Chris’ note: America’s poor are getting poorer while the top 1% continue to collect and hoard the bulk of the country’s wealth…
So, on the face, something like regular payments from the government – a universal basic income – sounds like it would go a long way to bridging that gap.
But as you’ll hear today from colleague Teeka Tiwari, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
He reveals how programs that promise a universal basic income tend to oversell and underperform when it comes to closing the distance between America’s wealthiest and its poorest.
Read on for more from Teeka below…
Every single year, the world’s financial elite travel to Davos, Switzerland, for a special meeting.
In 2023, the government deployed more than 5,000 Swiss soldiers to keep this event secured.
And it’s no surprise why.
Presidents, prime ministers, and monarchs are in attendance… as are senior diplomats and top brass from the world’s most powerful militaries… and officials from the United Nations and World Health Organization.
From the private sector, the invitees include 116 billionaires… officials from nearly every major global bank… and 634 CEOs from the world’s most dominant companies, including Amazon, BlackRock, and Google.
While the group espouses a mission to bring about positive change for humanity… I believe their latest project will replace our traditional system of money with a new one.
I know it sounds like some sinister plot from a James Bond movie.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, even said this group “is increasingly becoming an unelected world government that the people never asked for and don’t want.”
The group he’s referring to is the World Economic Forum.
Established in 1971, the Forum engages the foremost political, business, and cultural leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.
So what is the nefarious project I’m speaking of?
It all has to do with a project the Forum calls “The Answer.”
And it’s already underway.
Right now, there are 82 new pilot programs in the United States testing out The Answer. And there are hundreds of more trials across the world.
I believe this single program could change our money forever. It could turn every town in America into a home of either the “new rich” or the “new poor.”
That’s why I recently traveled to Los Angeles.
I wanted to investigate how this project is creating a gap between the rich and the poor. And LA is where we’ve seen the most rapid decay.
But The Answer isn’t coming to just Los Angeles. We’ll see it in every urban, rural, and suburban community across the country.
Before I get to The Answer, let me ask you: What’s behind the widening wealth gap in America?
The Wealth Gap Is Widening
Take a look at the chart below. It shows the wealth gap between the rich and everyone else in America.
In the last few decades, over $50 trillion in wealth has transferred from the bottom 90% of Americans to the richest top 1%.
That’s based on a study published by the RAND Corporation.
According to the study, if income distributed in the three decades following World War II merely held steady… The annual income of the bottom 90% of Americans would have been $2.5 trillion higher in the year 2018 alone.
That’s equal to nearly 12% of gross domestic product (GDP) – enough to pay every single working American in the bottom 90% an additional $1,144 a month.
Every month. Every single year.
The study calculated the combined tab for all the wealth that has been siphoned off from everyday Americans. And it would amount to nearly $50 trillion today. That’s almost twice the size of U.S. GDP.
For decades, Americans have had a “parasite” attached to them… slowly feeding off their dreams, robbing their savings, and devaluing their hard work.
Aggressive tax policies, rising cost of living, and stagnant wages have been draining our savings.
Now the financial elite are coming for the rest of your assets with a plan to reset our financial system and the dollars in your bank account.
And it’s all backed by the powerful elites at the World Economic Forum.
Based on my research, half of America could become fully dependent on this program for their income.
They’ll receive a controlled “allowance” from the U.S. government that creates a ceiling for how much money you can legally have at any given time.
This strips you of the last bit of freedom and control you have in your life.
What Is “The Answer”?
Right now, there are at least 82 new pilot programs in the United States and thousands more across the world testing out The Answer.
And they’re not just running in big cities like New York and San Francisco. They’re also springing up in rural towns like Lawrence, Kansas; Springfield, Missouri; and Greenbelt, Maryland.
So what exactly is “The Answer?”
According to the World Economic Forum, it’s Universal Basic Income (UBI).
In 2020, the Forum ran this headline on UBI:
In the report, the authors wrote:
To put it bluntly: The question should no longer be whether resources for effective social protection can be found – but how they can be found. UBI promises to be a useful element of such a framework.
If you’re not familiar with UBI, it’s a form of social welfare that provides everyone with a minimum payment – regardless of income.
It’s a cash payment provided by the government on a monthly or annual basis.
And it has many prominent backers. Billionaires such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Tim Cook have spoken glowingly of the idea.
UBI takes on distinct forms in different regions. It varies based on the government’s funding proposal, and the level and frequency of payment.
In the U.S., there have been dozens of trials across the state of California alone – along with the 82 now being tested across the country.
Rochester, New York, is providing 351 citizens with $500 per month. Ann Arbor, Michigan, is providing $530 per month for 24 months to 100 recipients.
Abroad, the U.K. government is giving 30 families 1,600 pounds per month in London’s East Finchley neighborhood – equivalent to a little less than 2,000 U.S. dollars.
Germany just finished a three-year pilot program, offering 122 recipients 1,200 euros ($1,268.31) per month.
In Brazil, the government has enrolled more than 42,000 residents of Maricá – roughly one out of every four city residents – in its basic income program.
On the surface, UBI sounds like a great equalizer… But beneath the surface, you’ll find a shocking reality.
These income programs aren’t designed to actually help anyone. A Harvard study demonstrated that UBI didn’t help its recipients.
Politicians have known this for over 40 years. The U.S. federal government conducted an experiment that ran from 1968–1980 consisting of four random, controlled trials across six states.
It tested a form of UBI called a “negative income tax.”
In contrast to a standard income tax, where people pay money to the government… People with low incomes would receive money back from the government.
Researchers found that negative income tax reduced “desired hours of work” by 9% for husbands, 20% for wives, and 25% for single female heads of families.
For single males who were not the heads of households, the reduction in hours worked per week was 43%.
And if male recipients lost their jobs, they took two months longer to find a new job. Wives took almost a year longer.
UBI reduces the labor force and the productivity of the areas of these tests. And it robs people of having the meaning in their lives a job can provide.
That’s why I traveled to Los Angeles. I wanted to see how California’s UBI pilot program is impacting LA for myself.
And the results were shocking…
I’ll share Part 2 of my investigation tomorrow. So keep an eye on your inbox.
But if you want to watch the shocking video right now, you can click right here or the image below.
Let the Game Come to You!
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Big T