Reply to WAMU article about helping the city's poorest

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Reply to "WAMU article about helping the city's poorest - could it help with DCPS?"

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[quote=Anonymous]It's interesting, but the city does not have billions of years to run this experiment. It's ironic, because it's truly a conservative idea. Don't tell people how to live, just give them money and let them make choices.

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"Giving low-income D.C. residents direct cash payments could help them make ends meet in a city that is growing more and more expensive, but [b]it would also cost the government anywhere from $380 million to $9 billion a year, depending on how much cash is handed out and how many people get it. It could also prompt some of those residents to stop working, and put at risk billions of dollars in federal funding for safety net programs.
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Those are among the conclusions of a new study from the D.C. Council’s budget office, which was asked to consider if what’s known as universal basic income — cash payments to individuals and families, with no strings attached — could be implemented in the city, and at what cost.

“A minimum income program could provide the District with a new, comprehensive tool to alleviate poverty in the city. Such a program would put the District at the vanguard of social safety net policy innovation,” says the study. “However, it would not be without risks.”

Universal basic income has slowly gained currency in some academic and policy circles in recent years as an alternative to traditional social safety net programs used to help low-income families. Proponents say it offers low-income people important and needed flexibility in budgeting for their basic needs, and that those involved in pilot programs have seen improvements on many basic indicators."[/quote]

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