City of Cambridge, MA will give $500 a month to every family below the poverty line

This is a very slippery slope! First it is cities, then entire states, and followed or preempted by federal government. 

This is vote buying on steroids! Receiving money from the government is very seductive! It is a step towards the utopia of guaranteed universal basic income for everyone!

It starts small and grows. People get used to manna from heaven. Today it is $500 per month, tomorrow perhaps $1000 per month. Today, it is the poverty line, tomorrow perhaps the median income ...

Well as long as taxpayers can vote with their proverbial feet, this does not have a chance to go very far.

"... The direct cash assistance — in the form of $500 dollars per month for about 18 months — will be for every single eligible family under 200% of the federal poverty level in the city. ...
The city last year launched Cambridge RISE, a guaranteed income pilot for single caretakers that gave out monthly cash disbursements to 130 families. RISE has had a “life-changing, stabilizing impact” on these families, Siddiqui said."

Cambridge will give $500 a month to every family below the poverty line The first city in the country to take this step, the mayor said