Universal Basic Income

[Thorne]

Sounds awesome. Get yourself arrested and let us know how the "welfare" plan is. We'll wait to hear back from you.

I've met guys with records who actually go out of their way to get back in prison because it's free food and shelter.

I actually went out of my way to help one of these fellows more recently (in Dallas) just to find out he didn't care.

I got him a job working in retail at $9/hour. Crappy job, but I called in a favor with a manager friend who ignored the felony. Then, I gave him access to an insulated shed with electricity, a window AC + heat unit, and a clean bed, plus external access to a full bathroom with a small closet housing his wardrobe (half of which we bought for him) at all hours. All that plus meals, the only stipulation was that he was required to work his job 20-30 hours a week.

He had no bills, no overhead, no need to turn to crime. He wasn't going to move forward quickly, but he had a comfortable life with $8500 in surplus (working 20 hours a week for a year). Took him a month to get arrested for the same thing he did the first time. His excuse, when I went to consider bailing him out, was, "I don't like working all these hours, it's hard."

Obviously, one bad egg does not define the bunch, but I've had ex-cons who I am actively helping do monumentally stupid things just to go back to prison.