Biden's first big win (and what comes next) (Noah Smith)

https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/bidens-first-big-win-and-what-comes?fbclid=IwAR0w0Jj2oUpsbidgIz7uyOd1-hIy1X8Ktb6XfMW-KZfsDZXEXY8TJ3G04mA

Excerpt:

. . .

What’s interesting is that unlike the CARES Act, Biden’s relief bill promises to make cash payments a permanent feature of our economy. The most important item, in my opinion, is not the $1400 checks or Pandemic UI or any of that stuff — it’s the child allowance. Under the new bill, families will get monthly checks for $300 for each child under the age of 6, and $250 for each child between the age of 6 and 17.If you have two kids, that’s between $6000 and $7200 a year! Officially this is a temporary program, but many people expect it to become permanent.

Essentially this is a pilot universal basic income program for families. It would be phased out at higher income levels, but that’s not really that much different than a tax-supported UBI. The key here is that there’s no work requirement or time limit — all you have to do is have kids.

The people who are saying Biden’s bill is not transformational, and would just be a temporary band-aid on the problems of poverty and inequality, need to think about the child allowance. Child poverty is still alarmingly common in America — about 14% before COVID struck — and some estimates predict that Biden’s child allowance will cut that number in half.

If you don’t think that’s a huge fucking deal, you need to reconsider both your priorities and your expectations.

Now, this is just Biden’s first big bill. We may also see shifts toward other types of government activism — stronger support for labor unions, a higher minimum wage, a more vigorous program of government investment, stricter regulation, and so on. James Medlock’s declaration may ultimately prove to be true:

Link to tweet

. . . more