By Lois Beckett, The Guardian, March 21, 2020
As the Trump administration and lawmakers in Washington debate cash payments to support Americans during the coronavirus crisis, the mayor of one California city that has experimented with universal basic income has advice.
Early findings from Stockton, California, which launched a basic income experiment last year, may offer American policymakers some reassurance – and a few notes of caution.
It’s “heartening” to see a national focus on providing direct cash assistance, said Michael Tubbs, Stockon’s 29-year-old mayor, who championed the city’s basic income experiment. But some choices in the current Republican plan make little sense to him, Tubbs said. “If someone was struggling more than others before a crisis, why should they get less help during a crisis that is going to hit them harder? It defies logic,” he said.
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