Then we should cut off the top end, too: people too old to vote, to set in their ways, to resistant to change, fearful of their own shadow, even demented.
The Bern Identity
- Thread starter nitro
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Nice concept, but in practical terms not likely, and the perpetually unemployed are nothing of not practical. Say you offer me a job for the 15 an hour Bernie is promising. That's about 30K annually. How much am I making doing nothing and whatever cash jobs I can skim on the side? Maybe 20K if I add up all the gov't freebies I can get. Add the cash and I'm damn near at 30K. I take that 15 dollar an hour job and I'm working for next to nothing. Makes no sense to get up and fight traffic, eat shit from an asshole boss, work a dead end job, fight traffic getting home only to get up and do it all over again tomorrow. Nope, the perma unemployed aren't that stupid.
Then wouldn't be wiser to, instead of perpetually giving the unemployed money, give them very inexpensive housing once, such as I discuss here? Then it is just food stamps, which comes to about $200 a month and can't be used for things like soap. For one person this is nowhere near $30k/Yr. Also, SNAP is to get you back on your feet. It runs out after a set amount of time. The government correctly also helps with a cell phone, as communication is paramount to getting a job. Internet access is available at the library for job searching and email.
So eventually, you can live for "free" in an extremely humble place, but you have to go and earn at least a little bit of money to pay for food, non-perishables, transportation, and "luxury" items.
To me this is far more humane, and if the person is a little motivated, it provides a foundation from which to climb out of poverty without the stigma and hardship of extreme poverty and homelessness.
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And just how are they going to pay their $5K or more in property taxes each year on their inexpensive, humble house when living in an urban area?
As learned by Habitat for Humanity over time, most of the poor do not know how to care for a house or upkeep it. This is something that must be taught to them, otherwise they land up irresponsibly abandoning the house when it becomes a wreck thus adding to the blight of the neighborhood.
The elderly and unemployed do not pay anywhere near that. For example, my parents pay something like $700/Yr. My guess is that since it is a government aid program, taxes will be extremely humble.
Agreed that many of these people are not good at self-sustenance and upkeep. I don't know what that solution is, but on tiny houses the expense is trivial compared to what we are trying to do now by simply giving money away in unemployment benefits.
Have you ever paid real estate taxes in Long Island, NYC, Connecticut, Chicago, Massachusetts, etc. -- even the elderly do not pay a mere $700 per year. The taxes on an average house are now near $20,000 per year.
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Have you thought through your plan on how you are going to pay for all of this free housing, how the "poor" are going to pay property taxes (do they get a huge rebate causing towns to go broke?), and how you are going to handle the many abandoned dwellings.
Similar to Bernie your proposals are pie-in-the-sky" with very little practical and financial details sorted out. It appears to assume that money grows on trees and simply providing people with houses for free suddenly will cause them to be responsible home owners.
My parent live in Chicago and pay ~ SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS A YEAR IN TAXES. On a tiny house in a government sponsored program, it will probably be far less.
As I said, I don't have all the answers, but government giving money is not correct. Giving housing and food [and the other miscellaneous I added] is correct. Far cheaper, far more empowering, far healthier mentally.
I am not aware of any single family home with property taxes at a mere $700 in Chicago. Maybe they live in a tiny Condo. I have heard from many retirees that moved from Chicago to Raleigh / Durham complaining about the high property taxes in Chicago that forced them to leave.
In other news...
Property tax rates skyrocket in Illinois, 2nd-highest in U.S.
http://www.illinoispolicy.org/property-tax-rates-skyrocket-in-illinois-2nd-highest-in-u-s/
This problem has been solved in many countries the world over. I refer you to them. We don't have to reinvent the wheel.
Some hybrid that could work in this country is probably required here.
My parent live in a townhouse/condo. Far far larger than a 200 sq foot home which is what I am proposing.