Podcasts about guaranteed basic income

GET NON-MRNA FREEZE DRIED MEAT HERE: https://wambeef.com/ Use code WAMBEEF to save 20%! GET HEIRLOOM SEEDS & NON GMO SURVIVAL FOOD HERE: https://heavensharvest.com/ USE Code WAM to save 5% plus free shipping! Get local, healthy, pasture raised meat delivered to your door here: https://wildpastures.com/promos/save-20-for-life/bonus15?oid=6&affid=321 USE THE LINK & get 20% off for life and $15 off your first box! SIGN UP FOR HOMESTEADING COURSES NOW: https://freedomfarmers.com/link/17150/ Get Prepared & Start The Move Towards Real Independence With Curtis Stone's Courses! GET YOUR APRICOT SEEDS at the life-saving Richardson Nutritional Center HERE: https://rncstore.com/r?id=bg8qc1 Josh Sigurdson reports on the billions of dollars in climate change "funds" which John Podesta, the former "Climate Envoy" under President Joe Biden sent to charities that were mysteriously only founded months previous to the donations. It's clear that there is and was a massive amount of money laundering happening, but where was the money really sent? Similarly, in the technocratic, tyrannical march towards Net Zero, The World Bank is facing pressure to explain why 31 billion pounds in climate funds have gone missing. It's all one big mocking ritual against humanity as we approach 2030. They're pushing for airports in the UK to be closed by 2029 by law due to the Net Zero regulations. They're going after private property and of course the food supply in many ways, starting with farmers but also with "Bird Flu." It's the Great Reset. It's the World Economic Forum agenda! And if you think Trump will stop it in the United States, all roads lead to Rome. Elon Musk is calling for Trudeau style carbon taxes as well as replacing most jobs with AI and utilizing "Guaranteed Basic Income" or "UBI" to keep people at home. Or as Yuval Noah Harari said, he dreams of people being "placated on drugs playing video games." New biometric rules are coming in for migrants, internet IDs are being pushed by both sides, the United Nations Pact For The Future was signed off on by 193 countries in September which means carbon credits, digital IDs, CBDCs, bank accounts being restricted based on what you say or believe and full steam ahead for "Net Zero" and 15 Minute Cities. Good thing there are countless solutions to this problem. If you're willing to throw off the shackles of "convenience" and be an independent, free human being living by example. Stay tuned for more from WAM! GET TICKETS TO ANARCHAPULCO HERE: https://anarchapulco.com/ Save money by using code WAM GET YOUR WAV WATCH HERE: https://buy.wavwatch.com/WAM Use Code WAM to save $100 and purchase amazing healing frequency technology! GET ORGANIC CHAGA MUSHROOMS HERE: https://alaskachaga.com/wam Use code WAM to save money! See shop for a wide range of products! GET AMAZING MEAT STICKS HERE: https://4db671-1e.myshopify.com/discount/WAM?rfsn=8425577.918561&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=8425577.918561 USE CODE WAM TO SAVE MONEY! GET YOUR FREEDOM KELLY KETTLE KIT HERE: https://patriotprepared.com/shop/freedom-kettle/ Use Code WAM and enjoy many solutions for the outdoors in the face of the impending reset! BUY GOLD HERE: https://firstnationalbullion.com/schedule-consult/ HELP SUPPORT US AS WE DOCUMENT HISTORY HERE: https://gogetfunding.com/help-wam-cover-history/ PayPal: ancientwonderstelevision@gmail.com FIND OUR CoinTree page here: https://cointr.ee/joshsigurdson JOIN US on SubscribeStar here: https://www.subscribestar.com/world-alternative-media For subscriber only content! Pledge here! Just a dollar a month can help us alive! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2652072&ty=h&u=2652072 BITCOIN ADDRESS: 18d1WEnYYhBRgZVbeyLr6UfiJhrQygcgNU World Alternative Media 2025

On this episode of MHD Off the Record, MHD sits down with Abigail Marquez, General Manager of the Community Investment for Families Department (CIFD), and Michael Tubbs, Founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI) and Special Advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom. Together, they dive into the realities of Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI)—a policy designed to provide no-strings-attached cash payments to individuals and families in need.With millions struggling to make ends meet, we ask: Does GBI empower people to escape poverty, or does it foster dependency? Our guests share insights from pilot programs in Los Angeles and Stockton, breaking down the data, misconceptions, and long-term impact of direct cash assistance.Abigail R. Marquez serves as the General Manager of the City of Los Angeles' Community Investment for Families Department (CIFD), a position she has held since 2021. With nearly 21 years of experience advancing anti-poverty initiatives in Los Angeles, Marquez plays a key role in overseeing programs designed to disrupt generational poverty and support low-income residents. She is responsible for administering the City's Consolidated Plan, which allocates around $120 million in federal funds annually to support various capital projects and social services. This includes managing 20 FamilySource Centers and services for domestic violence and human trafficking survivors. Under her leadership, CIFD has implemented notable initiatives, including the Guaranteed Basic Income pilot program (BIG), the largest of its kind in the nation, and the Opportunity LA Children's Savings Account program, which helps thousands of first-graders build financial security. Prior to this role, she was the Assistant General Manager at the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department (HCIDLA), where she led efforts in community services and development​.Michael Tubbs is the Founder of the Non-profit organization, End Poverty in California (EPIC), the Founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI), and the Special Advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom for Economic Mobility and Opportunity. In 2016, he was elected Mayor of Stockton at 26-years-old. He was the city's first African-American Mayor, and the youngest Mayor of any major city in American history. As Mayor, Tubbs was lauded for his leadership and innovation. He raised over $20 million dollars to create the Stockton Scholars, a universal scholarship and mentorship program for Stockton students. Additionally, he piloted the first mayor-led guaranteed income pilot in the country. His book, The Deeper the Roots: A Memoir of Hope and Home, where he details the experiences of his life is available now wherever books are sold.Community AnnouncementsFree Tax PrepThere are free tax prep locations all across LA. Here are four locations where you can get help:All People's Community Center – South LABarrio Action Youth & Family Center – El SerenoEl Nido Family Center – South LA & PacoimaWest Adams/Leimert Park FamilySource CenterVisit www.FreeTaxPrepLA.org to find a location near you and book an appointment today.Impacted Worker & Family Recovery CentersProviding family support, job assistance, youth services, and small business resources at no cost. Open Monday - Friday 9 to 5pmWest LA WorkSource Center (JVS-SoCal)5446 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, CA 90230310-309-6000Northeast San Fernando Valley WorkSource Center (Mission College)13356 Eldridge Ave., Campus Center, Sylmar, CA 91342818-482-1754West Adams/Leimert Park FamilySource Center4305 Degnan Blvd., Suite 105, Los Angeles, CA...

On this episode of Appointed, Kim speaks with economist Benoit Robidoux about the 2023 guaranteed basic income (GBI) proposal for residents in Prince Edward Island. Mr. Robidoux was a key member of the team behind the proposal; a team made up of economists, public servants, politicians and advocates from across Canada. Mr. Robidoux discusses how the GBI program would provide a benefit of $19,000 for single adults and $27,000 for families in Prince Edward Island, and reduce poverty rates among working-age adults and their families.Read the PEI Basic Income Report, titled "A Proposal For A Guaranteed Basic Income Benefit For Prince Edward Island", here.

GET NON-MRNA FREEZE DRIED MEAT HERE: https://wambeef.com/ Use code WAMBEEF to save 20%! GET HEIRLOOM SEEDS & NON GMO SURVIVAL FOOD HERE: https://heavensharvest.com/ USE Code WAM to save 5% plus free shipping! Get local, healthy, pasture raised meat delivered to your door here: https://wildpastures.com/promos/save-20-for-life/bonus15?oid=6&affid=321 USE THE LINK & get 20% off for life and $15 off your first box! SIGN UP FOR HOMESTEADING COURSES NOW: https://freedomfarmers.com/link/17150/ Get Prepared & Start The Move Towards Real Independence With Curtis Stone's Courses! GET YOUR APRICOT SEEDS at the life-saving Richardson Nutritional Center HERE: https://rncstore.com/r?id=bg8qc1 Josh Sigurdson reports on the confirmation of RFK Jr. as HHS Secretary and Tusli Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. While many people are cheering and it's understandable at surface level, the reality is far deeper and darker than meets the eye. The agenda is being pushed forward via complacency due to major limited hangout psyops. RFK Jr. who has recently met with Albert Bourla of Pfizer and Bill Gates has backed off many of his previous points regarding vaccines and big pharma. It's clear that the Israel First government under Trump is not going to wipe out one of Israel's biggest cash cows. Pharma. Big Pharma doesn't seem worried and the people they lobbied voted in favor of RFK Jr. Are we just going to ignore this? It's likely we will see major pharma corporations collapse and be consolidated inside an even larger monopoly of only a couple companies by the end of Trump's 4 years. If RFK Jr. was actually bringing down pharma, he'd be dead and he never would have made it past the confirmation hearings. The ultimate goal is to make the state the total monopoly on medicine, banking, food and more. That's the technocratic dream that Elon Musk is pushing forward with AI dependence, Guaranteed Basic Income, Digital IDs and carbon taxes. Meanwhile, Tulsi Gabbard becoming the new Director of National Intelligence is laughable. She's a nice woman and like RFK, we agree with much of what she says, but she's a CFR member who wants guns taken away and supports abortion. She is also up against the largest most nefarious human entity worldwide, the intelligence agencies. There is exactly zero percent chance she can take them down. Also, with the Israel First cabinet, considering Mossad basically runs the CIA, it's never going to happen from within the government. All the while, the woman involved in releasing the JFK files and the Epstein "list" is a hardcore supporter of Israel and considering Israel was involved in the assassination and that Israel literally employed Epstein as a blackmail agent, good luck my friends. More hopium that I hate to shatter but MUST for the sake of the truth. As food rations begin in some places and more plandemic fear mongering is pushed forward and people are sitting on their hands waiting for technocrat Elon Musk and Donald Trump to save them, time is running out to prepare yourselves. Stay tuned for more from WAM! GET TICKETS TO ANARCHAPULCO HERE: https://anarchapulco.com/ Save money by using code WAM GET YOUR WAV WATCH HERE: https://buy.wavwatch.com/WAM Use Code WAM to save $100 and purchase amazing healing frequency technology! GET ORGANIC CHAGA MUSHROOMS HERE: https://alaskachaga.com/wam Use code WAM to save money! See shop for a wide range of products! GET AMAZING MEAT STICKS HERE: https://4db671-1e.myshopify.com/discount/WAM?rfsn=8425577.918561&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=8425577.918561 USE CODE WAM TO SAVE MONEY! GET YOUR FREEDOM KELLY KETTLE KIT HERE: https://patriotprepared.com/shop/freedom-kettle/ Use Code WAM and enjoy many solutions for the outdoors in the face of the impending reset! BUY GOLD HERE: https://firstnationalbullion.com/schedule-consult/ HELP SUPPORT US AS WE DOCUMENT HISTORY HERE: https://gogetfunding.com/help-wam-cover-history/ PayPal: ancientwonderstelevision@gmail.com FIND OUR CoinTree page here: https://cointr.ee/joshsigurdson JOIN US on SubscribeStar here: https://www.subscribestar.com/world-alternative-media For subscriber only content! Pledge here! Just a dollar a month can help us alive! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2652072&ty=h&u=2652072 BITCOIN ADDRESS: 18d1WEnYYhBRgZVbeyLr6UfiJhrQygcgNU World Alternative Media 2025

GET NON-MRNA FREEZE DRIED MEAT HERE: https://wambeef.com/ Use code WAMBEEF to save 20%! GET HEIRLOOM SEEDS & NON GMO SURVIVAL FOOD HERE: https://heavensharvest.com/ USE Code WAM to save 5% plus free shipping! Get local, healthy, pasture raised meat delivered to your door here: https://wildpastures.com/promos/save-20-for-life/bonus15?oid=6&affid=321 USE THE LINK & get 20% off for life and $15 off your first box! SIGN UP FOR HOMESTEADING COURSES NOW: https://freedomfarmers.com/link/17150/ Get Prepared & Start The Move Towards Real Independence With Curtis Stone's Courses! GET YOUR APRICOT SEEDS at the life-saving Richardson Nutritional Center HERE: https://rncstore.com/r?id=bg8qc1 Josh Sigurdson reports on the news popping up worldwide regarding digital IDs as Canada, The United States, The UK, Australia and many other countries are rolling out the systems as we speak. Canada has been pushing forward legislation, getting around any elected officials and raising serious surveillance concerns. That's just scratching the surface! With the Emergency Planning Act sections 18 and 18.1 in Canada, the government already has the ability to kidnap you, destroy your property, seize your property, muzzle your speech and even KILL you! With the United Nations Pact For The Future signed on by 193 countries in September, they can shut down your bank account if you criticize the state or the narrative. They can force you into a carbon credit or social credit system. They can force you onto food rations, likely poisonous. Trump just approved 500 billion dollars for AI which will replace jobs. But of course Elon Musk has come forward to tell you not to worry. Even though he claims AI will destroy humanity and he's one of the main people developing it, he says you can always go on Guaranteed Basic Income. Also, he says you should have a carbon tax. Trump is also pushing biometrics for migrants and internet IDs under the guise of "safety." The "Mainstream Alternative Media" is silent on this. Bill Gates continues to roll out Digital IDs in Australia and Sierra Leone. Google has withdrawn its promise to never use AI for weapons or surveillance. The UK is bringing in more bank spying systems under Starmer. Facial recognition with social credit scores is being rolled out in countless neighborhoods including in Oxford UK as part of the 15 Minute City project, modeled after China. This is happening worldwide. They want you dependent on rations as they destroy the food supply and grid, forced into a digital technocracy and forced on a CBDC with social credit scores. Meanwhile, they're releasing nano-tech, utilizing 5G to both make us sick and control us, body and mind. Are you ready for what comes next? Stay tuned for more from WAM! GET TICKETS TO ANARCHAPULCO HERE: https://anarchapulco.com/ Save money by using code WAM GET YOUR WAV WATCH HERE: https://buy.wavwatch.com/WAM Use Code WAM to save $100 and purchase amazing healing frequency technology! GET ORGANIC CHAGA MUSHROOMS HERE: https://alaskachaga.com/wam Use code WAM to save money! See shop for a wide range of products! GET AMAZING MEAT STICKS HERE: https://4db671-1e.myshopify.com/discount/WAM?rfsn=8425577.918561&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=8425577.918561 USE CODE WAM TO SAVE MONEY! GET YOUR FREEDOM KELLY KETTLE KIT HERE: https://patriotprepared.com/shop/freedom-kettle/ Use Code WAM and enjoy many solutions for the outdoors in the face of the impending reset! BUY GOLD HERE: https://firstnationalbullion.com/schedule-consult/ HELP SUPPORT US AS WE DOCUMENT HISTORY HERE: https://gogetfunding.com/help-wam-cover-history/ PayPal: ancientwonderstelevision@gmail.com FIND OUR CoinTree page here: https://cointr.ee/joshsigurdson JOIN US on SubscribeStar here: https://www.subscribestar.com/world-alternative-media For subscriber only content! Pledge here! Just a dollar a month can help us alive! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2652072&ty=h&u=2652072 BITCOIN ADDRESS: 18d1WEnYYhBRgZVbeyLr6UfiJhrQygcgNU World Alternative Media 2025

In Episode 130, Scott Piehler's topics include: A suspect in custody after Lincoln Middle shelters in place. The City Council addresses homelessness and the Port of Oakland. Guaranteed Basic Income comes to Alameda County. The Rotary Club lends a hand. Wet weather means sandbags. The latest in real estate sales. The torch is passed at Julie's. Plus weekend events. Support the show• AlamedaPost.com • Podcast • Events • Contact •• Facebook • Instagram • Threads • BlueSky • Reddit • Mastodon • NextDoor • YouTube • Apple News •

ICYMI: Hour One of ‘Later, with Mo'Kelly' Presents – A look at LA community colleges plan to test out a guaranteed basic income program AND the menu for Dunkin Donuts free Wednesdays…Thoughts on the City of Santa Ana's proposal to combat homelessness - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app

Mike Ferguson in the Morning 10-17-24 (6:05am) Well, that Bret Baier interview on FOX with Kamala Harris was...something else. Story here: https://redstate.com/bonchie/2024/10/17/heres-what-we-learned-from-kamala-harris-diastrous-fox-news-interview-n2180692 Thanks to Nadine's Hash House in historic Soulard for hosting our show on Wednesday! Check them out here: https://www.nadineshashhouse.com/   (6:20am) More discussion on the Kamala Harris FOX interview.   St. Louis City officials find a way to resume the Guaranteed Basic Income program for another month or so...just keep giving money away. Story here: https://www.firstalert4.com/2024/10/17/city-st-louis-resumes-guaranteed-basic-income-program-with-private-funding/   (6:35am) Some local pro-Hamas protesters are actually being charged with crimes in St Louis County. Story here: https://www.firstalert4.com/2024/10/16/summonses-charges-issued-summer-protest-west-st-louis-county/?tbref=hp   (6:50am) MORNING NEWS DUMP B-2 Stealth bombers based in Missouri hit Houthi targets in Yemen overnight. Kamala Harris says she wants more immigration judges. FEMA looks for more funding. The developers who renovated The Armory in midtown St. Louis are being sued by their bank. Story here: https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/green-street-owner-of-closed-armory-building-faces-24m-lawsuit-over-unpaid-loans/ St. Louis City officials find a way to resume the Guaranteed Basic Income program for another month or so...just keep giving money away. Story here: https://www.firstalert4.com/2024/10/17/city-st-louis-resumes-guaranteed-basic-income-program-with-private-funding/ Blues host the NY Islanders tonight at Enterprise Center at 7pm.   NewsTalkSTL website: https://newstalkstl.com/ Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/NewsTalkSTL Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/NewstalkSTL Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewsTalkSTL Livestream 24/7: bit.ly/NEWSTALKSTLSTREAMSSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Ferguson in the Morning 10-17-24 (8:05am) Elias Tsapelas, Director of State Budget and Fiscal Policy at the Show-Me Institute, talks about Missouri's Proposition A regarding minimum wage and paid time off.  A new report from the Show-Me Institute, authored by Elias, examines the implications of Missouri's upcoming minimum wage proposal. The ballot measure, which will go before voters on November 5, 2024, calls for an increase in the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. The report raises concerns about the short-term and long-term effects such an increase may have on the state's economy, workforce, and business climate. The research indicates that minimum wage increases often lead to reduced hours, fewer job opportunities, and lower overall earnings for the very workers it is intended to assist. If the ballot measure passes, Missouri's minimum wage would be tied with that of Illinois and Nebraska as the highest in the region by 2026. This could place the state at a competitive disadvantage compared to neighboring states. Read his overview here: https://showmeinstitute.org/publication/minimum-wage/the-minimum-wage-in-missouri/ Check out his full policy brief here: https://showmeinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241003-Minimum-Wage-Tsapelas.pdf (https://showmeinstitute.org/)   (8:20am) MORNING NEWS DUMP B-2 Stealth bombers based in Missouri hit Houthi targets in Yemen overnight. Kamala Harris says she wants more immigration judges. FEMA looks for more funding. The developers who renovated The Armory in midtown St. Louis are being sued by their bank. Story here: https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/green-street-owner-of-closed-armory-building-faces-24m-lawsuit-over-unpaid-loans/ St. Louis City officials find a way to resume the Guaranteed Basic Income program for another month or so...just keep giving money away. Story here: https://www.firstalert4.com/2024/10/17/city-st-louis-resumes-guaranteed-basic-income-program-with-private-funding/ Blues host the NY Islanders tonight at Enterprise Center at 7pm.   (8:35am) Mark Schmitz from TheFreedom13.org gives us the latest info on the Veterans Recreational Retreat project. They've purchased land in Bourbon, MO, about 80 miles southwest of St. Louis, for their first Freedom Camp retreat center. The Missouri Freedom Camp is also known as Jared's Camp. Mark's son, Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, was one of 13 Marines killed in the Kabul, Afghanistan bombing. Their goal is to open 50 camps in 50 states on over 50,000 acres with a total of 650 homes to be built for veterans and their families to stay in for 1 week. Story here: https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/freedom-camp-will-offer-slice-of-heaven-for-veterans-families-in-rural-missouri/ More information here: https://thefreedom13.org/pages/the-freedom-13-veterans-recreational-retreat (https://thefreedom13.org/)   (8:50am) More discussion on that Bret Baier FOX interview with Kamala Harris. Story here: https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/10/17/watch-scott-jennings-scorches-kamalas-twisted-response-on-border-in-fox-interview-n2180691   NewsTalkSTL website: https://newstalkstl.com/ Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/NewsTalkSTL Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/NewstalkSTL Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewsTalkSTL Livestream 24/7: bit.ly/NEWSTALKSTLSTREAMSSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the first hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Thursday, September 19, 2024, we're broadcasting live from the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative (RMAPI) summit at MCC's downtown campus for a discussion on the City of Rochester's Guaranteed Basic Income program and efforts to address poverty.

On this episode of Appointed, Senator Kim Pate speaks with Ottawa City Councillors, Theresa Kavanagh and Marty Carr. This fabulous duo successfully presented a motion on July 10, 2024, supporting a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income. They were inspired by the Ottawa Board of Health June 17, 2024 resolution supporting a Basic Income Guarantee for all people over the age of 17 as a means of addressing poverty, the number one social determinant of ill health.Kim and the Councillors discuss the importance of a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income, the potential it has to support safety, autonomy, the social determinants of health, and other inequities faced by Ottawa citizens and Canadians more broadly.Councillor Carr represents the area of Alta Vista, and Councillor Kavanagh is the councillor for the By Ward region of Ottawa.__________________________________Senator Pate's Guaranteed Livable Basic Income Fact Sheets can be read hereCity Council Motion to Support a Guaranteed Basic Income for Canadians available here & hereOttawa City Council Backs Basic Income can be watched hereBill S-233, An Act to develop a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income can be read hereAn Op-Ed by Councillor Marty Carr can be found here

Brad Young is At Your Service! In the second hour, Brad tackles a multitude of topics, such as Guaranteed Basic Income, the hearing of Kimberly Cheatle, and much more!

On the radio show this week, we cover the Fellowship for Liberated Futures to support the healing, wellness, and wellbeing of Black women and femmes who are on the frontlines leading justice-focused work across the social sector – and dive into the importance of rest to rise (and also share some tips too!); next up we cover how guaranteed basic income lifts families and the economy alike; after that we cover the terrific new changes in WIC, how people can access WIC, and also touch on the expanded summer nutrition programs for kids; then, last we cover how Republicans are attacking access to birth control and IVF – and how we can fight for our rights together.   *Special guest include: Chera Reid, Co-Host & Co-visionary @ Fellowship for Liberated Futures, instagram.com/liberatedfuture; Aisha Nyandoro, Springboard To Opportunities, @SpringboardToOp; Stacy Dean, USDA Food and Nutrition Service, @USDANutrition; Elyssa Schmier, MomsRising, @MomsRising."

Mike Ferguson in the Morning 06-20-24 Are you paying attention yet? Mainstream media cover-up continues regarding Biden's embarrassing problems. Story here: https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/06/19/cbs-goes-all-in-on-the-cheap-fakes-claim-but-then-have-some-embarrassing-problems-of-their-own-n2175695 After 80 years, a St. Louis-area soldier who was killed in Germany during WWII will finally be buried at Jefferson Barracks. Story here: https://www.missourinet.com/2024/06/20/missouri-soldier-killed-during-world-war-ii-to-be-buried-at-jefferson-barracks-cemetery/ Two climate change activists from Just Stop Oil were taken into custody in Britain after spray-painting the ancient site at Stonehenge, the prehistoric megalithic structure, the color orange to protest the country's ongoing use of fossil fuels. Story here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/just-stop-oil-activists-paint-stonehenge-orange-two-arrested/ar-BB1owwAP?ocid=BingNewsSerp Also Stonehenge story here: https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/06/20/activists-attack-stonehenge-n2175707 St. Louis City Hall dials up socialism with their pilot program, a Guaranteed Basic Income program, and the Holy Joe Society has filed a lawsuit to stop it. Story here: https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/politics/st-louis-guaranteed-basic-income-program-lawsuit/63-97f581c8-586e-420d-9ea2-ea40f4dd2101 MORNING NEWS DUMP: St. Louis City Hall dials up socialism with their pilot program, a Guaranteed Basic Income program, and the Holy Joe Society has filed a lawsuit to stop it. Story here: https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/politics/st-louis-guaranteed-basic-income-program-lawsuit/63-97f581c8-586e-420d-9ea2-ea40f4dd2101 Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) calls out the Biden Administration's open border policies which are causing a national security crisis at the southern border. Story here: https://www.lankford.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/just-in-lankford-calls-bidens-border-eos-a-mess-stresses-national-security-concerns-as-americans-live-on-borrowed-time-under-lawless-president/ After 80 years, a St. Louis-area soldier who was killed in Germany during WWII will finally be buried at Jefferson Barracks. Story here: https://www.missourinet.com/2024/06/20/missouri-soldier-killed-during-world-war-ii-to-be-buried-at-jefferson-barracks-cemetery/ Deepfake video clips? Cheap fake video clips? CBS jumps into the fray. Story here: https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/06/19/cbs-goes-all-in-on-the-cheap-fakes-claim-but-then-have-some-embarrassing-problems-of-their-own-n2175695 The chairman of the Illinois Republican Party calls it quits. Don Tracy says he's tired of the infighting. Story here: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4731794-illinois-gop-chair-resigns-citing-party-infighting/ Cardinals lost to the Marlins in Miami 4-3. They'll play the San Francisco Giants tonight at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, where Willie Mays first played pro ball with the Black Barons in the Negro Leagues. More on the early days of Willie's career here: https://www.milb.com/news/a-look-at-the-top-five-black-players-in-barons-history NewsTalkSTL website: https://newstalkstl.com/ Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/NewsTalkSTL Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/NewstalkSTL Livestream 24/7: http://bit.ly/newstalkstlstreamSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Ferguson in the Morning 06-20-24 George Santos launches a new gig...online...with OnlyFans. What could go wrong?!? Since his ouster from Congress, he's also been doing stuff with Cameo and racking up donations from people who want him to film personalized videos. Story here: https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4730226-george-santos-former-lawmaker-joins-only-fans/ Two climate change activists from Just Stop Oil were taken into custody in Britain after spray-painting the ancient site at Stonehenge, the prehistoric megalithic structure, the color orange to protest the country's ongoing use of fossil fuels. Story here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/just-stop-oil-activists-paint-stonehenge-orange-two-arrested/ar-BB1owwAP?ocid=BingNewsSerp Also Stonehenge story here: https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/06/20/activists-attack-stonehenge-n2175707 MORNING NEWS DUMP: St. Louis City Hall dials up socialism with their pilot program, a Guaranteed Basic Income program, and the Holy Joe Society has filed a lawsuit to stop it. Story here: https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/politics/st-louis-guaranteed-basic-income-program-lawsuit/63-97f581c8-586e-420d-9ea2-ea40f4dd2101 Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) calls out the Biden Administration's open border policies which are causing a national security crisis at the southern border. Story here: https://www.lankford.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/just-in-lankford-calls-bidens-border-eos-a-mess-stresses-national-security-concerns-as-americans-live-on-borrowed-time-under-lawless-president/ After 80 years, a St. Louis-area soldier who was killed in Germany during WWII will finally be buried at Jefferson Barracks. Story here: https://www.missourinet.com/2024/06/20/missouri-soldier-killed-during-world-war-ii-to-be-buried-at-jefferson-barracks-cemetery/ Deepfake video clips? Cheap fake video clips? CBS jumps into the fray. Story here: https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/06/19/cbs-goes-all-in-on-the-cheap-fakes-claim-but-then-have-some-embarrassing-problems-of-their-own-n2175695 The chairman of the Illinois Republican Party calls it quits. Don Tracy says he's tired of the infighting. Story here: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4731794-illinois-gop-chair-resigns-citing-party-infighting/ Cardinals lost to the Marlins in Miami 4-3. They'll play the San Francisco Giants tonight at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, where Willie Mays first played pro ball with the Black Barons in the Negro Leagues. More on the early days of Willie's career here: https://www.milb.com/news/a-look-at-the-top-five-black-players-in-barons-history Reddit asks what seems easy for other people but it's hard for you? Article here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1dgfnry/what_is_something_that_seems_easy_to_other_people/ NewsTalkSTL website: https://newstalkstl.com/ Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/NewsTalkSTL Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/NewstalkSTL Livestream 24/7: http://bit.ly/newstalkstlstreamSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the radio show this week, we cover the Fellowship for Liberated Futures to support the healing, wellness, and wellbeing of Black women and femmes who are on the frontlines leading justice-focused work across the social sector – and dive into the importance of rest to rise (and also share some tips too!); next up we cover how guaranteed basic income lifts families and the economy alike; after that we cover the terrific new changes in WIC, how people can access WIC, and also touch on the expanded summer nutrition programs for kids; then, last we cover how Republicans are attacking access to birth control and IVF – and how we can fight for our rights together.   *Special guest include: Chera Reid, Co-Host & Co-visionary @ Fellowship for Liberated Futures, instagram.com/liberatedfuture; Aisha Nyandoro, Springboard To Opportunities, @SpringboardToOp; Stacy Dean, USDA Food and Nutrition Service, @USDANutrition; Elyssa Schmier, MomsRising, @MomsRising.

About 100 people were selected for a 10-month “Guaranteed Basic Income” pilot in King County that launched in the fall of 2022.

Allie Kelly, Economy Reporter from Business Insider, joins Jon Hansen on Your Money Matters to discuss “The Big Say” in the workplace and guaranteed basic income in San Antonio. Allie also shares how it worked in San Antonio with 1000 individuals and what the people who participated in the program used the money for. For […]

Most Americans have little to no savings so even a small emergency can have catastrophic results. Pilot programs in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces are among those nationwide seeking to help some low income families by providing a modest monthly stipend. It's called a Guaranteed Basic Income. What do you think about giving people money directly?

On this topical show, special guest host Shannon Cheng welcomes back Amy Sundberg and BJ Last from Solidarity Budget to discuss how the City of Seattle is rushing to bring three surveillance technologies to the streets of Seattle with minimal public input - a final public meeting happens next week on Tuesday, February 27th, 6pm! Amy and BJ fill Shannon in on Seattle's Surveillance Impact Report process and their concerns that three technologies - Acoustic Gunshot Location System (AGLS, aka ShotSpotter), Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV), and Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC) - are being rushed through without providing the public transparency into potential privacy concerns, especially relating to equity and community impact, ahead of their potential adoption. After identifying the problems the City claims to be solving with these surveillance technologies, Amy and BJ discuss how each proposed technology, both individually and in combination, have been shown to be ineffective and at times harmful when used in other cities around the country. They then provide examples of solutions proven to address gun violence that show great promise but are chronically underfunded. Finally, Amy and BJ share a host of opportunities that concerned listeners have to make their voice heard, including at the final public meeting next week on Tuesday, February 27th, 6pm!  As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Follow us on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the guest host, Shannon Cheng, on Twitter at @drbestturtle, find Amy Sundberg at @amysundberg, and find Solidarity Budget at https://www.seattlesolidaritybudget.com/.   Amy Sundberg Amy Sundberg is the publisher of Notes from the Emerald City, a weekly newsletter on Seattle politics and policy with a particular focus on public safety, police accountability, and the criminal legal system. She also writes about public safety for The Urbanist. She organizes with Seattle Solidarity Budget and People Power Washington. In addition, she writes science fiction and fantasy, with a new novel, TO TRAVEL THE STARS, a retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in space, available now. She is particularly fond of Seattle's parks, where she can often be found walking her little dog.   BJ Last BJ Last is a business analyst, and former small business owner, with two decades of budgeting experience across a wide range of industries. He organizes with the Solidarity Budget and Ballard Mutual Aid.   Resources Public Comment Period Opening for the Technology Assisted Crime Prevention Pilot Technologies | City of Seattle Information Technology   STOP Surveillance City - Solidarity Budget Call to Action   Stop Surveillance City Sign-On Letter | Solidarity Budget   “Harrell Plans Hasty Rollout of Massive Surveillance Expansion” by Amy Sundberg from The Urbanist   “Seattle's New Policing Panopticon” by Puget Sound Prisoner Support for Puget Sound Anarchists   The Surveillance Ordinance | City of Seattle   “Mayor Johnson to end ShotSpotter deal after summer, making good on key campaign promise” by Tom Schuba and Fran Spielman from The Chicago Sun-Times   Seattle Police Department 2023 Year-End Overview | Presentation to Seattle Public Safety Committee - February 13, 2024   Dangerous Surveillance #1 - Closed-Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) | Solidarity Budget   Dangerous Surveillance #2 - Acoustic Gunshot Location System (AGLS), aka ShotSpotter | Solidarity Budget   Dangerous Surveillance #3 - Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC) | Solidarity Budget   “Cook County, Ill., officials say ICE using data brokers to purchase protected information” by Lindsay McKenzie from StateScoop   @DivestSPD on Twitter/X: SPD sociopath Micah Smith #7714 involuntarily committed people to score a date w/ an ambulance driver   “OPA Documents Show Current SPD Officer Misused Internal Police Data to Try to Get a Date, “Caused Anxiety and Concern”” by Carolyn Bick from South Seattle Emerald   Rainier Beach Action Coalition   King County Regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention   “Richmond is offering an important lesson on public safety at a critical time” by Justin Phillips from San Francisco Chronicle   “Want to reduce violence? Invest in place.” by Hanna Love from The Brookings Institution   Seattle Solidarity Budget on Instagram   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review show and our Tuesday topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. [00:00:52] Shannon Cheng: Hello, everybody. This is Shannon Cheng, producer of Hacks & Wonks. I am going to be your special guest host again today, and I'm super excited to be welcoming back to the show Amy Sundberg and BJ Last from Solidarity Budget. Some of you may recall that we did a show back in November about the Seattle City budget process. And we talked at that time about a proposed crime prevention pilot program that included technology such as ShotSpotter and CCTV. Well, today we're sort of doing this as an emergency show because we're trying to follow up on what's happening with the City's process in acquiring and implementing these technologies. So I just really wanted to have these experts back on to fill us in on what's going on and why it's important. So starting off, what is happening? What are these surveillance technologies that are being considered by the City? [00:01:41] Amy Sundberg: Good to be back. We're happy to be here talking about this. Yeah, so there are three different technologies that are currently being discussed and reviewed. The first one is Acoustic Gunshot Location Systems, or AGLS - or colloquially known as ShotSpotter. So I would say as we continue to have this conversation, you should consider those phrases interchangeably. I might say AGLS, I might say ShotSpotter, but it's the same technology in either case. The second one is CCTV, and the third one is a Real-Time Crime Center software. [00:02:13] Shannon Cheng: When we talked about budget back in November, I feel like there were only two at the time. And now we're talking about three - is that true? [00:02:19] BJ Last: Yes, that has come in. They're claiming magically that it's all going to work under the same dollar amount. Back when we talked, it was just the AGLS, the Acoustic Gunshot Location Service, and the closed circuit television cameras, the CCTV. So now it's the Real-Time Crime Center, the RTCC, which is largely just a massive compiler of data that goes and pulls in tech from ShotSpotter, from AGLS microphones, from City-owned CCTV cameras, from privately-owned CCTV cameras, and a bunch of AI algorithms - a real quick overview of what that one is. But yeah, we're now up to three techs as a suite. [00:02:57] Amy Sundberg: I should say, too, that the RTCC software also will integrate the license plate readers, which we just saw a massive expansion of at the end of last year. [00:03:05] Shannon Cheng: Right. Just to remind everybody where we were at at the end of 2023 - during that budget process, funding for this surveillance technology was allocated, and I believe it was $1.8 million total. And of that, $1.5 million was supposed to be for a pilot project for this Acoustic Gunshot Locator System plus the CCTV - and there was no Real-Time Crime Center at the time. And then the other $300,000 was for this expansion of Automatic License Plate Readers that Amy just mentioned. So where are we now with these three surveillance technologies? [00:03:46] Amy Sundberg: Well, we are in the middle of a convoluted process that BJ and I and others have been spending a lot of time trying to understand and to help other people understand. So it's called a Surveillance Impact Review, which all surveillance technologies that are going to be used in the City of Seattle now have to go through this review process because of an ordinance that was passed. [00:04:09] BJ Last: And do you want to give a shout out to who was the primary sponsor of this ordinance? It is our current mayor, Bruce Harrell - just a fun one to know, given with how this process is unfolding. [00:04:21] Amy Sundberg: I actually didn't know that, and that is kind of ironic - so thank you for sharing. So this process has to be done for any technology that is deemed to be surveillance technology, which all three of these technologies have been deemed. And it is a review process that has many steps. We have the draft reports available now, which I believe were filled out by SPD and maybe also the executive's office. And right now we're in the stage where we are able to give public comment. So there has to be at least one public hearing for this report - they are having two public hearings. One of them already happened, and the other one is upcoming on February 27th at 6 p.m. at Bitter Lake Community Center and online, of course. [00:05:14] BJ Last: And I will say this process is being exceptionally, I'd say, rushed and short. So they started taking public comment on February 5th. They stop taking public comment on February 29th. So y'all can do the math - that's well less than 30 days that people actually get to go and provide feedback on this. And as Amy mentioned, there will be a grand total of two public hearings on this. So we're looking at literally less than a hearing per technology being done - three technologies, but only two total hearings. And as a comparison of how this works - Dayton, Ohio, an area I think a lot of people in Seattle would probably look down as like red state, flyover country - when they were looking at adopting just one of these technologies, they had 13 public hearings versus nominally progressive Seattle doing its grand total of two for three technologies. [00:06:05] Shannon Cheng: Okay, so at the end of last year, the City allocated the money for these technologies. Now they're going through this process. As you said, it's this Surveillance Ordinance - so that took effect in November of 2018. It was designed to provide greater transparency when deciding whether the City was going to adopt any technology that is surveillance, as Amy said. And just to be clear, this is not just restricted to the Seattle Police Department wanting to implement surveillance technologies. When I was looking back at some of the past technologies that had to go through this process, SDOT had to do this for some cameras they had for traffic detection to help streets moving smoothly. So this is just - whenever we're implementing something that is going to be observing, it's so that the public and the city council can understand - what are the impacts and are there any concerns that we need to know about before we just roll all this stuff out onto our streets. So that's where we're at. And in the past, I noticed it took them maybe 6-7 months to go through this process. But as you're describing it, BJ, it sounds like it could be less than a month that they're trying to do everything right now. [00:07:16] BJ Last: Correct. They're trying to limit all the public input to less than one month just to go push it through. You did a great job summarizing the Surveillance Ordinance, Shannon. It really was designed so the people of Seattle get to meaningfully - A) find out what surveillance they're potentially going to be impacted to, and B) get a chance to evaluate it so that we don't end up - Oh wow, there's this new surveillance because five people fell for a sales pitch. That people of the city actually got a chance to research the thing, find out what they were dealing with, and that's really hard to say that's happening when you're trying to do three different technologies in less than 30 days. [00:07:50] Shannon Cheng: Yeah, that's a lot of information. I admit I've been having trouble wrapping my head around everything. So it sounds like we're already past the point of one of the public meetings having happened. We're recording this show Thursday, February 15th. The first one happened on Monday, February 12th. So what was that public meeting like? Did they provide in-depth information about the impacts that these technologies might have? And how did people react? [00:08:17] Amy Sundberg: No, I wouldn't say that. About half of the meeting was a presentation about the technologies, but it was more about why they're going to adopt them - what they think will be helpful about the technologies. They didn't really go over any of the negative impacts that we are so worried about. And then there was a chance for public comment. I would say there was about 15 or 16 people who wanted to give comment at this first meeting, which - people didn't have a lot of advance notice. And like you said, it is three different technologies - some of which people are hearing about for the very first time - and they are technical. It does take some time to learn even what they are and how they work and why we should maybe be worried. So 15 or 16, given that, I feel like was higher than anticipated. And what I heard over and over again is people saying - This is too rushed. We need to slow down. We have concerns. We are against this surveillance technology. And also this is too fast, and this process is not serving the people of Seattle well. I would say there was maybe one comment that wasn't that. It was very uniform, in terms of people being very concerned about this. And it was at noon on a Monday, so people are taking their lunch break or time off in the middle of a workday - that's how worried they are, right? I am happy that the second public meeting is in the evening to give a different demographic of folks the chance to come out and give comment. But I still think two one-hour sessions is not sufficient. I will also say that there are other worrisome things about this process. For example, there is a Surveillance Advisory Working Group. And how they plug into this process is once everything else is kind of done, they are supposed to review these reports. And then they complete a civil liberties and privacy assessment, which for a surveillance technology, you can see how crucial that would be. And right now, that group has one confirmed sitting member. So they can't meet quorum, right? And I know that there are some other folks that are lined up, but they do need to be confirmed in the committee first. And again, this is being very rushed - the mayor's office gets to appoint some and then the council gets to appoint some - the timing of it all makes me feel uncomfortable, to be frank. That this is going to be rushed right before these three technologies are going to be discussed - who is being chosen and why? I don't know the answers to that, but these are questions that we're going to have to ask as those appointees come on board. And then they're going to be brand new, and right away have to do this review. Again, a very rushed process. And then perhaps my - all these things are very concerning, but one of my biggest concerns is the Racial Equity Toolkit component of this process. So all of these Surveillance Impact Reports have to have a Racial Equity Toolkit as part of the process. And it's been very unclear as to how - is the Racial Equity Toolkit a concurrent process? Is it a separate process? What is the timeline? What kind of outreach is going to happen? How are they reaching out to the impacted groups? Are they making sure to do so in a way that is best for those groups and to do it in a variety of different ways, et cetera, et cetera? There's a lot of open questions that I have not been able to get answers to thus far. I've been hearing that possibly these public hearings that we're having for the Surveillance Impact Report might be kind of rolled into the Racial Equity Toolkit, which seems inappropriate to me, frankly, for technologies that have such potential for grave misuse and negative impact. As well, we do not yet know exactly where this technology is going to be deployed. We've been told several locations - Aurora Avenue North, Belltown, and the Downtown commercial core - that's what we were told last year. Then a couple weeks ago, they added Chinatown International District - apparently at the last minute, and they don't know where. They've said that it's probably not going to be all of these places, but wherever they're going to deploy this technology, they need to do - in my opinion - a separate RET, Racial Equity Toolkit, because each neighborhood is going to have different dynamics, different demographics, different things going on, different groups that need to be consulted. And I haven't heard about any individual outreach. So it doesn't mean it hasn't happened, but I have been actively asking and I have not been able to find anything out that this is actually happening. As well, you're going to want to look at reports, studies for racial impacts, potentially. Again, I'm not seeing those being cited in the draft report. So it seems like a very slapdash, non-serious job that is being done. And it doesn't seem like the communications that have been sent out to the public don't seem to come from an administration that's serious about equity and social justice. And I'm very concerned, frankly, that I am even having trouble getting my questions answered. [00:13:38] BJ Last: Also, that's a great point on the four different areas that are up for consideration, because there are four areas - again, two public comment periods. Last one that's open is up in Bitter Lake - that is not exactly close to Chinatown International District, that is not close to Belltown, that's not really close to Downtown core. So three of the four areas that could potentially get this will have never even had a public hearing in their area. Fortunately, people can join that remotely, but that's also not even an option for everyone. So they've said this might go out in one of four areas. They're not even trying to do outreach in each of those areas, which is - as Amy said, seems like a problem, and that's something they're not really taking seriously. Same with when they wrote up the Surveillance Impact Reports - there's a section of what studies have they looked at for each technology. And for two of the reports, those are entirely blank. And for one of them, for CCTV, they referenced one study that actually found this has no impact on violent crime. So this seems very slapdash, just trying to push it through, not trying to get the community involved. [00:14:41] Amy Sundberg: We also really expected to see them talking to other cities. None of these technologies are particularly new. A lot of cities have used these technologies, have deployed them in various combinations. I will say also, it is not new to put all three of these technologies together in one place. Chicago, for example, does it - they've been doing it for a while now. And we're seeing a lot of cities backtracking - having had a contract for ShotSpotter or similar technology, and then discontinuing that contract. And just this week, we got the news that Chicago is going to be discontinuing their very large contract for ShotSpotter by fall at the latest. And it seems that it would make sense for a city who is considering deploying this technology to talk to other cities about the experience that they have had, especially if it seems like maybe they've had kind of a negative or mixed experience. [00:15:37] Shannon Cheng: So what I'm hearing from the two of you is that we're on the brink of potentially acquiring or implementing these technologies, which we have some concerns about, that the product of this Surveillance Impact Report process is to provide the city council a holistic view of what these technologies are meant to do, whether they work, what kind of drawbacks they might have. And unfortunately, it sounds like the process that they're going through, there's just a lot of things wrong with it - the speed at which it's going, the incompleteness of their filling out the draft report, the not making sure that the last group who is going to review the report before it goes in its final form to city council even has people on it. It just makes you wonder - it's not like they didn't know this was coming. I remember when we spoke last November - BJ, you pointed out they had been trying to get ShotSpotter since the year before. They had an entire year. Now they've had two years to start planning, filling out this report, getting all these ducks in a row. And it just seems like we're now here at the last minute and there's some kind of false sense of urgency being put on the city council - who is also brand new to all of this as well - to just accept things that are going to have ramifications for everybody who lives, works, or plays in Seattle for many, many years to come. So I feel worried listening to the two of you talk. So that's just the process. What about the technologies themselves? When we hear the word "surveillance," my concerns are my privacy rights - when I just go about my daily life, I don't necessarily want to feel like I am being monitored and all the details of that are being kept somewhere. When people feel like they are being surveilled, there can be a chilling effect on just how they behave - whether that's in public, or where they go, or who they associate with, or what they say. We're trying to live, theoretically, in a vibrant community with diversity in it. And I think that surveillance does have this effect that homogenizes - when people try to play to the camera and make sure that they're not going to get singled out for whatever that is being looked for. And then there's a lot of discrimination when it comes to surveillance - just the way that it's implemented - it's just got issues where the system's just never perfect at understanding what it's seeing. And so unfortunately, biases trickle through. So just generally, that's why surveillance is bad. And so that's why it's really important and why there's supposedly this process where before we undertake letting more of it into our lives, we want to understand what are the issues with it. So here we are - we're in the City of Seattle, we're thinking about implementing these three technologies. Again, that would be the Acoustic Gunshot Location System, the CCTV cameras, and the Real-Time Crime Center. What problem does the City claim that we're trying to solve with these technologies? And does it seem like that they will? [00:18:53] BJ Last: So the claim is that this is specifically for gun crime - which is always the claim that these technologies and a lot of other surveillance technologies use as an excuse - because that is a very real and very, very serious problem. And the thing is, they know it absolutely doesn't work - their technologies don't actually work to reduce that. And that's why you see what their pitch is keeps changing - from, Oh, this is going to prevent or reduce crime, to, Okay, this will help gather evidence for after crime has occurred, to, Maybe this will help the community know to improve the emotional health of kids, to, Maybe this will get people to medical treatment faster. It's just sort of as studies come out showing one doesn't work, they just keep moving the goalposts and moving the pitch. That's why even the technology suite keeps changing. From it's just, Oh you need CCTV - that's gonna solve it - make us a crime-free world, to, Oh, you need Acoustic Gunshot Location, AGLS. Oh no, you need the two of them combined. Oh no, you need the two of them plus RTCC, the Real-Time Crime Center, and all of its algorithms. It just keeps going because it absolutely does not work on this. And this is actually even really reflected in how the City has kept trying to pitch these things. This right now is called the crime prevention pilot - emphasis on the word "prevention." So when they tried to get it back in the 2023 budget, an actual quote from Mayor Bruce Harrell - "Cities across the country have used this as an evidence gathering tool, not a violence prevention tool." So 2023, they're - Nope, no prevention. 2024 budget, they're back to calling it prevention. They're just constantly trying to change what it is. So nominally, it is for gun violence, but we've seen time and again that it does not work for that. Studies that you look at - like Chicago, they found that it's missed hundreds of gunshots in an actual year, while at the same time having an incredibly high false positive rate, with 9 out of 10 alerts being no evidence of any gun crime occurred. CCTV - again, the study that the city mentioned, found that it has absolutely no impact on violent crime rates or clearance. So what it's supposedly for, it absolutely doesn't work and does a whole host of harm in the meantime. [00:21:02] Amy Sundberg: Another way that it's being pitched is to deal with SPD's unprecedented staffing shortages - that's a quote from the report. So conveniently this week, we just had the new numbers released for crime in Seattle in 2023. In terms of staffing for SPD - in 2023, they lost 36 more officers than they were able to hire in the year. So they're a net negative 36 - so it went down - they have less staffing now than they did before. And yet in 2023, they had a 9% reduction in overall crime and a 6% reduction in violent crime. Now, I don't want to be gaming these statistics - what is very serious is that there was a 23% increase in homicide. And obviously, we don't want to see that. But the question is, does staffing actually impact these numbers? Is that the thing that does it? And so in that case, does alleviating this staffing issue with these techs - is that going to have any impact on the numbers? And the studies, in general, say no - with CCTV, it would maybe have an impact on car theft or maybe some types of property crime. But property crime actually went down 10% in 2023 already. The numbers don't really line up either in terms of this unprecedented staffing and needing this technology. And at a certain point, I think you have to do a cost-benefit analysis of what do you expect to potentially gain from adopting a technology versus what are the harms that might happen. And so far, this conversation has been shifting the goalposts a lot on what we hope to gain and ignoring all of the potential and documented in other cities harm that could be caused. And I feel like that's a really unfortunate way for this conversation to be framed. [00:22:53] BJ Last: And before getting into some of the harms, I want to - you mentioned, Amy, that they're using the - what they have been trying to claim since 2019 is a massive police staffing shortage. That is just a complete nonsensical argument for these. Acoustic gunshot Location Services - it's a false call generating machine. I mentioned Chicago found a 90% false positive rate. Atlanta found a 97% false positive rate. That's one of the reasons why both of those cities have stopped using Acoustic Gunshot Location Services. Other cities have as well, with police coming out and saying - This is a massive strain on our resources, because we're constantly getting these alerts that are coming through as, Oh, it's a shots fired incident. We're dispatching cops and they get there and they're like - there's absolutely nothing around. So the claim that this somehow would help for staffing levels is absolutely absurd, when again - AGLS just generates false positives, that's what it does. [00:23:45] Amy Sundberg: Another thing that they're saying is that this would help get more justice for victims and victims' families of gun violence - and that also doesn't seem to be the case. There was a new review that just came out in the last couple of weeks by Cook County state attorney's office in Illinois that found that - they're using ShotSpotter. They found it has, "a minimal effect on prosecuting gun violence cases." And, "ShotSpotter is not making a significant impact on shooting incidents, with only 1% of shooting incidences ending in a ShotSpotter arrest." And then they also said - Also, it's really expensive. - so that's a thing, too. And then I spoke to an expert at the MacArthur Justice Center - attorney named Jonathan Manes - and he says that ShotSpotter doesn't make police more efficient or relieve staffing shortages. He says - Actually, it's the opposite. It vastly increases the number of police deployments in response to supposed gunfire - these false alerts that BJ was talking about - but with no corresponding increase in gun violence arrests or other interventions. And then he went on to tell me that it actually increases response times to 911 calls as a result of flooding the system. [00:24:56] BJ Last: And it isn't just Acoustic Gunshot Location Systems that don't work on this. Again, with CCTV as well - there was a study from Dallas looking into this, and it found it didn't have any impact on clearance rates for violent crime. There was no benefit from actually going and putting out a bunch of CCTV cameras. And this actually corresponds with a lot of the studies done in London that have also shown the same thing - when they put cameras out through the city, they don't see that. The British Home Office looked into 14 different CCTV ones and found that they didn't reduce crime, make people feel any safer. So it's not just acoustic gunshot location, but even CCTV doesn't work, which I feel like for some people - it feels almost counterintuitive on that because we see so much crime dramas and all of - Oh, cameras solve everything - often with someone saying the word "enhance" multiple times and you get perfect evidence that never would have existed otherwise. And that's just not borne out by reality, they just do not do that. [00:25:54] Amy Sundberg: I also just wanted to mention - this is called a pilot project, so it is not necessarily going to have a huge deployment right from the start. But the reason it's still really important to have this public conversation now, as opposed to later, is that this Surveillance Impact Review is happening now. This is our chance to discuss it. And once it passes this review, it won't go through another review if they decide they massively want to expand. So this opens the door to any future expansion that the City might decide that they want to do. And we've seen a recent example with the license plate readers, which did go through a surveillance review process in the past. They had it deployed on only a few SPD patrol vehicles, and now they're going to be on every single patrol vehicle that SPD owns. And that took very little effort. It received very little coverage in the media. So this is our one opportunity to most effectively push back against the broader use of these technologies, even though right now it's just being discussed as a pilot. [00:26:59] Shannon Cheng: So during budget season, as we discussed before, they only talked about those first two - the Automatic Gunshot Locator System and the CCTV - but now they're adding on this Real-Time Crime Center. This is the one that I feel the least familiar with, but it also sounds potentially very insidious. And now they're trying to sell this as a package of these three together, claiming that - maybe these individually don't work that well on their own, but somehow magically, if we combine them together, it's going to completely be a Transformer robot or something and be able to save the world. So my understanding with this Real-Time Crime Center - and this ties into this expansion of Automatic License Plate Readers you were just talking about, Amy - is that it's just trying to basically aggregate a bunch of data from different sources that the police department has and then give this one view or something to some observer to call the shots about what's happening or what's not happening. What really worried me when I was reading about it is that it takes in these sources that maybe the City has deployed around, but it also offers this opportunity for private cameras to be incorporated. So people can opt-in to let their own - whether they have a Ring doorbell camera, that type of thing, or just a security camera at their business or their home - and they can allow, basically, law enforcement have access to that without their neighbors necessarily knowing or people coming into their store. And that doesn't go through a process on its own at all and wouldn't be subject to maybe public disclosure requests to know where the location of those cameras were or where they're being pointed. So what more can you tell me about RTCC? Because I just - I'm worried. [00:28:56] Amy Sundberg: I think you should be worried. Yeah, it is worrisome. And the more I read about it, the more worried I become. You always hope in these situations that you start out being worried and then those worries are ameliorated through gaining more knowledge. But in this case, it is the opposite. I think the ability to plug in all these private cameras into the system is a big issue. The amount of data that is going to be collected - I don't think that can be understated - it's a massive amount of data because it's taking in all the data from all these other surveillance technologies, both the already existing ones like license plate readers and these potential new ones. And then all of these private cameras, which can keep expanding over time without oversight because they're privately owned cameras. So the public doesn't really get to weigh in on those private cameras. They can be pointed anywhere - you are correct. And the City has no control over where the private cameras are pointed. But that data still is then brought back to the software and collated and run through algorithms and available for people to have access to. So that is definitely worrisome. [00:30:03] BJ Last: Yeah, the fact that the City doesn't control where the cameras go - since they now allow the private ones in there - is a huge thing. You may think - Hey, the City wouldn't point a camera at, oh, say, the parking lot of Planned Parenthood or a healthcare facility, because Seattle wants to be a sanctuary city for people seeking abortion healthcare or people seeking transgender healthcare. Hey, a private individual can. The Denny Blaine Beach - we just had that, where someone tried giving the city $550k to put in a playground there to effectively drive a queer beach - to disband it. Hey, they wouldn't have to give the City $550k, they could just point a camera there. So any place, if you were like - Oh, well, the City wouldn't do that because for whatever reason - they wouldn't target any groups. Guess what? Any private individual can go and point a camera wherever they want, and now that's getting fed in. And that is now data that does not need a warrant to be accessed. And so any potentially marginalized group anywhere that Seattle is trying to be a sanctuary city for is completely at-risk off of this. So just all of that is now in play as these private cameras roll out. And beyond private cameras, RTCC, the Real-Time Crime Centers, they're also another Software As A Service, like the Acoustic Gunshot Location. And part of that is they openly brag about how they are constantly rolling out new algorithms as part of your subscription package - A) that really seems like that violates the Surveillance Ordinance because those aren't going up and getting public review as a part of that, so now that can't happen. And then what even are the ones that they're doing? So some of the ones that groups are trying to do is the theory of detecting whether or not someone has a gun on them by using cameras and looking at the way they walk, which unsurprisingly is incredibly inaccurate - as inaccurate as that actually even sounds, just from me trying to describe it. So you now have the potential of - that's now part of the RTCC. So SPD is now going to potentially roll up because - Hey, the camera algorithm thought you had a sort of funny walk, so guess what? The cops are now getting called as if you're someone carrying a gun on you. That is really - like that's so absurd, it doesn't sound like it should be accurate, but that is actually what this is. [00:32:11] Amy Sundberg: I have a couple of other concerns as well - going back to the privately-owned cameras for just a moment. Because they're privately owned, what that means is it makes it more complicated and confusing in terms of restrictions that normally govern the police. So, for example, they wouldn't necessarily have to get a warrant for footage that they normally would be required to get a warrant for. And there's settings that the private users can do, but it's confusing. I don't think your layperson is necessarily going to know what they're opting into. I've spent the last two weeks immersing myself in information about this, and I still find aspects of it confusing. And your average person doesn't have two weeks to do that, you know? So it kind of disrupts the current checks and balances we have around surveillance and police power, which I find very concerning. And then in terms of undermining Seattle's status as a sanctuary city, one of the things that is key to understand about this software is - the privacy of the data is not guaranteed. Once it's in that Real-Time Crime Center software, there's a lot of interagency exchange. So SPD might originally get the data. And then it could be exchanged with another law enforcement department somewhere else. And they could exchange it with another law enforcement department somewhere else. And then it could end up with ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], as one example. I asked some experts - because we do have an ordinance here in Seattle that requires that when ICE makes a request, that it be referred to Mayor's Office Legal Counsel when they ask SPD for something. I was like - Well, would that help? But probably not, because of what I just stated - because it can pass from agency to agency to agency. So it's some fourth agency that's giving it to ICE - it's not SPD, so there's no chance to have that interruption there. As well, there are documented cases when a police officer will just give the data to ICE and they'll just - whatever policies are in place, they'll just kind of conveniently ignore that and hand over the data. So the idea really is that once this data is being collected and being collated, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to firewall it, protect it, make sure it stays in a limited space at all. And that has implications, as we've said, to undocumented people. It has implications for people who are seeking abortion - especially from other states where abortion is no longer legal. But we might eventually live in a world where abortion is no longer legal here in Washington state, and then it would apply to anybody seeking an abortion. It applies to all sorts of cases where privacy is really crucial, and not because anyone is committing gun violence - that's not why. [00:35:08] Shannon Cheng: Yeah, that point about who does get access to the data that's collected. It's one thing to have all these things collecting the data, but if it isn't well-protected or there isn't a good system to limit or manage who has access to it, that's very concerning. And as you said, it impacts vulnerable communities first, but ultimately it impacts all of us. When marginalized communities feel like they're being targeted, they tend to go into the shadows and the margins - and that just is not good for anybody. Right after the Muslim Ban, we worked for - trying to make sure that local law enforcement wasn't cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. And one of the arguments was that if undocumented folks can't trust local law enforcement to not turn them in for deportation - if they're a witness to a crime or something like that - they're not going to want to engage and help the community solve these ills. They're just going to go into hiding. And that's just bad for all of us in general. So it's really worrying. And then also, in addition to these unknown other people who have access to the data, Seattle Police Department officers themselves, in theory, might have access to that data. And we have some documented cases, even recently, where they have abused their access to data. Is that correct? [00:36:25] BJ Last: Yeah, yeah - absolutely. That is correct. We have had cases of SPD officers abusing access to data. One of the most famous ones was an officer effectively stalking a ambulance driver, an EMS person, and even having people involuntarily committed just to get to see that EMS person. By the way, they are still on the force. So, you know, in terms of how well our accountability system supposedly works. [00:36:50] Shannon Cheng: Wait, what? Because they wanted a date with the EMS person or something? [00:36:55] BJ Last: Because they wanted a date with them - that they were going and doing that. [00:36:59] Shannon Cheng: Wow. [00:37:01] Amy Sundberg: I would also just chime in and say we're talking about these really harmful impacts to our most vulnerable residents, our most marginalized residents. And I would say that is true across all three of these technologies, and it's documented. In terms of just ShotSpotter - increases pat downs, frisks, increases policing in the more marginalized communities, which tends to be where the microphone arrays are located in a city. And CCTV, it's been shown that people of color are more likely to be surveilled than other folks, so there is a disparate impact. So this is a throughpoint between all three of these technologies in terms of some of my gravest concerns - because again, these are not new technologies, so we've already seen how they've operated in the real world. [00:37:52] BJ Last: Yeah, and just to go on that, a couple of real concrete examples on each of these technologies - of them causing massive amounts of harm and abuse. In Washington, D.C., there was a case of a very high-ranking police officer - believe he was a lieutenant offhand - blackmailing gay men using CCTV footage. UK, case of a CCTV operator - got fired because he kept pointing cameras into a lady's apartment - I'm sorry, a flat, because it was in the UK. Very real risks of harm. Acoustic Gunshot Location - we know Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old that was chased and shot while unarmed by Chicago Police Department because they were responding to a ShotSpotter alert. Just last month in January in Chicago - cops responding to what was listed as a ShotSpotter alert opened fire on an unarmed man that they saw because one of them heard a loud noise when he stepped out of a car. Also out of Chicago - we have seen police officers literally run over gunshot victims because they were responding to ShotSpotter alerts. These are all things of really real actual harm that these technologies have caused. [00:38:57] Amy Sundberg: In addition, once we start talking about algorithms - which is what a lot of these technologies use - the algorithms tend to have racial bias baked into them because they're trained on datasets, and their datasets are informed by the racial bias that created them. So you end up in this loop where people are - Oh, well, the algorithms will solve racial bias. No, that is not true - because the data they're trained on has racial bias in it. So you see it instead perpetuated and potentially strengthened. [00:39:27] Shannon Cheng: Yeah, garbage in, garbage out. In my past life, I hung out with a lot of people who were very technology-focused, and I can see this - Oh, we'll just add all these things together and it's going to work. The problem is that they're trying to model the real world based on these just very concrete assumptions about what cause and effect are, when we know the real world is actually very nuanced and requires a lot of context to interpret. And the problem is with these surveillance things is you're getting a very narrow view of different aspects of the world. So, for example, for the Acoustic Gunshot Locator, you're just getting random sounds. And then okay, maybe now you're trying to match it up with video feed to try to figure it out. And then now you're adding in this algorithm that's going to compile it all together. But the thing is, we're talking about real people's lives at stake - that they're basically experimenting on. This is a testbed for unproven models with real world consequences, and when we're talking about the actual people who live in our city, that if they make a mistake - somebody gets run over or somebody gets shot. Because we've seen that there's this worldview that law enforcement has where they see a lot of things as a threat or they just feel like there's a lot of danger out there when that may not be the case. There's a difference between being uncomfortable and unsafe. And I don't know that these surveillance technologies are really going to help with determining between being uncomfortable or unsafe. In some ways, surveillance technology is allowing them to abstract from the real situation - when you look at things through the camera, you're like, Oh, well, it's a fancy technological solution, so it's got to be right. But you can't just assume that what the camera sees is the truth. [00:41:19] BJ Last: Yeah, and you talked about how these are unknown, haven't been studied - guess what? Stuff that actually reduces violent crime has been studied - this isn't something that we don't know - there are very real solutions on this, which is the much cooler thing. And I'm really happy that we're now transitioning into this, but most of them largely boil down to actually invest in community. Instead of giving the money to a tech company somewhere, invest in the actual communities themselves on that. There are some examples of that - the Rainier Beach Action Coalition - their program of youth violence interrupters, which are people in the community that are out there activating neighborhood street corners, they've been shown to reduce violence by 33%. In terms of that difference on actual invest in community on this - so for that $1.5 million, they could go and actually give 168 young people jobs for two years. So invest in community - it is proven, what Rainier Beach Action Coalition does. You can invest in community, give 168 people jobs, and you reduce violence. Or give the money to a couple big tech companies - that's just one of the things. [00:42:20] Amy Sundberg: We also have this work done in King County through Public Health and the new Office of Gun Violence Prevention. And I sat in on their meeting, giving their briefing to the new council. And for example, they give out free firearm lock boxes. And basically it means that you have a safe place to store your gun - because a lot of times kids get the guns because they're just laying around in a closet or a drawer or whatever. But if you have them locked up, then the kid can't get to the gun and suddenly everybody's safer. So they hand out those for free, which is very effective. They also had a gun buyback that they hosted where people could go and they got gift cards. And apparently it was so well attended last year that they ran out of gift cards before the end of the event. So there is actually an appetite in this community for these sorts of programs. It's more a question, I think, of funding than anything else. Which instead - what we're going to throw $1.5 million away on this technology that we're pretty sure isn't going to work, when we have these things that community wants and that we know will help. And that office also coordinates with the Peacekeepers Collective and their gun violence prevention programs as well. So there is a lot of stuff happening on a local level. And then as well, there's Guaranteed Basic Income, which I always have to give a shout-out to. But the reason I want to shout it out, and one of the reasons I'm so excited about it, is because it has been shown in studies to reduce firearm violence specifically. And also addresses inequality - and what we know, again, from other studies, is that inequality predicts homicide rates better than any other variable. So the more unequal your society is, or your city is, the more likely homicide rates are to go up. So if you address that and give people their basic needs - give them what they need - then that number tends to go back down. And maybe not the sexiest idea ever, but it works. And that's what's important. We've seen a violence interruption program in Richmond, California - which I love to pieces because it's been going on for a long time - it has hugely positive results for that community. And it actually combines the idea of a basic income with other services like mentoring for young people that live in Richmond, California. And like I said, they saw a huge reduction in violence. So you can get creative in terms of how you combine these different elements, but all of them have studies backing them up that show that they're effective in the real world. [00:44:55] BJ Last: Yeah, and that's a phenomenal point, Amy - that it's not even community investments that are specifically linked to this, or specifically targeting - it's not just doing things like cure violence model or gun violence interruption things. Like you mentioned GBI, restoring vacant land - so pretty much making things into little parks, putting out grass and a few trees - that's shown to go and reduce violent crime, including gun crime. Upping the number of nonprofits in the community, mental health treatment facility options - even things like that that aren't specifically directed or don't in their name say, Hey, our mission statement is directly addressing this - these community investments, as Amy said, you reduce inequality, you reduce crime, because that is the biggest thing connecting them. So doing that - reducing inequality, invest in community will actually reduce crime and cut down on gun violence. Whereas giving money again to these three tech companies, that doesn't do that. [00:45:48] Amy Sundberg: I also am really excited about the idea of creative placemaking, as a creative artist myself. That, again, has been shown to reduce gunshot violence - it's putting up art installations and cool, funky, creative plays and concerts. Basically, we have this opportunity to invest in making Seattle a more fun and vibrant and exciting place to be. And that will also reduce gun violence. It's one of these win-win, right? Same with some of these violence prevention programs - you're investing in community and you get the reduction in gun violence at the same time - it's another win-win. As opposed to the surveillance tech, which isn't going to be effective and it has all of these different harms, so it's kind of more of a lose-lose. And when you have win-wins and you get to pick between a win-win and a lose-lose, the fact that we're having this big debate and wanting to go with the lose-lose is a little bit baffling. [00:46:49] Shannon Cheng: And the lose-lose is super expensive - we're talking about $1.5 million now. But my understanding is these companies - they're for-profit companies. So they obviously have business models which range from the subscription services, to just trying to expand their footprint of deployment, to selling their database that they're collecting all this information from us from to other parties who we may not have any control over. It boggles the mind. [00:47:16] BJ Last: It is massively expensive. For just one of these technologies, Acoustic Gunshot Location, Chicago has spent over $50 million over six years. And again, that's just one of these technologies. Seattle wants three. And not to be - Oh, we should be penny pinching to try to reduce gun violence by going with investments like restoring vacant land, placemaking, cure violence models. We shouldn't be doing them because they're cheaper, but A) they work and you can do so much more as you go and invest in that. It goes a lot further, the number of investments you can make. And all of these investments are ones that actually do go and - yeah, make your city cool. Make it a better place, like Amy said, with the creative placemaking, they're restoring vacant land, they cut down on violence, and you can do a heck of a lot more of it than you can if you go for this surveillance tech. [00:48:06] Amy Sundberg: While actually involving community - the people that live here - and giving them the resources and giving them more agency. [00:48:13] Shannon Cheng: Yeah, wow. Well, here on Hacks & Wonks, we interviewed a lot of the City Council candidates - many who are seated now - and I remember hearing a lot from them about really needing to audit the budget and making sure that the money being spent is being used effectively. And so I hope they hear this - pick the win-wins, not the lose-loses. So we're partway through this messy process, which seems like it's being rushed. For our listeners who have listened to this and they have concerns, what can they do about it? [00:48:42] Amy Sundberg: They can do so much. Now is the time. There is a lot that can be done right now. And I really encourage people to get involved in whatever way feels best for them, because there are several options. I'd say the top option is to attend that second public hearing, which again is on Tuesday, February 27th at 6 p.m. - and it's both, there's a virtual option and it's at Bitter Lake Community Center. So I really, really encourage people to go, to give public comment, to support your community members who are in this fight with you. There also are forms online for each of the three technologies, which you can fill out - and you do have to fill it out three times, which I understand is not ideal, but I think, again, it is part of trying to make this process less accessible to community. So if you can stomach it, I say - let's show them that it's not working by filling out those forms. You can call and email your councilmembers because they're ultimately the ones that get the final say - they're going to have the final vote on whether or not these surveillance technologies are deployed. Start talking to them now - it's not too early, it is definitely not too early. Whatever you can do, if they're going to be talking in your community, if they're having a town hall - go talk to them there - the more, the better, frankly. You can write a letter to the editor at The Seattle Times. And again, those are shorter - those aren't op-eds - they're much shorter and easier to do. I encourage you to do that. And Solidarity Budget has put together a letter objecting both to the use of these technologies in our communities and also objecting to this rushed and sloppy process, which you can sign on to. We'll put a link in the show notes for that. You can sign on as a group or an organization, or you can also sign on as an individual. And I really encourage you to do that because it shows that we as a community are standing together. [00:50:38] BJ Last: And follow Solidarity Budget - we will have more updates as this goes. If there are any more educational items that come up or additional ways to give input, we will definitely be sending that out through those channels. As Amy said, there's that hearing coming up on the 27th - you can do public comment. Or you can do comment forms online anytime until the 29th. And talk to your friends about this. This has not been something that has been widely covered - which, by the way, thank you so much, Shannon and Hacks & Wonks, for covering this, because it really hasn't gotten much coverage in local media that there are these three big surveillance techs coming. So there's a chance your friends, co-workers, whoever else you chat with doesn't even know about this. So let them know as well. [00:51:21] Amy Sundberg: I really think that increasing surveillance to this level - this does represent a massive expansion of surveillance in Seattle, and I really don't want to understate that at all - it's a huge expansion. And I really think it's deserving of a really robust public conversation about what we want for our city and what direction we want our city to go into. And I don't want to get into national politics, but you have to think about the national political climate and the ramifications that are coming down the road, too. When you're thinking about increasing surveillance to this level - not only what is that going to enable us to do in June or July when it's first implemented, but what is it going to mean in the future? What is it going to mean next year and in future years, in terms of where your data is going to be, what the laws are going to be, et cetera, et cetera. This is something we should all be talking about, as far as I'm concerned - all the time - we should be talking about this. [00:52:18] Shannon Cheng: Well, thank you so much. We will definitely include all the links to all the information and the resources in the show notes. This show will be airing on February 20th, so you have a week before that final public hearing on the 27th to get your comments in, to figure out how to attend, to tell all your friends to get out there. So thank you so much, Amy and BJ - it's been so great to have you back on again. Bye! [00:52:43] Amy Sundberg: Thanks. [00:52:44] BJ Last: Thank you. [00:52:45] Crystal Fincher: Thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks, which is produced by Shannon Cheng. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter @HacksWonks. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on every podcast service and app - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review shows and our Tuesday topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.

What is Guaranteed basic income? Would Canada ever have one? GUEST: Sheila Regehr, Chairperson of the Basic Income Canada Network, a retired federal public servant and former Executive Director of the National Council of Welfare Calls for more addiction treatment as B.C. drug decriminalization GUEST: Leslie McBain, Co-founder of Moms Stop the Harm Shaky confidence for B.C. film industry heading into 2024 GUEST: Prem Gill, CEO of Creative BC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is Guaranteed basic income? Would Canada ever have one? GUEST: Sheila Regehr, Chairperson of the Basic Income Canada Network, a retired federal public servant and former Executive Director of the National Council of Welfare Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12-27 Adam and Jordana 10a hour 

MHD and Co-host Chavonne Taylor speak with former mayor of Stockton, California Michael Tubbs about his rise in politics, the importance of addressing basic human needs to decrease violent crime, and how his pilot Guaranteed Basic Income program inspired other cities (including Los Angeles) to do the same.Michael Tubbs is the Founder of the non-profit organization, End Poverty in California (EPIC), the Founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI), and the Special Advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom for Economic Mobility and Opportunity. In 2016, he was elected Mayor of Stockton at 26-years-old. He was the city's first African-American Mayor, and the youngest Mayor of any major city in American history. As Mayor, Tubbs was lauded for his leadership and innovation. He raised over $20 million dollars to create the Stockton Scholars, a universal scholarship and mentorship program for Stockton students. Additionally, he piloted the first mayor-led guaranteed income pilot in the country. His book, The Deeper the Roots: A Memoir of Hope and Home, where he details the experiences of his life is available now wherever books are sold.Resources:www.endpovertyinca.orgwww.mayorsforagi.org

A new report called A Proposal For A Guaranteed Basic Income Benefit In Prince Edward Island will be released publicly tomorrow. Trish Altass, with the PEI Working Group for a Livable Income makes the case for a fully-funded 5 to 7 year basic income program and explains why PEI is the ideal demonstration site for a national program. And on the phone-in, Collette Robicheau helps you get organized and get rid of your clutter!

We speak to Kim Pate, the Independent Canadian Senator behind proposed legislation that could bring this country closer to a guaranteed income.We also hear from Parliamentary Budget Officer, Yves Giroux and Jessie Golem, who participated in Ontario's basic income pilot project.

Governor Kathy Hochul says she hopes to double the number of state troopers hired in New York during the next year, after two years of planning the city will begin accepting applications for its Guaranteed Basic Income program next week, and Rochester Gas and New York State Electric say they have reached a proposed settlement with the state over their rate hike request.

Arlyssa Heard struggles with crushing debt from student loans and a high-interest car payment. The single mom was excited to get a promotion at her job, but did not want a huge raise. “The extra $150 extra take-home in my paycheck meant losing benefits worth far more,” she said. Detroit residents like Heard hear over and over again they're to blame for their financial situations and the state of their neighborhoods. They're told they can pull themselves up by the bootstraps if only they try hard enough. Yet the system that's supposed to help Arlyssa keeps her from getting ahead. Our current economic system is not working to improve the lives of people in this city. Every day, Detroiters are struggling to make ends meet while enduring exploitative, poverty-wage jobs and punitive, deficit-based social support programs. For decades now, Detroit has been ranked among the cities with the highest rates of poverty. As a native Detroiter, this sobering reality hits home. Detroiters deserve better…Detroiters demand better! Guaranteed income is a powerful tool. More than 100 community groups and faith leaders, residents and businesses have signed a letter to elected officials demanding that Detroit join the growing number of municipalities with a guaranteed income pilot. The goal is to push for a federally-funded guaranteed income by demonstrating the benefits. By setting aside at least $1.5 million in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) dollars – to be matched by a philanthropic partner – we can invest in our Detroit neighbors immediately and lay the groundwork for much-needed changes to our social support systems. Here's how it works: Participants get recurring cash payments that they can use however they want, without any restrictions or preconditions. (Guaranteed income is different from Universal Basic Income, which distributes cash transfers to an entire population. Rather, guaranteed income distributes cash to a specific group of individuals who experience systemic challenges inadequately addressed by current programs.) Direct cash is a proven tool that works. Data from multiple guaranteed income pilots across the country—as well as the expanded monthly Child Tax Credit in 2021—have shown that direct cash payments are one of the most efficient and effective ways to lift people out of poverty. Participants experience drastic improvements to job prospects, food and housing security, financial stability, and their overall well-being and mental health. We have to let go of harmful stereotypes that people experience poverty due to their own failings. We need to embrace a policy shift that recognizes that Detroit residents are experts in their own lives. People need investment in their goals and full control over their choices. They deserve the dignity to choose their pathways to economic mobility. “We've made plenty of gains and we keep on climbing, but we aren't at the level where we should be,” said Heard, who signed the letter calling for a guaranteed income. “We need this because when we benefit, everyone else benefits.” What we've been doing to reduce poverty in this city isn't working. Poverty is a policy choice, and as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure, the guaranteed income.” In this upcoming budget cycle, Detroit has an opportunity to take a step in this direction by making an investment in its greatest asset, the people. Kofi Kenyatta is the Senior Policy and Practice Director at UpTogether. Via www.bridgedetroit.com Detroit is Different is a podcast hosted by Khary Frazier covering people adding to the culture of an American Classic city. Visit www.detroitisdifferent.com to hear, see and experience more of what makes Detroit different. Follow, like, share, and subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Sticher. Comment, suggest and connect with the podcast by emailing info@detroitisdifferent.com Find out more at https://detroit-is-different.pinecast.co Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/detroit-is-different/c6f5791b-128e-4f7c-a5eb-81083149444b

On this midweek show, Misha Werschkul of the Washington State Budget & Policy Center talks with Crystal about the opportunity this legislative session to align the laws and budget of the state with our values and provide bright futures for all Washingtonians. As legislators prepare to set the State Budget for the next two years, Crystal and Misha discuss how important issues like housing and homelessness are receiving a lot of attention in contrast with less fanfare around education, before diving into impactful cash assistance programs targeted at addressing the wealth gap such as Guaranteed Basic Income and baby bonds. They then turn to the subject of ending Legal Financial Obligations, as it is a practice of wealth taking from the least-resourced to fund our court system, and have a philosophical discussion on unpacking the question of - what does real public safety look like? Finally, they cover progress on much-needed reform of the tax code - the long-awaited launch of the Working Families Tax Credit, movement towards implementation of the capital gains tax, and the anticipated introduction of a wealth tax proposal. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Follow us on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii, find our guest Misha Werschkul at @mishaanne and the Washington State Budget & Policy Center @budget_policy.   Misha Werschkul Misha (she/her) is a leading voice shaping the debate in Washington state on budget priorities and economic policies. She's a policy wonk at heart and a relentless believer in the importance of people joining together to make change. She has more than two decades of policy and legislative experience and is eager to build on this experience with an openness to new ideas and approaches, especially about how to bring racial equity into policymaking and organizational processes. You're most likely to find Misha working with partners to craft policy proposals and build coalitions around statewide progressive revenue, economic, and racial justice issues. She also serves on the board of directors of Balance Our Tax Code and the SEIU Benefits Group. In her spare time, Misha tries to be outside as much as possible. Some of her favorite activities are gardening in her taxpayer-supported neighborhood community garden, backpacking with friends in the publicly funded Olympic National Park, and paddleboarding in Lake Washington.   Resources Washington State Budget & Policy Center   2023 State of the State Address: Bold actions for building a stronger Washington | Washington Governor Jay Inslee   “Washington Should Tax the Rich to Save Our Public Schools” by Robert Cruickshank for The Stranger    “The U.S. Could Help Solve Its Poverty Problem with a Universal Basic Income” by Michael W. Howard for Scientific American   “How Tacoma's yearlong guaranteed income experiment fared” by Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks from The Seattle Times   HB 1045 - Creating the evergreen basic income pilot program   “To address wealth gap, WA to consider $4,000 ‘baby bonds'” by Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks from The Seattle Times   “Budget funds key first step in State Treasurer's wealth gap initiative” by Adam Johnson for Office of the State Treasurer   SB 5125 | HB 1094 - Creating the Washington future fund program   “A tragic Seattle story explains the decline of American welfare” by Shaun Scott for Crosscut    “Getting rid of legal financial obligations can protect the economic security of thousands of Washingtonians” by Evan Walker for Washington State Budget & Policy Center   “It's Time to Reform Washington's Harmful System of Fines and Fees” by Evan Walker & Andy Nicholas for Washington State Budget & Policy Center   “Beyond Policing: Investing in Offices of Neighborhood Safety" by Betsy Pearl for The Center for American Progress   “The Working Families Tax Credit will reduce hardship across Washington” by Margaret Babayan for Washington State Budget & Policy Center   Working Families Tax Credit Coalition   “In Washington State, the Left Won a Major Victory for Taxing the Rich” by Galen Herz for Jacobin   “Share the Wealth, Washington!” by Carolyn Brotherton for Economic Opportunity Institute   WA Possible - podcast about what is possible for economic justice in Washington state by Washington State Budget & Policy Center   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today I am excited to be welcoming Misha Werschkul, who's the Executive Director of the Washington State Budget and Policy Center - welcome. [00:01:01] Misha Werschkul: So glad to be with you, Crystal. Thanks for having me. [00:01:04] Crystal Fincher: Thanks for joining us. I just want to start off by talking about - a lot of people are familiar with the Washington Budget and Policy Center, but for those who aren't, what is it? What do you do? And what brought you to this work? [00:01:14] Misha Werschkul: Thanks so much for starting with that. The first thing that I just want to share is - at the Washington State Budget and Policy Center - we're a nonprofit advocacy organization, so we're not part of State government. We actually work doing research and analysis, work in coalition with other organizations. And really, our goal is to make sure that the laws and the budget of Washington State are in alignment with the values of our state and really setting up a bright future for all Washingtonians. So we primarily work on state policy, although we do a little bit of work on local issues from time to time and federal issues. And all of our work is, as I mentioned, in coalition partnership - so we work with other organizations that do grassroots organizing and power building, communications, more political work - and really work together to try to make sure that when the Legislature comes together, as they are right now, that they're doing the things that match the values in our community. So it's really actually super fun work that allows us to bring those skills of research and analysis in what we hope to be service for social justice. A little bit about me is just - I came to this work really through a path of advocacy work. So prior to being with the Budget and Policy Center, I worked with a labor union in our state that represents home care and nursing home workers, and had a chance to be a frontline lobbyist down in Olympia trying to advance the interests of the long-term care workforce. And I saw through that work the incredible impact of the Budget and Policy Center, the power of the team here, and the importance of working on structural issues like the state budget, tax policy, economic justice - and now get the chance to work still in collaboration and partnership with organizations like the labor union that I worked with. [00:03:12] Crystal Fincher: You talk about the structural impact that can be made - and so much of that is impacted at the state level. What are you looking to have accomplished in this legislative session that just started? [00:03:24] Misha Werschkul: We always talk about the most important piece of legislation that the Legislature tackles each year is the state budget. And that is hundreds of pages of decisions - embedded in the state budget - around what are we going to spend money on, and how are we going to collect the revenue that pays for those things. And so our state has been really in a good situation with being able to receive federal dollars through all of the COVID relief that has happened over the past few years. And we've been able to do a lot - our legislators have - to be able to invest in our communities and help, really, us weather a really horrific pandemic. And this year, the Legislature is going to be putting together the budget for the next two years, so the end of 2023 through 2025. And I would say, always, that the most important thing that they can do is put together a budget that really meets the needs of communities, reflects community input, and ideally collects the revenue to pay for those investments in an equitable way. So there's millions of things within the state budget that matter to folks all across our state, and that's something that we'll be watching super carefully this legislative session - and frankly, every legislative session. [00:04:44] Crystal Fincher: What are the most important things you believe are going to be the components of the budget that will make a positive impact for the state? [00:04:52] Misha Werschkul: Some of the things that are getting a lot of attention and are going to be really important are really what is the level of investment in housing and homelessness. That's something that - I live in Seattle - that is something we're talking about a lot in Seattle, but is also really an issue all across the state - folks in rural communities, other urban areas, suburban areas - dealing with the homelessness crisis and the lack of access to affordable housing. And so this year, the governor has proposed a really big investment in housing and homelessness services - much bigger than has been talked about in previous years - and really, I think, embraced the need for a statewide solution that really matches the scale of what the crisis is that folks are experiencing. And so we're going to be watching that really carefully to see what can be done in that area. The governor is also talking about behavioral health as an important area for investment, climate change. One area we'll be paying attention to at the Budget and Policy Center is education - that is actually the biggest part of the state budget - is funding for public schools. And we know that schools all across our communities - kids need to be invested in, right? And that that is something that is going to be important this year - special education, how are we supporting teachers, what are we really doing to make sure that kids' mental health are taken care of. There's a lot more to do in that area and a lot of conversation to be had in the next 100-ish days of the legislative session. [00:06:29] Crystal Fincher: Certainly a lot of conversation to be had. And while we have heard a lot of talk, fortunately, about taking action on housing and homelessness, we haven't heard as much about education after, surprisingly, seeing so many teachers and educators bringing to the fore the crisis, basically, that we're facing in terms of funding, special education resources, and the ability to really give kids the education that will equip them for their future and that we're constitutionally obligated to give them. What are the prospects for action and what do you think is possible this legislative session? [00:07:06] Misha Werschkul: I think the Legislature is going to step up and do something for our kids. So there hasn't been as much talk about it - there are a number of different challenges that the Legislature is grappling with, a number of different things the Legislature is dealing with. But ultimately, education is the most important thing when it comes to the state budget and the paramount duty of Washington State. And so last year there was investment in counselors and other types of support professionals in the schools - that's going to be rolling out and making a difference for kids this year, but more has to be done. And I think that that is an area where we're hearing folks - really from both political parties - talk about the need to invest in education. And so I'm actually pretty hopeful about what's going to be done in that area for kids all across the state because the need is really present. And as you mentioned, the calls that teachers made at the start of the school year, folks' experience of the first few months of the school year, kids back to school in January - the needs there are very visible. And I think legislators will listen to that. [00:08:23] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. You have also, and the Budget and Policy Center has done a lot of work and highlighted a lot of research about the importance of cash assistance policies in addressing poverty and strengthening communities. Starting with Guaranteed Basic Income, that we've heard a lot from Representative Liz Berry on - what is that? What kind of record does it have? And why is it important? [00:08:48] Misha Werschkul: I love that you're asking about this because I think this is actually one of the most important things the Legislature can and should act on this year. So the idea of Guaranteed Basic Income is really a concept that's really been brought forward by - historically by Black leaders, Black women, also by tribal governments - as a way to really recognize the inherent dignity of people and the fact that people can make the best choices with resources that can meet the needs of themselves individually, their families, and their communities. And it's really a rejection of the paternalistic approach of a lot of policy approaches where - too often - you have government agencies really making decisions on behalf of people and taking away that ability for people to make their own decisions. And so this concept of Guaranteed Basic Income has been around for a long time. There has been a dramatic emergence of local pilots of Guaranteed Basic Income programs all across the country in recent years - and huge successes of those programs. The Magnolia Mother's Trust is one of the first, the Stockton SEED [Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration] program - also those two pilot programs really sparked action in every part of our country, including right in Tacoma where there's been a pilot that Mayor Woodards led with United Way of Pierce County. And so we're seeing a lot of success historically and even in the last few years of really the approach of getting cash to people in a way that's not restrictive and that lets people make choices that meet their own needs and the needs of their families and communities. The opportunity this year - and what Representative Berry is talking about - is the opportunity to really move that from local pilots to state policy. And she's proposing a statewide pilot that is limited in certain ways in scope, but would be the first state in the country to really have a statewide program for Guaranteed Basic Income. And it's an opportunity to take all of the things that we know from all of the local pilots and the past work on Guaranteed Basic Income and really try it out in a new context of a state program. That bill has gotten a lot of excitement and energy, and hopefully we'll see it get all the way to the finish line this year because it really is, I think, a transformative way to think about the role of state government and a move away from what really are pretty failed paternalistic policies that we've had in the past towards - one, policies that recognize the inherent dignity and the ability of people to make choices for themselves. [00:11:52] Crystal Fincher: Another program that is really interesting and that you have talked about is the Baby Bonds savings program. What is that? [00:12:01] Misha Werschkul: Okay, so the Baby Bonds program is something that I think is complementary to Guaranteed Basic Income, and also complementary to other approaches like the Working Families Tax Credit and existing public benefits, like TANF [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] and the Housing and Essential Needs program. So it's important to think about it as a complementary, not a replacement for any of these other programs. But the idea of Baby Bonds is really a concept that was developed by an economist, Darrick Hamilton, to think about how do we really address the issue of wealth disparities - primarily by race - that exists. And we know that little bits of money, changing people's income doesn't actually get to that core issue of how people build wealth over time and how people build wealth intergenerationally. So white folks like me, in a lot of cases, have been able to build wealth in our families that we passed down through generations. And I, for example, was able to go to college because my parents were able to help me pay for the cost of going to college. The idea of Baby Bonds is how could we really give every Washingtonian the opportunity to have that little additional seed investment to be able to invest in themselves and their future. And so the State Treasurer, Mike Pellicciotti, has championed this approach for our state. Other states are already moving forward on this, but the idea would be to create an account for every kid who's eligible - to be able to have a little bit of resources that grow over time that they could then use to invest in college, to invest in starting a business, or to invest in buying a home. And really start to move the needle on those intergenerational inequities around wealth. In and of itself, Baby Bonds isn't going to fix everything - it is a piece of the puzzle but is an important one. And it's been exciting to see bipartisan support for that proposal and a lot of energy from local communities to really think about really a proposal that isn't going to have a huge impact in 2024 or 2025, but is setting kids up for success over the long-term and giving people the access to opportunity. [00:14:31] Crystal Fincher: So this is an interesting area. So we talked about Guaranteed Basic Income, which is something that definitely has an immediate impact, Baby Bonds savings, which is a long-term impact - both of which are direct cash assistance. And we are so used to, in our society, and hearing pushback on - Well, just giving people cash, are they going to just waste it? How do we know that they're not going to spend it on different things? People are in poverty - as some people say - because they're bad at managing their money, so we can't just hand it over. We need to really prescribe how it can and can't be used. How do you battle that mindset and address those kinds of worries? [00:15:15] Misha Werschkul: I think for us at the Budget and Policy Center, it comes back to - what does the research say? And those narratives that exist are just not supported by anything that we see in the research. And so what we've seen is that programs that are out there that give people direct cash - that folks use it in ways that really do meet the needs of themselves and their communities. And I can't remember the number right now, but I feel like there's something like more than 100 local pilots that have operated around Guaranteed Basic Income in the last several years. And so we're not talking about just one example - we are talking about example after example after example. I also think it is actually really important to tackle those narratives a little bit head-on and talk about - where do those narratives come from, and why are they so compelling for some folks? And these ideas of - for example, with regards to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and welfare and the dialogues over the years around that program - the kind of myth of the welfare queen - that is a created story that serves a particular purpose. It's not rooted in any sort of reality and we have to actually talk about, we have to actually name those myths that are out there, name those narratives, and call them out for what they are. Because so often it's deeply rooted in racism, deeply rooted in classism and sexism. And to be able to - our hope at the Budget and Policy Center, and other folks play different roles in this, is that by really looking at actually what does the research say and what are the facts on the ground, that that will help to begin to dismantle these narratives that have been built over time. So that's our hope at the Budget and Policy Center - is showing the success of the local pilots, showing what works, and really building some different narratives out there that actually are more rooted in reality. [00:17:42] Crystal Fincher: So another thing that you've talked about that is really important is the impact of Legal Financial Obligations on poverty and people's ability to get out of poverty. What are Legal Financial Obligations and what can the Legislature do about it? [00:17:57] Misha Werschkul: This is such an important area that hasn't been actually talked about as much when it comes to the upcoming legislative session, so I'm really glad you're asking about it, Crystal. So Legal Financial Obligations are essentially fines and fees that are put on folks based on their interactions with the criminal legal system. And it is one of the primary ways that we actually currently fund our court system. It is probably obvious, as I'm saying this, how inequitable this system is and how ineffective it is, but I'll just elaborate just a little bit. So basically what happens is that folks who are interacting with the criminal legal system - through those interactions - are building up debt over time that oftentimes folks don't have the ability to pay, so that - and there's an expectation that folks will pay those debts in the future. Most of the time, as I said, folks don't have the ability to pay - the money can't be collected. And so really what you have is a situation where folks are shouldering this debt that carries with them after their interaction with the criminal legal system. And the courts don't get the resources that they need to actually fund their operations. So it's a super ineffective way to fund operations - based on trying to collect money from people who, for the most part, really don't have any money to pay those fines and fees. Our goal at the Budget and Policy Center, and in coalition with a lot of other organizations, is to really end the practice of Legal Financial Obligations. There are infinite number of better ways to fund our court systems than through the collection of fines and fees. So the goal - the big goal - is to actually end the practice of Legal Financial Obligations as a whole. Not surprisingly, that's not something that's likely to happen in one legislative session. We do have legislative champions who are working towards incremental changes to Legal Financial Obligations, a greater recognition of ability to pay in terms of how fees are assessed and collected - and there we hope to see some progress this legislative session. But in the work around trying to end poverty, people talk about not just the importance of giving people money to be able to afford their basic needs, but actually stopping the practice of wealth taking, which is basically what Legal Financial Obligations are - is another way that any resources that people have are taken from them and that folks are in a system of indebtedness based on an interaction that is already deeply racialized with the criminal legal system. So Representative Tarra Simmons is really leading a lot of that work in the Legislature, groups like Civil Survival and Living with Conviction - want to lift up their work. And I also will just, as I'm answering this question, take this opportunity to say I am so appreciative to be able to be here and share this information with you, and I'm also doing that work on behalf of an amazing team of folks at the Budget and Policy Center - so Evan Walker is the person on our team who leads the work on Legal Financial Obligations, Emily Vyhnanek and Tracy Yeung lead the work on direct cash assistance, and other folks are leading other pieces of the work. So I just want to take the opportunity to celebrate their deeper work in each of these areas and how they engage with our coalition partners, even though I'm the one here sharing it with you. [00:21:49] Crystal Fincher: And I really appreciate that, and appreciate the work of your entire team - and the work over years that you've been doing - this is not work that you or the Budget and Policy Center is new to. It's really been just a long-term labor, and so really appreciate that. And also just appreciate the importance in you working on issues like Guaranteed Basic Income, Legal Financial Obligations - because we're so used to hearing sometimes in common discourse - things like, If you do the crime, then you do the time. If you don't want something, you should follow the law. Now you got to pay up. And viewing it as we need to hold people accountable and really focusing on a lot of the punitive and punishment aspects of these things, when really we're all losing as a result of those - trying to implement these punitive policies are creating worse outcomes for everyone in every way. When you look at the percentage of our budgets going towards supporting the court systems and jails, clearly fines are not cutting it. And also we say that we want a safe community. We say that we want people to be able to make a mistake, to do their time, fulfill their obligation, and then become a productive member of society - we commonly hear. But we do things that really impair their ability to do that and trap them in cycles of criminalization and poverty - and it just is counterproductive and we wind up paying for it as a community. How do you address people who focus on the punitive aspects - and really wanting to hold people accountable or punish people - and not realizing the other impacts that come from that? [00:23:40] Misha Werschkul: I think that's such a big question and I don't know if I have the full answer to it. I will say I was listening to the governor's State of the State address, and he said some things that I really agreed with and then some things that I didn't agree with as much. But one thing he said that I thought was interesting was - he talked about public safety, which we know is a term that means certain things to, and maybe different things, to different people. And he talked about how we actually need to unpack what public safety is and recognize that there's a lot of different aspects of that. And then he actually talked about the work around gun responsibility as an aspect of public safety. And it got me thinking about - just these terms and how they're code, in a lot of ways, for certain things - like public safety is code for policing. And how can we actually really talk about public safety for all of us? And what does it actually look like for all of us to be safe in our communities? And policing - heavy policing - is clearly not providing safety for all of us. In fact, I don't think it's really providing safety for any of us. And if we can think about - what is that aspiration around safety and what does that value for us in our lives and for our families and communities? How do we actually build that together? And a lot of times that does mean a lot of different things - it actually means people having the resources to be able to afford their basic needs so that they can put food on the table, it means that people have shelter - that people are not homeless. It means talking about gun responsibility. And I think a lot of times we fall into, again, these sort of narrative traps of - Oh, yeah, like crime - punish - yeah, if you do the crime, you have to do the time. And sort of believe in a way that that is going to make us safer. And actually I don't know that - it doesn't. And so I think just - I don't know, I think we just have to have those conversations in a real way - because, as a white person, a white woman, doing this work, I did believe for a long time that having a police presence was a way that my safety was - was about my safety. But actually, as I unpack that - it's not true, even for me as the model person that the police are here, supposed to protect. And I think we have to just actually talk about that a little bit more and actually have a higher aspiration for safety for all of us, because sometimes it's like walking around certain parts of maybe cities with a heavy police presence might make someone feel - it might make someone feel a little bit safe in the immediate term, but I actually hope for something a lot more. I hope that we can get to a place where - I don't know - safety, just - it's not actually true safety. And so I'm just trying to get at - what is that higher aspiration of safety that we could be striving towards and building towards, and not feeling like our only definition of safety is having armed police officers walking around - to what - shoot someone if something happens? That actually doesn't make me feel super safe - to think about people wielding guns on the streets shooting people to protect me. And so I think that's just something we need to be talking about and grappling with. But I do think - I really appreciated Governor Inslee starting to peel open that conversation a little bit. Now, he then did go on - I want to acknowledge - to talk about the importance, I think he did go on to talk about the importance of investing in policing as well. So he still has that as part of his solution. But I think at least he was starting to unpack - what does public safety look like and maybe open up a different conversation. [00:28:34] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, I appreciate your thoughts on that. And unpacking what public safety looks like, unpacking what accountability looks like, and really trying to reduce harm all the way around. We don't want people to be victimized. We don't want people to be trapped in cycles that create and produce harm. What does accountability look like if it's not our court system and jails, which are not doing an effective job. What does public safety look like if it's not only police officers who, I think everyone agrees, can't do the job alone. If not, other models being more successful and effective. The final thing I want to talk about and cover today is what our tax code looks like. It is so foundational to everything in society. It is underneath, it impacts the revenue that we collect that enables every public service to be possible, which public services are possible, and to what degree. There's been lots of talk about how regressive our system has been, how much needs reform. Where do we stand on that? What needs to happen? And what's possible this legislative session? [00:29:56] Misha Werschkul: My favorite topic, Crystal - at the Budget and Policy Center, we love talking about taxes. And the reason is because it is super important how we collect revenue as a state and local government. And there are a lot of policy choices embedded in - a lot of values embedded in how we collect revenue. So I think probably most of your listeners know that Washington State has the most inequitable tax code in the country, meaning those with the lowest incomes pay the highest percentage of their income in state and local taxes. And in fact, we're way out of sync with most other states on this. So low income people in Washington State are paying basically double someone with a similar income in Oregon, simply because of the structure of our tax code. This is obviously a pretty bad deal for most Washingtonians. It's a super good deal for the wealthiest Washingtonians who are paying a minute share of their income in state and local taxes. And this is a big problem. This is not something that there's a quick and easy fix for, but there is some really exciting stuff happening. So in 2021, the Legislature took two big actions to start to make progress to reform our state tax code. One is they passed a capital gains tax to fund early learning investments in education. The other is they passed a Working Families Tax Credit set up to benefit 420,000 households in Washington State with direct cash sales tax refunds. Both of these policies are happening. So the Working Families Tax Credit launches February 1st. I'm so nerdy excited about this - it's not even funny. But starting very soon, people - 420,000 households - will be able to apply to be able to get a refund check of up to $1,200 in our state. We have been talking about this for so long, it feels like - and the day is finally almost here where this is happening. It is a step in the right direction of balancing our tax code in and of itself. It's not enough. It needs to be expanded. We'll be working this legislative session to try to expand eligibility to younger adults, so folks who are 18-24 and actually older adults as well - 65+ - who aren't currently eligible for the Working Families Tax Credit - to basically bring them in and allow them to be eligible. There's a great website called wataxcredit.org, I think - I hope it's org now - that has a ton of information about this. And I want to just share that out so folks know to spread the word because folks do need to actually proactively apply. One way to think about it is - really anybody who's eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit is going to be eligible for the Washington Working Families Tax Credit too. Plus anyone who files their taxes with an ITIN number who is being excluded right now from the EITC will be eligible for the Working Families Tax Credit. So I'm super excited. It's happening soon. There's going to be action in the Legislature on this, but more importantly, the policy is happening. Folks can get the money if they take the step to apply with Department of Revenue. Capital gains tax is being challenged, not surprisingly, by wealthy individuals who would pay the tax. They're trying to get the court to basically intervene and rule that the tax is unconstitutional. The State Supreme Court is hearing that case on January 26th and this is a wonky legal issue that needs to get sorted out before the tax can be fully implemented. And I could go on and on about the legal part of it, but I will stop because you actually asked about also what's happening this legislative session. And I will just pitch the efforts that some of our partners, especially Economic Opportunity Institute and Balance Our Tax Code, are leading with regards to a wealth tax and really thinking about big solutions that make a real difference in making our tax code more equitable. We have to get to the root of it, which is wealth. And so it's exciting to see this proposal coming forward this session that Representative Noel Frame has been a huge leader in. [00:35:01] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely and appreciate that. We will include the wataxcredit.org link in our episode notes to make it convenient for people to visit. And also thanks for mentioning your partners - we did have a conversation with Summer Stinson of the Economic Opportunity Institute, and she did talk a lot about that court case and how important it is to have a capital gains tax, what it really means, how few people it actually impacts - it is the wealthiest portion of the wealthy - and we'll see how this court case turns out. I really do appreciate you joining us today. If people want to learn more about the organization, where can they visit? [00:35:51] Misha Werschkul: Our website is www.budgetandpolicy.org so you can check us out on the website. We're also on social media - I'll share those links with you for the show notes hopefully. And I also will share - April Dickinson on our team has led the effort just to launch a new podcast called WA Possible that we hope is a great complement to Hacks & Wonks and a bit of a deeper dive into some of what could be possible when it comes to economic justice in Washington state. There's a great episode there talking about the Black Women Best framework that some national partners launched and some of the policies we talked about today, so just would share that as well. [00:36:37] Crystal Fincher: Thank you so much, and April Dickinson is awesome. Thank you for all the work. Thank you for joining us today and we'll talk to you all next time. [00:36:44] Misha Werschkul: Thank you so much Crystal - appreciate you. [00:36:46] Crystal Fincher: Thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks, which is co-produced by Shannon Cheng and Bryce Cannatelli. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter @HacksWonks. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.

Brad Young is At Your Service! In the second and final hour of tonight's show, Brad shares the funny news story of Jack Daniels suing a chew toy that parodied the whiskey company under the name “Bad Spaniels.” Brad also rants on how the IRS sticks their noses in every single cent you earn, and why a guaranteed basic income is not such a great idea.  Brad caps off the hour sharing one of Kevin Killeen's funniest “Whole ‘Nother Story” segments yet!

MHD and Co-host Chavonne Taylor speak with former mayor of Stockton, California Michael Tubbs about his rise in politics, the importance of addressing basic human needs to decrease violent crime, and how his pilot Guaranteed Basic Income program inspired other cities (including Los Angeles) to do the same. Michael Tubbs is the Founder of the Non-profit organization, End Poverty in California (EPIC), the Founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI), and the Special Advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom for Economic Mobility and Opportunity. In 2016, he was elected Mayor of Stockton at 26-years-old. He was the city's first African-American Mayor, and the youngest Mayor of any major city in American history. As Mayor, Tubbs was lauded for his leadership and innovation. He raised over $20 million dollars to create the Stockton Scholars, a universal scholarship and mentorship program for Stockton students. Additionally, he piloted the first mayor-led guaranteed income pilot in the country. His book, The Deeper the Roots: A Memoir of Hope and Home, where he details the experiences of his life is available now wherever books are sold. Resources: www.endpovertyinca.org www.mayorsforagi.org

Dr. Lori Pfingst, senior director of poverty reduction for the Washington Department of Social and Health Services, touted the feasibility and benefits of implementing guaranteed basic income in Washington state during a Friday hearing of the House Housing, Human Services & Veterans Committee. http://bit.ly/3iALL6T #TheCenterSquareWashington #GuaranteedBasicIncome #CashPayment #IndividualismHouseholds #DrLoriPfingst #WashingtonDepartmentOfSocialAndHealthServices #DSHS #VancouverWa #ClarkCountyWa #ClarkCountyNews #ClarkCountyToday

Basic income programs have been all the rage in policy circle, and Tacoma just tried it out.The city has been running a guaranteed income pilot, called GRIT.The program gave 110 low-income families money each month to help them with expenses they otherwise would not likely be able to afford.Abigail Lawson is the director of GRIT, Tacoma's guaranteed income pilot, and she shares what she learned.We can only make Seattle Now because listeners support us. Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW: http://bit.ly/seattlenowAnd we want to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram at SeattleNowPod, or leave us feedback online: https://www.kuow.org/feedback

This week on the show, Summer Stinson, Executive Director of the Economic Opportunity Institute (EOI), stops by to talk about the amazing work EOI has been doing and the benefits that progressive revenue presents across the state. Our tax system affects all aspects of life. How we tax income equitably in inequitably, what programs we invest in, have significant impacts on whether individuals and families will struggle or have access to necessary resources. Because of our lack of an income tax and reliance on sales tax, it's the poorest Washingtonians' who spend the most of their income on taxes, rather than the richest. Plans for progressive revenue would fix this by creating a tax system that taxes people closest in proportion to their income, instead of levying the same taxes on everyone regardless of their wealth.  For EOI, one of their top priorities for the next legislative session is a wealth tax, a bill for which was introduced by Representative Noel Frame, which would start 1% tax on an individual's accumulated wealth beyond a certain amount - discussed amounts range from $15 million to $1 billion as amount you can own before having to pay the tax. This 1% tax would only impact a portion of the wealth of a handful, 4,000 to less than a hundred, of Washingtonians, but could fund programs that benefit everyone.  Money earned through a wealth tax could fully fund special education across the state, provide adequate mental health staff for schools, let Washington start to develop guaranteed basic income programs, support people with developmental disabilities, and so much more.  As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Follow us on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Summer Stinson, at  @Summer_Stinson. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Summer Stinson Summer Stinson is a product of public schools from kindergarten to law school. After graduating law school, she clerked for the Honorable Johnnie B. Rawlinson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Summer has over 25 years of experience in human resources and labor, employment, and disability law. Most recently, Summer worked for the Social Security Administration for over a decade where she developed and led national trainings on the Americans with Disabilities Act. She worked pro bono on immigration cases, defended people facing eviction, and wrote numerous pro bono amicus briefs arguing for Washington to amply fund public schools.  In 2015, Summer co-founded Washington's Paramount Duty (WPD), a non-partisan, grassroots group of over 10,000 parents and allies across Washington advocating to provide every child equitable access to amply funded public schools with new progressive revenue. In 2021, Summer became the Executive Director of the Economic Opportunity Institute, a nonprofit public policy think tank that uses research, education, and advocacy to advance policies to build an economy that works for everyone. As EOI Executive Director, Summer is co-leading the Share the Wealth campaign to the legislature for a wealth tax. For too long, Indigineous, Black, and Brown Washingtonians have been paying their share of taxes but not seeing the investments and funding in their communities. It's time for the very wealthiest Washingtonians — who are primarily white — to pay what they owe so that we can ensure all of our communities have an equal opportunity to send their kids to excellent and well-funded public schools, to put food on the table, and to build a home where their families can live in dignity. Summer has published in the University of Oregon Labor Education Research Center Monograph and the University of Washington Education Law and Policy Review. Her most treasured accomplishment is being a mom to a Seattle Public Schools high schooler. Summer and her son adopted a rescue black lab from Texas and love taking him for urban and rural hikes in Washington. Summer is also a huge fan of progressive t-shirts, which she wears to walk or lift kettlebells and then sews t-shirt quilts with her favorite t-shirts.   Resources Economic Opportunity Institute: https://www.opportunityinstitute.org/     Keep Our Care Act from ACLU Washington:  https://www.aclu-wa.org/KOCA    Washington State's Paid Medical Leave program from Economic Opportunity Institute:  https://www.opportunityinstitute.org/research/paidleave/    “Washington state's tax system is worsening income inequality” by Melissa Hellmann, Ashley Clarke, & Joe Yerardi from Crosscut:  https://crosscut.com/equity/2022/09/washington-states-tax-system-worsening-income-inequality    “Share the Wealth, Washington! A state wealth tax on extreme wealth is the missing link in Washington's tax code” by Carolyn Brotherton from Economic Opportunity Institute: https://www.opportunityinstitute.org/research/post/share-the-wealth-washington/    “Reykdal calls for WA Legislature to fund free school meals for all” by Jeanie Lindsay from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/reykdal-calls-for-wa-legislature-to-fund-free-school-meals-for-all/   “Funding Progressive Services through Progressive Tax Reform” by Economic Opportunity Institute:  https://www.opportunityinstitute.org/research/tax-reform/   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On the show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show were always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today on the program, I'm thrilled to be joined by Summer Stinson. How are you . Doing? [00:00:45] Summer Stinson: I'm great. How are you Crystal? [00:00:47] Crystal Fincher: I'm doing great. And I'm excited to have you on, and I want to tell people who you are, what you've been up to. I'm just gonna read your bio so people understand why I'm excited that you're on. Summer Stinson is a product of public schools from kindergarten to law school. After graduating from law school, she clerked for the honorable Johnnie Rawlinson U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Summer has over 25 years of experience in human resources and labor employment and disability law. Most recently summer worked for the Social Security Administration for over a decade where she developed and led national trainings on the Americans With Disabilities Act. She worked pro bono on immigration cases, defended people facing eviction, and wrote numerous pro bono amicus briefs, arguing for Washington to amply fund public schools. In 2015, summer co-founded Washington's Paramount Duty, a nonpartisan grassroots group of over 10,000 parents and allies across Washington advocating to provide every child equitable access to amply-funded public schools with new progressive revenue. In 2021, Summer became the Executive Director of the Economic Opportunity Institute, a nonprofit public policy think tank that uses research, education, and advocacy to advance policies to build an economy that works for everyone. As EOI Executive Director, Summer's, co-leading the Share The Wealth campaign to the legislature for a wealth tax. For too long, Indigenous, Black, and Brown Washingtonians have been paying their share of taxes, but not seeing the investment in funding in their communities. It's time for the wealthiest Washingtonians, who are primarily white, to pay what they owe so that we can all ensure our communities have an equal opportunity to send their kids to excellent and well-funded public schools to put food on the table and to build a home where their families can live in dignity. Summer's Published in the University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center Monograph, and the University of Washington Education Law and Policy Review. Her most treasured accomplishment is being a mom to a Seattle public school's high schooler. Summer and her son adopted a rescue black lab from Texas and love taking him for urban and rural hikes in Washington. Summer's also a huge fan of progressive t-shirts, which she wears to walk or lift kettlebells, and then sews, t-shirts quilts with her favorite t-shirts. That's a lot. You have done a lot, Summer. [00:03:13] Summer Stinson: I feel like I still haven't done enough. I'm always trying to do more. [00:03:17] Crystal Fincher: You certainly are working more. Lots of people are familiar with Washington's Paramount Duty. You're one of the co-founders and then served on the board for quite some time. Built such a huge movement that resulted really in the McCleary decision, which is a pretty landmark decision by our Supreme court that finally required our legislature to adequately fund public schools. Forced them to make dramatic improvements from where they were at. Still more improvements necessary. But you have been doing this work for so long, in so many different ways and advocating for a lot of people in a lot of different ways. So one, I was just thrilled when you became the Executive Director of EOI and I'm thrilled at the work that you're doing right now. So I guess, starting out, what got you into this work, what drives you and how did you land at EOI? [00:04:13] Summer Stinson: Great questions. And actually like what got me into this work was, back in 1990, I was a sophomore at Oregon State University. And we had what was called measure number five down in Oregon, that would completely change our property tax system. And it was pushed by big landlords, especially corporations with lots of land, and it ended up gutting our public school system as well as our university programs. And I helped lead a lot of rallies. We even took over the president's office at Oregon State University. We slept there for the whole evening and had quite a rally in March just to say, "look divesting from the public good so that certain individuals can get tax breaks is or certain corporations, is not what Oregon is about." and unfortunately it passed and Oregon is still facing the ramifications of that decision, of that passage. What happened was that overnight after it passed, tuition doubled at many of the universities. Gonna date myself here, but when I started at Oregon State University, it was, I think, $494 for tuition for a quarter. Not including all the student fees and things like that, but then it doubled. Which still, I think many people today would gladly take a thousand dollars a quarter for tuition. But has just continued to escalate from there. Other things that happened from that were that friends who were in programs such as journalism, or programs such as teaching, all of a sudden the state board of higher education decided that we didn't have the money anymore, oregon didn't have the money anymore, to support degrees at different schools. So that if the University of Oregon already had journalism, there was no way that Oregon State should also have journalism, et cetera. So the degrees were slashed. Like entire degrees and programs were just slashed overnight. And so seeing how that affected people who were at school and the fact that a lot of people had to drop out or take a second job to be able to stay in school, or had to figure out whether to transfer, either to a different school or to a different program, was really my first awakening that taxes matter and actually affect our lives every day. And I think I was 19 years old at the time and it's still true today. We are so affected by our tax system, by the fairness or inequities in our tax system. And it truly does affect us, our children, our neighbors, coworkers, et cetera, every single day. And that is just such a touchpoint for whether we can live happy and healthy lives, is whether we are collecting re revenue equitably and whether we are investing in programs and communities equitably as well. [00:07:06] Crystal Fincher: And so that's really important work. It does have to do with everything. How does EOI go about advocating for that? And what is everything that the economic opportunity Institute works on? [00:07:19] Summer Stinson: We work on quite a bit of different things, not just progressive revenue. We also work on healthcare, major things that we have been working on, and this is through - we have this amazing policy team. So when I say we, it truly is we. We have just a tremendous staff, which we are almost gonna be nine here very soon. We have another person joining us at the beginning of October - and so for healthcare, some of the big pushes have been to address the consolidation of hospitals and the consolidation of our healthcare, which is critically important, not just when you look at the cost of healthcare, but also when you look at the healthcare available at certain hospitals. Because not all hospitals, unfortunately, have the same commitment to a woman's health and women's reproductive health, and also a woman's right to choose and to provide abortions whether chosen or whether they're required for the health of the mother. And so that's a very big issue that we have worked on that we have not been able to fully move forward in Washington state, I'm sure it'll be on our agenda again, and has never been more important than since after the Dobbs decision. Also, we are working with many other organizations, including unions and many other nonprofit organizations on capping costs and reducing costs for both pharmaceuticals and also for the medical procedures. Because, as we know, the costs are just continue to escalate and yet we don't see nurses getting paid more. We would think that we'd have a very robust system rather than just profits by hospitals or by providers at this point, but that's unfortunately what we're seeing. For paid family medical leave, which is another one of AOIs huge wins, and that was so important in the state where we were able to get, with many other organizations, paid leave for Washingtonians to care for themselves or their families. And then a very progressive program where it's not just family, that the U.S. government considers you related to, but it's also chosen family, which is very nice and broad, and also really matters to so many people, especially to communities, queer communities, that we can take time off for our chosen family. And we've done a lot of work to make sure that those programs are really accessible right now. Unfortunately, the application is only in English online, which makes no sense in a state like Washington. So that's another thing we're working on, making sure that there's more language accessibility for people who do not speak or write English to be able to apply for these programs that are very important for them to be able to access as well. And then of course, we've worked for a long time now on progressive revenue, which I know we're gonna talk more about as well. [00:10:09] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And so I do wanna talk about that a little bit more. Progressive revenue is a term that is frequently used among insiders among people doing policy work and political work, but that a lot of people, who aren't super paying attention to things may be real familiar with what that actually is. So what is progressive revenue and why does it matter? [00:10:33] Summer Stinson: So we are currently, Washington, the most regressive state when it comes to our revenue collection. And again, that sounds, maybe, like a little bit of word salad, but what that means is that we rely on taxes as a percentage of income. We rely on taxes and we more heavily tax the people at the bottom of the earning spectrum. People who are poor, people who are barely making it, working families pay a much higher rate of their earnings than do the really wealthy among us. And in a state like Washington state, where we have almost a hundred billionaires and yet one quarter of our Washingtonians live in poverty, we have just this enormous gap already between the haves and the have nots. But then when you layer our inequitable tax system, regressive tax system, on top of that, where we're taxing the people who are the have nots at the highest rate, it means that we are really unfair in how we're doing this. And let me remind you, we're more unfair than Mississippi, we're more unfair than Texas. We are the most regressive of all 50 states. And this is even after capital gains tax was enacted. We're still the most regressive. It has not changed that. We have not even moved up one number yet. We are still 50th when you look at states in terms of who has the least regressive tax system. We are still number 50. We just have an incredibly unfair tax system. [00:12:12] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And that's such a tremendous challenge. And our state, we don't have an income tax. And sometimes people look at that and they think, "oh, so taxes must be really low. There's no income tax. It's a cake walk." It is not a cake walk. And what that means is that instead of people paying proportionally according to what they earn and their ability to pay and a percentage of that, we have sales taxes and use taxes and BNO taxes and fees for everything. And so all of these other taxes are jacked up, but they're not taxes that are in any way correlated with people's income or ability to pay. So we have people at the bottom paying as much. Or more in some cases than people at the top. And it just doesn't make sense. And in an area where the public investments and the public infrastructure that have been provided and, businesses and individuals have been able to reap the benefit of that great public investment, of our great infrastructure, of our educational investments, enrich themselves, and then not continue that cycle of paying back into the system through taxes is just really not working is the bottom line. And we have seen, in many ways, how it doesn't work what are some of the impacts of having such a regressive tax? [00:13:44] Summer Stinson: And I thank you for laying it out that way, because one of the impacts, if you're gonna take it on a really personal level, is that, if you have, say, a millionaire parent who goes into buy some diapers for their child and they're paying the sales tax and they grab whatever brand of diapers off the shelf, they're paying the same tax for those diapers as a parent who is every single diaper counts, every single dollar counts, and they really need those diapers for their children and they may be working two jobs. And so the fact that the sales tax is not any way an equalizer because yes, you have these two parents who are paying the same amount, no matter what they bring to the table, no matter how much they're counting those dollars for those diapers, trying to make them last. So that's on a personal level, the impact. The impact for our students and for all Washingtonians, especially when you look at our Washingtonians most in need, like our disabled Washingtonians, is that we have cut and cut so many programs that are absolutely needed. We are not even back to most of the spending rates that we had for people very much in need. And for our basics, we are not even back to the spending rates that we had before the recession from 2008 to 2011, which I think was called the Great Recession, which just feels awkward now since we've, had a pandemic since then. But yeah, even in a pandemic, we have not gotten back to those levels because we've also had some infusions from the federal government and also our state government that are not- The investments while they're amazing, just yesterday, Biden had a bill signing, amazing investments, but many of them will tap out. They are investments for a year or two. Examples are the child tax credit that was very popular. Lifted millions of families out of poverty across the entire U.S, and yet, was discontinued at the beginning of this year. Another example is the federal government and state government making sure that all meals at public schools were free, universally free, was another thing that ceased, though Washington state is trying to figure out how to continue to make universal meals at schools still of reality. So even just like where the rubber meets the road, and actually, roads. Let's talk about how many bridges do we talk about need to be fixed? I saw that they're finally doing some testing on the West Seattle Bridge. But then we talk about the Magnolia Bridge and the Ballard Bridge. And just our simple infrastructure, we have not been keeping up with the investments we need and the testing and the reinforcing that we need to be able to continue the society that we already have. [00:16:37] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. It's so important and so critical. And so, in the state, we've had a lot of conversations about, "okay, so what kind of revenue does that mean?" we just talked about an income tax, but we hear an income tax in our state is unconstitutional. We also hear people trying to characterize lots of different types of wealth taxes as an income tax. So what is actually permissible and what is possible? [00:17:05] Summer Stinson: So what the Washington state constitution has a ban on is any sort of graduated property tax. So that would mean the more expensive the house, taxing that at a higher rate. Which. I think we should not be having to deal with that constraint of not being able to have a progressive property tax, but unfortunately that would require change from the legislature as well as from our Washingtonians. But what the Supreme Court did in the 1930s cases was say that, income was akin to property, and that because income was property, or so they ruled, and this was a pretty conservative court at the time, they overturned a Washington voter initiative to have a progressive income tax. And so, there's this interpretation from the 1930s Supreme Court, which is now almost a hundred years old, that interpretation that income is property. First of all, there's no prohibition on an income tax anywhere. The only rulings we have are that income is property and therefore it can't be, we couldn't have, a progressive income tax. I do think that it is a great time to challenge that at the Supreme Court level and see if this current Supreme Court would reexamine that, because income is very different than property, as we know. Wealth, property, income, those are all different types of terms. And we could talk about that. So there's no prohibition, but it is also just considered that third rail that a lot of people don't wanna touch in Washington state. And in my thinking, and many others' thinking, is that, "okay, income actually, isn't as progressive." People who are relying on income to work, where they're not making money in their sleep, they're putting their work, their thought, they're writing briefs, working out at a construction site, where they're somehow doing something to be able to earn money that is that is still an exchange. [00:19:15] Crystal Fincher: So you bring up a good issue here. That's good to talk about. The idea of income versus wealth. [00:19:22] Summer Stinson: Yes. [00:19:22] Crystal Fincher: And talking about this, a lot of people are like, "wealth? Does that mean that Ms. Tech executive who is making well into the six figures? Is that who we're talking about? Are we talking about billionaire? Are we talking about that?" And it really has to do with how are you making your income? What income are you living off of? If you are working and earning a wage, that wage could be minimum wage, that wage could be a really healthy salary. But if you are earning money from working, exchanging your labor, exchanging a service, exchanging your intellect and providing expertise, that's work. That's an income. And that's a completely different conversation than someone who is earning money passively on interest from an investment, on gains from an investment, on other people's work, or collecting wealth from other people. And some people talk about landlords or different things where it's not- you actually aren't working for the money, your money is earning money at that point in time. And you're making money from investments, not necessarily from work that you're doing or expertise that you are providing. Those are two very different things. And really when we're talking about, in Washington, this wealth tax, the number is so large and the amount of people that it covers is such a tiny minuscule percentage, that it's a different thing. How do you view this income versus wealth conversation? [00:20:58] Summer Stinson: I think, thank you very much for that framing, because I would also add, if you are able to make money in your sleep, if you can collect rent, or if your stocks are continuing to go up, or if you own a business and others are working for you but you are not having to lead that business but you have that investment, you're able to nap or sleep or do other things with your time and you don't have that exchange there. And that is where, when we look at the gap between those haves and have nots, it's not just income, though income is very important, but the wealth gap. The wealth gap is immoral in Washington state. The wealth gap that some people do not have a roof over their heads at all, do not have secure food, are not able to buy their children clothes for school, and yet we have almost a hundred billionaires in our state. Many of them that are on the dared names are on the tip of our tongue. And we could even just start naming them here. And that we have that in Washington state, which is amazing prosperity, but we also have people who, one quarter, who are not sure where their next meal is gonna come from, do not have secure housing are basically living very moment to moment without the support they need and without the programs they need, and without being able to earn the wage that they deserve. [00:22:28] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And really just fundamental fairness. Someone who is worth a billion dollars, our a hundred or so billionaires in the state, paying the same amount of tax, basically, same rate as someone who is struggling making a minimum wage at a full time job, trying to support a family, doing the best that they can just is not fair and is illogical. And is counter to the way that we have traditionally done things in the United States and this state also, which I feel like we should talk about more. Right now we're out of balance and people talking about, "hey, let's make our tax system more progressive" are really talking about let's return to the way that it used to be and get closer to that instead of where we have landed where tax rates are so much lower than they have historically been. And we see, societally, the impact of that. [00:23:29] Summer Stinson: Absolutely. We had two things that we had huge investments in our public infrastructure. We really funded the public good. We had library systems, we've had much stronger transit systems, public transit systems, we have had public schools with many more options. And this is in sometimes just our recent past, not even, in long ago, days, but very recent past. And yet smaller class sizes, et cetera. And yet what we also have is this nonstop chipping away at all the different revenue sources that we used to have. Very über wealthy people used to pay taxes at a much higher rate and still engage in philanthropy on top of that. Philanthropy does not equal taxes. Philanthropy is directed giving. Often it comes with tax breaks. It often comes with lots of strings attached. It often comes with, "hey, think about how I'm thinking," says the rich person, "about class sizes, whether they're important or not. Or school sizes. Or how important types of curriculum are." And yes, I may be thinking of a couple examples here, but, those strings and that investment from philanthropy is not the same as funding our communities. It's not the same as funding our children's future. We should be doing that based on taxes. It should be stable year to year. It should grow year to year. We have seen 10% increase in the CPI, in the inflation, here in Washington state. And yet I bet most workers have not seen a 10% increase in their wages. Schools have not seen a 10% increase in their budgets. We're being asked, essentially, whether it's our family, or our schools, or our transit systems, to do more with less. Which we have also been asked to do that for at least the last 50 years, if not more. And there just comes a point where you cannot do anything with less. There comes a point where you're barely scraping by. I think that the IRS as a institution is a perfect example of that. Where the IRS, people realize now, had been so chronically underfunded and Social Security, those two programs had been so underfunded that we have to take some time and a lot of money to bulk them back up again, just to do the mission that they were asked to do and that we expect them to do. [00:25:58] Crystal Fincher: Just to maintain a level of service that we're used to from so many of our public institutions. We are just on the heels of the end of a Seattle Public School strikes, the end of strikes in a number of different cities, and things like class sizes we're such a huge issue. They're so much bigger than they used to be. That's an effect of not having adequately funded schools. The size of the supply list that you have to get for your kid when you're sending them to school is now so much longer than it used to be. That's an example of things that used to be publicly funded now being the private responsibility or forced that burden onto private residents, when that used to be something that we all acknowledged was needed by our students. And so clearly schools would provide. Even looking at different programs available in school, different curriculum, different options and electives, that used to help provide a well rounded education, and frankly do a better job, I think, of preparing people for living in the world that they were gonna land in after graduation. Those things are not automatic anymore. And we have to pass a school levy locally or do something else to make up for the funding that used to be provided through taxing people who were very wealthy. Now we stop doing that. We're still taxing people at the bottom of the ladder and in the middle, but we took very high income earners out of the equation. Things like, just seeing the bridge closures that we've had, the kinds of potholes that we've had, managing these wildfires and forest, so many different things that our parents, that even it doesn't even have to be that long ago, just 10 years ago, were normal and standard are now no longer. And then more things are being forced onto private citizens to pay instead of everybody in this community and society. And so it's so important. There are lots of things that have been talked about. An income tax is one thing and one element that's a little bit trickier. But there are other things, like the capital gains tax, that has passed. There are several other types of taxes, a wealth tax proposed by representative Noel Frame, that politically now are more achievable than they have been in decades, really. There's such an increasing acknowledgement by more people in the public, that looking around and saying things are broken, whether it's the inability to address our housing crisis and our affordability crisis, or just provide clean water to all of our communities and our schools, so many different things. What are the options that you're working to, and that look possible in the coming legislative session? [00:28:56] Summer Stinson: Thank you. That's a great question. We are most focused, our biggest priority is, the wealth tax. And working with Representative Frame and also with Representative My-Linh Thai and Representative April Berg on the wealth tax. So, it was introduced two years ago at a billion dollar threshold, meaning Crystal, your first billion that you have in wealth and my first billion that I have in wealth would be not taxed. Which means- [00:29:22] Crystal Fincher: Wait, you're not a business hater, an economy hater who wants to take all of my wealth? You don't want my entire- But like, I can have my first billion free is what you're saying? [00:29:35] Summer Stinson: That we are suggesting to lower that to probably about 50 million, but yes. 50 million or 15 million. Those are pretty high numbers still. And then, even after that, it would only be a 1% tax because it would not be graduated because of the current constitutional prohibition on any sort of progressive property tax. So this would just be a straight 1% on intangible property. So much of our financial system is really now about stocks and bonds and all of these other types of assets, which often if there are stocks and bonds that are traded on wall street, then they're already going to have a worth attached to them. Some types of businesses that are not public might not have a worth and so that they would need to be assessed. But we already all have our houses assessed. We all get that little postcard, for people who are homeowners, get a postcard of how much our house is worth. And people who our homeowners often check out Redfin and Zillow. So the whole assessment of a certain type of wealth is already a really common standard practice, especially when we talk about real property. So when we're talking about intangible property, we would be applying that same appraisal system. That same assessment system. And that the difference between this, a wealth tax, also, and a capital gains tax, is the difference between a real estate tax and a tax when you sell your. So you pay real estate, property tax every single year, whatever you do with that property, but then anytime you sell it, then there's the tax for the exchange of that property. And so the wealth tax would be akin to the yearly property tax. So that would be for people who have intangible property of over 15 million or 50 million, wherever the threshold ends up being in the bill, then for that amount and over, there would be a 1% tax every year annually, that's very similar to our property taxes. Then capital gains tax is for the exchange. When somebody sells a stock or realizes gains, that's when then capital gains tax comes in. So they're different, just as we have different taxes in the real estate world. [00:31:59] Crystal Fincher: Okay. So we know how to assess this. We know what kind of system this is. We are not recreating the wheel. Many other states do this and taxing wealth is a normal, traditional American thing. As far as how many people this is going to impact, is this really a small percentage of people or are you trying to tax everybody in the state, Summer Stinson? Is this just coming for everybody? What is the deal with who this does impact? [00:32:29] Summer Stinson: That's a great question who this impacts is just less than a hundred taxpayers if we're at a billion dollar threshold. If we're at a hundred million threshold, it reaches a whole 2,000 taxpayers. And at a 50 million threshold, we are reaching 4,400 taxpayers. And these numbers did come from the Washington Department of Revenue Modeling that they have done this year. So these are very up to date numbers. These come from our Department of Revenue and from the modeling that they've done. And so we are also working on trying to make sure that we set a threshold where we do not get individuals who have most of their wealth held up in a family business, people who are very entrepreneurial and have a family business that maybe doesn't have the same cash flow to be able to pay this. We're not trying to catch up everybody or every type of wealth. We are really trying to get to the absolutely most über wealthy. Which again, even if out of 50 million wealth exemption amount, is 4,400 Washingtonians. [00:33:33] Crystal Fincher: So out of almost 8 million Washingtonian, 7.8 million residents in the state, we are talking about 2000 people that this impacts. And 2000 of the richest Washingtonians who control just an outsized percentage of the wealth in this state. What is made possible when we do tax the we of the über wealthy? What kinds of things does that buy and enable? [00:34:05] Summer Stinson: One of the big things, and this was something that we've been pushing a lot already, is actually fully funding special education. And this was something that I've been writing about and talking about and working on with representative Frank Chopp and others before the most recent school strikes that we've seen in different school districts, seattle's as well as others. Because this state does not amply fund education at public schools, but they really do not pay the actual cost of special education even today. They have a very low cap on the number of students, the percentage of students, in each district who can be identified as in need of special education. And they have very outdated, insufficient formulas for figuring out how much each student should receive or how much each district should receive for different students. And especially when we have the mental health issues that we see from the pandemic across the entire country. And as in recently reported, especially depression and anxiety in kids here in Washington state where it's been a larger issue than even in the rest of the country where those rates are increasing really rapidly. We need to have more counselors, nurses, special education supports, social workers, librarians in our schools. We absolutely need that. If we have a true commitment to having culturally responsive and support for students in need, rather than going to heavy discipline measures and wrap around supports, then what we really need is to be able to invest in those. It's hard to tell teachers or administrators that they have to do something with nothing. We really need to be able to support our teachers, our administrators, and also have the proper number of bodies, which is a nurse in every school. The fact that is something that we, that is no longer a given is, really it's bananas. It's unthinkable, truly. There are some schools that only I see a nurse once a week and the state legislature did just invest more in nurses, but it's gonna be over a three year period. And it's a very slow, the investment in nurses and counselors is still, also very slow to build. And we really need to be able to have one in each school. Other things that we need to be able to support is cash for families. There was a great article in the New York times on GBI programs, Guaranteed Basic Income programs and how they, there have been various different pilots around the entire country. We've also had a pilot here in Washington state and the Department of DHS-. [00:36:45] Crystal Fincher: DSHS. [00:36:46] Summer Stinson: DSHS, thank you - did a great report on how uplifting that pilot program was. And we need to be able to have the money in Washington state, have the investment to take these pilot programs or trials to scale them up, to make them actually real programs that can help everybody in Washington. GBI is an amazing opportunity for helping Washingtonians most in need and Representative Liz Berry has been sponsoring that bill. Another thing that I think many people don't know is that in Washington state, we do not support people with developmental disabilities nearly as much as we need to. Any sort of support for developmental disabilities means that individuals have to be on a waiting list. Our waiting list. 15,000 people right now in Washington state who are on a waiting list for needed support, just to be able to live their lives and for their families to be able to live their lives with a disabled person in their family. This would be akin to say, going into social security administration and saying, "hey, here's I, I'm trying to get my disability or trying to get my retirement benefits" and somebody basically telling you that somebody else has to go off the list, possibly even die, before you can get your benefits. It is morally reprehensible that we have such a long waiting list for people who need help with their basic daily living. So that's the type of thing that we could fund. All the programs and services needed for those 15,000 people on that waiting list. We could also provide homes for people with disabilities, including mental disabilities. Because many of the people who are most homeless and need a stable roof over their head have disabilities, including mental disabilities. We could also do a lot more recruiting training and retention of our needed workforce, right now, the counselors and the therapists and the public access to the support that they need. Those therapists themselves are often could qualify for housing support because they make so little themselves. Think about that. These are crucial jobs, and yet, just as crucial as safe firefighters, and yet we do not pay these people, a living wage. So there's so many things we can invest in that we absolutely should be investing in because right now, by not taxing, the most wealthy among us, we are leaving severe deficits in places that most need it in our communities that most need it in Washington state. [00:39:18] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. Things from childcare, to the transition to clean and sustainable energy, to managing wildfires. There's so much. If you just think of what is publicly funded, this is what is impacted by the amount of taxes that we collect and then how we distribute them. So it, it is so impactful and so important. If people wanna learn more about the Economic Opportunity Institute or getting involved in movements for progressive revenue, how can they learn more information and get involved? [00:39:53] Summer Stinson: Thank you. That's a great question. The Economic Opportunity Institute has an entire website with information, including Dr. Carolyn Brotherton, who is our Policy Associate for Progressive Revenue, just wrote an amazing article on Share the Wealth Washington talking about how a Washington state wealth tax on extreme wealth. It's the missing link for Washington's tax code. And there's even interactive charts where you can see who's gonna pay and at what levels and where they reside and whether or not they reside in your legislative district. So you can play around with lots of different things. I will give you a hint about that in that 41st legislative district, which includes Medina and Bellevue and Mercer Island, it does have the most, the highest number of, payers of any legislative district in the state of Washington. So you can go there to our website. Also, people can email me at summer@opportunityinstitute.org. And we always have lots of opportunities for people to learn either about wealth tax, we're gonna be having some sessions coming up about that, we're gonna be putting out some videos that we're working with Fuse on. And we will have a legislative session preview in early January. The first week of January. Because session starts January 9th. [00:41:11] Crystal Fincher: Excellent. So we will include all of these links in there in our episode notes so you can refer to those, just, wherever you get the show. We will also be paying attention to what candidates on the campaign trail are saying about this issue, all of these issues, and making sure that if this is something that you care about, that the people up for election in your legislative districts are supportive of this. And you should ask them about this and engage with them about this and let them know that it's a priority to you. That's another way that you can help ensure that this winds up on their priority list to tackle in this upcoming legislative session. And for, even people in the County Prosecutors races and County Council races, that they know that progressive revenue is needed in all of our jurisdictions to make sure that we can take care of our entire community in the way that we deserve. And that people in the middle and at the bottom, aren't paying more than their fair share, like that needs to stop. Thank you so much Summer for joining us today. Sincerely appreciate it. [00:42:24] Summer Stinson: Thank you, Crystal. It's been delightful to spend time with you as always. And thank you so much for inviting me on. [00:42:32] Crystal Fincher: Excellent. And thank you for everyone for listening. Talk to you soon. Thank you all for listening to Hacks & Wonks. The producer of Hacks and Wonks is Lisl Stadler, our assistant producer is Shannon Cheng and our post-production assistant is Bryce Cannatelli you can find Hacks and Wonks on Twitter at @HacksWonks, and you can follow me at @finchfrii spelled F I N C H F R I I. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts., just type Hacks & Wonks into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered right to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave us a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacks&wonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you next time.

Join us for an interview with Dr. Dawnté Early, who is President & CEO of United Way California Capital Region. She is tackling systemic poverty through a data-driven ecosystem approach. She shares about the importance of starting small, focusing on data, and bringing other's along on the journey. Original music by Lynz Floren.

On today's show: Finding a viable solution to the crime in the DTES. Canadians are feeling the heat with the high cost of living rising. Guaranteed basic income debate! Will teachers strike next?

The Black Resilience Fund started during the pandemic to offer emergency relief to Black Portlanders. Now, the program is shifting to a guaranteed basic income model. The program is backed by the nonprofit Brown Hope. Organizers recently announced plans to support as many as 50 people with up to $2,000 per month over a three-year period. We'll hear from Brown Hope CEO Cameron Whitten about the intentions behind this new initiative and how the selection process will work.

The rising cost of everyday goods, and the end of several pandemic programs like the expanded Child Tax Credit has put millions of families across the family in a financially precarious position. Here in Washington, Tacoma is piloting their own guaranteed income initiative. It's called GRIT, an acronym for growing resilience in Tacoma.

Alameda news and information with host Scott Piehler for the week ending May 20. Stories include City Council voting to approve a Guaranteed Basic Income pilot program, new terns at Alameda Point,  Island Savoy Market opening in June, and Karen Roze's happy little paintings are at the Inkblot Gallery.   For podcast information, go to AlamedaPost.com/Podcast or visit AlamedaPost.com for more Alameda news and information.

Reset gets the details on how the Cook County Promise Guaranteed Income Pilot will work and who is eligible. Host: Sasha-Ann Simons Producer: Claire Hyman Guest: Esther Yoon-Ji Kang, reporter on WBEZ's Race, Class and Communities desk

Michael Tubbs grew up in poverty. And when, at 26, he was elected mayor of his hometown, he decided to do something about it. And what he did in Stockton, California, no American mayor had done before. He started giving poor people cash. No strings attached. Stockton's pilot program in Guaranteed Basic Income started lifting people out of poverty. It gave parents more time with their kids. And it was actually cost-effective. So as we look to the Future of Work and Wellbeing, could Guaranteed Basic Income programs play a central role in lifting all of us up — and boosting the standard of life for all Americans? Guests Michael Tubbs, elected mayor of Stockton, California in 2016 at the age of 26 — the youngest mayor in the country. He is known nationally for establishing the first city-led Guaranteed Basic Income program in America, which has inspired dozens of other cities across the country to try similar programs. Having lost his re-election bid in 2020, Tubbs recently founded the nonprofit End Poverty in California. Natalie Foster, co-founder, co-director Economic Security Project, which worked closely with Tubbs on Stockton's Guaranteed Basic Income program John Summers, participant in pilot guaranteed basic income program Cambridge RISE in Massachusetts. Resources Stockton's Basic Income Experiment Paid Off, Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic The Potential for a Guaranteed Income: A Conversation with Four Mayors, New America California, 2021. The Future of Leisure, Stuart Whatley, Democracy Journal, 2012 The Evolving Concept of Time for Work, Leisure, Pew Research, 2008 Less Work and More Leisure: Utopian Visions and the Future of Work, CBC Radio, 2018 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We begin with a look at the current situation in Ukraine where the Russian Invasion continues, now into day 81. We speak with Marcus Kolga, founder of ‘disinfowatch.org' and a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Marcus brings us the latest on the conflict and a ‘breakdown' on the requests of a handful of European nations to now join NATO. Next, we examine the concept of ‘Guaranteed Basic Income'. Could it be the ‘key' to eliminate poverty,  and if so, what's stopping us from implementing it?  We discuss with Jiaing Zhao, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. It's a Stampede tradition that's been on ‘hold' for the past two-years due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. We hear details on the return of the “Roundup Music Festival” taking place July 13th and featuring 90's rock icons “The Offspring”. Finally, it's another edition of “Motivational Monday”, our weekly segment aimed at helping you achieve your goals and live your best life! This week, we speak with Personal Trainer, Wellness Influencer and Canadian Mental Health Association Ambassador, Sonia Jhas. Sonja shares details of her recent “Ted-X” talk, titled “Where Do The Happy People Live?”. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael Tubbs grew up in poverty. And when, at 26, he was elected mayor of his hometown, he decided to do something about it. And what he did in Stockton, California, no American mayor had done before. He started giving poor people cash. No strings attached. Stockton's pilot program in Guaranteed Basic Income started lifting people out of poverty. It gave parents more time with their kids. And it was actually cost-effective. So as we look to the Future of Work and Wellbeing, could Guaranteed Basic Income programs play a central role in lifting all of us up — and boosting the standard of life for all Americans? Guests Michael Tubbs, elected mayor of Stockton, California in 2016 at the age of 26 — the youngest mayor in the country. He is known nationally for establishing the first city-led Guaranteed Basic Income program in America, which has inspired dozens of other cities across the country to try similar programs. Having lost his re-election bid in 2020, Tubbs recently founded the nonprofit End Poverty in California. Natalie Foster, co-founder, co-director Economic Security Project, which worked closely with Tubbs on Stockton's Guaranteed Basic Income program John Summers, participant in pilot guaranteed basic income program Cambridge RISE in Massachusetts. Resources Stockton's Basic Income Experiment Paid Off, Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic The Potential for a Guaranteed Income: A Conversation with Four Mayors, New America California, 2021. The Future of Leisure, Stuart Whatley, Democracy Journal, 2012 The Evolving Concept of Time for Work, Leisure, Pew Research, 2008 Less Work and More Leisure: Utopian Visions and the Future of Work, CBC Radio, 2018

Pastor Timothy Findley Jr. is the Senior Pastor of Kingdom Fellowship Christian Life Center and his running for Mayor of Louisville. In today's visit, he discusses funding pre-K for all Jefferson County students, his support of guaranteed basic income, increasing public transportation use, the city's relationship with Frankfort, the legalization gaming and marijuana, and more...

Julie Sanchez, Director of Youth & Family Services of the City of Santa Fe, shares the latest information about the City's Guaranteed Basic Income project for students

A first-of-its-kind guaranteed basic-income program in New Mexico will benefit 330 undocumented or mixed-immigration status families. Starting next month, each family will receive $500 monthly for 12 months. The pilot program was initiated by the New Mexico Economic Relief Working Group, made up of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, New Mexico Voices for Children, New Mexico CAFé, and Partnership for Community Action. Comments from Marcela Díaz, executive director, Somos Un Pueblo Unido. — Ways you can help support the show Chase Bank – where you can get a $200 bonus by opening an account and doing a direct deposit. Open an account today at https://accounts.chase.com/consumer/raf/online/rafoffers?key=1934238931&src=N. Ashley Furniture – Save money on your furniture with this coupon. https://www.ashleyfurniture.com/?extole_share_channel=SHARE_LINK&extole_shareable_code=viewfromthepugh5&extole_zone_name=friend_landing_experience Donate to the show – Through CashApp at $ChrisPugh3. Enter our featured contests – $1,000 Target giveaway (through Feb. 27), Win a $500 WalMart gift card (through Feb. 28), Win a $1,000 Best Buy gift card (through March 4) and Win a $1,000 Amazon gift card (through May 22) Sign up for CashApp – Using the code ZFZWZGF. We will both get $5. https://cash.app/app/ZFZWZGF Get your next project done for $5 through Fiverr – https://fiverraffiliates.com/affiliatev2/#:~:text=https%3A//fvrr.co/3K9Ugiq Follow our podcast hosts on Twitter – Chris Pugh, Craig Shoup, Paul Yanchek, Joe Frost and also follow co-hosts George Thomas and Bob Garver. Read Chris and Craig's professional work – Read Chris Pugh's work for the Columbus Dispatch and Cincinnati Enquirer and Craig's work at Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle Share us with your friends --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/theohioan/message

Tuesday on Political Rewind: A conversation about new efforts to help Americans lift themselves out of poverty. Guaranteed basic income initiatives are popping up across the country. Two new programs in Georgia seek to provide impoverished residents with a stable flow of income over one year. Can these programs help tackle inequity? The panel: Amir Farokhi – Atlanta city councilmember Tamar Hallerman – Senior reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Kyle Wingfield – President and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation Timestamps: :00- Introductions 3:00- Dr. King's thoughts on guaranteed income 4:00- Introductions continue 6:59- Introduction of two Atlanta guaranteed income programs 23:31- How guaranteed income programs can knock people out of the threshold of their government benefits 30:39- How these programs help address needs in real time 43:19 - Are these programs viable nationwide? Please be sure to download our newsletter: www.gpb.org/newsletters. And subscribe, follow and rate this show wherever podcasts are found.

On today's episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we share an informational interview with some of the folks at ACER and we discuss a guaranteed basic income experiment coming to an end in the City of Saint Paul. You can check out the episode's transcription here. We'll have a link to a story on guaranteed basic income, as mentioned in the episode, shared as soon as it publishes on Prism.

Starting in January and throughout 2022, the City of LA plans to give 3,200 families in poverty $1,000 a month — with no conditions. The $38 million program is called “BIG:LEAP.” To be eligible, families must live in LA, have at least one dependent child, and earn income at or below the federal poverty level. Theater students at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo uncovered stories about the history of their campus, and transformed them into a collection of short plays called “Camarillo Tales: Echoes in the Hills.” And LACMA is currently displaying the famous Obama portraits plus a whole exhibition called “Black American Portraits,” while Kehinde Wiley is curating a show of other artists' work called “Self-Addressed” at the Jeffrey Deitch gallery. 

https://www.foxla.com/news/los-angeles-city-council-approves-guaranteed-basic-income-program "The largest Guaranteed Basic Income pilot program in the country was approved by the Los Angeles City Council Tuesday, expanding the city's initial $6 million investment to nearly $40 million to benefit 3,000 Angelenos."–by MARGARET SHUTTLEWORTH/FoxLa POLITICAL ANALYST AVAILABLE: Drew Allen is the host of “The Drew Allen Show” podcast. He is a Texas-bred, California-based millennial author, columnist, and political analyst. His work can be read and seen and heard at drewthomasallen.com BIO: Fluent in Italian, Drew has lived and worked in Italy in the fashion industry and in New York City and Los Angeles as an actor, screenwriter, and independent film producer. He is a fresh, young, bold voice for the conservative movement.

In this episode, Isaac M. Cooper reacts to a clip produced by Anthony Pompliano pertaining to the future of Guaranteed Basic Income and the overall impact on the economy. Anthony Pompliano is an entrepreneur and investor. He has built and sold numerous companies, ran Product & Growth teams at Facebook, and manages a portfolio valued at more than $500 million in early-stage tech companies. https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/planning (#planning) https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/imc (#IMC) https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/bestbusinessshow (#bestbusinessshow) https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/money (#money) https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/guaranteedbasicincome (#guaranteedbasicincome) https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/wealth (#wealth) https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/birmingham (#birmingham) https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/pomp (#pomp)

Alan returns to the subject of a guaranteed basic income and discusses its economic and political feasibility. He adds his thoughts on how a basic income could be financed.

Alan looks at some of the pros and cons of instituting a guaranteed basic income, as well as the pros and cons of a guaranteed jobs program. He also talks about whether such programs would be inflationary and how he would fund them.

Last week was one of the worst in ABQ in Paul's memory. He shares a bit of his experience due to the shootings/lockdowns in NE Heights.   MLG has imposed a mask mandate and is demanding state fair attendees be vaccinated. Most New Mexico kids are back to school. While it is more "normal" than last year, there are many challenges facing New Mexicans and the education system. Paul wrote about this recently in the Las Cruces Sun News. On his way out the door, NM's (former) PED secretary says he pushed hard for allowing outdoor learning options for New Mexico students (to no avail).  Pfizer vaccine has been approved for adults 16 and up.  The White Sands Balloon Festival has been cancelled for another year. Is this COVID or a federal lands dispute?  According to National Bureau of Economic Research study covered by Yale News on recent research: Using a quantitative model to examine the consequences of extended school closures for high school students, the researchers determined that children living in the poorest 20% of U.S. neighborhoods will experience the most negative and long-lasting effects of school closures. For example, their model predicts that one year of school closures will cost ninth graders in the poorest communities a 25% decrease in their post-educational earning potential, even if it is followed by three years of normal schooling. By contrast, their model shows no substantial losses for students from the richest 20% of neighborhoods.  New Mexico's unemployment rate is now 7.6%, tied with New York and California for 2nd-worst in the nation.  The Biden Administration says states can use surplus stimulus money to extend unemployment benefits beyond September 6. Will MLG?  What about a "Guaranteed basic income" for New Mexicans? 

Alan answers a listener's question about property rights and democracy in James Madison's Federalist #10, then discusses the impact on the founders of John Locke's ideas about the right to private property. He critiques Locke's ideas and shows why a legally sanctioned right of property would require a universal basic income as compensation to the whole community.

What impact might a guaranteed basic income have on people's lives and choices around work? Plus your experiences at the dog park with your pet and the relationships you may have formed as a result.

The automation doomers assume that when jobs are eliminated by automation in one place, that the number of jobs are permanently gone. For this to be true, there would have to be no growth in the need for labor elsewhere. Original Article: "Is Guaranteed Basic Income the Solution to Robots Taking Our Jobs?​" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.

The automation doomers assume that when jobs are eliminated by automation in one place, that the number of jobs are permanently gone. For this to be true, there would have to be no growth in the need for labor elsewhere. Original Article: "Is Guaranteed Basic Income the Solution to Robots Taking Our Jobs?​" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.

Is a guaranteed Basic Income the solution to food insecurity, unemployment and poverty in our province? A group of community organizations thinks so.

Chicago 36th Ward Alderman Gilbert Villegas joins Rich and Tina to talk about his proposed guaranteed basic income pilot program. Kirker Davis LLP Founding Partner Holly Davis discusses high net worth divorces, including Bill and Melinda Gates. McDermott Will & Emery Partner Christina Martini and National Material L.P. Associate General Counsel David Susler, authors of the […]

Plus, we follow up with former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson and his adoptive mother, Rosa Jackson.

"Chelsea Eats" consists of direct cash payments of up to $400 a month to about two thousand households in need of economic assistance. Six months into the program, early data suggests that it's working. We talk with Chelsea City Manager Tom Ambrosino.

The city of Oakland, California, announced a guaranteed income pilot program back in March, and now Mayor Eric Garcetti is proposing a similar plan in Los Angeles to combat poverty and aid the economic recovery. The idea of providing people living in poverty some level of basic income has been around for decades. If adopted, Los Angeles would be the biggest U.S. city to try out the policy. Plus, California is buying hotels to house the homeless, and NASA flew a helicopter on Mars! Here’s everything we talked about today: “Apple will reinstate Parler” from CNBC “$1,000 A Month, No Strings Attached: Garcetti Proposes A Guaranteed Basic Income Pilot In Los Angeles” from LAist “Oakland City Officials Announce Guaranteed Income Pilot Program” from NBC Bay Area “One Way to Get People Off the Streets: Buy Hotels” from The New York Times “After fully vaccinating a majority of its population, Israel no longer requires people to wear masks outdoors” from Business Insider “NASA’s Mars Helicopter Completes First Flight on Another Planet” from The New York Times “Meet Bearsun, the real-life teddy bear on a journey from Los Angeles to San Francisco” from CNN Join us on YouTube Friday at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time/6:30 p.m. Eastern for our live happy hour episode! Subscribe to our channel and sign up for notifications so you don’t miss it.

The city of Oakland, California, announced a guaranteed income pilot program back in March, and now Mayor Eric Garcetti is proposing a similar plan in Los Angeles to combat poverty and aid the economic recovery. The idea of providing people living in poverty some level of basic income has been around for decades. If adopted, Los Angeles would be the biggest U.S. city to try out the policy. Plus, California is buying hotels to house the homeless, and NASA flew a helicopter on Mars! Here’s everything we talked about today: “Apple will reinstate Parler” from CNBC “$1,000 A Month, No Strings Attached: Garcetti Proposes A Guaranteed Basic Income Pilot In Los Angeles” from LAist “Oakland City Officials Announce Guaranteed Income Pilot Program” from NBC Bay Area “One Way to Get People Off the Streets: Buy Hotels” from The New York Times “After fully vaccinating a majority of its population, Israel no longer requires people to wear masks outdoors” from Business Insider “NASA’s Mars Helicopter Completes First Flight on Another Planet” from The New York Times “Meet Bearsun, the real-life teddy bear on a journey from Los Angeles to San Francisco” from CNN Join us on YouTube Friday at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time/6:30 p.m. Eastern for our live happy hour episode! Subscribe to our channel and sign up for notifications so you don’t miss it.

FEATURING SUKHI SAMRA – A new study based in Stockton, California of a “guaranteed basic income,” found that over the course of two years, the study’s participants benefited significantly from having a no-strings-attached monthly stipend of $500. Participants who were unemployed found jobs at twice the rate of non-participants. And, they experienced better mental health...

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Welcome back to the Business News Headlines for Tuesday the 5th of January. Reminder you can follow us all day on Twitter @IOB_NewsHour. Here is what we've got for you today:  Georgia votes today and business on the fence; Another COVID19 causality: State & Local Budgets; Another round of retail closings announced; Guaranteed Basic Income is a thing; Americans back to buying vehicles; A new car company has been formed; The NYSE thumbs its nose at President Trump; The Wall Street Report; Is fatherhood...back? Thanks for listening! 

There are a lot of jobs we as a country don’t value. Think farm work, child care, service jobs—these low-wage, often racialized and gendered jobs form the backbone of our economy, but if you’ve worked in any of these fields, you know how hard it can be to make ends meet on these jobs. Three of Dorian Warren’s grandparents were janitors, another job that doesn’t get its due. But they were also proud members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and through their work and their union they learned a vital lesson. If we want to improve working conditions for these undervalued jobs, you can either upgrade the workers, or you can upgrade the jobs—or you can do both. Upgrading and transforming jobs, especially dangerous and poverty-level jobs in growing sectors like care work (https://www.thenation.com/article/society/coronavirus-child-care-nurses-essential/) , is a critically important strategy precisely because of the historically devalued nature of this labor. But it takes power—the collective power of workers joining together with communities—to redesign the system of bad, poverty-level jobs into good jobs. On this week’s show, Melissa Harris-Perry and Dorian Warren follow up on last week’s episode (https://www.thenation.com/podcast/society/poverty-inequality-basic-income/) to answer the question: How can we eradicate poverty in America? It's not just about jobs, and the answers are common sense, but radical: To end poverty, we need to meet people’s real needs, like food, or diapers, or childcare, but we also need to disrupt and reform the systems that keep people in poverty, and we need to give people the power to smash through the structures holding them back. For insight on how to get to a poverty-free America, Melissa and Dorian turn to experts leading campaigns and organizations fighting against the system of poverty. Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis (https://www.thenation.com/article/society/we-still-live-in-two-americas-not-one/) , co-director of the Kairos Center and national co-director of the Poor People’s Campaign, joins to discuss how abolishing poverty is a moral imperative—and it makes good policy sense as well, leading to stronger organizing possibilities for all working Americans. Next up, Mary Kay Henry (https://www.seiu.org/mary-kay-henry) , President of SEIU, joins to talk about the role of multi-racial worker power in disrupting the system of poverty. Henry talks to Melissa and Dorian in-depth about the innovative “Fight for $15 and a Union” campaign SEIU helped launched in 2012, and the transformative power of workers setting the terms of their own fights. We then check-in with—and give the final word to—two guests on the ground in North Carolina doing the work to fulfill the immediate needs of those living in poverty and struggling to make ends meet. We talk to Eric Aft, CEO of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina (https://www.secondharvestnwnc.org/about-us) , who talks to us about “feeding the line and shortening the line” for the over 200,000 individuals his organization and its partners serve yearly. And Melissa and Dorian talk with Michelle Old, Executive Director of the North Carolina Diaper Bank, (https://ncdiaperbank.org/about-us) about how having access to diapers and what she calls “dignity items” is a vital necessity for babies, children and families to thrive. System Checklist  During the Covid-19 pandemic millions of Americans have fallen more deeply into poverty. Alleviating poverty in America requires political will, investment, and a strategy to win. During the past two weeks our System Check guests have identified two key issues that keep people poor: lack of cash and lack of power. This week’s System Checklist highlights a political agenda that addresses both. Raise the minimum wage. The last time Congress raised the federal minimum wage was 2007! We know that this meager $7.25 / hour minimum hasn't kept pace with cost of living. (https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/01/21/if-worker-pay-had-kept-pace-productivity-gains-1968-todays-minimum-wage-would-be-24) Right now there is nowhere in the country where a full time, minimum wage worker can afford rent on a two bedroom apartment. We must raise the minimum wage. Join the Fight for 15. (https://fightfor15.org) Universal Health Care. Unexpected medical bills cause 40% of individual bankruptcies. (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/this-is-the-real-reason-most-americans-file-for-bankruptcy.html) Universal health care acknowledges that healthcare is a basic, human right and unlinks health and wealth. With access to affordable, available health care, families can spend their income on housing, food, and other necessities, while avoiding the medical bill caused spiral into poverty. Join the majority of Americans (https://www.kff.org/slideshow/public-opinion-on-single-payer-national-health-plans-and-expanding-access-to-medicare-coverage/) --support universal health care. Universal Childcare. One year of child care costs more than one year of tuition at most states’ four-year public colleges. (https://www.epi.org/child-care-costs-in-the-united-states/) Families need safe, accessible, affordable child care. We can alleviate poverty and change the trajectory of life for millions of American children with a substantial investment in childcare and early childhood education. Read this report from The Economic Policy Institute calling for “An Ambitious National Investment in America’s Children” (https://www.epi.org/publication/its-time-for-an-ambitious-national-investment-in-americas-children/) and sign up to join Childcare Changemakers (https://www.childcarechangemakers.org/) to enlist in the campaign for universal and equitable childcare for all families. Guaranteed Basic Income. Last week we heard from Aisha Nyandoro as she described the ways guaranteed basic income from The Magnolia’s Mother’s Trust (http://springboardto.org/index.php/blog/story/introducing-the-magnolia-mothers-trust) has affected the lives of Black mothers living in poverty in Mississippi. A Stockton, California, guaranteed income program (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-02/stockton-extends-its-universal-basic-income-pilot) has also ignited the interest around the country. If lack of cash is the core feature of poverty, then let’s get cash to the people. Learn about and support the work of the Economic Security Project.  (https://www.economicsecurityproject.org) Ensure Workers’ Right to Organize. Workers must have the right to organize in order to have a seat at the table of power. The power to negotiate wages and conditions of work is tied directly to the ability to organize and unionize. It’s time to update our outdated labor laws to adapt to our 21st century economy. Check out the campaigns of Jobs with Justice (https://www.jwj.org/) and Sign the Pledge (https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-the-jobs-with-justice-pledge?&source=NAT_W_homepage) to advance workers’ rights to organize. As always, we welcome your additions to our Checklist! Use our Twitter and Facebook pages to add your comments, suggested actions, and organizations to support. System Check is a project of The Nation magazine, hosted by Melissa Harris-Perry and Dorian Warren and produced by Sophia Steinert-Evoy. Support for System Check comes from Omidyar Network, a social change venture that is reimagining how capitalism should work. Learn more about their efforts to recenter our economy around individuals, community, and societal well-being at Omidyar.com (http://omidyar.com/) . Our executive producer is Frank Reynolds. Our theme music is by Brooklyn-based artist and producer Jachary (https://jachary.bandcamp.com/) . Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: http://thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

An end of season round up of corrections, omissions and breaking news about Edenicity.Episode detailsSupport the show (https://teespring.com/stores/edenicity)

We're talking the notion of having a guaranteed basic income in this province.

Sarah discusses her proposed Guaranteed Basic Income pilot and is later joined by Scott Santens, full-time advocate for Unconditional Basic Income.

The pandemic is upending people's lives, and leaving several without jobs. For many, financial security is unattainable. Join Hillary and Erika as they discuss how a universal basic income might be a feasible solution for America. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/cocktailsandcapitalism)

Libby Znaimer is joined by John Capobianco, Senior Vice President & Senior Partner, FleishmanHillard HighRoad, Charles Bird, Managing Principal of Earnscliffe Strategy Group in Toronto, and Karen Stintz, CEO of Variety Village. In the news: Canadians head back to work and to school - that amid a surging number of COVID infections. Meanwhile, the Trudeau government is set to announce retaliatory trade measures against the US. There is a lot of speculation that the Liberals are taking the opportunity of the pandemic crisis to overhaul social programs and that the idea of a basic minimum income is high on the agenda. At the provincial level, the arrangements for the return to school are still controversial and the premier is warning that he will put us back into lockdown if necessary! Listen live, weekdays from noon to 1, on Zoomer Radio!

Karlene Nation speaks to Ian Lee to discuss fiscal realities about the Trudeau government wanting to introduce a guaranteed basic income. Christine Van Geyn of the Canadian Constitution Foundation on concerns about the Canada Elections Act.

Guest: Dr. Lydia Miljan, Associate Professor - Faculty of Political Science - University of Windsor. 

On our next episode we have a conversation about the need and prospects for a guaranteed basic income in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Crises have a way of highlighting the fault lines in existing systems and Canada’s income security programs are no exception. Join me, Terry Moore, for a conversation with Elaine Power from Queen’s University and Jamie Swift, journalist, author and activist on why the time has come to get serious about a guaranteed basic income. Show Notes

Friday, August 7, 202 - Jack Russell Weinstein joins us to preview Sunday’s WHY radio show. It’s about guaranteed basic income, an idea with relevance to circumstances today as workers receive additional assistance during this time of mass unemployment. ~~~ News director Dave Thompson has this week’s news chat. ~~~ Matt reviews “Relic,” the new horror film from director Natalie Erika James.

This week:- John Wayne Airport controversy.- Guaranteed Basic Income?- Dominion Day bits and pieces.AND MUCH MORE...

A podcast produced by saint benedict's table on behalf of the Anglican Diocese of Rupert's Land, in which Bishop Geoff Woodcroft speaks on a letter sent to the Canadian Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Finance, regarding the timeliness of a Guaranteed Basic Income. This letter comes with the endorsement of bishops from coast to coast to coast, from both the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.In his opening reflections, Bishop Geoff refers to the a bold experiment from the 1970s called "Mincome," more information about which is available in this archived CBC piece. He also speaks of the role that former Senator Hugh Segal played in the development of this new letter, and a brief piece co-written by Mr. Segal is available here. If you would like to read the text of the letter or might consider writing a letter to your own Member of Parliament, you can find that information on the Diocesan website. If you have questions or concerns about this initiative by the bishops, you can find the contact information for the diocese and its various officers on that same website. * * *This podcast is created at saint benedict's table, a congregation of the Anglican Church of Canada in Winnipeg, where we've been making great audio since 2006. Listen to other recent episodes on our website and see our entire catalogue of almost 500 shows on our hosting page.Our MissionTo provide rich and stimulating audio resources to the wider church and engage topics and issues relevant to the concerns and questions of the larger culture in which we live.

Why aren’t more people talking about Yang and his guaranteed basic income proposal? Yes it’s socialism... “lite,” but how is it “free money” when he all have to pay taxes? We pay taxes we should get some of that money back and not just when we are too old to really enjoy it! On this episode I argue that Capitalism can be improved with a dash of socialism. It’s working in Europe and Canada, it can work here.

Three Protestors meet with Mayor Krispyman and two local entrepreneurs to discuss Guaranteed Basic Income.

A conversation with professor Frank Tessler about the potential for Guaranteed Basic Income in Canada. We explored the social implications, pros and cons and previous experiments with Guaranteed Minimum Income.

Miles Corak, professor of economics at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, joins host Aaron Reynolds to talk about the concept of guaranteed basic income, how it could work in practice, and the benefits and goals of the cancelled Ontario pilot program.

Miles Corak, professor of economics at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, joins host Aaron Reynolds to talk about the concept of guaranteed basic income, how it could work in practice, and the benefits and goals of the cancelled Ontario pilot program.

This Week: The TSA says it's has found four 3D guns at America's airports in recent years, but the actual number is zero. Then, remember those Canadians who said they would boycott US travel because of Trump? As usual, protests are all talk and no action. Plus, how much "Free" Healthcare really costs in Canada. Show Notes: http://www.politicalparadox.ca  Twitter: @PoliParadox Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/politicalparadox 

For this episode of The Future Is A Mixtape, Jesse & Matt have a discussion with Frantz Pierre--a community activist and organizer who's leading a revolutionary project to educate Los Angeles residents about the benefits of Universal Basic Income via a local, first-of-its-kind, pilot program. But how might Frantz Pierre and other fellow comrades create this program on a citywide scale when the mythology and romance of the “work ethic” and the sin of “laziness” are so indoctrinated in our communities and belief systems? How will we demand “wages” if such an enslaved chunk of our lives--going to jobs we hate--has been entirely automated, and work for the 99% no longer exists? And if and when the argument is truly won, where will the money come from? This podcast will aim to answer those questions. It will also detail why this utopian notion should be viewed as the “New Common Sense” in our global age of shafted, precarious employment, and why UBI is an essential spring-step toward human liberation. Mentioned In This Episode: Frantz Pierre's Twitter Account Information About Pierre's Grassroots Basic Income Project for Los Angeles: The Official Page for The Basic Income Project - Los AngelesThe Facebook Page for The Basic Income Project - Los Angeles To Find Basic Income LA on Twitter The Basic Income Project - Los Angeles Indiegogo Campaign The Millennials Are Killing Everything! Here Is a List of Links and Articles on the Subject of Their Zombie-Schemes to Dismember Everything in Their Blind Rampage-Path: The Millennials' Morbid Obsession with Avocado-Toast Instead of Saving for Their Own Homes, Millennial Couples Aren't Buying Diamonds, They're Killing Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's, the Napkins Industry, Breastaurants, and More. Do 80% of Small Businesses Really Fail Within the First 18 Months? Fugitive Pieces: The only website on the internet that mentions Jesse's first business: “Soapbox” in Bellingham, Washington: An Anarchist InfoShop (Started in 2005); Matt unearthed an old photo of the shop. Why Community Land Trusts (CLTs) Are Vital to Making Universal Basic Income (UBI) & Guaranteed Housing Work for the Long Term Fast Company: “Everyone in the World Hates Their Jobs--But Americans Hate Theirs the Most” David Graebers' Legendary Essay “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs” Originally Published in Strike Magazine, but Reprinted as “Why Capitalism Creates Pointless Jobs” in Evoncomics Getting Two Workers for the Price of One: Domestic Workers (Often Women) Reproduce the Future Source of Labor Without Financial Reward; For Further Analyses, Here Are Some Fundamental Marxist Views on Domestic Work A Term Rarely Heard (or Felt) by Millennials: “Golden Handcuffs” The Los Angeles Magazine: “Mayor Garcetti Has His First Opponent, Apparently” (Discusses Frantz Pierre's Run for Mayor and His Idea for Dealing with the Drought) Here is Within Reason's YouTube Interview with LA Mayoral Candidate, Frantz Pierre: Part 1 & Part 2. (In the Race for LA's Mayor: 24 People Registered; 11 Made the Ballot with Pierre Coming in Eighth Place in Vote Tally.) Strange Currencies: The LA Chapter of The League of Women Voters Didn't Hold a Debate in 2017; And Corporate-Owned Media (Like the “Esteemed” LA Times) Didn't Bother to Make Visible the Opposition--Relegating Only a Minor Discussion of the Two Top Candidates, but No One Else: Duly Cited Here. Why Basic Income & Housing First Models for the Homeless Are Best When Put Together in the Mixing Pot. Case in Point: the city of Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada; It's Homeless Population Has Stayed at Zero for Two Years Running. J.E. King & John Marangos: “Two Arguments for Basic Income: Thomas Paine (1737-1809) and Thomas Spence (1750-1814)” The Biography of Abu Bakr & His Visionary Idea for What We Know Call Universal Basic Income: “The first Muslim caliph, Abu Bakr, introduced a guaranteed minimum standard of income, granting each man, woman, and child ten dirhams annually; this was later increased to twenty dirhams.” Additionally, a wider purview of Bakr's influence in Pakistan and other Muslim nations can be found in Grace Clark's book. The Alaska Permanent Fund: America's Quiet Basic Income Tradition . . . When It Started 1982, Every Alaskan Citizen Got About $1000 a Year. The Modern World's First Experiment with Universal Basic Income Happened in Manitoba, Canada from 1974-79: A History of “Mincome” and Its Results. Scholar and Shaper on the Basic Income Debate, Evelyn L. Forget, Provided the First Breakthrough Study on the Positive Health Effects That Came as a Result of Canada's Mincome Experiment: “The Town With No Poverty.” During Nixon's Administration, When Daniel Patrick Moynihan Served as the Assistant Secretary for the Department of Labor, He Walked Away from America's Potential First Expansion with Basic Income (Called Family Assistance Aid) because of the Professor's Concern with Early Studies Showing Higher Divorce Rates and the Program's Potentially Adverse Effects on Children and the Nuclear Family. Daniel Geary in The Atlantic: “The Moynihan Report: An Annotated Edition” A History of Basic Income Satiric Film-Shorts from CollegeHumor: “How to Tell If You're a Basic Bitch” & “How to Tell If You're a Basic Bro” “Fair Enough” as a Uniquely Irish Phrase The Importance of Storytelling and Testimony for The Basic Income Project Here's Why Frantz and Other Comrades Are Doing an Education-Based Basic Income Campaign . . . A Promotional Trailer for The Basic Income Project - Los Angeles Scott Santen's Essay, “How to Reform Welfare and Taxes to Provide Every American Citizen with a Basic Income” The Guardian: “Stephen Hawking Blames Tory Politicians for Damaging NHS” Learning Why Deflation Benefits the 1%, While Inflation Is Great for the 99% in Novara Radio's Interview: “The Production of Money: In Conversation with Ann Pettifor.”BIEN (Basic Income Earth Network): “Will Basic Income Cause Inflation?” The New York Times: “Guaranteed Income for All? Switzerland's Voters Say No Thanks” (In Article: “About 77 percent of voters rejected a plan to give a basic monthly income of 2,500 Swiss francs, or about $2,560, to each adult, and 625 francs for each child under 18, regardless of employment status, to fight poverty and social inequality and guarantee a ‘dignified' life to everyone.”) Rutger Bregman's TEDTalk: “Poverty Isn't a Lack of Character; It's a Lack of Cash” The United States' Bureau of Labor and Statistics: Union Membership Rates in Private (6%) Versus Public (34%) Workplaces Spain's Largest & Most Legendary Worker Co-Op: Mondragon Corporation Business Insider: “8 High-Profile Entrepreneurs Who Have Endorsed Universal Basic Income” The Los Angeles Times: “Full Employment: Dangers in Good Times” The Los Angeles Times: “California Faces a Looming Teacher Shortage, and the Problem Is Getting Worse” National Public Radio (NPR): “Where Have All the Teachers Gone?” The Los Angeles Times: “If California's a 'Bad State for Business,' Why Is It Leading the Nation in Job and GDP growth?” Global Voices: “Are Employee Transportation Allowances the Cause of Japan's Commuter Hell?” The New Republic: “I'm Insanely Jealous of Sweden's Work-Family Policies. You Should Be, Too.” Heather Long in The Guardian (U.S. Edition): “Americans Love to Ask People ‘What Do You Do' It's a Habit We Should Break” Why Is It a Chinese Custom to Ask How Much You Make? ABCNews: “Research: Older adults are happiest Americans” The Guardian: “Does Early Retirement Mean an Early Death?” The Telegraph: “Find a Hobby and Get Happy, Danish Style”Martin Luther King's Speech Advocating for Guaranteed Income at Stanford University (1967) To Email with Queries About Frantz's Project or Get Involved In This Movement: BasicIncomeLA@gmail.comTwo Podcasts and Their Respective Episodes That Jesse & Matt Referenced as Sources Throughout Our Discussion with Frantz: The UPSTREAM Podcast: Universal Basic Income - “Part One: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?” The FREAKONOMICS Podcast: “Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income? Other Links Exploring UBI (But Not Mentioned in the Podcast): Bootstraps: An In-Development Documentary in Support of Universal Basic Income From The Website's Concept Description: “Twenty Americans from all walks of life have just won a lottery: a guaranteed check every week that's big enough to cover basic living expenses. What will they do with this opportunity?” Scott Santens in Medium: “The BIG Library: Books About Basic Income” The Huffington Post: “A Universal Basic Income is the Future”  The Boston Review: “No Racial Justice Without Basic Income”    Feel Free to Contact Jesse & Matt on the Following Spaces & Places: Email Us: thefutureisamixtape@gmail.com Find Us Via Our Website: The Future Is A Mixtape Or Lollygagging on Social Networks: Facebook Twitter Instagram

Subscribe via: iTunes | Google Play | RSS Lainie Petersen is the bishop of a small, independent church and a full-time freelance writer and podcaster. She is a founding member of Hard Lens Media, a new media group based in the Chicago area.  Links www.lainiepetersen.com www.necessarystrivings.com www.hardlensmedia.com Show Notes Lainie was one of the first guests I considered when conceptualizing the podcast. She's day job is as a web content development freelancer, largely blogging and news aggregation. This day job allows her to pursue activities with her church and with Hard Lens media. She just started a blog called Necessary Strivings. Freelancers need to treat their day job as a business to develop skills and command higher rates. Lainie has been building her freelancing career since 2010. Creative professionals must accept their situations to get out of their predicaments. Your day job, if managed correctly, can be your liberation. You have skills that someone is willing to pay you for, and this is a noble thing. Being an employee does not train you to be a business owner. It's up to you to take it upon yourself to improve your skills. Understanding and aligning yourself with economic reality is important. You can have all the skills in the world but if no one is willing to pay you for them, you will be struggling. Set your goals, and don't feel like a sell out for trying to stay alive. When we set our rates we need to build into them everything we need to run our businesses effectively. Coursera is an excellent resource for freelancers looking to educate themselves. Respect your own schedule because nobody else will. Don't answer family and friends who text or message you during your work time. Protect it. Teach them to respect your work. Demand respect for your body's limitations and wear and tear when setting your prices and deadlines. Prior to the ACA the way insurance worked made it very difficult for the self-employed to start their own businesses. How Healthcare develops in the US will have an enormous effect on freelancers. Guaranteed Basic Income works, but is far off because of the politics of cruelty. Hard Lens Media are a group of people with backgrounds in media reporting on news from an independent perspective Have faith in your ability to grow and improve and change.

This Week: The feds and provinces are working on CPP reform, can we just admit that the CPP is a pyramid scheme already? Then, Switzerland's voters reject a plan for a guaranteed basic income, this is an example everyone should follow. Plus, Some words of wisdom from the great George Carlin.

As automation continues to decrease the number of jobs, a simple question comes to light: How do we organize society if we don't have enough jobs? How would a concept like the Guaranteed Basic Income actually work? How would we balance valuing and rewarding "hard work" with fighting inequality and ensuring goods and services could move in a nearly completely-automated economy? Give me a few minutes.

Paul Niehaus is undertaking a radical experiment. His organization, Give Directly, wants to find out would happen if people living in extreme poverty were offered the guarantee of a basic income for ten to 15 years. They plan on launching an experiment in East Africa in which 6,000 people would be given, with no strings attached, enough money to pay for their basic needs over a long period of time.  The idea they seek to test is called the Universal Basic Income. There are some communities around the world that offer this in some form, but never before has this idea been tested over an extended period of time in the developing world.    Give Directly announced this new experiment a few weeks  ago and it's caught the attention of the international development community and those of us in the media who follow these things. Paul explains what they hope to accomplish with this experiment, how it will actually work, and what implications it has for the global effort to combat extreme poverty. 

A lot of full-time jobs in the modern economy simply don't pay a living wage. And even those jobs may be obliterated by new technologies. What's to be done so that financially vulnerable people aren't just crushed? It may finally be time for an idea that economists have promoted for decades.

In this episode, Benjamin discusses the merits of instituting a Guaranteed Basic Income and more.