Universal Basic Income advocate: Give people money, require less of them.

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Just giving people money: It’s a method backed by extensive research, and it has a bipartisan pedigree. But it is a method the Trump administration, which is likely to oversee a better economy than any administration in two decades, seems loathe to consider. Instead, the president is choosing to increase the ranks of the poor and to slash what support this country does offer those who need it.

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The most radical and potentially transformative idea would be to grant all Americans a monthly cash payment, a policy commonly known as a universal basic income. In the past few years — with the middle class being squeezed, trust in government eroding, technological change hastening, and the economy getting Uberized — the idea has vaulted to a surprising prominence, even moving from airy hypothetical to near-reality in some places. Mark Zuckerberg, Hillary Clinton, the Black Lives Matter movement, Bill Gates and Elon Musk are just a few of the policy proposal’s flirts, converts and supporters.

Under such a proposal, Uncle Sam would send every American $500 or $1,000 a month, likely eliminating other stingier and less-effective programs. The price would be significant, though financing it would not raise taxes higher than they are in similarly prosperous countries. The benefits would flow not only to the very poor but also to working Americans given leverage to demand better wages, to the unemployed, to students, to the elderly, to caregivers, to young parents. In a society as rich as ours, the argument goes, everyone deserves a guarantee of financial security, and we’re better off trusting each citizen to make the best decision for herself.

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