Some politicians and activists are eager to give you “free” money. They call it universal basic income, or UBI—cash for everyone, no strings attached. Comedian Dave Chappelle thinks UBI would “save my community almost instantly.” In my new video, UBI activist Conrad Shaw agrees, “You would effectively get rid of extreme poverty immediately.” He says a UBI will help people “start businesses, fix their homes or invest in sustainable gardens.” Well, “sustainable gardens” might be nice, but someone still has to make stuff. And that requires work— often difficult work. When I was young, If I hadn’t needed to work to support myself, I wouldn’t have pushed so hard to overcome my fears, my stuttering and my reluctance to speak publicly. I wouldn’t have become successful. I might have stayed in bed most of the day. But Shaw disagrees. “I don’t believe you,” he says. “Nobody actually wants that … people find their passions not simply because they need to make money.” We could argue about this all day. It would be nice if someone ran a serious test of UBI—give a lot of people significant money for, say, three years. Would people still work? Improve their lives? Their families’ lives? It turns out that Sam Altman, the guy behind ChatGPT, helped create such a test. His big study gave 1,000 low-income people $1,000 per month for three years—no strings attached. What happened? Not the great things that were promised. After three years of getting $1,000/month, UBI recipients were actually a little deeper in debt than before. Why? Because they worked less. Their partners did, too. Some recipients talked about starting businesses, but few actually tried it. Most who said they did start a business waited until the third year of the study—when their free money was about to end. I’m not surprised. Give people free money, you take away an incentive to work. Incentives matter. Shaw argues, “We conflate the idea of work with jobs.” It’s true, people do meaningful work outside jobs. But being paid to do a job does say you’re worth that amount to somebody. “How much money are you worth to the kid you’re raising?” Shaw replies. “The parent who’s sick that you’re taking care of?” A lot. “But it doesn’t address that other people have to work to pay for it,” I say. Shaw replies: “We pay taxes toward things that are better for our population, for the general welfare. It’s … something we do as a country.” “But this would pretty much double it!” I point out. “We already spend almost $2 trillion on welfare programs. You want to add to that?” Shaw says, no, universal basic income should “replace existing welfare programs.” That’s an interesting idea. “If we were to get rid of unemployment insurance, food stamps, welfare, and all the other insane policies we have, and just have a moderate universal basic income,” says Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron, “I think it would be a huge improvement.” But that will never happen. Anytime anyone tries to cut any government program, people freak out. Imagine trying to cut all welfare. “The chances politically that will happen are probably zero,” says Miron. Progressives want to add UBI to already existing programs. “Adding more programs is insane,” says Miron. “It will make the entire country melt down. The people who will bear the brunt of that will be people who are poor. The rich will move to other countries … hide their assets. We will have a debt crisis like nobody’s ever seen before.” We already have a debt crisis like nobody’s seen before! Let’s not make it worse with a universal basic income. COPYRIGHT 2024 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post The Cost of Free Money appeared first on The Daily Signal.

More of the media are taking notice of how poorly Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign is doing with Election Day fast approaching. In a clip posted to social media platform X on Friday, late night host of "Real Time with Bill Maher" Bill Maher gave a monologue to his audience...

A Utah man who sold 120,000 fake COVID-19 jab cards received a 12-month prison sentence. “The lead defendant in a scheme that manufactured, sold and distributed 120,000 counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination record cards was sentenced today,” the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah stated in a press release. “Nicholas Frank Sciotto, 34, of Salt Lake City, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell to 12 months’ imprisonment, three years supervised release, and ordered by the court to pay a $40,000 fine, after he admitted in July 2024 that he conspired to defraud the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by selling and distributing counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination record cards. In turn, Sciotto obtained over approximately $400,000 in profits,” the release continued. A Salt Lake man who sold at least 120,000 fake COVID-19 vaccination record cards during the pandemic was sentenced this week to a year in prison. https://t.co/5ph67bPaSb — KSL (@KSLcom) October 11, 2024 KSL reports: Sciotto was living in Weber County when he started an online business printing and selling vaccine cards “mainly to persons in New York who were subject to tighter COVID restrictions,” according to charging documents. From about March to September in 2021, prosecutors say he used mostly Facebook to sell the cards at $10 each for orders of 10 or more cards, and $7.50 each for orders of 100 or more cards. Sciotto posted on Facebook during that time period saying, “I know someone selling legit vacc cards cheap for people who don’t want to partake in a science experiment,” and sent an “image of stacks of COVID-19 vaccination record cards” to a contact through Facebook Messenger days later, the charges state. In July 2021, Sciotto made a fake badge to claim he was with a major COVID-19 testing company in Utah and convinced the owner of a local print shop that he was authorized by a hospital to print vaccination cards, according to court documents. He tried to avoid police detection by “changing every week the envelopes and shipping locations he used to mail” the counterfeit cards. According to court documents, Sciotto sold approximately 45,000 fake COVID-19 jab cards between April and June 2021. In total, court documents stated he sold over 120,000 between March and September 2021. From the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah: He also sold the COVID-19 vaccination record cards wholesale to several coconspirators, including Kyle Blake Burbage, 33, of Goose Creek, South Carolina. Together, the coconspirators enabled numerous people to use fake vaccination record cards to masquerade as being vaccinated, so they could evade public health and safety protocols across the nation. Sciotto engaged in this scheme–without regard for any public health consequences or risks that he exposed individuals to during the pandemic, without their knowledge or consent, and he undermined the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccination program and other governmental health and safety regulations and protocols at significant profit. Some social media users praised Sciotto for his actions. “He should be given a medal of honor because of how many lives he saved,” Inversionism wrote. He should be given a medal of honor because of how many lives he saved. https://t.co/whc5vZqPPb — Inversionism (@Inversionism) October 12, 2024 “Man saves lives and goes to jail for 1 year. Fixed it,” Brian Tyson commented. Man saves lives and goes to jail for 1 year. Fixed it. https://t.co/TOU8S92svr — Brian Tyson, MD (@btysonmd) October 12, 2024 “This is an astonishing story. Most of the fake vaccine cards were sent to New York,” Shannon Joy said. “BRAVO to this guy, he’s a hero. He should get a medal not a prison sentence. We should always defy unjust laws or mandates,” she added. This is an astonishing story. Most of the fake vaccine cards were sent to New York. BRAVO to this guy, he’s a hero. He should get a medal not a prison sentence. We should always defy unjust laws or mandates. Salt Lake man sent to prison for selling over 120,000 fake COVID… https://t.co/ju7CnvL1Cu — Shannon Joy (@ShannonJoyRadio) October 12, 2024 “That man is a hero and deserves both a pardon and a Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Sean Davis commented. That man is a hero and deserves both a pardon and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. https://t.co/iTd5YTaNxu — Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 12, 2024 “Raise your hand if you’d like to see this man pardoned,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said. Raise your hand if you’d like to see this man pardoned https://t.co/R6WALHmjwO — Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) October 12, 2024

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