Los Angeles takes a Great Leap Forward

Los Angeles city planners ignored history and have chosen a name for their newest welfare program that is eerily similar to a program instituted by Mao Zedong: "The Great Leap Forward" that killed tens of millions of Chinese.

The BIG:LEAP is a basic income guarantee (BIG) program.  Los Angeles will provide approximately 3,000 individuals with $1,000 per month for 12 months. These will be unconditional, regular, and direct cash payments to individual participants that supplement existing welfare programs.  Details are available at this link:

BIG:LEAP

The program website linked to above provides this explanation of poverty:

The relentless poverty experienced by too many Angelenos emerges out of a lack of financial resources, not a lack of judgment. While Angelenos are doing everything in their power to achieve financial security, the burdens of a high cost of living, unaffordable housing options, and insufficient wages too often exceed families’ ability to confront those challenges on their own — and we know that the economic difficulties caused by COVID-19 will outlast the pandemic itself.

It is quite ironic that government regulation and taxation cause the high cost of living and unaffordable housing.  Occupational licensure and minimum wage laws cause limited access to jobs with sufficient wages.  Economic difficulties caused by COVID-19 are all the result of government mandates.  Therefore all of the causes of poverty in the above list are the result of government action.  The solution promoted is of course more government action!  Ronald Reagan said: "The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan."

In another section of the BIG:LEAP website we find this paragraph:

GBI programs are founded upon the belief that the people enduring financial instability or poverty are best positioned to make informed financial decisions that efficiently address their household’s needs— whether that means paying for rent, a new tire, or an unexpected trip to urgent care. These participants are granted the freedom to meet their most pressing needs without delay.

The planners got one thing right when they say "...the people enduring financial instability or poverty are best positioned to make informed financial decisions that efficiently address their household’s needs."  The principle underlying this sentence would solve most of society's problems: let individuals make their own decisions.