The discussion of wealth distribution has resurfaced as Stockton prepares to implement an experimental basic income system of wealth this August.
Stockton's 27-year-old mayor, Michael Tubbs, believes this new income salary will assist in recovering from Stockton's 2012 fiscal issues and housing market crash. Tubbs was elected in November 2016 and has utilized his Stanford degree to focus on economic development.
The trial run will provide about 100 people with $500 a month for the next three years.
Participants can use this money for whatever they please. Previous basic income experiments show that this money typically goes toward useful living expenses.
"In our economic structure, the people who work the hardest oftentimes make the least," says the Stockton mayor.
"I know migrant farm workers who do back-breaking labor every day, or Uber drivers and Lyft drivers who drive 10 to 12 hours a day in traffic. You can't be lazy doing that kind of work."
Read more at The Business Insider