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Yang, an entrepreneur who is generating buzz with his signature proposal for universal basic income, is banking on a high-profile appearance on the Democratic debate stage later this year for his message to catch on.
I'm considering registering as a Democrat myself and considering a run for President. Like Trump, I've never held political office before. I could go further than this guy. My proposal would be similar, but people won't have any pride in themselves if they're just given money every month while they sit on a couch and watch MTV. I would also call for a work program, getting people on the dole to do at least some kind of labor, like delivering microwave ovens, custom kitchens, refrigerators, or color TV's.Yang said that like Trump, he'll break away by taking on issues no other candidate will talk about — especially his plan to give money to most every American.
"I hate to say it, but the Democratic Party is in need of some new ideas," he said.
Trump won in 2016 by correctly identifying and speaking to economic anxieties, Yang told the crowd. But Yang said Trump's solutions were wrong, racially divisive and ignored the real culprit of increased automation.
"This campaign is about showing America that it's not immigrants that are causing these economic problems, it is technology," he said.
Yang's plan proposes paying every American adult $1,000 a month, no strings attached. The program would be paid for by a 10% value added tax estimated to generate $800 billion in revenue.
He also predicts savings by streamlining existing social programs like welfare and food stamps, proposing to let people elect to give up those benefits in favor of universal basic income. Yang is also estimating that once the money is distributed to Americans, it will infuse the economy and create further savings by improving people's well-being and curbing current spending on health care, incarceration and homeless.
Critics of guaranteed income plans argue they make people less productive and less likely to work and could attract more unemployed residents.
Yang suggests the only people likely to work less with guaranteed income would be new mothers and teenagers.
Once he's president, he said, Democrats would get on board with the proposal and Republicans would find it politically unwise to oppose a plan to put money in everyone's pocket.
In addition to universal basic income, Yang lists more than 100 policy positions on his website, which range from liberal touchstones like "Medicare for All" to the obscure: a proposal to revitalize and repurpose forsaken shopping malls, a push for free or heavily subsidized marriage counseling for all Americans and plans for a text-line to report abusive robocalls.
If they don't want to work for someone else and would rather be self employed, along with their 1000 each month give them a free baby chicken. Thanks to changes in the law you can allegedly now raise chickens in your back yard regardless of whether you live in the city or not. This way people could sell the eggs or butcher the chickens and eat them. All political campaigns have a theme song, and mine could be an old Dire Straights song.
I'm old so I can't recall the title at the moment but I'm sure it'll come to me.