Palm Springs, CA Launches a Basic Income Program for Trans and Non-Binary Residents
Support for basic income has only grown amidst surging inflation, an economy kept afloat on endless money printing, and an economic climate more uncertain than perhaps any in the last 40 years. Unbeknownst to its typical proponents, UBI has precedent as State of Alaska has operated its own basic income program since 1976. While the Alaska Permanent Fund is able to pay out around $1,600 annually to residents of the state, those hoping to see the expansion of a basic income payout have much more in mind.
In recent years, cities across the US have implemented pilot programs for various basic income models. Typically, these have been done on the municipal level and target groups of low-income demographics like the homeless as a prospective basis to alleviate the costs that are inherent in the impact they have on crime and public health. However, progressives foaming at the mouth for more free money have used these basic income pilot programs as a mechanism to advance their social justice wars. Palm Springs, California is the latest in this trend. The city recently announced a pilot program that will provide transexual and nonbinary residents with up to $900 per month.
Palm Springs City Council members voted unanimously to launch the pilot by giving a $200,000 grant to the non-profit organizations DAP Health and Queer Works. The grant money will be allocated to 20 transexual and non-binary residents of the city through each non-profit. It's impact will be reviewed over the next six months as the first phase of a three-phase program that the city council hopes to see out over an 18-month period. As the program enters into its successive phases, both non-profits will also incorporate 20 other trans and non-binary participants who will not receive a monthly pay out, as the basis for a control group in an eerily seeming social engineering experiment. Those receiving the $900 payout do not face any income restrictions or general means test beyond their gender identity.
DAP Health and Queer Works initially sought $900,000 over the course of three-phase program before receiving the $200,000 grant. That money was provided to the City of Palm Springs by way of $35 million earmarked by the State of California to fund various basic income programs. Palm Springs Mayor Lisa Middleton is transgender themselves and has cited her gender identity as the basis for understanding the problems she believes the basic income program will address. Though highlighting the city council's leadership in fledging this effort, the mayor advocated for greater funding for basic income on the state and federal level beyond what Palm Springs can offer.
This is far from the first basic income program in California that cities have made exclusive to what they declare as under-served communities. Last year, the City of Oakland initiated a similar program which aimed to provide "families of color" with $500 per month over an 18-month period in a manner similar to Palm Spring's endeavor. Other programs along those lines were started in Stockton, California as recently as 2019. Those efforts also extend well beyond the California border as they have also been attempted in Newark, New Jersey and Atlanta, Georgia.
The political pandering behind basic income programs is a valuable tool for central banks as they seek to implement central bank digital currencies. This economic model could provide them with a framework to advance that cause and the tacit support to easily conceal the agenda behind it. As the economy continues to take a nose dive, the harsh realities of an irresponsible monetary policy that has seen about one-third of the US dollars in circulation printed in the last two years are looming. Once the damn finally bursts, that chaos may be exactly what the Federal Reserve sees as an opportunity to exploit the political climate to finally get the CBDC it clearly desires.
