What would a universal basic income mean for America? Stockton thinks it has the answer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Young, sincere and raised on the edge of poverty, Sukhi Samra has a mother who worked two minimum-wage jobs when she was a kid - days at a gas station and nights at a Subway. Her father is disabled. She knows what an extra $500 a month would have bought her family.
"I spent a lot of fifth and sixth grade just, like, in those tables at Subway so that I could keep my mom some company and spend some time with her," Samra said. "Five hundred a month would have meant that my mom spent a couple more hours at home with us every night."
At 23, Samra is now head of the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, a pilot program to test a universal basic income. For the next year and a half, 130 residents of this struggling Central Valley city will get $500 every month, with no strings - such as employment or sobriety requirements
