miscellany

from the Washington Post website:

It will be the first time a president’s name appears on an IRS disbursement, whether a routine refund or one of the handful of checks the government has issued to taxpayers in recent decades either to stimulate a down economy or share the dividends of a strong one. / source

While wealthy Americans are not eligible for the comparatively measly $1,200 stimulus checks that are now being disbursed to many Americans, they are on pace to do even better. 43,000 taxpayers, who earn more than $1 million annually, are each set to receive a $1.7 million windfall, on average, thanks to a provision buried in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

You may or may not be surprised that some of the language conveniently inserted into the $2.2 trillion bill skews heavily in favor of the wealthy.…

source: archived

Doing the math: $2.2 trillion averages out to around $7,000 for every American, almost six times more than $1,200. A universal basic income, an unconditional basic income for all, a UBI, gets around this systemic inequality.

Two key people on UBI: