Leftists love to tinker around with economics. They've spent over a century trying to figure out just the right recipe to eradicate poverty. Well, everything except getting off mom's couch, getting a job, and not blowing your entire paycheck on Tide Pods. Which brings us to now. A Californian town is experimenting with a new system to address poverty. I give you socialism "universal basic income."

Michael Tubbs, the 26-year-old mayor of Stockton, California, thinks handing out $6,000 a year to low-income residents (with no strings attached) is the way to lift people out of poverty.

“Stockton is absolutely Ground Zero for a lot of the issues we’re facing as a nation,” Tubbs told CBS San Francisco (video below). “Ideally, I would like to serve 100 families for 18 months at $500 a month.”

Stockton is experimenting with a welfare program called “universal basic income,” which gives low-income residents $500 a month, no questions asked. The money is coming from a private grant.

The California city, which went bankrupt in 2012, has recently made strides to become more economically viable, but is still struggling.

Mayor Tubbs, who was endorsed by Barack Obama, took office in January 2017. He is Stockton’s first black mayor, and its youngest-ever at age 26.

I see. So, Stockton is going to reward their less-fortunate citizens for being less fortunate. In the hope that positively reinforcing their poverty will make them yearn for success.

Mayor Tubbs calls it "universal basic income," but it's really just welfare with a flashier title. There's already nearly a century of evidence that proves welfare is about as effective as Kevin Spacey leading a troop of Cub Scouts. I wouldn't expect this "experiment" to be any different.

What Tubbsy and his lefty amigos don't realize is when they start doling out checks, they're only encouraging the impoverished to stay impoverished. If "poverty" means a lavish life of lobster tails and designer purses, there's no incentive to transcend the ghetto.

Chalk this up as yet another example of well-meaning leftism flopping like a caught flounder. I'll save you all the suspense. Socialism does not work, no matter how many times you try to rebrand it.

Speaking of which:

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