Andrew Yang seems pretty awesome

I must admit that I didn't understand or like the idea of the Freedom Dividend, but it is really growing on me. There are still important issues that I disagree with him about but he seems brilliant and has creative ambitious ideas to address serious needs that will only get much worse as time goes on. Of the Democrats he is the one who is standing out for me.

Quote: FrGamble

I must admit that I didn't understand or like the idea of the Freedom Dividend, but it is really growing on me. There are still important issues that I disagree with him about but he seems brilliant and has creative ambitious ideas to address serious needs that will only get much worse as time goes on. Of the Democrats he is the one who is standing out for me.

How about we pay for the "Freedom Dividend" by ending the religious exemption from the tax code?

Quote: aceofspades

How about we pay for the "Freedom Dividend" by ending the religious exemption from the tax code?

He has a way of paying for it that doesn't hurt those groups that are charitable organizations that help millions and millions of people. I think you are also exaggerating the cost savings of the religious exemption just to say something you think is snarky. What do you really think about Yang's idea? That might actually be helpful.

Quote: FrGamble

He has a way of paying for it that doesn't hurt those groups that are charitable organizations that help millions and millions of people. I think you are also exaggerating the cost savings of the religious exemption just to say something you think is snarky. What do you really think about Yang's idea? That might actually be helpful.

https://www.heritage.org/international-economies/commentary/canadian-experiment-quickly-shows-failures-universal-basic

https://www.forbes.com/sites/miltonezrati/2019/01/15/universal-basic-income-a-thoroughly-wrongheaded-idea/#19e9a4445e1c

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/ZejGZeZLmL6L5a1RPvH4YJ/The-failure-of-Finlands-Universal-Basic-Income-experiment.html

I personally support Andrew Yang. Not just for the Freedom Dividend, but I like his positions on other things too.

Quote: Wizard

I personally support Andrew Yang. Not just for the Freedom Dividend, but I like his positions on other things too.

Say it aint so! (Although as someone retiring in a few weeks, adding the UBI to my pension and SS seems appealing, especially since I won't be the one paying for it...)

But of course as a concept I am 100% opposed to the concept of a UBI stipend.

The "Freedom Dividend" will just become a road to serfdom. You cannot just hand out wealth. That wealth has to be stolen from someone else first. As I have said before, if someone wants to prove this can work, lets go to an empty table and you can make an apple appear out of nothing. Because that is what UBI has to do to work, and it cannot do so.

Quote: AZDuffman

Because that is what UBI has to do to work, and it cannot do so.

Why not make it $10K a month per
person, and a free Cadillac? It has
just as much chance of working.

Zero.

Here is a good article about it:

Wisdom of UBI

Quote: aceofspades

https://www.heritage.org/international-economies/commentary/canadian-experiment-quickly-shows-failures-universal-basic

https://www.forbes.com/sites/miltonezrati/2019/01/15/universal-basic-income-a-thoroughly-wrongheaded-idea/#19e9a4445e1c

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/ZejGZeZLmL6L5a1RPvH4YJ/The-failure-of-Finlands-Universal-Basic-Income-experiment.html

The two national studies quoted from Canada and Finland have almost no similarities to what Yang and others are suggesting. The reality is as one of your articles quoted - up to 47% of people will lose their jobs due to automation in the not to distant future. What are we going to do?

Also in regards to paying for it we have to remember that this would effectively replace welfare and the other social programs the government gives to people. This is getting government out of the way and simplifying things.