In 2006, the Alberta government distributed $400 cheques to almost 3 million residents of Alberta.
This now-mostly-forgotten social program could have led to a Universal Basic Income but instead was only a one-time thing. If it had continued it might have made more sense of Alberta's low minimum wage. But no, people were actually expected to live and thrive on $10-an-hour income when rent took up all but $800 a month.
The Wikipedia page Ralph Klein gives us:
"Klein created the Prosperity Bonus, known locally as "Ralph Bucks," in which the Alberta government sent a $400 cheque to each Alberta resident not in prison, at a cost of $1.4B.
ATB Financial's Todd Hirsch observed, "I think we missed some great opportunities to invest in our post-secondary education systems; instead, we frittered away our money. People got a couple of dinners and put some gas in their Hummer, and that was about it."
Colourful as this is, most Albertans do not drive Hummers. The $400 was seen as a god-send by many struggling families. It aided the economy by putting purchasing power in the hands of those who would immediately spend it - usually locally.
The government had the money and shared it with all equally. Thus this was a kind of basic universal income. UBI is now being considered as the best and fairest way to fight poverty, homelessness, personal and family stress, crime and social unrest.
The universality of the Prosperity Bonus ensured that little money was spent on bureaucracy and "big government," the whipping horse of the right.
It is actually very do-able as long as the government has adequate income tax policies in place to "claw it back" from those who did not need it in first place.
Oddly enough, the Alberta's Prosperity bonuses were not subject to taxation by either the federal or provincial governments. Apparently Klein in his help-the-rich mindset, saw that more of the $400 would be wrested out of the greedy hands of the wealthy than the poor and wanted to give the rich a break. With the open party-financing rules of that time in Alberta, perhaps Klein expected the rich to simply sign their cheques over to his political party's coffers to assist his re-election.
With or without the clawback, Alberta at that time had the money. It had an unexpected surplus of more than $5B in 2006 - the 2008 financial collapse was still two years off. In fact, in many years at the high point of oil prices and oil production in Alberta, despite foreign corporations drawing off the lion's share of the wealth, the Alberta government had an annual surplus of more than $10B.
The government had such money that it could pay more than $1B to Albertans and still have invested in the post-secondary education systems endorsed by Hirsch.
However due to the expressed sentiment of that ATB magnate and others, the Conservative government did not continue its free-money program. (Klein himself resigned as premier later that same year.)
Instead government money was spent on luxury goods. An example of the Government's priority is the development of Kananaskis, when white sand was flown in from Arabia at tremendous cost to decorate the golf courses there.
Certainly the money was not saved. Currently the Heritage Saving Trust Fund - our rainy day fund to be used when oil gives out - contains $20B , pretty much exactly the same amount that it had 30 years ago.
The question for the government was obviously not whether to save the money or to spend it. But whether to spend it by giving to the people - or to blow through it by spending it on the rich and powerful leisure class.
Free money can also be seen as a bribe, to placate concerns caused by oil development. That is how one Alaskan who received the state's Permanent Fund dividend described it to me. Whether it is a bribe, a hand-out, a re-election ploy or a social program would not matter to many Albertans if it meant that they received the $2000 that 600,000 Alaskan permanent residents received in 2015 (and varying amounts annually).
Albertans do not get bribed - we must simply accept the concerns caused by oil development in our province - mostly owned and controlled by outsiders - while still paying the high prices of housing and other necessities caused by the periodical - but fragile - oil booms.
Thanks for reading.
=============================================
Comments