MSNBC Host's Radical Idea: 'Every Non-Incarcerated Adult Citizen Gets a Monthly Check From the Government

On Tuesday's edition of MSNBC's "The Cycle," co-host Krystal Ball suggested that the United States implement a minimum guaranteed income for every "non-incarcerated adult citizen." The enormous entitlement program would "eliminate poverty" completely, Ball claimed.

Referencing protests occurring across the globe, the MSNBC host made her pitch for a "monthly minimum income" or a "mincome." The free government money would not only solve poverty, but it would not create deincentives to work, she claimed.

"The basic concept is simple," she said. "Every non-incarcerated adult citizen gets a monthly check from the government. Other safety net programs are jettisoned to pay for the mincome, and poverty is eliminated."

(MSNBC)

"Now I know what you're thinking: 'This is some crazy left-wing utopian idea that only Marxists like Krystal Ball and Pope Francis could possibly support,'" Ball continued. She then argued that the idea "has found support on the right," citing Reason's Matthew Freeney who suggested giving the poor "cash."

Ball went on to cite a study about a Canadian town in the 1970s that reportedly implemented a minimum income and "not only was poverty eliminated, but the disincentives to work has a minimal effect on productivity."

“We tend to think of poverty, homelessness, despair as inevitable but mincome makes you realize — in a country as rich as ours — we allow those outcomes as a choice. We could decide to eliminate poverty and it wouldn’t even take a Christmas miracle," Ball said.

Watch the segment via MSNBC below:

(H/T: Mediaite)

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