The first findings are in from a groundbreaking program in Stockton CA in which 500 financially struggling residents were given $500 per month for a year by the city with no string attached.

Advocates of universal basic income, a concept used around the world but not in the U.S., have to be happy about the results. The program, known as the Stockton Economic Empowerment Seed, got rave reviews from an independent study.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday strongly pushed back against a move by Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden to further restrict the number of people who will receive direct payments under the emerging coronavirus aid package, warning the new eligibility structure would deny direct relief to people who received checks during Donald Trump's presidency.

"I don't understand the political or economic wisdom in allowing Trump to give more people relief checks than a Democratic administration. People went far too long without relief last year," the New York Democrat told the Washington Post's Jeff Stein. "If anything we should be more generous, not more stingy.""It's also an insensitive compromise for the roughly 80% of Americans that live in urban areas, which are known for higher costs of living," Ocasio-Cortez added.

The Jump-Start Our Business Start-Ups (or JOBS) Act of 2012 was supposed to mean great opportunities for small business owners to raise capital and grow family-controlled businesses. At the time President Barack Obama called it "a potential game-changer" that would give them "access to a big, new pool of potential investors—namely, the American people."

The law was intended to allow small operations to raise money through crowdfunding, pretty much the same way people raise money with a GoFundMe type campaign or how companies use Kickstarter for specific projects.