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Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, a Big Supporter Of Universal Basic Income, is Running For President (techcrunch.com)
In a recently published podcast, Andrew Yang, tech entrepreneur and founder of Venture for America, said he is vying for the Democratic party nomination to run for President of the United States. From a report: Yang outlines his radical policy agenda, which focuses on Universal Basic Income and includes a "freedom dividend." He talks about the very real and immediate threat of artificial intelligence, how new technologies are erasing millions of jobs before our eyes, and why we need to put humanity first. He also addresses "the big four" and what he plans to do about Amazon.
During the interview, Yang called out governments inability to address large scale problems and the challenges that technology is creating in modern American society. "I believe that we need to start owning these realities [of automation and artificial intelligence taking away jobs] and these challenges as a people, as a country, and as a society, and start being honest. I'm running for president to solve the big problems and to show that these things are not beyond us," Yang says. Yang's own plan to address the increasing power tech companies are wielding in the world involves something called a "freedom dividend", which would paid for by a value-added tax. The revenue from that tax (levied on "gains from the big four") would be redistributed via the "freedom dividend" to citizens, Yang says.
During the interview, Yang called out governments inability to address large scale problems and the challenges that technology is creating in modern American society. "I believe that we need to start owning these realities [of automation and artificial intelligence taking away jobs] and these challenges as a people, as a country, and as a society, and start being honest. I'm running for president to solve the big problems and to show that these things are not beyond us," Yang says. Yang's own plan to address the increasing power tech companies are wielding in the world involves something called a "freedom dividend", which would paid for by a value-added tax. The revenue from that tax (levied on "gains from the big four") would be redistributed via the "freedom dividend" to citizens, Yang says.
We either plan for it now or start buying pitchforks and torches. And oiling up the guillotines because we _will_ eat the rich.
Only I can judge you.
I don't deny that one day UBI might be feasible, and even necessary but it's just too soon and too radical, especially for the US. He's not going to get his party's nomination, and if he does, it's 4 more years of Trump.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
governments inability to address large scale problems
And what makes him think 'government' would perform any differently with him behind the wheel?? GTFOH (i.e. never mind; I don't want to know).
The entertainment of the 2020 Democrat primaries is going to be a lot more interesting than even the Republican 2016 primaries were.
Who will win? Old traditional Democrats or one of the new variety of young Leftists?
He'd have my vote, infinitely better than the choices we had.
Pat Paulsen has a better chance than Yang.
right here, so all else being equal he gets my (primary) vote in favor of anyone else who doesn't.
I'd rather see him stumping on Medicare for All than basic income though.
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... thinking there will still be a United States in 2020.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
An economy that necessitates labor for the distribution of wealth and the unequal access to natural resources is the problem. Taxing robots won't solve the problems in the US economy, land value taxation will.
At this point in USA history it is really time to make a stand towards eliminating our party system. The easiest way to do that is get a few big players campaigning on independent tickets, or small third parties with the goal of gaining the 5-10 percent for national recognition and then start winning overall elections once the big parties have begun faltering.
Until that happens we will see the same mess repeating that has been for the past 200+ years of American History.
Promising free shit to the young, stupid, and lazy worked out so great for Bernie, didn't it?
These people should first worry about the DNC existing long enough to put forth a candidate in 2020. It's a bit premature to be hobbling together a hollow platform that will only get you Bernied.
Beyond that, why are you planning for action in 2020 when you'll be up against an incumbent POTUS? (For all of you who can't fathom Trump being reelected - Bush Jr. was reviled and won reelection, and the popular vote, easily. This happened because he was the incumbent and people fear change. The DNC put forth a bland turkey-burger candidate knowing they didn't want to waste any real effort against an incumbent. And of course, Obama sat and watched as the economy burned and our rights were stripped away and the surveillance state grew. He, too, won reelection handily.)
You save your plays until 2024 unless you want to tip your hand and risk being scooped. It might make sense to throw your hat into the ring in 2020 and get your name out there, but you do NOT put your platform out there. It'll just have 4 extra years to be dismantled, attacked, made irrelevant, or copied.
The floodgates are open. Prepare yourself for the "running of the (tech) bulls."
Unless he can outbid Hillary, he's not getting any nomination. The Democrats went to court to argue that they're a private club that is under no compulsion to obey the results of a vote. Everyone saw the disaster that happened when the Republicans allowed their Party to be hijacked by an outsider. This will never be allowed to happen again.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Now China wants its turn.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
He is definitely a no-go person to support by any means. BTW: this debt will never be repaid, and it will be the precursor to III. world war. Erasing your debtor is much easier than paying your debtor off.
I view UBI as just another fad in the recent trend of America's liberal thinking (which, by the way, has been taken over by almost teenage-/child-like levels of logic) that seeks to equalize all outcomes for all people, end suffering, poverty, and eliminate inequity at every stage of life. Damn anyone who thinks otherwise or wonders about how it will work (and be accused of spouting hate speech if you disagree). This is getting ridiculous, and is by the way, impossible. And mind you, I'm generally liberal myself.
UBI is the most blatant example among many proposals that is very clearly a taking of $ from the highest earners, and giving it to the lowest earners. How else could it work? If you have a closed system where the income distribution is even linear up the scale, the only way UBI works is if the top subsidize the bottom. So it's a different form of progressive tax.
However, in this case, instead of subsidizing the means to be productive and earn a living, you simply give the people cash and assume they'll work it out for themselves. (For those imagining we would keep the social services, get real -- would we really give them cash *and* the social services too? Isn't UBI envisioned as a way to reduce social services? If social services worked, why do UBI?)
Anyway, aside from the possibility somehow that corporations are the ones taxed and not individuals -- the long term question is: what kind of society does this produce, if brought to its conclusion? Some kind of Star Trek utopia where everyone's free to pursue higher, loftier goals for humanity? Or, more realistically, some kind of even more unbalanced state where the very few people at the top produce wealth, the middle class is hollowed out, and the lowest earners don't have to work? Has anyone studied the incentives that this produces, and whether it makes our society better?
I think that is lacking in these idealized proposals.
So here's a guy that doesn't have even the slightest basic understanding of how politics in America works. He needs to promise the big money dudes the world and tell us pissants to go fuck ourselves even if this is his agenda. Once he's in office then he can just flip the script and do whatever the hell he wants. There's ZERO chance he even gets a serious nod in one of the major parties with that platform. He'll be pushed out before they even START the primary process as a whack-job because he doesn't worship the big money.
I wish we could at least have the conversation among the political elite, but it's not going to even get lip-service at this point in the game.
that's not the president's job. Americans, you knobbers, the president is not a king.
Bernie would have won
First we had to endure Obama forcing us to buy health insurance whether we wanted it or not. Then we have to endure a con man, liar, failed 'businessman', and reality TV personality becoming POTUS, appointing a bunch of criminals and liars with their own agendas, dragging the country down even more, now we're going to have to put up with some fucking idiot who can't do basic math insisting that we finish the job of bankrupting the entire country once and for all, because some lazy fucks don't want to work and would rather live on government handouts? Please, just kill me, KILL ME NOW, I don't want to live through any more of this shit, I don't want to be here to see the end of everything. So-called Universal Basic Income WILL NOT WORK for 300,000,000 people, plain and simple, why can't you all see that!?
He's of Asian decent. Even if he was born in the US, with the amount of racism in the US, that got Trump elected, he ain't ever coming close to the presidential seat.
Sadly it's too late for him to be the next president. I'm pretty sure the upcoming impeachment process won't go all the way down to tech entrepreneurs.
Ba-dum-tish. Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all night. Try the veal.
Where does the money come from?
It is interesting to see someone with strong opinions like this that doesn't understand that the office of president has no control over any of them. But of course he isn't getting elected anyway. Going against tech companies is a great way to find all of the coverage about you is negative.
UBFI ( Universal Basic Facebook Income) shall supplement UBI. Nationalize Facebook and give the dividends as UBFI. Facebook will be renamed to FAILbook after its use to elect the current
tweeter-in-chief a.k.a Donald J. Trump.
Biden 2024 !!!
YAY we're all rich now!
- Democrat
Just in case someone wonders, why you need a high-capacity magazine for your pistol and rifle, show them the above quote.
The scum are asking for it, and you'll need to double-tap each one of them, just to make sure...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.
So, when a Libertarian announces his candidacy, they'll also be featured on the /. front page?
No, no bias here at all...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Unemployment is at record lows
The Workforce is at record highs
Income has gone up
Taxes have gone down
What, exactly, are you thinking needs to be fixed?
Democrats need an actual candidate that can win this time, not another version Sanders but to the left of the original. I am not a democrat or republican but if there is a thought that democrats can win with this kind of candidate, they are delusional.
Look, lets call a spade a spade here... he is asking for socialism.
No. Socialism is defined as worker ownership of the means of production (that is, the factories). We usually think of state socialism: state ownership of the means of production (where the state claims to be operating on behalf of the workers.)
Unless he is advocating worker (or state) ownership fo the means of production, it's not socialism.
His platform is "democracy is dead." People need to get comfortable saying that, because that's what it is... if you are for UBI, you are a socialist. ;)
Democracy is a political system and socialism is an economic system. But, no. If you are for the state ownership of the means of production you are a socialist. If you are for UBI, you are for something that is not socialism (unless it also includes state ownership of the means of production.)
I have gotten tired of people calling pretty much everything under the sun that isn't laissez faire capitalism "socialism." The word has a defined meaning. Use it.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Because we elect representatives and the representatives are bought and paid for by corporations and the rich, things will never be fair. We will never see a UBI because that will never be allowed to come to a vote.
Instead of being a representative democracy, we should change over to a direct democracy. Let the people individually vote on dreamers, gun control, environmental issues, drug laws, ... You'll quickly find that things would change, some for the worst, but more for the best. The rich would have to spend their money convincing us to go their way instead of our cheap house and senate representatives.
Wouldn't it be ironic that all those people Slashdotters usually look down on...people who work with their hands, the earth, and livestock, are suddenly the only ones that can feed and raise a family?
Meanwhile, erstwhile Slashdot posters are sit in front of their dark screens wishing they could post some snark about how they've been screwed by automation, the Rich, or both.
This sounds really lame. How does he plan to get anything done. We are currently watching a president they to "address large scale problems", at least things he sees as "address large scale problems"; I'd argue that we just have a bigger mess. We need to figure out how to stop making a mess before we move forward on anything.
The scumbag's explicit reference to guillotine shows, the French terror is what he wants for this country. He may be too stupid to do very much to advance this goal, but he is still a scumbag — just the kind to stand out there masked and shouting "Communism will win".
Adherents of the vilest and deadliest school of thought known to humanity, responsible for millions of deaths and economic devastation of entire countries, these people somehow remain acceptable for the polite society — and even find sympathetic moderators to upvote their murderous rhetoric. All the while, for example, the stupid schmucks of the (relatively) harmless KKK are hunted and persecuted as if they were Satan incarnates.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
You can have mass immigration or you can have nice things. Notice that the people who are pushing mass immigration, such as Koch bros, already have nice things and benefit more from cheaper labor than better public schools and such. UBI is another example of this. If the US had less immigration, both legal and illegal, as well as no anchor babies then UBI would be much more attainable. Also wages would be better, traffic would be less, and housing would be more affordable. UBI is interesting but unless immigration is *greatly* reduced don't expect it regardless of how much AI and robotics reduce jobs.
You have nothing worth clawing back moron. The difference between you and a homeless person is less than a minor round-off error for the wealthy. That is also the value they attach to your life.
You are the scum and your high-capacity magazine may help you take your family out of their misery if you don't decide to go hunting the wealthy along with the rest of us.
Only I can judge you.
Yes, though the Individual — cantankerous and selfish — may feel different, that's the preferable turn of events from the point of view of the Glorious Collective.
At 64 you'll stop getting the subsidy and living beyond 75 is unethical — end of life counseling is all the health care you should be getting then.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Who will pay for it if there's no middle class? Erode that, you have ZERO GROWTH (no "gdp" bullshit keynesian economics work minus it on a fiat fake money currency system). The USA is the biggest consumer (forget exports in light of things like the bogus TPP etc.). It also allows for NO TAX BASE to pay for UBI!
(Iindustry/corporations rewrite rules via their political puppets to their favor for tax avoidance & welfare losers don't pay in either - the disappeared MIDDLE CLASS did (what the "1%'ers" fear - the only class that can fight them OR establish their own competing businesses)).
Those 1% controllers also can't spend on the levels that a huge middleclass can (the true spine of a good economy on that level as well as taxbase).
Then, on a sociological/psychogical level, take away a man's reason to excel/struggle, you take out the competition too.
It won't work on economic & sociological/psychological levels.
WAKE UP PEOPLE. UBI = evil (on many levels).
Thank you for lifting the suspicion off me having a conflict of interest in the matter.
99% of Communists give the rest a bad name... Not only do they seek to kill the rich, the sympathizers are also subject to death — along with their families.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I love how they put "freedom" into the naming of things in the US. It's like they expect people to support them because "it's freedom... it must be good, right?"
Standard hospital systems regularly kill people. Our modern medical system is a minefield. Is the VA demonstrably worse than average?
Only I can judge you.
Seems to me that most people calling for UBI are arguing that AI will eliminate jobs, and thus, we need UBI to sustain those who lose them, are also open-borders types that would flood millions more into the country in the face of those shrinking job prospects. Hard to reconcile those positions unless you are just not thinking critically. (Not that I am suggesting that if we lock down the borders, we could then institute UBI--socialism has gone so well for Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea and the straight-up Robin Hood wealth transfer that is UBI is a remarketing of socialism).
they have machine guns now. And supply lines so that when your semi-autos run out of bullets theirs don't. Best case scenario you get a military junta and a change of masters.
Violence isn't going to work anymore. If you want freedom you have to take care of your working class _before_ they turn to a militant strong man. So far we are not doing a good job of that. Hopefully next election we turn things around and at least run somebody like this Andrew fellow who appears to belong to the populist left.
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It's about having the power of life or death by controlling access to food, shelter and medical care. It's about power, not things.
.1%) when you're part of the working class.
Yes, I know that's counter-intuitive. Lots of things are. It's difficult to think like a truly Rich person (e.g. a 1% or a
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The "Freedom Dividend" would be about as far away from the concept of freedom as the PATRIOT Act was from patriotism.
What is it with you yanks and your antonym naming scheme for bills, laws, and departments? The greatest threat to young learning in the US is the "Education" system, the greatest threat to the environment is the EPA, and the greatest threat to national security is the NSA. The Treasury has no treasure and, in fact, has more debt than any other entity in the country. Your "social security" system is a massive ponzi scheme, far from being social or secure. Your "conservatives" are apt to wreck anything that moves and intefere heavily in the economy. Your "liberals" are all about controlling and regulating people. Don't even get me started on the "Justice" system.
Can you not have just one goddamn thing with an honest name?
No. My differences include high 6fig income. Multiple high end cars. Multiple high level degrees. Lots of nice toys. Fark You type money.
Also a nice set of firearms and the skill to use them.
People like yourself are actually the ones in danger should it come to it. You won't even know which direction the shot came from. Your conscious brain will be dead before your body even hits the floor.
That's the reality of life.
if anything you need to encourage them. Once people hit a certain amount of wealth they're content to have 1-2 children. Of course, that only happens if you hit that wealth limit (and if you don't have the Elephant in the room, religion, forcing people to spit out kids. Can't tell you how many Catholics I know with their 3rd, 4th, 5th child in their 40s...)
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he promised to keep jobs here, provide medical care for all and huge tax cuts that would somehow be paid for by magic fairy dust. Meanwhile Hilary didn't promise jack (her campaign ads were almost completely devoid of policy) and you can see how that worked out.
People _want_ the government to step in and help them. What they do _not_ want is for the gov't to step in and help anyone else. It doesn't work like that. Either nobody gets left behind or everybody does.
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our Senate and Electoral colleges were purpose built to protect the interests of a few wealthy landowners. The political parties are just natural outgrowths of that system. What's needed is a parliamentary system that gives everybody who gets x% of the vote some power. That and compulsory voting. If voting was mandatory people couldn't get away with voter suppression.
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Unless that amounts to suicide. Then you have to be willing to kill yourself and admit you have failed at existing. That takes more stones than any US president will ever have. What will actually happen is that the US will default at some time. The rest of the world will recover from that after a decade or two, but the US will not.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Don't leave California, leftist. You'll be killed.
At one time every able bodied man was supposed to turn out for the defense of the village whenever the feudal lord ordered it. We then evolved into professional volunteer armies and today the concept of the draft has gone away.
Similarly in the future people will work if they want to not because they have been drafted to. Today everyone has to work or starve - there is no real choice.
With an UBI, work becomes a choice and the workers will be much more professional as they would have CHOSEN to work rather than forced to.
**Life is too short to be serious**
Standard hospital systems regularly kill people. Our modern medical system is a minefield. Is the VA demonstrably worse than average?
In terms of attracting competent doctors, the VA is demonstrably worse than average...
In terms of wait times for procedures, the VA is demonstrably worse than average...
Of course in terms of stated coverage, the VA is right there on average...
Sounds like a win to me ;^)
and look what it got us.
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The free income lifestyle will be coming to an end soon.
"We can either plan for it now or start buying pitchforks and torches. And oiling up the guillotines because we _will_ eat the rich."
It is true that CEOs are pulling down thousands of times what their employees are making. That being stated, have you guys looked at the national debt lately? As a retiree, I don't expect to be receiving a pension for much longer than five years. If you can't read the tea leaves, you're blind.
The grain dole in Roman times: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... Just saying it wouldn't be the first time government supplied free sustenance. With mixed results. And then Regan gave us the cheese: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
When EVERYBODY has a baseline income given to them for free, the basic principle of economics (supply-and-demand) dictates that the prices for things will rise.
THAT is called inflation, and it means that middle-class people who have a few bucks more than the "basic income" will see that THOSE dollars are less effective having had their value driven down proportionally (since all dollars are the same, and thus anything that effects the value of a dollar effects the value of all dollars).
If you read his platform (I browsed through a few of them) you'll notice the desire to create a lot of agencies that aren't accountable to the people (or anyone for that matter). I'm assuming he'd assign people to these unaccountable agencies.
n/t
So far Trump has done nothing wrong. I wish he was able to do the rest of what he wants. I am also sure that he would have some choice comments to make about UBI, but, Alas, he is not a Slashdotter.
OK, talking to a true-blue Californian Democrat:
The Californian says, "We have it figured out. We get UBI, we do not have to work anymore!"
And I ask, "But who is going to do all the needed work?"
"Ah, simple," says he. "The illegal immigrants!"
"But they don't pay taxes!"
Then, with a quick wink he says "We are still working on that minor problem!"
You are probably making the fallacy of comparing to somebody outside the country and comparing to absolute amount of money. Which is non sense, and mostly used as an excuse by some to not do anything "hey you are richer than some guy in (insert 3rd world country) so don't complain". What you have to compare to is with purchasing power parity. A low income American may earn more money in absolute than a middle class Bengladeshi but this means jack shit if the PPP is so that the bengladeshi can afford far more stuff - local price being much lower for him. The "they earn only 10$ a day" is meaningless if you do not know how it cost to have a minimum "basket" (a roof, heating in winter where required, minimum food and education). Sure I may earn 4 time what that 10$ a day guy earn,but if my PPP is 8 times higher than his, then I am effectively poorer. So no that "there is always someone poorer than you" is mostly bullshit hot air.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
He's already lost.
Yeah, cool, take all the wealth from the 'wealthy' - sounds great, who'll pay the UBI bill in year two after you confiscate everyone's wealth the first year?
$1,000/month, times 320 million recipients each month, you'll burn through all 'wealthy people's' money in no time.
320 million times $1,000/month is $320 Billion/month, or just about $4 Trillion a year. It takes a thousand billionaires to make one trillion, how many billionaires are there in America? Do we really have 4K billionaires in America?
No.
Ken
Its to keep the system going. the system where 99% get some play money, aka disposable income, but âoeallâ wealth created ends up in possession of the 1%. What good is a fully automated factory when not enough people buy your product. Consumers dont accumulate wealth, they redistribute the money they get to the corporations that produce the most desirable consumables. And you cant use any method that reduces the disposable income of the consumers with the risk of collapsing the capitalist system. One of the better solutions to keep it going is reduction in work time to give more people a job.
Let me guess, you also graduated top of your class at Navy SEALS?
Eat the rich.
You'll run out of bullets real fast and odds are you're absolutely useless in a heated situation, just like all of your big-wallet peers, so while you may hit one person, the next 20 will tear you apart, literally.
Don't underestimate the brutal efficiency of a raging mob.
Eat the rich.
Industry will pay. You know those taxes they keep dodging right now.
Pay your taxes or GTFO.
Eat the rich.
The UBI:
1: Destroys the entire welfare system - replacing it with the UBI.
2: Does not replace the requirement to work, because it will be set at a low level.
3: Is a business subsidy in disguise, as businesses will slash washes to soak up the UBI, over time (look at the trend of not sharing profit from increased productivity).
4: Will be destroyed as soon as a big enough financial crisis hits - because it will become 'unaffordable' at that point.
So guys, when the party ends you're lining up for slashing of wages, complete destruction of your welfare system, and a massive subsidy to businesses in the meantime - with no fucking plan of what to do when the policy comes crashing down...
It's the worst own-goal imaginable. Yet people don't fucking see this.
This will sound old school, too bad.
I had a job at 14 (part time), and at least one ever since. Yes, that includes college (weekends, holidays), Grad School (at night, one while in the military, one while working a 50hr/week IT job paid for out of pocket) and every time thereafter. Started 2 companies too.
If you want to do something that doesn't pay, that is a HOBBY. Do it on your own time, and get a job you don't like to pay the bill because THAT IS WHAT ADULTS DO. If you are good enough at it, start a LLC and make money at it ($110 in most US states to charter one).
Granted I grew up when we ran the woods and neighborhood till dark w/o parents starting at age 9 (we did need to be watched), taught myself to program by saving my earning to buy a very early computer, and went to grade school with pocket knives (the teachers had rifles for hunting in their cars, amazing thing: no shootings...), but I knew the value of a dollar because my parents (who worked their butts off) insisted that every dollar was earned by someone (and it is best if you earn your own). It degrades people to take money without earning it somehow (there are some LIMITED exceptions...those physically unable to work, or for short periods like a few months between jobs IF they have kids, or in a marriage where one person does the earning, the other the child rearing).
Before you could even come close do enacting some type of VAT like that, you'd have to:
1. Entirely remove, and BAN from existence by law, the current income tax we have now.
No. "VAT" is a fancy term for sales tax. (The "value added" just means that you don't double-tax something that goes through a middle broker. If I buy steel and turn it into, say, kitchen knives, the tax is only on the value added, since the steel itself was already taxed.)
Sales tax and income tax are not mutually exclusive. You can have both.
2. You'd have to also get rid of all state and local taxes...
Sales tax and state tax are not mutually exclusive. You can have both.
and the Feds can't dictate that type of policy directly to the states, so, guessing that wouldn't fly.
To get something like that through, you'd have to make it the ONLY tax there is...
Again: no. There are many many many examples of places you have multiple taxes. It happens all the time. One tax does not mean you can't have another
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Just because he is a tech entrepreneur?
We already know this guy is not going to win, its right there in the beginning of the summary; "radical policy agenda". The one thing that politicians sure seem to hate is radical change, they just want to dole out the incremental change step by step and do not appreciate some new comer trying to come in and show the country exactly whats going on. Face it, if you are not part of the political or wealthy class then your chances of getting to be the top dog are slim to none.
Or maybe this is /.'s way of getting more clicks and views as it hosts the always rowdy debate over UBI which always brings out all sorts of virtue signaling and very little science based information. The debate will always be about the fact that to give people something, you must take it from someone else and a lot of people think that they are in the group that will be taken from (kind of like how a lot of people think that they will be rich one day) which is exactly how the ultra rich want it because it helps bolster their ranks and keep the pitch forks away from their gates. It will never be implemented and the debate will never end because the root of it is the idea of whether we accept more inequality in our society or not, yesterday it was the tax code, today its UBI and tomorrow its single payer health-care.
With universal basic income, I won't have to work for food, medicine, or shelter anymore! Golly, I hope the farmers, doctors, and carpenters don't get the same idea...
I'm not a communist, I'm a Socialist Democrat, get it right twink!
Only I can judge you.
This fellow doesn't realize that the largest job losses in the US have been because the jobs moved overseas. Sure robots are making small inroads that should not be discounted. I will say, however, that if he picks the pockets of the big 4, those jobs will go overseas as well. I know this type, the government will pay for your tuition. Then the government takes over companies, quietly becoming Venezuela, and the population is scratching for bread crumbs.
Life is in a state of dynamic equilibrium, it both blows and sucks
You think UBI is an approach a country like the U.S. would ever consider? Really? Why?
Trump and the Republicans are moving the country away from social democracy towards oligarchy. And, just as in Russia, the people love them for it.
The more appropriate solution for 'merica would be to bring back gladiatorial combat. The poor will fight each other for their survival, or just be fed to large carnivores. As an added bonus, this could help save the polar bears -- just drop a few poor people at the edge of the ice every few miles and televise the resulting carnage. The ratings on that would be through the roof!
Great way to keep their numbers down, while at the same time giving their lives some purpose.
#maga
Something to look towards and plan for the potentiality, but we're not even CLOSE yet, no need to jump headlong into socialism at this point in time.
The Universal Basic Income isn't, or doesn't need to be, about socialism. The great free-market supporter Milton Friedman supported what he called the Negative incometax.
FalconWolf
American 'poor' typically have subsidies for a roof over their head, drinkable water, cheap reliable electricity, cable/satellite TV, smartphones, internet access, free healthcare, and food assistance.
Eliminate all subsidies and pay people a basic income. Those subsidies are enough to cover most if not all the costs of the basic income. Hell the corporate welfare queens Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill, the largest private corporation in the US, each receive billions of dollars in subsidies.
Poor' is a lot wealthier than you may think. American 'Poor' typically receive more in gov't benefits than entry-level jobs pay, removing the incentive to get off the gov't teat.
Poor' is a lot wealthier than you may think. American 'Poor' typically receive more in gov't benefits than entry-level jobs pay, removing the incentive to get off the gov't teat.
Not even, on two accounts. One, because I survived a Traumatic Brain Injury, TBI, I have a disability income. If I had a minimum wage job I worked at fulltime I'd make $300 more than my Disability income. Two, abasic minimum income does not reduce the desire of most people to work. Because I hate being idle, as many others do too, I volunteered at a nonprofit. In my first 3 years I put in more than 4000 hours building pcs from used parts so low income people, and those who were trying to start their own business, could buy or earn a fully functional computer even if it was made from parts a few years old. And if they helped build pcs then they could learn to upgrade their pc for a lower cost than buying a new one.
FalconWolf
Tariffs are the only thing the orange baboon occupying the White House has done that I approve of.
When goods do not cross borders armies will. Protectionism harms trade. The Smoot Hawley Tariff act as well as the ones before it caused a decrease in imports from 1334 million to just $390 million in 1932, however exports to Europe fell from $2,341 million in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. Exporters were hurt much more than than domestic producers for the domestic market. They saw a drop in trade of $2,341 million in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. That is because other nations raised their tariffs on US goods, or passed new ones. This extended, and made worse the Great Depression. There is a debate among economists as to whether the decrease in trade led to WWII.
FalconWolf
1% cannot own 80% wealth unless they're running Pyramid schemes;
Casteism
Mark Hagg ,its not what you think . if you get excepted to do surveys you get no benefits like the other group like dental ,internet,drugs or fix your house ,witch they dont tell you till after 6 months of waiting .and they want to monitor your bad fortune given to you by the current system and see how bad you do compared to the ones getting paid they already have people on ont works to compare to .im a human lab rat to see if i will not survive or die the elements of the north high hydro,groceries,taxis and no jobs ,but i cant survive here with no food or heat, so i have to sell in a bad market and stay or board up with no help from this whynne government,i have been asking for help for two years we live on 850.00 a month for two adults and i have to pay 500.00 for hydro and 200.00 for taxes and water and we live on the rest and no jobs and in a small town i want to know the real numbers like how many are getting payed for surveys and the ones that are not and the ones that are getting a check ,i looked all over the internet and only four people the wynne has on her site ,and how many opted out since the government started this program they said it random when infarct they already choose a small amount of people who will receive monthly payments a long time ago , any body since they did this gets a letter after waiting 6 months you get nothing and now they control you on both systems and have all your personal info
23 mins
basic income is a sham
they want the people that do the surveys will get paid for surveys will get them as gifts they call them you stand to make as low as 500.00 for the whole time your on basic income
even if your doing the surveys and in the basic income program you have to stay on the current abusive ont works system
i paid my house off and my taxes are paid
It's giving it to the wealthy (which has been capitalism for the last 100+ years) that hasn't worked (for about the last 50 years). Poor people spend the cash, and government tax the movement of it, so the faster the cash moves, the less the government has to tax off it. Rich people don't spend the cash, because by then the money isn't for spending, it's for exercise of power, and spending it only dilutes the power and gives it to someone else. So the cash doesn't move and the government has to increase taxes.
It's handouts to the rich that doesn't work, and it's what the capitalists have tried and failed to get working for society (rather than the wealthy) for 50 years.
"Who are you to determine what I need"
A human with an ability to do maths from easily viewed goods and their consumption. You need a house, heating, clothing, water and food. Got more than that? You've got more than you need. Simple maths.
" how much of my property"
None of your possessions (things you need to live). But all of your property (the stuff you "let" other people work to earn money for you) is unwarranted stolen wealth. You are (deliberately) conflating your car with a factory owner's factory. If the factory owner had "their property" as the factory, they'd go bankrupt: the cost of upkeep would exceed how much he could earn using the factory itself. So he REQUIRES other people to use "his property" and this proves it really isn't "his property" at all.
Whop the fuck are you to demand that peopel should starve because you have inherited power to take the means of life from others and hoard it for yourself? Who the fuck are you to think your personal ownership of things is more important than human lives?
People aren't going to hoard that money. Trickle down economics is 100% bullshit, but trickle up works. That money pet Mich all goes back into purchase, back to the corporations that paid it out, to be paid out again
It's not "money for nothing" it's "keeping profit margins the same after replacing workers instead of quadrupling"
Because a rich dude with simple solutions is working so well for us now!
is to try to make people dependent on the government forever. Automation is an inherently freeing technology. Intervention, which doesn't have to be from the government btw should be geared toward getting people to use technology to become self sufficient as possible. There can be a safety net as there always has been of course. But not this creeping daycare the elite seem to want.