It’s pretty obvious to me that no one in any position of power in Cook County, Illinois, has even just a basic grasp of economics.
One doesn’t have to attain a PhD from the Wharton School to realize that if and when another welfare scam, this time called universal basic income, becomes the rule and not the exception, then the companies who manufacture that cheap crap from Communist China will simply raise their prices.
But don’t let the obvious or common sense get in the way when it comes to lifetime bureaucrats further empowering those who consider government payments to be career choice.
Case in point: Better known to non-Chicagoans as Chicagoland, the greater metropolitan area actually is a number of counties in northeast Illinois. Suffice it to say that Cook County doesn’t have a whole lot of agriculture. Concrete and asphalt are the norm county-wide.
In other words, Cook County is Chicago; Chicago is Cook County.
With all that aside, the chick who’s essentially the mayor of Cook Co., Toni Preckwinkle (D) President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, has announced that the county will launch an experimental plan in which 3,250 lucky county residents will receive a monthly payment of $500, courtesy of the taxpayers.
Under the guise of “universal basic income,” will see if throwing even more taxpayer dollars at those classified as living in poverty could improve their lot in life.
Here’s the problem, well over a quarter-of-a-million county residents have applied. With only 3,250 to be accepted, Cook Co. will have to rely on a lottery. Yet again proving that stupid people can’t do math.
As reported by the PBS affiliate in Chicago WTTW (emphasis mine);
More than 233,000 Cook County residents applied to be part of the nation’s largest test of whether a universal basic income will reduce poverty, Cook County Board of Commissioners President Toni Preckwinkle said Monday.
The 3,250 people who win the lottery to participate in the two-year program could get the first of 24 $500 monthly payments by the end of December, officials said.
“The overwhelming response from our residents speaks to the need being felt in all our communities at this unique time in history,” Preckwinkle said. “Cook County is proud to be leading in the American guaranteed income movement and we look forward to providing a stable financial foundation for our residents who need help the most.”
The median household income of applicants was $15,000, officials said. The federal government considers the poverty line to be $26,500 for a family of four.
Approximately 61% of applicants told officials they were Black, while 25% said they were Hispanic, officials said. Women filed 70% of applications, officials said.
Did anyone else take a deeper look into WTTW’s numbers? I did.
First of all, WTTW’s citation that the federal government considers $26,500 to be at the poverty line is out of date. Those numbers are from last year.
In actuality, the correct amount for a family of four is $27,750. Wasn’t that convenient of PBS to cite the wrong numbers? (Sarcasm, off)
Secondly, WTTW gives the MEDIAN average, not the mean. All it takes is a few making a lot less or a lot more than the average person to throw the numbers off wildly.
Lastly, WTTW made a point in citing, “The median household income of applicants was $15,000, officials said.” They never noted just how many people were actually in “The median household.” Was the median one person or 10? How convenient to leave that number out.
But for the sake of argument, I’ll assume WTTW means that the median average household was four people.
Again, using that pesky basic math, $500 per month comes to $6,000 per year. So that same $6K added to $15,000 comes to $21,000. That’s still $6,750 below the federal poverty line.
All Cook County succeeded in doing was keeping poor people poor.