In Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1967 e-book “The place Do We Go From Right here: Chaos or Group?” the civil rights chief mentioned methods to finest tackle poverty in the USA.
“I’m now satisfied that the best strategy will show to be the simplest — the answer to poverty is to abolish it immediately by a now broadly mentioned measure: the assured earnings,” he wrote.
King was not the primary to suggest a assured earnings; political philosophers from Montesque to Thomas Paine additionally penned their assist for what’s sometimes called “common fundamental earnings.” And the concept was lately re-popularized by former Democratic presidential candidate and present New York Metropolis mayoral candidate Andrew Yang.
Nonetheless, King stands out as essentially the most seen affect on Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, a coalition of 30 mayors from Texas to Minnesota, who assist direct, recurring money funds for citizensand are beginning assured earnings applications of their very own.The group prominently options King’s phrases on its web site, describing its mission as “rooted” within the civil rights chief’s legacy.
Mayors for a Assured Earnings, generally referred to as “MGI,” was based by Michael D. Tubbs, then-mayor of Stockton, California in June 2020 after his metropolis launched, and later extended, a fundamental earnings program the place 125 residents acquired $500 month-to-month due to funding from the Economic Security Project, a nonprofit that helps different assured earnings experiments.
CNBC Make It lately spoke with mayors who’re pushing the assured earnings motion ahead of their cities — and giving out 1000’s of {dollars} within the course of.
Learn extra: Here we go … Mayors Of 30 Cities Now Pushing For Universal Basic Income
