$500 a month for free: Data show how people spent the money

[ZiprHead]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/universal-basic-income-data-show-how-people-spent-the-500-a-month-they-got-for-free/

Matt Zwolinski, director of the Center for Ethics, Economics and Public Policy at the University of San Diego, said people aren't likely to change their behavior if they know the money they are getting will stop after a year and a half. That's one reason why he says the experiment is "really more about story telling than it is about social science."

Plus, he said previous studies have shown people don't spend the money on frivolous things.

"What you get out of a program like this is some fairly compelling anecdotes from people," he said. "That makes for good public relations if you are trying to drum up interest in a basic income program, but it doesn't really tell you much about what a basic income program would do if implemented on a long-term and large-scale basis."

The researchers overseeing the program, Stacia Martin-West at the University of Tennessee and Amy Castro Baker at the University of Pennsylvania, said their goal is not to see if people change their behavior, but to measure how the money impacts their physical and mental health. That data will be released later.

People in the program get $500 each month on a debit card, which helps researchers track their spending. But 40% of the money has been withdrawn as cash, making it harder for researchers to know how it was used. They fill in the gaps by asking people how they spent it.

 

[Politesse]

But 40% of the money has been withdrawn as cash, making it harder for researchers to know how it was used. They fill in the gaps by asking people how they spent it.

Though this is useful information in and of itself. I think a lot of entitlements recipients get very tired of their expenditures being rigidly controlled and reviewed.

 

[Trausti]

But 40% of the money has been withdrawn as cash, making it harder for researchers to know how it was used. They fill in the gaps by asking people how they spent it.

Though this is useful information in and of itself. I think a lot of entitlements recipients get very tired of their expenditures being rigidly controlled and reviewed.

“entitlements”

 

[ronburgundy]

But 40% of the money has been withdrawn as cash, making it harder for researchers to know how it was used. They fill in the gaps by asking people how they spent it.

Though this is useful information in and of itself. I think a lot of entitlements recipients get very tired of their expenditures being rigidly controlled and reviewed.

“entitlements”

Yeah, that's the standard term for safety net programs. Don't get triggered by it.

 

[Trausti]

“entitlements”

Yeah, that's the standard term for safety net programs. Don't get triggered by it.

Right. Personal responsibility be damned.

 

[RVonse]

“entitlements”

Yeah, that's the standard term for safety net programs. Don't get triggered by it.

Why don't they call it social security then?

 

[Elixir]

“entitlements”

Yeah, that's the standard term for safety net programs. Don't get triggered by it.

Right. Personal responsibility be damned.

You benefit from an oppressed class, you damn well have personal responsibility to provide those entitlements.

 

[bilby]

“entitlements”

Yeah, that's the standard term for safety net programs. Don't get triggered by it.

Right. Personal responsibility be damned.

Fucking right. Personal responsibility is just another word for being a selfish arsehole.

Humans are social animals. We do not abandon those who are unproductive to starve, which is a good thing, because all of us spend over five years (and frequently up to four times that) at the beginning of our lives incapable of self sufficiency, and most are also incapable of it for many years at the end of our lives, and have brief periods of inability to support ourselves in between too. Some people are never able to support themselves; some because they never could have been in any era, and others because our community has created an environment where self-sufficiency isn't practical (I can't just start planting crops somewhere, because all the land belongs to someone already).

Fuck personal responsibility. I earn plenty of money, and I and all others in my position have a responsibility to society to ensure that those who do not earn plenty of money do not go hungry, unclothed, and homeless.

 

[bilby]

“entitlements”

Yeah, that's the standard term for safety net programs. Don't get triggered by it.

Why don't they call it social security then?

Some do. In the UK, entitlements for people without sufficient income are all described as social security, and are managed by the DSS (formerly the DHSS, before health was split off into a separate government department in the 1980s).

The reason Americans don't, is that the powers that be don't want Americans to think that way. It's the same reason that your taxation systems are so in-your-face and complicated. It needn't be like that - taxes can be simply and silently managed, with income tax deducted from pay packets automatically, and sales taxes just rolled into the ticket price on purchases. But certain powerful people benefit from a public who are hyper aware of being taxed.

Politics is all about appearances. People care about what they are forced to confront; A sales or value added tax that's not visible to the customer except as a higher sticker price on his shopping (a sticker price that is the amount that you actually have to pay) is not usually contentious. But when you have to calculate and add the tax every time you shop, it's an annoyance - intentionally so. You are being manipulated to dislike taxes more than you would otherwise - or if you prefer, people in countries with 'tax included' price stickers are being manipulated to tolerate taxes more than they would otherwise.

It's all spin.

 

[Derec]

In before I read the article: hookers and blow?

 

[ZiprHead]

In before I read the article: hookers and blow?

Your weekend plans?

 

[Derec]

In before I read the article: hookers and blow?

Your weekend plans?

Just the first part.

 

[PyramidHead]

Almost as if sprinkling extra money on top of a broken and depraved system of economic incentives doesn't fix the underlying drivers of poverty.

#YangGang

 

[ronburgundy]

“entitlements”

Yeah, that's the standard term for safety net programs. Don't get triggered by it.

Why don't they call it social security then?

Social Security is one specific form of entitlement, as are pensions and compensation to military veterans. Entitlement is the broader formal term applied to all programs that meet the definition of "Entitlement" used by Congress: "Entitlement - A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled." IOW, it refers to provisions that the law entitles people to. It's rather basic term that anyone with minimal knowledge of economics and the law would be familiar with.

 

[Jarhyn]

In before I read the article: hookers and blow?

WOW your mirror is shiny...

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Almost as if sprinkling extra money on top of a broken and depraved system of economic incentives doesn't fix the underlying drivers of poverty.

#YangGang

Of course it doesn't because the root cause is internal, not external.

 

[Worldtraveller]

Why don't they call it social security then?

Some do. In the UK, entitlements for people without sufficient income are all described as social security, and are managed by the DSS (formerly the DHSS, before health was split off into a separate government department in the 1980s).

The reason Americans don't, is that the powers that be don't want Americans to think that way. It's the same reason that your taxation systems are so in-your-face and complicated. It needn't be like that - taxes can be simply and silently managed, with income tax deducted from pay packets automatically, and sales taxes just rolled into the ticket price on purchases. But certain powerful people benefit from a public who are hyper aware of being taxed.

Politics is all about appearances. People care about what they are forced to confront; A sales or value added tax that's not visible to the customer except as a higher sticker price on his shopping (a sticker price that is the amount that you actually have to pay) is not usually contentious. But when you have to calculate and add the tax every time you shop, it's an annoyance - intentionally so. You are being manipulated to dislike taxes more than you would otherwise - or if you prefer, people in countries with 'tax included' price stickers are being manipulated to tolerate taxes more than they would otherwise.

It's all spin.

Yeah, the GOP and some others realize that many right wing idiots are subject to magic words (triggered, if you will). They use that magic word, for example: entitlements, and watch the mouthbreathers pavlovian response. Works every time.

Also, SS is an entitlement. My parents paid into the system their whole lives, and they are entitled to it ferfuxsake. That's kinda what the word means.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

How useful is such a study like this as it is short-term not long-term? My initial presumption would be the money would be spent first to catch up, then to get a few improvements, more groceries, and splurge a bit (Middle class splurging, not Upper class splurging). If there was an actual $500 stipend that was to be expected every month, I think how it was spent would be different, as it'd be part of the long-term income. So likely some saving, higher rent or mortgage, a car?

 

[TSwizzle]

In before I read the article: hookers and blow?

And Lottery tickets !

Zhona Everett, 48, and her husband are among the recipients. Once she got the money, Everett set it up to automatically pay bills for her electricity, car insurance and TV. She's also paid off her wedding ring, donates $50 a month to her church and still has some left over for an occasional date night with her husband.

It's pretty easy to be generous with free money I guess.

 

[ZiprHead]

A couple years old but...

A $1,000 per month cash handout would grow the economy by $2.5 trillion, new study says

Giving every adult in the United States a $1,000 cash handout per month would grow the economy by $2.5 trillion by 2025, according to a new study on universal basic income.

The report was released in August by the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute. Roosevelt research director Marshall Steinbaum, Michalis Nikiforos at Bard College's Levy Institute, and Gennaro Zezza at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio in Italy co-authored the study.

The study made economic forecasts for three proposals: a full universal basic income in which every adult gets $1,000 a month ($12,000 a year), a partial basic income in which every adult gets $500 a month ($6,000 a year), and a child allowance in which parents get $250 a month ($3,000 a year).

The larger the universal basic income, the greater the benefit to the economy, according to the report.

More in the link.