for the same types of politicians, so it’s what the public wants.

Actually, I hope we move leftward over the next election. First of all it would be nice to not have to fight against a Republican governor. Secondly I hope we can kick the developer-funded councilmembers out. Will be nice to see Riemer and Friedson gone, those two are the worst. The only really good councilmember we have is Jawando.
Elrich 200% must be re-elected. Would be great to elect someone like Brandy Brooks to the Council, and I also like Kristin Mink. There are great candidates for D2 and D4 as well. We need fewer white men on the council.

Montgomery County is changing and that’s a really good thing. It doesn’t have to be all posh and white. I’d gladly kick out some of the multimillionaires if they are the ones trying to block progress for everyone else. Fewer mega rich people is fine if it means less income inequality. I’d like MoCo to be the national leader in reducing income inequality and making more progress in racial justice.

If you don’t like it, you can leave. That means fewer reactionaries in the way of the rest of us in creating the kind of society we want to live in. Get the knuckledraggers out of the way and we can build a Scandinavian type system right here in America.

Lol, racist demands white people move so that they can setup a society modeled after gigantically majority white countries.

Oh the hypocrisy.

Goddamn you looney bins in Takoma Park and Silver Spring are truly, mind warpingly stupid.

+1 million

And, unfortunately, they are in charge, have the loudest voices and run the county. They are running this county into the dumpster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd immediately leave if it ever happened. The county already is deep in the hole and its finances already stink. They'd have to raise taxes even more. And why the hell would I pay more taxes to give UBI to citizens from other countries that are here illegally? MoCo rolls out the red carpet for illegal immigrants.

While I'm not a huge fan of UBI, MoCo bond rating is a AAA. I assume you know what that means, right?

I work for the county, in the finance/budget area. The government is rotting from within. The average resident can't see it yet, but it's happening. We are in the black for the first time in years, and instead of using the additional funds to identify and correct structural deficits in service delivery, it will likely all go to fairly large raises for employees -- because it's an election year.

Everything now is for show. It's never about substance.

The government is rotting because of 30 years of fiscal hamstringing because of the property tax law written in 1990 that tied total revenue to inflation rather than property tax RATE. Thankfully the ballot question last year fixed that. No thanks to idiots like Robin Ficker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what’s going to happen is that people won’t like how far left the county is moving and will start voting those people out of office. I also wonder if with the current governor election in Virginia if they’re going to look across the river and vote Republican because they don’t want to see that happen in their county/state. I’m probably exaggerating the situation but if I thought of it I’m sure others have as well.

No they won’t. There is no too far left in MOCO these days. Anything goes.

Yep. Jawando and Elrich got rid of SROs in schools. This is the logical next step for them to pursue. As left as we can go is their motto. And people keep voting for the same types of politicians, so it’s what the public wants.

Actually, I hope we move leftward over the next election. First of all it would be nice to not have to fight against a Republican governor. Secondly I hope we can kick the developer-funded councilmembers out. Will be nice to see Riemer and Friedson gone, those two are the worst. The only really good councilmember we have is Jawando.
Elrich 200% must be re-elected. Would be great to elect someone like Brandy Brooks to the Council, and I also like Kristin Mink. There are great candidates for D2 and D4 as well. We need fewer white men on the council.

Montgomery County is changing and that’s a really good thing. It doesn’t have to be all posh and white. I’d gladly kick out some of the multimillionaires if they are the ones trying to block progress for everyone else. Fewer mega rich people is fine if it means less income inequality. I’d like MoCo to be the national leader in reducing income inequality and making more progress in racial justice.

If you don’t like it, you can leave. That means fewer reactionaries in the way of the rest of us in creating the kind of society we want to live in. Get the knuckledraggers out of the way and we can build a Scandinavian type system right here in America.

Lol, racist demands white people move so that they can setup a society modeled after gigantically majority white countries.

Oh the hypocrisy.

Goddamn you looney bins in Takoma Park and Silver Spring are truly, mind warpingly stupid.

+1 million

And, unfortunately, they are in charge, have the loudest voices and run the county. They are running this county into the dumpster.

exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd immediately leave if it ever happened. The county already is deep in the hole and its finances already stink. They'd have to raise taxes even more. And why the hell would I pay more taxes to give UBI to citizens from other countries that are here illegally? MoCo rolls out the red carpet for illegal immigrants.

While I'm not a huge fan of UBI, MoCo bond rating is a AAA. I assume you know what that means, right?

I work for the county, in the finance/budget area. The government is rotting from within. The average resident can't see it yet, but it's happening. We are in the black for the first time in years, and instead of using the additional funds to identify and correct structural deficits in service delivery, it will likely all go to fairly large raises for employees -- because it's an election year.

Everything now is for show. It's never about substance.

I worked for the county many years ago and the finances were a hot mess years ago. The amount of waste was sickening and as workers we couldn't get what we needed to do our jobs (pens, basic supplies, computers).