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純英原文：

Universal?basic?incomes：Winning the?lottery
What no-strings?cash?schemes?say about America’s safety net

【1】There were no?giant?cheques, but the people who?filed?into a?conference?room at the Cook County building in?downtown?Chicago to fill in forms on a?snowy?morning late last year had nonetheless won the?lottery. On December?15th,?3,250?people were paid $500, either on special?debit?cards or by direct?deposit?into their bank accounts. They were picked?randomly?from over?230,000?applicants?by Give Directly, a?charity?that has been brought onto administer the county’s?universal?basic income?scheme.

【2】applicants?had to meet only three?criteria?to?qualify: they needed to live in Cook County (which covers the city of Chicago and a large?portion?of its suburbs) and have a household income of less than?250% of the?federal?poverty?line—about $69,000?for a family of four—and not be claiming from any other similar?schemes. The $500?payments will continue monthly for two years.?recipients?can do whatever they want with the money, and will continue to receive it as long as they stay in the county.

【3】Such?universal?basic-income (UBI)?schemes?have been adopted by dozens of local governments across America in the past couple of years. They are paid for by the flood of money made available by the?federal?government for relief?schemes?during the worst of the?pandemic. The Cook County programme is by far the largest yet. Some?revenues?from the?taxation?of marijuana have been set aside to continue the?scheme?when the?federal?money runs out. Toni Preckwinkle, the county president, says that her aim for the?scheme?is to test “good ideas that?percolate?up from the bottom”, with the hope that “eventually the?federal?government takes them over.” Yet in a way, the appeal of creating UBIs comes not out of hope, but out of?frustration: the failure of the American welfare system to protect the poorest people.

【4】Americans who fall on hard times can access a?panoply?of different?schemes, a both a local and a?federal?level. There are disability benefits; food stamps;?section?8?housing?vouchers; Medicaid; and?unemployment?insurance (which is paid for and?administered?by states, but in crises often expanded?federally). Most of this comes with an?extraordinary?amount of?bureaucracy, however, and many people fall through the?cracks—for example, because they do not have a?permanent?address, or they fail to?file?the right forms, or they do not?qualify. Local governments generally do not have the data to even?identify?the people most in need.

【5】That helps to explain why Cook County—together with several other?municipalities—has turned to Give Directly, which until recently mostly worked in poor countries using money from?donors. According to Sarah Moran, the?charity’s American country director, working in America requires making trade-offs. In its?schemes?in Kenya, the?charity?would sign up every family in a single village—local residents would help guard against?fraud. Running a?lottery?open to such a large number of people however requires more?formal?checks, but having too many?undermines?the?simplicity?of the system. Under the?scheme, the winners are asked to provide bank statements or payslips to prove?eligibility—but people who cannot supply them, such as?undocumented?immigrants, can?qualify?by being interviewed. An?algorithm?is used to try to spot?fraud—such as people applying with multiple identities.

【6】The?recipients?filling in their forms last year were, unsurprisingly,?delighted. Among them was Jasper, a?32-year-old father of three who, with his?disabled?wife and children, has been living in various family homeless shelters for several years, after losing his factory job and then, when he failed to pay his subsidised rent, his?section?8?housing. “When I first got the email, I thought it was a?scam”, he says. Without a?permanent?address, he has?struggled?to find a new job or even open a new bank account; without an income, he cannot get a new home. Food stamps cover the family’s basic needs, and he?intends?to save the payments until he has enough to put down a?deposit?for an?apartment, and in turn start looking for jobs. The UBI will help him; but such people perhaps should not have to win a?lottery?to get?assistance.

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