On February 10, 2018, we covered the story of Micheal Tubbs, the then 27 year old mayor of Stockton, a poor (indeed at the time bankrupt) commuter city in California. Tubbs was embarking on a plan to test a “guaranteed” (or basic) income scheme in the city, selecting a few hundred residents, in order to address its maladies. The demonstration project was entirely backed by private and foundation money (pre-eminently Chris Hughes, ex of Facebook).

This week, the New Yorker reported on how it was going - to be precise, how well it was going. The SEED programme (standing for Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration) has been extended to January 2021, to cover the Coronavirus situation. But it’s also become hugely relevant in the US national conversation - particularly in a country which has been forced to think anew about the basic economic survival of its citizens.

As the New Yorker writes:

Each month, participants receive payments [$500] on a debit card, which the researchers are able to track. No restrictions are placed on what the money can be used for; if participants don’t want their expenses tracked or prefer to use cash, they can transfer the money off the card.

Researchers have also been studying the well-being of people in a control group who did not receive payments. Members of both groups complete monthly check-ins, during which they provide updates and summarize their mental state by using emojis.

During the study, the researchers have released data on an online dashboard, where observers can read stories from participants and see spending trends change over time.

For example, during the pandemic, the percentage of money that participants spent on food, consistently the largest category, reached nearly twenty-five per cent over the monthly average, while the amount spent on recreation dropped to less than two per cent.

Participants have also put the money toward rent, car payments, and paying off debt, as well as one-off expenses for themselves or their children: dental surgery, a prom dress, football camp, and shoes.

They’ve also been able to cut back on working second and third jobs; one participant, a forty-eight-year-old mother of two who works full time at Tesla, was able to stop working as a delivery driver for DoorDash.

Alcohol and tobacco have accounted for less than one per cent of spending per month.

In short, the SEED guaranteed income has brought a degree of dignity and security to its recipients’ lives. The video below - click on the image to see it - tells some of the moving stories.

“Teeth. I got teeth. I can smile. I used to cover my face with my hand.” — Anonymous SEED Recipient
“I have hope. I’m not just a freeloader anymore. If someone needs groceries, I’m like “I’ll go to the store, I’ll get it.” I don’t feel like a parasite anymore. I can help. And it’s amazing how much not feeling like a parasite helps your health.” — Anonymous SEED Recipient
“Paid off PG & E and got my daughter a dress… she got to go to prom. Like a normal teenager.” — Anonymous SEED Recipient

The scheme won’t go on forever - it was, as the NY says, intended “promote the adoption of basic-income programs on a state or federal level”: cities like Seattle, Portland, Chicago, Newark, Nashville, and New Orleans have contacted Tubbs:

Last month, the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution, led by Tubbs, that urges “cities, states, and the federal government to explore the feasibility of a guaranteed income” in response to the way in which “COVID-19 has shed light on economic insecurity and exposed the vulnerability of our current welfare system.”

the current crisis has shifted the focus away from hypothetical disasters toward inequities that already exist. In her view [Jennifer Burns, a history professor at Stanford University], the automation argument [Silicon Valley’s interest in UBI] is primarily a distraction. But “if worrying about A.I. helps people look around and think about what’s already underway, that’s good.”

We’ve been interested in the Stockton experiment for the way it accessed “new tech capital” in order to resource and prove the case for UBI - moving with social investors who could see “the pitchforks coming”, as Obama once memorably put it, and wanted to prefigure a better social contract.

COVID-19 has compelled states and administrations to think about direct payments to citizens and workers, under dire and shutdown economic circumstances. Let’s hope this has opened a chink of light in establishment thinking.

As ever, we remind you of our massive archive on UBI, and the work of our friend and colleague Phil Teer, inspired by A/UK to write his optimistic book on UBI and the creative life.

The SEED grows: after 2 years of a basic income experiment, the residents of Stockton, Cal., are on the uplift