Andrew Yang Begs Congress To Pass UBI Plan
We are definitely living in interesting times.
Andrew Yang ran for the Democratic nomination for President. His main platform was what he called the "Freedom Dividend" which is a dressed up name for Universal Basic Income.
The idea was controversial and not well received in the United States, causing him to drop out of the race. The coronavirus, however, caused Americans to reconsider the entire premise.
We are presently on a lockdown where most people lost their incomes. Of course, they still have their expenses such as rent, mortgages, and car payments. This creates a situation where they are eating into their savings waiting for the government to allow the economy to reopen.
Congress' answer was to issue a $1,200 one time payment to each adult and $500 to each child.
In most part of the country, this will not go very far. Indications out of China, which reopened their country a couple months ago, the recovery process will be very slow. Unemployment is rising at a rate like we never saw before and is not going to reverse anytime soon.
In fact, many are projecting that the 4th quarter could see a massive uptick in unemployment. This is due to the idea that many are being kept on the payroll now because of the stimulus programs but, once that ends, the revenue streams will not warrant the employees.
The coronavirus is serving as a time for a major power grab. Could UBI be a part of it? Opponents of the idea point to the fact that this puts people at the mercy of political winds. We all know how things change with each new administration.
It is also a concept that does not incentive working. When people can sit home and collect money, where is the motivation to go to work?
Unfortunately, with the way the economy is being destroyed, the options are limited.
Economic contraction is taking place in a major way. With tens of millions already out of work, and more likely, it is going to be a tough situation. All the while, the Fed is pouring money into the laps of Wall Street institutions.
It seems they are very happy to take free money.
Decentralised UBI is better than a government UBI
But we need a D-Identity to pull this out ((
So many people were either frowning or laughing at Andrew Yang's UBI plan and yet when the virus come along it took less than a few days after country wide shut down for government to UNANIMOUSLY pass bill to give $1,200 /month. I personally think a UBI plan will hinder US rather than help. The reality that this happen started off with big corporations not saving for a rain day and now are asking government for bailouts. If those corporations were not focused solely for investors profits and minimizing expenses to make a quick buck in a one of two quarters of earnings many of them probably would have had enough cash to support their employees.
Boeing is a good example. They kept paying out dividends to shareholders rather than using the money to focus on building a better product or fixing their 737 MAX when internally they knew the plane had issues. Or Disney where they have a cash reserve but furlough most of their employees while keeping their dividend for shareholders.
The government is exacerbating the problem by providing billions to these corporations while only providing $1,200 per a tax payer earning less than $75k. The government will likely make this worse by bailing out wall street first.
The real solution should have been to let things play out while the country was in lock down. The pain of inflated asset prices was bound to hit the country. The government has been borrowing from the future to pay for the present only to avoid the pain. It is making the situation once by kicking the can down the road the added borrowing is amplifying a massive debt that one day will be impossible for the country to repay.
I have hope the American spirit is still alive and ready to kick start and move on from all of this. When we pull through this it will not be government intervention that saved the country but the hard working men and women who composes this great country. The country went through wars, pandemics, and financial crisis before and this one although seems the most challenging yet because we are living through it, I say this too shall pass.
What do you think is the smartest proposal to pay for UBI?
Unfortunately, there is no ideal way. Right now, with the trillions the Fed is paying out, it would be better to go to individuals as opposed to Wall Street.
Loading up on more government debt isnt going to be a good thing. I would prefer to use the Fed's balance sheet but again, that isnt likely to happen either.
The government will do too little, too late like always...that is the only thing we can count on.