A liberal coalition is pushing for the implementation of a basic salary for all Americans that would be funded by federal taxpayers.
The Economic Security Project, unveiled this week, said its proposal addresses the question of how to undo the rigged economic system in the U.S. and improve the well-being of everyone struggling to get by financially.
The project plans to invest $10 million over the next two years to study the proposal and figure out how it might work. For now, it is just a concept.
But the idea offers a window into how some progressives are attempting to deal with the aftermath of President-elect Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton last month, and broaden the appeal of liberal policies to frustrated working class voters.
That includes blue-collar voters who were swayed by Trump, and those who did not support him but were insufficiently motivated to turn out for Clinton.
“There is a new populist consensus on the left and the right that the current system is rigged against ordinary working families,” Chris Hughes, co-chairman of the Economic Security Project and the co-founder of Facebook, said during a conference call. “While we can and should debate how automation, globalization and the financialization of the economy have created this imbalance, what’s already clear is the American promise of opportunity for all is in crisis, and it’s time to think about bold ideas to change that.”
Trump didn’t run on shrinking the size and scope of government. He opposes entitlement reform and is promising to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on infrastructure.
But some Republicans argue that Democrats are missing the point if they believe that offering more government solutions will rehabilitate their relationship with voters who live in the heartland.
“Democrats are retreating to the faculty lounges at Harvard and Yale and NYU instead of focusing on the working voters they’ve lost,” said GOP strategist Brad Todd. “Americans value work. They want to work. This is not a socialist European nanny economy and if Democrats keep trying to recreate that here they will keep losing.”
The Economic Security Project is co-chaired by future of work expert Natalie Foster, Roosevelt Institute fellow Dorian Warren, and Hughes.
According to a press release issued by the project, grant money will be issued to several groups to study how the government would provide a basic, guaranteed income to everyone.
- The Center for Popular Democracy and some of its affiliates are exploring campaigns to strengthen the safety net in ways that lay the foundation for universal basic income as part of a robust system of social provision.
- Roosevelt Institute will conduct macroeconomic modeling of cash stipends, as well as behavioral research and public opinion research around universal basic income.
- Niskanen Center will carry out policy research on the multiple ways recurring cash stipends might be implemented in the U.S.
- Alaska Group American Center will help fight the cuts to the yearly dividends that all Alaskans receive from the state’s Permanent Fund, widely viewed as one of the key existing examples of cash dividends.
- Chesapeake Climate Action Network will study the feasibility of carbon pricing and dividends at the municipal level to fund a basic income.
- GiveDirectly will support a longitudinal basic income study in Kenya and how lessons learned could be applied to the U.S. context.
