Dem 2020 candidate Andrew Yang stands by 'Freedom Dividend'

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Stephen Sorace | Fox News


https://i.imgur.com/ajvRWvUh.jpg

Democratic 2020 candidate Andrew Yang said in an interview Wednesday that his “Freedom Dividend,” a proposal that would give $1,000 a month to Americans who are over 18 years old, will encourage citizens to work.

Yang told TMZ that the plan is necessary to help American workers whose jobs have become automized. When asked if giving the dividend would incentivize workers, he cited the “Alaska Permanent Fund,” which was established in 1976 and pays residents a dividend from the state’s mineral revenue.

“In Alaska it’s wildly popular, has created thousands of jobs, has improved children’s health and has not decreased work levels in the slightest,” the 44-year-old entrepreneur and investor said.

With the exception of new moms who spent more time with their kids and teenagers who graduated high school at a higher level, numbers showed that most people continued to worked at the same level as they did without the dividend, Yang told TMZ.

“Most people want to work and a little bit of money won’t make a difference,” he said.

The “Freedom Dividend” would cost $1.8 trillion dollars a year, and planned to fund it with a value added tax that would get the American people “a slice of” all Amazon transactions, Google searches and robot truck miles, Yang previously told MSNBC.

Yang's presidential candidacy has recieved the support of some white nationalists, who believe he is "concerned with halting the decline of the white race," the Verge reported. Yang has rejected their support.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

:woot: Free money

[RBP]

I have to go deeper on this. At least Yang is trying to take a reasoned approach to position the country for the massive shift is the nature of work that is to come. I don't know if UBI is a correct answer, but it has some merit.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I have to go deeper on this. At least Yang is trying to take a reasoned approach to position the country for the massive shift is the nature of work that is to come. I don't know if UBI is a correct answer, but it has some merit.

Good morning Comrade Bernie :hi:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Since I'm a taxpayer with a job and would ultimately be funding this idiotic thing, can I just cut out the middle man and maybe just pay myself with my own money that I've earned? :-k

Between the communist governor in Colorado wanting more money to fund all his bullshit and now things like this (and the reparations BS talk that democrats are falling all over themselves to embrace), maybe it's time to quit my job and live on the dole instead. It's hard to keep smiling every day when the government keeps telling you to bend over and grab your ankles.

[RBP]

Since I'm a taxpayer with a job and would ultimately be funding this idiotic thing, can I just cut out the middle man and maybe just pay myself with my own money that I've earned? :-k

Between the communist governor in Colorado wanting more money to fund all his bullshit and now things like this (and the reparations BS talk that democrats are falling all over themselves to embrace), maybe it's time to quit my job and live on the dole instead. It's hard to keep smiling every day when the government keeps telling you to bend over and grab your ankles.

Well, you'd get the $1000 as well, plus Yang suggest that work should be minimally taxed, if taxed at all. He prefers a VAT for consumption based taxes, which removes your tax burden on income and eliminates the tax loopholes that allow corporations like Amazon to pay zero and rich people to pay less. Not to mention that he wants to dismantle large portions of the welfare system that are extremely complicated to administer and provide massive negative incentives. As opposed to government controlled use of the UBI, Yang has the libertarian view that there should be no strings, allowing people to make individual choices.

You'd be massively ahead under that scenario.

I still have no opinion on it yet, I am simply providing information I have.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Well, you'd get the $1000 as well, plus Yang suggest that work should be minimally taxed, if taxed at all. He prefers a VAT for consumption based taxes, which removes your tax burden on income and eliminates the tax loopholes that allow corporations like Amazon to pay zero and rich people to pay less. Not to mention that he wants to dismantle large portions of the welfare system that are extremely complicated to administer and provide massive negative incentives. As opposed to government controlled use of the UBI, Yang has the libertarian view that there should be no strings, allowing people to make individual choices.

You'd be massively ahead under that scenario.

I still have no opinion on it yet, I am simply providing information I have.

He's running for President, not King. You forget how Washington, DC runs.

[RBP]

He's running for President, not King. You forget how Washington, DC runs.

That may be, but there's nothing wrong with big ideas and aspirational leadership. Fact is, if the economic models are correct, we are on the verge of a massive industrial revolution. Status quo won't work.

[RBP]

The other thing at play here is what has happened in the rural areas that are heavy Trump country that nobody is helping, not even Trump. Those manufacturing jobs aren't coming back. When unemployment runs out, they go on disability. We're paying a UBI for them anyway, just not called that.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Plus he's comparing apples and oranges. You can't compare the Alaska Permanent Fund to a UBI. The Alaska Permanent Fund varies greatly and is only paid out once a year and is based on revenue from the mineral sales in the state, the biggest contributor being petroleum. He wants to pay somewhere around 200 to 250 million people $1,000/month. That's conservatively $200 billion per month, every month, or $2.4 trillion a year. And unless he has a secret money tree hidden somewhere, that's just absolutely ludicrous because that's most of the money the government takes in annually in tax revenue.

https://i.imgur.com/tzOlybm.png

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The other thing at play here is what has happened in the rural areas that are heavy Trump country that nobody is helping, not even Trump. Those manufacturing jobs aren't coming back. When unemployment runs out, they go on disability. We're paying a UBI for them anyway, just not called that.

You can't go on disability unless you are disabled. Even though there are people that game the system.

[RBP]

Like I said, I don't have an opinion and need to know more. I'm just not dismissing it out of hand. What I want to read is the libertarian thinkers who favor UBI.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/false-promise-universal-basic-income-andy-stern-ruger-bregman

It's long, but interesting.

[RBP]

Thanks, that was interesting.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://i.imgur.com/N31rCnK.png

FWIW the article is from a left leaning publication.

[RBP]

And the article is written by a PhD student. But still good background.

Adam Smith Institute in the UK also says it is time to experiment further. They are a fairly influential Libertarian/Neoliberal think tank. Liberals hate them by the way. In the summary there is a link to the full report.

https://www.adamsmith.org/news/rising-evidence-basic-income

Both sources say it's not a bad idea, but the results will vary wildly depending on intent and structure.

Edit: Counterpoint article. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/universal-basic-income-adam-smith-institute-austerity-libertarian-a8167701.html

[perrhaps]

Another nice thing about the VAT is that it recoups money from the folks who don't report income from tips when they spend it, as well as those who get paid under the table. Former radio personality Neil Boortz was a big proponent of this.

I like it because it gives a big incentive to saving and/or funding your retirement.