Citizens Stipend

The time has come for America to have a Citizens Stipend. This is a bold statement that will be
met with exclamations of, That would be too expensive. Theres no wa that could wor!. "hat a
dumb idea. etc. #efore we deal with these or how we mi$ht be able to set it up and fund it, let us
%ourne to a future America where it alread exists to see some of the chan$es that it has caused.
How Much
&irstl, it has to be a reasonable amount ' not too much and not too little. ( am ima$inin$ a
nominal amount of )*+++ a month in todas dollar. ,ost of the people in America can live on this
amount. -( admit that ( am not one of them.. This is not hi$h livin$, but it does provide a roof over
ones head and ade/uate food for survival0 it does not cover medical expenses. "e want it to be hi$h
enou$h for survival, low enou$h not to discoura$e %ob see!in$.
Disappearing Jobs
1ur population is increasin$, both b reproduction and b immi$ration, le$al and ille$al. "hole
cate$ories of %obs are bein$ phased out b automation. 2ew %ob cate$ories are bein$ created but not fast
enou$h to !eep up with the disappearance of the old ones and with population $rowth. Secretaries have
been replaced b word processin$ software, assembl line wor!ers have been replaced b simple robots,
and, in the not too far distant future, drivers of taxis, buses and semis will be replaced b the new
autonomous vehicles. ( have even heard tal! of replacin$ nurses with robots to handle liftin$ and
tendin$ to patients.
3isruptive technolo$ies !eep occurrin$ and there is no expectation that anones %ob will not be
eliminated. "e can see some chan$es comin$ and we can speculate on others, but some will come as a
total shoc!in$ surprise. This ma!es it difficult for an individual to plan ahead and chart out a new career
path before his4her %ob disappears. 5nemploment insurance helps somewhat, but mostl it is too small
to insure survival and too short term to allow retrainin$. A Citizens Stipend will preclude the need for
unemploment insurance allowin$ it to be eliminated.
"hen a person hits the a$e of 6+, it becomes increasin$l difficult to find a %ob. Too man
companies view old a$e as a disabilit althou$h the federal $overnment doesnt. #ein$ out of a %ob at
this a$e forces a person to run throu$h an savin$s he4she ma have put awa after exhaustin$
unemploment benefits. (ncreasin$ numbers of these frustrated %ob7see!ers are usin$ an phsical or
mental problem the ma have as a reason to be $iven disabilit paments. 8awers on T9 advertise
their services to help be awarded these paments. This is puttin$ an increasin$ strain on the Social
Securit sstem. The Citizens Stipend will allow disabilit paments to be eliminated. (f there is need
for special e/uipment because of the problem, health insurance will cover that.
, expectation is that in the future there will be no careers or %obs for most people, onl $i$s.
"ith the Citizens Stipend in place, a person will have his4her basic survival level covered and the
income from $i$s can then be used to improve his4her standard of livin$ and to do the buin$ of $oods
that !eeps our econom thrivin$.
Elimination of Government ureaus
:liminatin$ unemploment insurance will $et rid of the a$encies that administer it. Those
people will lose their %obs, but the, of course, have their Citizens Stipend as well and will be free to
see! other wor!, or not. #usinesses will be freed of the cost of pain$ into unemploment insurance and
the wor! of accountin$ for it.
The a$encies that handle food stamps can also be eliminated because the Citizens Stipend $ives
people enou$h mone for food. ;es, some people will spend their mone on dru$s rather than food.
:ven with food stamps, some people are findin$ was to convert their stamps into cash so that the can
bu dru$s. State a$encies are trin$ various methods to stop such conversions, but it is a constant battle.
Close down those a$encies and let the people ta!e care of themselves with the mone from their
Citizens Stipend. This will leave some children at ris!, but it is the same ones who are at ris! now. The
answer is to remove those children from those parents. 1f course, with those children $oes their portion
of the Citizens Stipend. -,ore about this later.. This provides the parents with an incentive to ta!e
$ood care of their children over and above their normal parental affections.
<omelessness is an on$oin$ problem in America and it shouldnt be. ,ost people who are
homeless would rather have a place of their own with their own bed and with the other comforts of
home. There ma be a few who li!e sleepin$ on the streets, but what can we realisticall do for them=
At least with their Citizens Stipend the can bu food without be$$in$ and occasionall rent a place in
which to clean up. >erhaps the can $ive a portion of it to the $roups that provide meals and shelter for
the homeless in appreciation for what the receive.
The people with mental problems who reall cant ta!e care of themselves and constitute a
hazard to the rest of the population are a separate problem. The ones that can be identified should be
placed where the can $et the care the need and the rest of the population can be protected from them.
<ealth insurance ma cover part of this cost, part of their Citizens Stipend can supplement that -the
should be allowed to retain part of it for thin$s li!e toiletries, snac!s, etc.. and the $overnment ma need
to !ic! in some mone as well. "e want them well cared for and their human ri$hts protected as much
as possible. The ones who are not identified will, %ust li!e now, cause chaos and sometimes death.
Also there are the prisoners. ?i$ht now the states expect prisoners stuc! in %ail to pa for their
food even thou$h the have no access to an %ob where the can ma!e mone. Althou$h no one is filin$
a lawsuit, this certainl constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. 1ftentimes this is happenin$ before
the prisoner has even been tried. The are bein$ punished before the have even been convicted of
anthin$. "ith the Citizens Stipend, the will have mone to pa for %ail expenses, to ma!e bail and to
pa a lawer as well. After their period of internment, prisoners should wal! awa with some mone
saved up from their Stipend to aid them in startin$ a new life.
States will be tempted to convert the prisoners Citizen Stipend mone into the states mone.
Stron$ federal law will be needed to limit how much the can ta!e awa from prisoners. The law must
be carefull written to prevent the states from circumventin$ it b turnin$ the mana$ement of the %ails or
the prisons over to private companies. Citizens are pain$ taxes for the care and -hopefull.
rehabilitation of these prisoners. 8ettin$ a $overnment a$enc or a private compan mil! them -the
prisoners and, to some extent, the taxpaers. as cash cows is actuall criminal and should be punished.
A si$nificant amount of our law enforcement expenditures $o towards dru$ related crimes. The
small7time criminal stic!in$ up a convenience store is normall loo!in$ for mone to bu dru$s. (f
these dru$ users have their Citizens Stipend, the will have far less need to be stealin$. Some will still
feel the need to steal to supplement this mone, but the over7all crime rate should be reduced. (f some of
these people use the Citizens Stipend to bu enou$h dru$s to wipe themselves out with an overdose,
the will no lon$er be a problem.
2ever a$ain should @ean 9al @ean have to steal a loaf of bread. -1!a, that was in &rance..
2evertheless, we should be able to reduce our prison population and also the number of people attendin$
to that population. "e will need to thin! lon$ and hard about the efficac of imprisonin$ people for
usin$ dru$s. ;es, dru$ dealers should be activel sou$ht out, prosecuted and imprisoned, but usin$
should incur at most a fine. >ossibl some users will use the Citizens Stipend to bu rehabilitation
treatment. That would be a $ood thin$.
>rostitution is a last resort for some oun$ women loo!in$ for a means of survival. The
Citizens Stipend will free them from needin$ to sell themselves. >rostitution will continue of course.
There is no expectation that hi$h7end call $irls will be tempted to $ive up their life stle to live on their
Citizens Stipend.
Can we reduce our police forces= "ith autonomobiles on the roads obein$ traffic laws and
avoidin$ collisions, we will need ver few traffic cops. "ith monetar crimes reduced b insurin$ a
minimum standard of livin$ for everone, we will need fewer crime investi$ators. "e wont /uite have
chan$ed the countr to ,aberr, but it will be closer. <omeland Securit will still be needed to
protect us from outside threats, but inside threats from alienated, disenfranchised citizens should be far
fewer.
(n the lon$ term, we should even be able to eliminate Social Securit and with it, the worries
about !eepin$ it $oin$ to pa out to those who have paid in for so man ears. At that point we should
probabl chan$e the name from Social Securit 2umbers to Citizens (dentification 2umbers. "hen a
person turns A6 or whatever a$e the nominal retirement a$e is at that time, he4she continues to receive
the Citizens Stipend. "hether he4she decides to wor! or not, is not a factor. Since man people did not
have re$ular %obs, it is a moot point as to what is meant b retirement. 5pon elimination of Social
Securit, an remainin$ funds should be rolled over into the Citizens Stipend fund.
There has been a proposal that the mone $oin$ into Social Securit should instead be $iven to
the individuals for them to invest. 2ote that this is not the same as the Citizens Stipend. ,ost of us are
not smart enou$h to be able to invest it wisel so that we can have ade/uate income when we are older.
-( include mself in this $roup.. Some of us will use it to en%o the $ood life now with no thou$ht for
the future. Some of us will lose it all to scam artists who sell us fantastic investments. ( dont !now
about ou, but ( want someone li!e "arren #uffet mana$in$ m mone. ( dont thin! anone is
mana$in$ Social Securit. The Citizens Stipend will re/uire stron$7minded, dependable mana$ement.
(t is a small price to pa for the financial well7bein$ of the individual Americans and for the countr as a
whole.
Childrens Stipend
Children will not receive the full Citizens Stipend until the are full citizens -normall at a$e
BC.. 1ne reason the should not $et the full amount from birth is so that no one $ets the idea that the
$overnment will pa them to have children. "e dont want to tell people to have children and we dont
want to tell people not to have children. This choice should be freel made b the woman and, if there is
a man involved, b him as well. ( would propose a stepped stipend. &or example, B+D of the full
stipend from + to 6 ears of a$e, *+D from 6 to BE ears of a$e, and 6+D from BE to BC ears of a$e.
?eceivin$ B+D startin$ at the birth of the child mi$ht be enou$h to encoura$e a woman not to
abort a pre$nanc if the main reason was financial. Also !nowin$ that the amount would $o up would
influence her decision as well. The increase to *+D at a$e five mi$ht reduce the number of infanticides,
as parents mi$ht view the screamin$ child not %ust as an annoance, but as a source of income as well.
Children should be tau$ht about the stipend sstem startin$ in first $rade so that the are aware that the
have financial value to their famil. (n case of divorce, the custodial parent would receive the stipend.
This would reduce the need for child support paments and the attendant fi$htin$ about them.
Startin$ at a$e BE, if a child felt his4her home situation was reall bad, he4she could elect to move
elsewhere ' to another relative, to a $roup home, to foster care, or even to a famil friend. "herever
he4she went, the stipend would $o with him4her. Fnowin$ that this mone was there to care for him4her,
the child would have less inclination to %ust run awa, puttin$ himself4herself at ris! of porno$raph,
prostitution, disease, accidents and even death. The opportunities for exploitation of runawa children
will be reduced.
Good parents would be attemptin$ to !eep as much of this mone as possible in trust for their
children for when the come of a$e and want to $o to colle$e, to start a business, or whatever. 2ot
everone would be able to do this, but at a$e BC the children themselves -not the parents or $uardians.
would start receivin$ the full Citizens Stipend and could use it for further education or for startin$ to
live independent of the parents. This mi$ht even encoura$e them to ta!e on the citizens dut of
re$isterin$ and votin$.
Turnin$ BC, normall before startin$ colle$e, the new adults will have control of the mone.
The ma even decide to spend some of it on travel. ,an will use it to help defra the cost of colle$e.
The mone ma not be ade/uate to pa the full cost, but it will lower the amount of debt the are
carrin$ when the finish colle$e. This will $ive them a better start in life whether or not there are %obs
available in their chosen fields. 8eavin$ the parental nest sooner, $oin$ out and see!in$ their own
accommodations, the will fuel a continuin$ need for new construction. :ven if the onl %obs the can
find are flippin$ bur$ers, the can be self7sufficient. There are not enou$h bur$er flippin$ %obs for
everone so the will branch out0 the will become artists, writers, street musicians, mimes, athletes, or
wherever their talents ta!e them. The point is the will not be desperate for a %ob0 the will have the
freedom to explore, to find themselves.
Those that elect to $o into the armed services will continue to receive their Stipend and, in
addition, will receive their militar pa and an bonuses. "e can probabl continue with an all7
volunteer militar %ust li!e now. "ith automation ta!in$ over in the armed forces as well as elsewhere
fewer boots on the $round are needed.
Those that decide to become teachers will receive their teachers pa %ust li!e the do now with
no affect on their Stipend. This will ma!e teachin$ a more attractive career for man. As teachers
become older the can decide whether the still en%o teachin$ or if the should /uit and let someone
oun$er have their %ob. The wont have to han$ in until their pension !ic!s in. Teachin$ also is bein$
automated to some extent with classes bein$ offered on the internet. >arents can decide to sta at home
and be active participants in their childs education. Group activities such as sports and band will
re/uire $oin$ to a school location. 1ther than those, there will be far fewer opportunities for bullin$.
>olice -local, state and federal. will find the extra income ma!es their lives less stressful. This
mi$ht lead to a more relaxed and less confrontational attitude in dealin$ with the public. The can put
awa the $un and the taser and en$a$e in conversation unless there is a real reason to believe the person
ma be a violent threat. (t is heartrendin$ to hear stories of relatives callin$ HBB for help with their
suicidal loved one and then the police showin$ up and !illin$ him4her. Can we eliminate such tra$edies=
,abe not, but hopefull we can reduce the number of them
:mploers, both $overnment and private, will eliminate pensions and retirement pa. The can
continue supportin$ I+BF plans. >eople will be free to wor! for an emploer as lon$ as the want -and
the emploer wants them. without worrin$ about how to provide for themselves. 8ocal $overnments
that are currentl pain$ retirement benefits to their ex7wor!ers can lower those paments as the
Citizens Stipend ta!es over. >rivate companies should be allowed to reduce their retirement paments
b no more than the amount of the Citizens Stipend
!dministration of the Citizens Stipend
The Stipend will be a basic ri$ht of all citizens0 it can onl be lost throu$h loss of citizenship. 1f
course anone hidin$ out in the woods, whereabouts un!nown and livin$ or dead un!nown or with no
Social Securit number will not $et it, althou$h the can come forward, ma!e their presence !nown and
claim it. Aliens, le$al or ille$al will not $et it. The Citizens Stipend itself will be non7taxable. (t will
be reported when filin$ ones income tax in much the same manner as Social Securit income is
reported. 5nli!e Social Securit, the whole amount will remain non7taxable no matter how much
additional income ou have. "hat it will do is eliminate exemptions and deductions, simplifin$ filin$
ones income tax. Those with no additional income will owe nothin$ althou$h the will still be re/uired
to file. &ailure to file will result in a presumption of death, leadin$ to the cessation of that persons
stipend.
Those with income sufficient to support themselves now -li!e me. will pa more in income tax,
but the will have the extra mone with which to pa it. Those C:1s with their multimillion dollar
salaries will pa more, especiall if we can institute the flat tax0 the ma fi$ht this, but it reall wont
affect their standard of livin$. And es, there is no income test for receivin$ the Stipend so the have as
much ri$ht to it as the poorest of the poor. (t is not about welfare, it is about citizenship.
The a$enc best suited to administer the Stipend is the (nternal ?evenue Service. The have
names, Social Securit 2umbers, addresses, etc. The have all the facilities re/uired to send out these
chec!s -paper or electronicall.. The have done it before when the sent everone a rebate chec!. The
Citizens Stipend will be even simplerJ once a month, the same amount to each Citizen with additional
amounts for children -or call them demi7citizens..
The fund for the Citizens Stipend will be totall independent of the $eneral revenue fund and
woe to that member of Con$ress or that >resident who tries to dip into it. The fund ma bu 5.S.
Treasur bonds if the are deemed to be $ood investments in much the same manner that China bus
them. This would have the people of America ownin$ that portion of the countr rather than a forei$n
$overnment ownin$ it. ,uch of the fund will consist of stoc!s from the companies of America and
from multinational companies. The dividends from these stoc!s will $o into the fund. The
administrators of the fund would be responsible for !eepin$ it $rowin$ and determinin$ how much can
be paid out as Stipends without ban!ruptin$ the fund. 1bviousl, with so much mone at sta!e and so
man lives dependin$ on it, a lot of oversi$ht will be needed. All that mone would be a temptation for
an $reed soul involved in the administerin$ of it.
(ndividuals also ma be tempted to tr to extract more than their fair share throu$h use of
multiple identities and multiple Social Securit numbers. (dentit theft will be a continuin$ problem,
but hopefull we will find a cure for that in the not too far distant future. Citizens should demand that
the sstem be totall hac!7proof. Althou$h we are all fond of the internet, there reall should be no
reason to have a webpa$e that people lo$ into. The onl thin$ needed would be news li!e what the
current distribution is, etc. Since everone receives the same amount, all the information should be
identical re$ardless of our identit. "hat if ou want to chan$e the address to which our stipend is
sent= "ouldnt it be convenient to do that online= ;es, convenient for ou and for that hac!er. (f ou
are that C:1 with the multimillion dollar salar, ou probabl wouldnt even notice if somebod
transferred the deposit of our Stipend to their account, but for most of us it would be disastrous.
As the sa, the 3evil is in the details. The bi$$est detail in this case is $ettin$ the fund
started. (f we had done it bac! in the Clinton ears, we would have had those surplus funds to invest in
it. That would have been $reat. Can we loo! forward to a new surplus= >robabl not, so we will %ust
have to wor! a little harder to $et it started.
>robabl the best wa to $et it started is with estate taxes. Those with mone -or stoc!s. to pass
on to their heirs should be leavin$ the ma%orit of it to the fund, ma!in$ all the citizens of America their
heirs. Some of Americas billionaires ma even feel li!e contributin$ voluntaril to the fund0 this should
be reco$nized as a charitable contribution. :ach ears federal bud$et should contain some mone to $o
into the fund. 1nce the fund has reached some minimal value ' lets sa, for tal!in$ purposes, enou$h to
start pain$ everone )B++ a month without impedin$ the $rowth of the fund ' disbursements can be$in.
That )B++ a month, placed in everones poc!et, would soon be spent on consumer $oods. This will
help heal and stabilize the econom.
The administrators would be responsible for decidin$ when and how much the amount can be
raised. The idea is to !eep the fund $rowin$ as fast as possible while also lettin$ the citizens $et some
$ood comin$ out of it. 1bviousl, at the startin$ level, deductions and exemptions would still be needed
on ones income tax. The would have to be phased out $raduall as the amount $rew. (f there was a
financial crisis in the stoc! mar!et, it could be necessar to lower the amount of the disbursements.
1nce the disbursements have reached what can be considered an acceptable minimum standard
of livin$, the elimination of $overnment a$encies can be$in. >rior to even startin$ the first disbursement
from the fund, laws must be enacted controllin$ when these a$encies ma be eliminated. &or example,
the states must not be allowed to ma!e the independent determination that the )B++ a month is sufficient
to allow them to stop unemploment compensation.
"ith the Citizens Stipend firml in place, will the (?S have an other responsibilities= "ell
es, we will still have armed forces to support, our lawma!ers to pa, national par!s and monuments to
care for0 the list $oes on and on. "hat we are $ainin$ is elimination of paouts to individual citizens
based on need and elimination of the a$encies that determine the need and the paout. "ill there be
enou$h income out there to tax to do all these thin$s= Actuall, that will be a problem whether or not we
have the Citizens Stipend. @obs are the crux of the problem. &or most of us no %ob e/uals no income.
The income from $i$s will be harder to trace and reportin$ of it will be sporadic.
;ou mi$ht as! about the fund itself. "ill its dividends and capital $ains be taxed= 2o. 3oes that
$ive it an unfair advanta$e= ;es, but that advanta$e is spread out e/uall across all the citizens. The
mone in the fund is the peoples mone. That mi$ht sound li!e communism to some, but actuall it is
the ultimate in capitalism, the wor! of the people bein$ used for the benefit of the people. That wor!
will become less and less about phsical labor, but more about reapin$ the benefits of past wor! and
innovation. (n the entertainment field, these paments are called residuals0 with patents, such paments
are called roalties.
2otice that the Citizens Stipend does not eliminate income ine/uit. That will continue to exist,
but the share held b the onepercenters will be reduced. Todas population is somethin$ li!e E++
million. >ossibl, *C+ million of those are citizens. 5sin$ that nominal )*+++ a month fi$ure means we
would be pumpin$ )6A+ billion a month into the econom or )A.K* trillion a ear. At that rate, it ma be
impossible to have another recession and at least it will ameliorate the effects of an recession.
"n Conclusion
( have discussed how much $ood the Citizens Stipend can do for our countr so now ( will
simpl list those benefits.
1. :limination of unemploment insurance
2. :limination of food stamps
3. :limination of disabilit paments
4. :limination of Social Securit
5. Simplification of income taxes
6. ?eduction in crime
7. ?eduction in homelessness
8. ?eduction in colle$e debts
9. 1ther benefits ( havent even thou$ht of
2ote that this is a ?epublican pro$ram that even a 3emocrat could love. ( can not conceive of
anone who would be a$ainst it. :verone receives e/ual benefit from it. ( !now that no one returned
the mone from the income tax rebate. "h would anone not want to receive their share of the
Citizens Stipend=
How to Support the Citizens Stipend
A petition has been started to call for the Citizens Stipend. To si$n the petition, $o to
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/citizens-stipend?source=c.fwd&r_by=1088!"#