11.6% of Americans currently live in poverty, according to CNBC News. That is more than 1 in 10 Americans not having enough money to support themselves or their families. That is just the people living below the poverty line, not including those just above or fluctuating in between. America is one the the most highly developed, wealthy countries in the world and to have that many people in poverty is embarrassing. So how does the country fix the lack of equal distribution of wealth? The answer is a universal basic income. Each American citizen is granted an amount of money each month to help them provide basic necessities for themselves and their dependents.
There are many reasons why a universal basic income would be incredibly helpful for Americans. One of those reasons is that it would take some of the need off of social programs, such as Medicare and food stamps. Well, of course, these would still be necessary if the average income was higher and citizens had more money to fall back on. If this were true fewer would be relying on government programs that are already expensive to maintain.
“One of the biggest problems we have in the USA is income inequality,” Dr. Amy McLaughlin, a sociologist and professor at the University of Maryland, said. “One of the things that causes this is a lack of social safety nets and people who don’t make a lot of money, are not able to compete in this economy. So universal basic income would be providing those social safety nets for the people who need a little bit of extra to address issues of long term generational poverty”
The universal basic income would pull many families out of poverty, and give them the support that they need. In addition, it would give freedom to domestic abuse victims. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence many victims say they are forced to stay in their abusive relationships because of a lack of resources to support themselves or their families on their own.
Many people might argue that a universal income might be incredibly expensive, but this does not account for the strain it’s taking off of our current social programs. “We are already paying for people through taxes for Medicare, Medicaid. Those people who don’t have those social safety nets still get sick, they still need help, we are already paying for that through our taxes,” Dr. McLaughlin said. “So by having a UBI we would be working on prevention rather than trying to help people after they have already felt the effects of relative poverty and make sure that their lives and their children’s lives can get on track to stay healthy and get an education that will make a long term difference in their lives.”
There are many examples of a universal basic income already working. From 2007 to 2009, the Basic Income Grant program in Namibia cut the nation’s poverty rate almost in half. It has even worked in some American states. A 2016 University of Alaska study of the Alaska Permanent Fund, a program that gives a small cash payment (around $1,000 per year) to all state residents, found that it kept between 15,000 and 25,000 Alaskans out of poverty each year.
Written by Margaret McLaughlin of Richard Montgomery High School
Photo courtesy of Getty Images