Contradicting his administration’s claim in February that the city could not afford more handouts to migrants, New York Mayor Eric Adams just told taxpayers that he’s going to expand the program, two-fold.
Billal Rahman reports for Newsweek:
“New York City is expanding its program to provide prepaid debit cards to migrant families staying in hotels to allow them to buy food and essentials.
It is expected that 7,300 prepaid debit cards will be distributed over the next six months, with a total value of over $2.6 million, according to city officials.”
And because, just last year, the city got more than $100 million in federally-grabbed tax money (and money provided by borrowing, which inflates the money supply and has to be paid back by future taxpayers), that means his decision to double the cash-card program is a matter of wider concern.
Of course, Adams and his underlings aren’t worried. They appear thrilled.
“New York City Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom described the program as a success because it helps newly arriving families to ‘make choices for themselves and their children’ by using debit cards.”
The fact that Adams and Williams-Isom are robbing taxpayers of their choices for themselves and their families doesn’t seem to register.
At all.
"’They can buy from local shops, support small businesses, and manage their own resources,’ she said in a statement. ‘When we empower people, we help them achieve self-sufficiency and access the American Dream.’"
When thieves tell you that they are "helping" the recipients of their stolen loot… When highwaymen claim that their theft is helping others “access the American Dream,” there’s not only a problem in the thievery, but in the twisted, immoral, arrogant mindset of the collectivists.
City bureaucrats argue that this cash-card program is better than the government paying food suppliers to bring eats to the migrants, that it will see less food waste and give the recipients more “choice.”
“Migrants using the scheme must sign an affidavit to confirm they will only use the cards for food and baby supplies. Furthermore, the debit cards contain a specific code, which will only function in certain stores.”
Taxpayers should remember that when they try to buy food or essentials for THEIR OWN families.
And people with common sense recognize that the cash cards have black market trading value. Despite the government stipulation that they only can be used in certain stores (be sure to remain friendly with the politicians who make up that list, New York business owners), the cards can be turned into tradeable assets that might not see food going into the hands of those who first receive the cards.
Which is merely a functional problem. The immorality of government-forced redistribution of wealth is the prime non-starter.
“Joseph Borelli, the Republican minority leader on the City Council, told The New York Times that taxpayers are on ‘the hook’ to pay for the city's growing migrant population.”
And it’s important to remember that taxpayers are “on the hook” for welfare that’s handed to citizens, as well.
Related: Denver Has Spent Up to $340 MILLION on Illegal Aliens in 18 Months
As the migrant issue boils in many U.S. locales, and as both major political parties lock horns over what the central government “should do” about “immigration,” it’s important to remember that the word “immigration” is not in the U.S. Constitution, and that, as I have noted for MRCTV, the Founders left it to the states.
It’s also important to recall that redistribution of wealth is immoral in all forms, whether the recipient is a newly arrived resident, or the recipient is a citizen. Citizenship does not grant one moral access to the fruits of another person’s labor.
And, finally, it’s important to see one more facet of this program. This digital cash-card system presages the plans of technocrats, tax-fed politicians, and central bankers who thirst to impose on us a “Central Bank Digital Currency.”
With such a system, they not only can control the money we have to use, not only can create money and continue to inflate the system, destroying our savings and buying power, they also can dictate where, when, and how much we can spend.
Senator Liz Warren (D-MA) thirsts for such a system. And she is not alone.
It would give the federal government constant access to information on your savings, income, and spending. It would retain control over the “make it out of thin air” money system that politicians going back to the corrupt Alexander Hamilton loved, and it would allow the politicians to steer money to only be used on favored industries or corporations.
Favoritism, cronyism, collectivism – all the dark stains of political elitism. They are visible in this NY City card system. They are visible on the horizon for any CBDC the government tries to impose on us, and they are visible in all forms of wealth redistribution.
So, Adams wants to take and spread around more of other people’s money. But he is at the forefront of a digital currency and the troubling prospect of a “universal basic income,” ideas that not only are immoral, but will make more and more people willing pawns of government manipulation, sheep, ready to be steered anywhere the government desires.
It’s a lesson from New York. We are being robbed, and set-up for more trouble.