Socialism eventually runs out of other people's money. The Colorado Trust's free "news". My rosemary's babies.
The Denver Basic Income Project is close to being out of money.
The Sun story below, a reprint of a piece appearing in the paper from The Colorado Trust's media arm*, updates Denver's Basic Income project. This has been a story I've been watching out of the corner of my eye for a while now.
The Basic Income project is apparently close to being out of money. It had been funded by a combination of private fund raising and Denver tax dollars, but the private money has dried up and Denver is not continuing its support.
Echoes of Thatcher, per her famous quote above.
Despite the optimistic tone in the story below, my own research into the success and/or efficacy of such programs has left me underwhelmed. I find little if any evidence that basic income programs save money in he long run (as many proponents would claim), I don't find that they lead directly to long term better outcomes, and I don't find that they lead to getting people to straighten out their lives, especially for randomly-chosen people.**
About as far as I'm willing to go, based on what I've seen and without an overreach beyond the evidence is the following.
--Basic income projects don't necessarily lead to wasting the handouts on drugs or other wasteful uses. There is little to no evidence of this. There is also little evidence that it reduces or stops addictions.
--Basic income projects likely do decently in helping those that are ready to receive that help, those on their way and committed to rebuilding their lives. I do not see evidence that it helps those that aren’t.
What will happen once those that were getting handouts no longer get them is something that I don't believe any research has attempted to address (at least not that I know of). The same could be said for how you might transition people off of this sort of help.
Has this program been a crutch? Has it been a helpful aid for those intent on moving to self-sufficiency?
This has long been a question I've had (see the second link below for my last newsletter).
It looks as though we're about to find out. More on this as I find it.
* See the post immediately following this one for my recent op-ed on this very topic
**In fact the research I've seen on this topic has been the opposite of randomly chosen or assigned subjects.
https://coloradosun.com/2024/10/09/denver-basic-income-project-could-run-out-of-funding-before-end-of-the-year/
https://open.substack.com/pub/coloradoaccountabilityproject/p/basic-aka-guaranteed-income-projects?r=15ij6n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
The Colorado Trust's free articles ...
The previous post features a story written by a journalist for the left-leaning foundation The Colorado Trust.
This story was then printed in the Colorado Sun.
I recently did an op ed for Complete Colorado on this sort of news production because I find it concerning.
When a story has this complicated a chain of custody (written by a freelancer, given to CO Trust, then given to another outlet), there are all kinds of difficulties that you as a reader would have in assessing an article.
There are all kinds of opportunities for mischief and advocacy in what both outlets offer as "news".
My op ed is linked below.
Trying to help my rosemary overwinter.
I've tried it all: I've brought her inside. She doesn't do well because I don't have enough light!
I've left her in the garage. She really didn't like that and didn't come back.
This last winter I tried something new, a hybrid: I brought her indoors and she was starting to die off from lack of light right about late February, so in desperation I put her in the cold frame outside. Maybe not too happy, but she made it.
So this year something related but new. I made a cold frame lid for one of my raised beds. I buried Rosemary's pot there and will surround her with buried jugs filled with water. Then the greenhouse top goes on.
I hope enough light and enough warmth to keep her from dying over winter.
Just in case, though, I took out some insurance: a couple layers I started in spring and potted up late this Fall. They're small enough to live indoors in my grow tent.
Fingers crossed!