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Brenton Gates

Professor Kroger

Engl. 1301

3 November, 2022

Good Intentions and Bad Habits

There’s work to be done and while it might be hard work it’ll help a lot of people. Steps

are taken every day to try to help those around us. Whether it be someone making a simple

donation or something bigger like the global testing of “Universal Base Income”. While there are

some missteps here and there, we’ve taken strides in recent years to try to figure out some

methods or mentalities that could help. “Why we should give free money to everyone” by Rutger

Bregman and Michael Kimmelman’s “How Houston Moved 25,000 People From the Streets Into

Homes of Their Own” both show steps that could be taken in trying to help everyone into a more

financially forgiving society. Both articles show that our view on poverty is warped and needs to

evolve and that maybe through new legislation and action we can take steps toward a brighter

America and hopefully even a brighter world. These articles show and represent the larger

narrative of supporting lower-income areas, legislation reform, and a general change in mentality

towards those less fortunate.

Rutger Bregman makes the argument in his article, “Why we should give free money to

everyone”, that a Universal Base Income might be the solution to a lot of problems involving,

homelessness, poverty, and drug abuse, just to name a few. He shows evidence of such

happenings in places like Namibia, where malnutrition, crime, and truancy fell by at least

twenty-five percent even hitting forty percent in some areas (University of Manchester). All of
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this adds up to more than one hundred million families in at least 45 countries. Flourishing for

the past decade, free money programs seem to help a lot of people. While for some this can just

be a nice extra bit of cash to save, for some underprivileged communities this can literally save

lives. Emphasized by Rutger’s voice and consistent tone he exemplifies the welfare-altering

mentality that can bring some change. He also speaks about things holding us back like our

negative view of the poor and our unwillingness to change even though the idea has been

pervasive throughout decades of history.

Rutger uses a consistent tone and voice to convince the audience that this might be a

beneficial thing for all groups of people rather than just focusing solely on the need to help

disenfranchised people; this along with his consistent data like Ugandans from the age of sixteen

to thirty-five being given four hundred

dollars and seeing the results which

show an increase of income by almost

fifty percent in four years (New York

Times). His consistent example of why

we shouldn’t view poverty as a

weakness of will but rather a physical

condition that can be remedied. The “Who Really Stands to Win from Universal Base Income” (The New
Yorker) provides a graphic showing maybe a little bit too literally that
these are steps than can be taken and effective.
changing of minds from different

perspectives involving poor people and his critique of our current legislation when in the context

of a lack of effectiveness and effort. Showing how different communities respond and make use

of these avenues to emphasize the effectiveness of this process is deep, morally sound, generally
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beneficial, and an overall masterclass in persuasion. Looking from afar the product he’s selling

has immense potential, but it needs to work on all levels.

Michael Kimmelman in his podcast “How Houston Moved 25,000 People From the

Streets Into Homes of Their Own” is almost equally as convincing. Showing our evolution as a

city with one of the highest homeless populations spending millions of dollars trying to get them

off the streets with police, a broken homeless response system, and too many independent aid

organizations all fighting for relief into one of the most successful applications of the modern

application of new ideas. Former Mayor Parker

states the processes and methods used to find the

correct and most cohesive information to help

people. “Houston started collecting real-time data

as opposed to relying solely on a once-a-year

census,” Parker says; she goes on to explain the

milestones of one hundred people put into homes

in one hundred days to what became a whole team

of organizations including the Houston Housing

Authority and SEARCH. The steps taken by

Houston to become more inclusive and supportive

Former Mayor Parker speaks about Houston’s path to
connection (New York Times) of the less fortunate also come with a modern

acknowledgment of social issues such as racism and sexism that prevents a lot of people from

getting the opportunities they need to advance, even showing a “Vulnerability Index” to show

who in these homeless environments is the most vulnerable to these circumstances and let them

learn how to act accordingly. Kimmelman appeals to a general audience by showing the financial
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benefits of reduced taxes and data to change the general narrative of the homeless and in doing

creates a win-win scenario that is held back by negativity and mentality. Showing the

possibilities of what could be and that it can be done is a big step toward what Rutger Bregman

refers to as a “Utopia” (Bregman).

Kimmelman’s and Bregman’s stories and data show the lack of effort we as a society

take to give everyone a chance. Both essays critique our legislation and its lack of action and

acceptance of new and tested methodologies. Rutger shows the failure of implementation in

Washington and Michael’s examples of steps that could be taken on a larger scale but aren’t.

Showing data that benefits both the middle and lower classes financially and mentally. Decrease

in crime rates, lower taxes, and many other examples of methodology that for years have been

held back by a pre-conceived notion that the poor are guilty. Guilty of laziness, guilty of low

intelligence, and guilty of circumstances they must have placed themselves in. This mentality

accuses those less fortunate and vilifies them. Rutger and Michael go to great lengths and

explanations trying to show that this tragedy is caused by something deeper than laziness and can

be fixed even showing that “One of the perks of basic income is that it stimulates the “working

poor” (Bregman) and “The deepening divide between the low - and highly educated means that

the former are in need of extra support” (Kimmelman). This will need a lot of effort though.

Changes in legislation, supporting the people who need it most, and ultimately coming together

as a community to bring us closer to unified people are essential if we want to advance at all.

Free money and better housing are small steps, but they are steps indeed.

These articles show and represent the larger narrative of supporting lower-income areas,

legislation reform, and a general change in mentality towards those less fortunate. Bregman and

Kimmelman come together (not literally) to create a larger narrative. One of prosperity and
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perspective. Seeing now that steps are being taken and that results seem to be heading in the right

direction is a new win for our world today. Whether they win the lottery for further

implementation or prove to be wrong at the end of the day at least we’re trying. Trying to help

those around us, trying to advance, and trying to make the world a better place. Bregman’s

persuasive data and Kimmelman’s positive mentality make these topics intertwined and speak

for something larger than itself.

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Work Cited

Kimmelman, Michael. “How Houston Moved 25,000 People from the Streets into Homes of Their Own.”

The New York Times. June 26, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/26/podcasts/the-

daily/the-sunday-read-how-houston-moved25000-people-from-the-streets-into-homes-of-their-

own.html

Bregman, Rutger. “Why We Should Give Free Money to Everyone.” de Correspondent, 2013.

https://thecorrespondent.com/541/why-we-should-give-free-money-toeveryone/20798745-

cb9fbb39

Heller, N. (2018) “Who really stands to win from universal basic income?”, The New Yorker.

Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/09/who-really-stands-to-

win-from-universal-basic-income (Accessed: November 4, 2022).