Two Questions:
A. Do you secretly delight in the potential irony of Trump literally losing his job "to China"?
and
B. My friend is a die-hard libertarian. How would you sell him on UBI?
A. Hadn't thought of the first, but that's funny! :)
B. Libertarians have a long history of supporting Universal Basic Income. Hayek and Milton Friedman are among its biggest supporters. The great thing about UBI is that it puts money into people's hands to address their own needs. No new programs or case managers - it's actually very consistent with the vision that libertarians have for society and would alleviate much bureaucracy. The only state that has something like UBI is Alaska with its Petroleum Dividend, and that is a deeply conservative/libertarian state. UBI is immensely popular there and has been in place for several decades despite several changes in leadership.
In your platform, you have expressed support for increased monitoring and regulation of AI to ensure safe outcomes. I think this is an incredibly cool proposal and I think many Americans would be very receptive to it. Have you considered making it a more central theme in your campaign, perhaps along with your focus on automation and the Universal Basic Income?
I just met with someone who is monitoring AI, which both reassured me that there were very smart people working on it but also made me anxious that the need is so real. When I wrote my book, The War on Normal People, I purposely tried not to focus on the more extreme AI-related negative scenarios because they tend to distract people. The concerns are real but I feel that they are too distant from most people's day-to-day experiences. But I'm with you that this is an important concern, and I'd be happy to make it more central to my campaign.
Mr. Yang, thank you for your reply. I really appreciate your answer. How might I get involved in your campaign? Knowing where you stand on this issue really inspires me to get out and do something to help you out.
Reach out to us at www.yang2020.com! Let's go fight for the future - it needs us really badly.
Mr. Yang, your platform seeks to alleviate means by which AI systems can have a negative impact on humanity. First, thank you for running this campaign. I am quite concerned about the impact of future AI systems on humanity.
In your platform, you have expressed support for reducing existential threats from AI. Specifically, you have proposed the creation of a Department of Technology to monitor and regulate AI as well as public-private partnership on AI. First of all, I absolutely agree and think this is a crucial step. It is amazing to see that you are so spot on when it comes to issues in AI.
I was wondering if, in addition to this proposal, you might also support increased federal funding of AI alignment research to mitigate existential risk? Research on AI alignment is funded by extremely small private investment. The Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) is perhaps the leading institute devoted to AI alignment research; in 2016, MIRI received a measly $2.4 million in revenue. This seems horrendously inadequate given the magnitude of the issue humanity is dealing with.
Given this, I strongly believe an injection of funding from the U.S. Federal Government could truly make the difference in the survival of our species. Is this something you might be willing to support in your platform?
Thanks Matthew - I would 100% support dramatically increasing the funding of AI alignment research. $2.4 million is a small fraction of what it should be. What's interesting is that it's tough for government to lead on these issues because many of the smartest people in this field do not work for the government. But the government can definitely supply more financial resources to address what is, to me, one of the chief society-wide existential issues of our era.
I was really interested by your proposal to create the Department of Technology as a new executive department. Given how influential and life-changing technologies like AI will be in the coming decades, the U.S. Federal Government seems woefully unprepared to address these concerns, so thank you for running on a platform that addresses critical technology-driven issues.
The blog Wait But Why has a really fascinating post about the “AI Revolution” that really got me interested and concerned about the topic of AI and specifically, AI safety (https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-2.html). As AI becomes more advanced and intelligent—even more so than humans—I believe that the U.S. government must work to prevent worst-case scenarios in AI from occuring. I noticed on your website that one of your goals with this Department of Technology is to “prevent technological threats to humanity from developing without oversight,”especially with regards to AI. The main purpose of the Department seems to be monitoring the development of AI in collaboration with tech companies. I am wondering whether this Department also be used to fund private research teams that are working on AI Safety?
EDIT: IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN THESE ISSUES CHECK OUT r/controlproblem
YES. One of the issues is that the government isn't in the best position to lead on AI because it doesn't employ most of the smartest people in the field, and I wouldn't expect that to change. But the Federal Government should be deploying much much more in terms of resources and attention to what is one of the few real species/civilization-wide threats we face, which is AI development that runs amok. One of the experts in the field told me privately that AI is going to be 'like nuclear weapons, but worse' because poor countries and organizations can weaponize off-the-shelf AI for nefarious purposes. This is our reality and we need to run like heck to try to advance to a point where our government is able to realistically address and monitor these issues. One of the big answers to me would be funding private research teams, which tend to get different talent than the government itself would employ. So if this is your issue, I'm 100% with you. We need to accelerate our government's approach to this FAST.
One of the reasons the government doesn't have the smartest people has to do with its draconian drug policies and testing.
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/d737mx/the-fbi-cant-find-hackers-that-dont-smoke-pot
Would you push to remove marijuana from it's current schedule 1 status?
Yes I would. I say on my website we should legalize marijuana. I don't love pot but it's a far superior alternative than opioids for pain relief. And we are obviously terrible at enforcing the current controlled substance rules in a non-racist way. Let's legalize it nationwide.
Mr. Yang, if elected president what will you do to reform the higher education system? Specifically what will you do to help a middle class family like mine, a family that has contributed towards college funds since before their children were born but still cannot afford to send their children to school without taking on enormous amounts of debt? Our family and many of our friends seem to be in the bracket of too wealthy to receive assistance from fafsa or individual universities but too poor to afford higher education seeing as even the public schools in our state cost $25-30k per year.
The crazy rise in the cost of college is one of the tragedies of our time and a ridiculous immoral burden on millions of families. Why has college doubled and tripled in price while the quality has stayed the same if we're lucky? I have a whole chapter on this in my new book 'The War on Normal People' - it's because universities have hired thousands of new administrators. Administrative positions grew by 10 times the rate of faculty position growth between 1993 and 2009. Frustration with educational costs is one big reason why millions of Americans have lost faith in the opportunities available for their children.
First of all, if we passed the Freedom Dividend, every child in your family would receive $1k/month as soon as he or she turned 18, which would help with college costs. You'd get $1k a month too. So all in, you'd have more money to spend on school if that's what you decide to do.
But the big thing is that the government needs to not just curb but reverse the cost increases among colleges. Right now there's no need for cost discipline because they just pass the costs on to families who are forced to borrow more money. My plan would be to impose an administrator-to-student ratio that is more in line with historical norms than the current 1 administrator for every 21 students (versus 1 for every 50 in 1975). This would force colleges to streamline and rationalize their administrative structures to be more in line with their mission.
We also need to dramatically invest in vocational schools and alternatives to college. Only 32% of Americans graduate from college and the underemployment rate for recent grads is 34 - 44%. College is not the only answer and we should stop pretending that it is.
A follow up question, if you don't mind:
I've seen rapidly expanding administrative costs as the reason for insane college tuitions before, but what do those administrators do?
That's not a rhetorical or trick question. Businesses, even ones with access to lots of extra funding, don't hire new positions for no reason. Since you want to drastically cut those positions, you should no what they were doing and how colleges justified their creation. So, what was their reason?
When you're a non-profit, administrators are needed for every new initiative or department, or in response to solve any problem that comes up. It's very natural.
The issue is that in education, we're all paying for it. Universities need to focus on their mission-critical functions and let the secondary and tertiary priorities go.
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If you think about it we probably have fifteen to twenty currencies in our lives right now. Amex points, frequent flyer miles, reviews on Airbnb, credits with our favorite retailers, etc. The Digital Social Credit will likely be closer to these sorts of things in practice than it will be the $$.
I agree that the Social Credit is going to be challenging to implement - I watch Black Mirror too!!! - but the need is clear and vast. Using money for tax deductions for certain occupations is interesting and I'd probably be for it in certain circumstances. But a new currency has several advantages over dollars - including being able to be socially shared - that I believe will become increasingly important over time.
We have to face facts - our society is eroding in just about every dimension. People literally leave the house less than they used to and even informal socializing is down. Many of the institutions that used to form the backbone of our society and day-to-day experiences - from local newspapers to retail to civic and cultural institutions - are no longer viable. We need to think big about how we are going to reconstitute meaningful connections for people and organizations over time.
Found you a few weeks ago and I’ve never been more excited about the future of our country. What would be the most helpful thing we can do to help the spread and adoption of your campaign and ideas? Especially as a resident of a red state (Tennessee).
Great to hear! People respond to truth and passion. You'll find that even folks who resist certain ideas at first will warm up to them if you stick with it. Persist my friend, and you will help us win many converts and fans. Thank you for believing in this campaign - let's go fight for our future! if we don't, nobody will.
I'm hoping that my book will open people's hearts and minds, so if you know someone open-minded enough to read it, it may help you make the case. https://www.amazon.com/War-Normal-People-Disappearing-Universal/dp/0316414247/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506708384&sr=8-1&keywords=andrew+yang+the+war+on+normal+people. I love this book and am very proud of it and can't wait to get it out there. Let's do it!
Hello Mr. Yang. I’ve read through your platform and believe that you are the candidate that best grasps the importance of the coming transition. Unfortunately, given the natural tendency of wealth to concentrate(as demonstrated by Thomas Pikkety), the acceleration of that force by full/expanded automation, and the corrupt — thanks to citizens united and misguided laws — nature of our campaign finance system, I don’t think that we will have many fair election left if we don’t take action.
How can we help?
I’ve signed up on your website, followed you on Facebook, and the like, but I haven’t seen any method of helping that doesn’t qualify as “slactivism”. I can understand that you might not want to really gear up the campaign till after the midterms, but i don’t feel like there are enough ways to help your campaign at this point.
It is critical that we address these problems immediately. i would like to be able to help, but I don’t know how.
There will be a March for the Future in D.C. in May! Ha, just kidding.
Thanks for the zeal and commitment. Don't sell your online activities short. Campaigns run on money and awareness. You can definitely help with one and perhaps the other. I've run a national non-profit and we run on passion and money. One fuels the other. You can reach out to zach@yang2020.com to reach my campaign manager and see if there are concrete ways for you to get involved. We see even small monetary donations and appreciate them a great deal, so starting even a small campaign to spread the word is incredible. Love messages like this one!
Thanks, my girlfriend and I love seeing candidates that share our concerns for our nation’s future. I try to talk to people about this kind of stuff, but they look at me like I’m some sort of Luddite! It’s good to see someone taking this seriously.
You're thinking about the big problems, and that's a beautiful thing! There are definitely very serious problems that need to be addressed. So you're not imagining them at all.
How do you think UBI will affect the way I'm which people live their lives? Better yet, what do you want to result from UBI in terms of people's standards of living?
It's incredible what a difference $1k a month would have on the lives of tens of millions of Americans. The data is clear and compelling - children stay in school longer and graduate from high school at higher rates. Their personalities even change to become more conscientious and agreeable, two positive indicators of both academic and professional success. Mental health goes up. Domestic violence goes down. Hospital visits go down. Work hours stay the same or go down for young mothers and teenagers who stay in school.
It is impossible to overstate the positive impact of $1k a month on households around the country. It would take people from a constant mindset of scarcity to a mindset of assured survival and possibility. It would transform our society in myriad positive ways by taking the boot off of people's throats.
I've worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and most have an incredible mindset of abundance and possibility. A UBI would be the greatest catalyst for arts, entrepreneurship and creativity that we have ever seen. The Roosevelt Institute projected that it would create 4.6 million new jobs because of all of the new businesses since people would have more money to spend.
But the most dramatic impacts would be on the human, the day-to-day, the children growing up with a sense of health and vitality and the parents who would no longer be nearly as stressed out about their own survival or the future of their children. As a parent myself that means the world to me.
My understanding is that part of the process of implementing UBI is to scale back or eliminate targeted welfare programs (food stamps, WIC, disability insurance, etc.). How would you build coalitions among interest groups that support the current state of policy to get them to support UBI?
$1,000 a month unconditionally in the Freedom Dividend would be an upgrade for many people currently on food stamps and the like. Those on current benefits can opt to keep them. If people sense that our mission and values are genuinely to help people and eradicate poverty then they will embrace the possibility for their children. It will be difficult - the poor are used to getting shafted - but I believe it will be doable if we build the right relationships. It's a big priority for me and the campaign, and when people in this community reach out we are eager to demonstrate that we are driven and motivated to improve people's lives.
Thanks for the response. I found your argument to be a bit passive. You cannot rely on advocacy groups sensing that your mission is to eradicate poverty. They will never join you. Instead, you are going to need to get an audience with the NAACP, Catholic Charities, etc. and make the case that the UBI provides a better mechanism to alleviate the food, housing, child care, and educational insecurities that low income Americans face every day, while granting them the respect and dignity they deserve by letting them decide how to spend those funds in the best interest of their families rather than letting politicians decide for them. Politics is emotional, not rational. You may have the most reasonable policy in the mix, but unless you build relationships and coalitions based on emotional linkages, that policy is a non-starter.
I agree with this entirely and will happily make the emotional case because I feel just that. Thank you for pushing and look forward to making this happen in the real world.
Where is this $1,000 a month coming from? The US had a reported population of 323,127,515 in 2016. 62% of the population is ages 18-64. source $1,000 a month is $12,000 a year, multiplied by 62% of the population is $2,404,070,199,600 per year. The country is already 21 trillion in debt and rising what can we change to combat this and still implement a UBI?
Edit: I read this on your site, but my question still stands.
A Value-Added Tax (VAT) is a tax on the production of goods or services a business produces. It is a fair tax and it makes it much harder for large corporations, who are expert at hiding profits and income, to avoid paying their fair share. A VAT is nothing new. 160 out of 193 countries in the world already have a Value-Added Tax or something similar, including all of Europe which has an average VAT of 20 percent.
Yes, a VAT is the main change to pay for the Freedom Dividend. A VAT at half the European level would pay between $700 and $800 billion per year. We currently spend $500+ billion in income support, disability and the like.
The revenue to GDP ratio in the U.S. is 25%. The Roosevelt Institute projected that a UBI would increase the size of the economy by $2.5 trillion per year (13%) and create 4.6 million jobs. This is common sense - if people had more money to spend businesses would benefit and new companies would form. We will receive hundreds of billions in new revenue from a UBI, perhaps as much as $500 or $600 billion.
Last, we currently spend almost $1 trillion on providing health care to tens of millions of Americans, some of which would be reduced by the fact that people with a Universal Basic Income would be more likely to stay out of the emergency room and use the hospital less. The same is true for incarceration and homelessness services.
Our government has been mismanaging our finances for decades and we need to rationalize costs in other areas. But a Universal Basic Income is the best possible use of resources because it comes to us, the American people. Keeping people functional is much less expensive than the alternative - dysfunction and disintegration is the most expensive outcome.
Hello Mr.Yang. I have an important question for you.
You seem to have some very interesting ideas, but they're also quite different from the mainstream democratic position. Unfortunately, most of them also seem to be ideas that the president can't implement on their own. What are you doing to get congress behind your platform?
When I talk to Congresspeople on the Democratic side, they are immensely eager to talk about new ideas and solutions. They just don't think they can pass right now with the current makeup of Congress, so they want to focus on what's possible. If I were to become President, it would mean that there was quite a blue wave that swept me and many others to victory. I would be thrilled to work with a newly Democratic Congress to pass Universal Basic Income, and I believe it would pass because it would be impossible for a Republican Congressperson to stand in front of his or her constituents and say, "I don't believe you should be getting $1k a month." That would be a very rough stance to maintain. Most of my ideas are not politically mainstream right now, but I believe that they will become so very quickly. 70% of Americans believe that technology will eliminate many more jobs than it creates in the next decade. People are waking up to the fact that big changes are necessary.
How do you plan to address conservative arguments against the tax increase necessary to fund UBI? As an individual, I understand that it is a net-positive for the lower income classes, but it's easy to see that the way Republicans will frame the issue is "taking your hard earned cash and sharing it with every lazy kid who doesn't want to work." Do you have a strategy in mind for this tactic?
Edit: I see how the phrasing of my first sentence can be misinterpreted - editing it to better reflect my question to avoid further confusion.
The 'us against them' framing is less and less applicable because economic insecurity is pervasive and stretching across traditional classes. The suffering is broad enough now that I believe there's an opening to a completely different solution.
Automation has been consistently increasing across all sectors for decades, yet we are at the lowest rate of unemployment (no matter how you measure it) since the 60s.
Labor Force Participation Rate is down to 62.9% comparable to El Salvador and a multi-decade low. 95 million out of the workforce including almost one in five of prime working age. Unemployment Rate is a misleading measurement that we need to update.
Hello, Mr. Yang.
What will you do to help fight one of the most important issues of our time, Climate Change? I feel as if our politicians are not doing enough.
Ohmigosh, I couldn't agree more. I'm passionate about Climate Change in a huge way.
We ourselves do not account for more than 25% of global emissions. So this is a collective action problem. I'm for investing in green energy and renewables to make them more competitive. But the reality is that even if we adopted significant measures to cut carbon emissions, we'd likely just be slowing the warming rate.
The key variable is the rate at which the glaciers melt which raises the sea level. There was a recent scientific proposal that we could slow the glacial melting rate if we pushed up a pile of dirt on the base of glaciers underneath the water so that the warm water didn't hit the ice base. It's this kind of geoengineering that we need to invest in and research as fast as possible.
I would start and fund a Global Geoengineering Institute to research and implement measures like this. The Chinese are going to be all over this because this affects them - their environmental air quality is an enormous issue. If we don't lead on this, someone else will start doing it, likely the Chinese.
My big civilizational threats go Automation of Jobs/AI, Climate Change, Cybersecurity/Infrastructure, and loose nuclear material in some order. We are behind in all areas. Our government needs to get the big things right.
I have yet to see how block chain is supposed to help voting. I feel it keeps getting brought up because it's a buzzword.
I have a friend who's working on a blockchain-based voting platform called Votem. Having a public ledger for voting would be ideal. It is technically very feasible. Imagine not having to wait on line for the anachronistic punchcard machines! It's possible - the main obstacles are regulatory, as usual. Ah, America. That's what I'm here to fix - we can show people what's possible.
Why haven't I heard of you and what are you doing so that more people like me will hear about you?
Because you and I don't hang out in the same places? ;) Working on it my friend. We've had a few press homeruns (NYT, Techcrunch, Entrepreneur, etc.) and much more on the way. Please do help spread the word!
Can you please elaborate on how the digital social currency you've proposed is different from the Chinese social credit system?
The Chinese social credit system is essentially like your credit score on steroids. My digital social currency is more analogous to Amex points you get for doing wholesome things, quite likely in partnership with a non-profit or school. Meant to stimulate positive social activities and give people structure and incentives at the margins. Don't worry, I've seen Black Mirror. ;) Goal is to find useful applications and then grow from there.
Do you think it's possible to "phase in" UBI as technology grows more advanced?
I feel that today we don't need 100% UBI to take care of all costs for us since automation can't replace everything yet. But eventually we will need UBI to compensate for the increasing numbers of displaced workers.
Yes, I think a phase-in would be helpful and necessary to give both people and markets time to adjust. I'd recommend a 4 or 5-year phase-in of the Freedom Dividend of $1k/month per adult starting in 2021.
What is your opinion on why the Democratic Party failed in 2016 and what lessons from that election will you be incorporating into your campaign?
I believe that both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders demonstrated the degree to which people are dissatisfied with how our government has been meeting the needs of its citizens. I'm running because I believe that I have better solutions to the problems that the American people are facing than other candidates.
People who think the antidote to Donald Trump is a boring generic Democrat missed the point. He is a sign of massive institutional failure. On both sides.
I believe that it may also resolve some intellectual property disputes between tech companies (for patents) and for anything coming from China.
I think UBI will make much of this more possible. There certainly will be an explosion of arts and creativity with less regard for people being able to monetize it to survive. But the big-ticket IP will likely remain in place for a while yet. I like the way you're thinking about this though - a UBI will make other changes possible over time.
Hi Andrew! I'm a big fan of yours in Baltimore, MD, and I plan to vote for you in 2020. Just a few things: 1) Can you talk more about your foreign policy ideas? Most of your proposals are domestic and I would like to see more foreign policy ideas. 2) You propose having fingerprint technology on guns for police officers. This sounds nice in theory, but what will you do in winter when police officers need to wear gloves? 3) You propose raising the salary of the presidency to $4 million from $400,000. This will be the single largest increase in presidential salary in the history of this country, even adjusting for inflation. I understand that you are trying to combat corruption in office, but are you sure this is the right way to gain the public's confidence and trust? Most Americans would believe that $400,000 is more than enough to live comfortably for a family of four. Granted, I do think that the $400,000 salary is a bit low, relatively speaking, for the responsibilities of a president, but $4 million raises suspicions. Thank you Andrew!
p.s. Please come to Baltimore!
Thanks for the kind words. To your questions:
1) On foreign policy I'd say I'm cautious about overreaching. We have to be realistic about what we can and can't accomplish. I would consider myself pragmatic and reserved. We are not very good at rebuilding in other locations - we need to pay attention to ourselves and, say, Puerto Rico first.
2) The signature guns can be made general purpose in adverse conditions.
3) I'd be happy to have the $4 million kick in for the President after me! The truth is that a good President would be worth many times $4 million, particularly if he or she didn't have to worry about sucking up to donors all of the time after the fact.
See you in Baltimore soon!
Get in touch with zach@yang2020.com and let's make a Baltimore event happen this Spring.
Tell me why I should trust the Democratic Party and the DNC after 2016?
I met with folks from the DNC and there's been almost complete turnover. Literally different people. Let's give them a chance. The people I've met so far have been well-intended public servants in my estimation.
Mr. Yang,
Your platform is very agreeable and is definitely where a lot of younger people like myself are focused. However, I fear your lack of formal political experience. Currently, we have a president who ran with a lack of government experience and, as a result, it seems evident that he doesn't know what he is doing and relies very heavily on those with experience to get things done. My question is, with all due respect, how do you plan on serving as an effective president without any formal political experience?
I don't think the American people are that fixated on prior political experience - Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Barack Obama, all achieved new heights because we are looking for someone to genuinely address the problems of the day. Our government has been failing us and falling behind for decades. When I talk to Americans I have yet to hear that they really crave someone who's been rattling around politics for a couple decades. I just don't see that or hear it.
Mr. Yang, first I want you to know that you already have my vote based solely on UBI.
I am curious about your social credit proposal. Your description sounds like it has the potential to be different from the ones in China and Black Mirror, but I cannot find much information on criteria for disbursement. You list example activities that would earn social credits, but no actual method for determining those activities. If it uses an empirical means of calculating the prosocial value of each activity, I can see that going well, but if it is determined solely by people, I cannot believe it won’t devolve into something very similar to the dystopian versions. Is this something you have thought about?
Yes. Mild pilots with confirmation of activities by non-profits at first (e.g. someone at a non-profit confirms that you volunteered). Agree that if you went too wild with it too quickly strange and negative things + epic fraud and waste would be very likely. But I do think a digital social credit is going to be important to shore up important things that right now the market values at zero or close to zero.
Andrew Yang - I am a HUGE fan... You are such a breath of fresh air, who can actually ARTICULATE ideas with numbers.
Have been spreading the word on you and your policies. Your website outlines the policies really well, however not much is there in terms of foreign policy, and this is an element that people become really passionate over. Is this something you will elaborate on?
Yes - wanted to take my time on the foreign policy platform. But it will be there, probably in a few months. Have a few people lined up who are deep in these topics and excited to dig in.
Hello Andrew Yang, I like the idea of a Universal basic income.
I have the same question as others- What benefits will the $1000 a month replace if any? & why cut off at 64? & below 18?
The goal is to have UBI replace any redundant income support programs with an Opt-In. I.e. anyone who has current welfare or disability benefits can keep them or opt-in to the Freedom Dividend of $1,000 per month no strings attached. At 65 most people qualify for Social Security. Below 18 the money would go to parents and not the individuals themselves.
Prospective 2020 presidential candidates are already visiting Iowa and New Hampshire and connecting with local Democratic parties there. After the November 2018 elections, those visits will start to pick up as prospective 2020 candidates currently running 2018 re-election campaigns to the House and Senate are freed up to start raising prez money, building national ground organizations, and generally start acting like they're running for president.
Do you plan on making visits to Iowa and New Hampshire before winter? Or is this more of a novelty/promotional campaign to push your policy ideas (which are largely innovative and worthy of consideration IMO).
Heading to New Hampshire in April and Iowa shortly thereafter! I actually went to high school in New Hampshire and have some fond memories. The best way to promote one's policies is to win. ;)
Prospective 2020 presidential candidates are already visiting Iowa and New Hampshire and connecting with local Democratic parties there. After the November 2018 elections, those visits will start to pick up as prospective 2020 candidates currently running 2018 re-election campaigns to the House and Senate are freed up to start raising prez money, building national ground organizations, and generally start acting like they're running for president.
Do you plan on making visits to Iowa and New Hampshire before winter? Or is this more of a novelty/promotional campaign to push your policy ideas (which are largely innovative and worthy of consideration IMO).
Heading to New Hampshire in April and Iowa shortly thereafter! I actually went to high school in New Hampshire and have some fond memories. The best way to make one's policies real is to win. ;)
Mr. Yang, what is your favorite kind of doughnut?
Pizza topping?
Ice cream flavor?
Condiment?
I like cinnamon donuts, pepperoni on my pizza, cookies and cream, and honey mustard. Those are the best choices, by presidential decree.
Mr. Yang, I have yet to support a candidate from the primaries that goes on to win the presidency, yet it looks like I may be getting behind you. Does this trouble you?
It's cool - I historically like underdogs too. You will break through one of these days. Hopefully I'm the one who breaks the trend for you.
Mr. Yang, how would one even rollout UBI? I think it’s a very interesting concept but just unsure on how it could ever be implemented.
It came THIS close to being law in the U.S. in 1971 - it even passed the House of Representatives! I detail the history in my book 'The War on Normal People.'
One thing I love about UBI is that it's eminently doable. It's been active in Alaska for 30+ years as the Petroleum Dividend. As my friend Andy Stern says, "The government is not great at many things. But it is great at sending checks to large numbers of people promptly and reliably." We can pass it and make it work. Then the real work begins. Money is easy, believe it or not. People are hard.
You have information about student loan debt and how you want to “reduce the burden” for students. However, wouldn’t the correct choice to reduce burdens on students going into higher education be to create a free college program?
I think public college should be free or nearly free for most students. But the mechanics are important. The costs right now are out of control, and having the government just pay that bill both allows schools to not have any discipline and uses excess public resources. UBI is better because it gives money to people they can use for school if that's the right thing for them. It would probably push schools to rationalize their costs. 68% of Americans won't go to college, regardless of its cost; we need to try and solve problems for people at different points in the educational spectrum. But I'm for the idea of broadly available and affordable education.
What are your thoughts on the current issue with guns. I belive that we should work to over haul the somewhat broken system we have now to suit the more known factors in commitment of gun crime such as mental health and the recognition of violent crimes (domestic abuse, forms of violent harassment, ect)? Do you think that a confiscation or buy back program is necessary when you look at modern statistics of how Australia worked out, and considering that the crime rate in the UK has only been rising in current years even with the civilian populous being unarmed?
We should enact common sense legislation on guns like background checks and a higher minimum age, no guns for those with a mental illness or violent criminal history, etc. Most Americans agree on sensible rules and restrictions. We should also have much more in the way of mental health resources available for families. The reality is that there are 300 million firearms in the U.S. right now and it's almost impossible to get a significant proportion of that number out of circulation. I'd be for a buyback program. What I'd love to do is to transform the financial incentives of the gun manufacturers where they somehow pay a penalty every time there's a mass shooting. Then instead of operating by volume they would be for reasonable safety measures. There are gun owners and then there are the manufacturers. The latter spent $50 million+ on lobbying the past 13 years. We need to get their money out of our political decisionmaking. It's all tied together.
Hi Andrew, I went to medical school and my current rate of loan repayment is 1,800 a month. If you were to make this a reality, would you wipe this debt? (Since it would be impossible to repay with your platform).
If we convert to single-payer healthcare, we will make sure that people like you who made educational decisions under the current scheme get your debt dramatically reduced. I've got a whole section on student debt, which I regard as tragically immoral, here:
https://www.yang2020.com/policies/student-loan-debt/
It's messed up how we've shafted so many young people and left them with false promises and life-changing debt. It needs to stop. I'll change it as President.
Average Americans like myself have been burned time and time again by both Republicans and Democrats in all branches of government, choosing to do the bidding of lobbyists and stockholders than the ones who vote for them.
I can't say I'm yet convinced you'll actively fight for us against economic inequality, and the immoral actions taken by our government domestically and overseas. Perhaps it's just recent politics that brought out the cynic in me, but I'm suspicious of all the career businessmen now wanting to run for president.
I agree with you that automation and other technologies will be a huge problem for us in the coming years. I'd like to learn more about your platform. But first I want to know: how will you be financing your presidential campaign? If you are going to make use of a Super PAC, how can we be sure you will keep your word with the American people and not just your donors?
So far the only funders to the campaign are people like yourself. Anyone who supports me should know that I'm going to do what I think is best for the country. If they like that, great. If they don't, well at least they'll still get a photo op with the President.
Thank you a lot for doing this ama. :)
What do you think needs to be done to fix our democracy and our campaign system? Do you support publicly financed elections or other campaign finance reforms? Also, how do you think lawmaking can be made more collaborative and open to the public with the technology we have today?
Yes we need to publicly finance elections and get money out of politics to the extent possible. Citizens United was a terrible decision that has made things much worse. Technology is just scratching the surface of what it can do - imagine voting securely on your smartphone with no wait. Totally doable. I actually think Universal Basic Income would help our policymaking a great deal by taking the worst scarcity out of the electorate. People are more rational if their basic needs are met.
Hi, Do you have any plans to visit Florida in the near future?
Yes will be in South Florida/Boca Raton soon. My in-laws live there. ;) Public events coming soon.
What is your opinion on the private prison industry? One of the biggest deciding factors on my future vote is how a candidate decides to deal with thia obvious problem. I am tired of our justice system prioritizing convictions for a profit.
Bonus points if you decide to tackle regulations allowing car dealerships to continue existing. They simply do not have a place anymore and ate horrendously predatory.
Private prisons should be a thing of the past - there are some things that should not be subject to the profit motive, and incarceration is one of them.
Mr. Yang,
What made you decide on the number of $1,000 per month?
U.S. poverty level is $11,770 per year. Based on plan proposed by Andy Stern and studied by the Roosevelt Institute. Not such a large number that it would distort labor markets too much. People will still need to work to prosper.
As awesome as free money each month sounds won't this cause inflation or in the very least cause the purchasing power of the dollar to decrease?
Any inflation would be based on the VAT. Many things continue to get cheaper as new technology improves (e.g. media, consumer electronics). If you don't just print the money you don't even have to increase the money supply. Inflation has been low for years, even with the bailout which printed $4 trillion for the banks.
Who is/was your favorite president and why?
Teddy Roosevelt because he had such a firm sense of independence and sense of right and wrong. I'm also the godfather to one of his great grand-daughters, so I feel some kinship there.
What’s your opinion on the current state of our healthcare system?
Tragically overpriced and misdirected. We incentivize activity instead of outcome and health. I have a whole chapter on this in my book. We spend twice as much as other industrialized countries to lesser results. It's a burden on families and businesses alike. It will break us eventually if left untended.
I'm going to ask a question that I doubt will be seen, but here goes: "What have you done to prove that you are authentic about your stance? What do you plan to do to prove it? Are you going to do what countless other politicians do if you lose, disappear and never advocate for those suffering again?"
I can honestly say that the one person I ever had the most respect for after they lost was Bernie Sanders, because he did not stop advocating for those in need. I think any politician running and claiming to advocate for the less fortunate with their campaign should learn to not stop. Proving yourself to people, gaining trust, it goes a long way and although you may not win the first time you can prove yourself. So by my question I mean no ill will, I honestly don't trust people's words, and I trust actions.
I like this question. We need more passionate long-term actors. I plan to be one of them.
How are you going to give me $1000 a month without raising my taxes?
A VAT is a consumption tax for most people. So if you spend more than $120,000 per year with a VAT of 10%, you'd break even. If you spend less, you'd wind up ahead. You need to be in the top 12% of Americans or so in consumption for this not to help you. And even if you are in the top 12%, it helps you because your country is doing a lot better and you don't need to buy bulletproof cars in 5 years.
So you’re going to live off of $1000 / month too?
Nah, I plan on working, just like most every other American.
Andrew, how are you?
I looked over your website, and I agree with much of what you have to say, however, one thing was missing.
I believe that second only to solving climate change, one of our most important tasks is becoming a two-planet species within this century. What are your plans for NASA, and for sending humans beyond Earth? How will you convey to the public the importance of space exploration?
I'm very pro-space exploration. But I think popular resettlement will be out of reach for most Americans, and we need to try to solve our problems here for the next several generations. I'm glad that Elon and Jeff Bezos and others are working on it though - they're leading our species off-planet and we should be grateful to them for it.
Okay, so you’ve got my interest. I’ve historically voted Republican, and after spending some time on your website, I’ve got a few questions. Here is your chance to capture a voter. I apologize for the long rant.
Your stance on 2nd Amendment Rights is questionable. You specifically identify “military grade, semi automatic weapons” as needing further regulation.
This aligns with the narrative that is being pushed by the media.
While I am all for an open discussion on how to move forward as a society, we need to truly have an educational discussion based on facts, not fears.
Opinion: Military Style Assault Weapons are a problem in the community.
Fact: What is being pushed as an “assault weapon” is a semi automatic rifle system. The fact that it is black and looks scary, is irrelevant to the danger it poses. A round from a .308 hunting rifle (see here ) has the same level of danger as a round from an AK-47 (see here ). While it may be “scary”, that point is moot in regards to safety.
Opinion: America needs to change the gun laws and add further restrictions.
Fact: We have laws in place that are designed to keep weapons out of the hands of dangerous individuals. The fact that those laws aren’t enforced is a systemic breakdown of what we already have in place. We can’t claim our system doesn’t work when we don’t actually use “our system”.
Limiting the tool doesn’t limit the intent. If someone is set on harming others, they are going to do it.
In my line of work, we rely heavily on Six Sigma to evaluate issues and determine the root cause of a problem. One tool that is simple enough for most people to comprehend is the “5 Whys”.
Ask yourself why something happened, and keep asking “why?” to the response until you get to the root cause of the problem. It is rarely what you first assume.
So my question to you is, what metrics would you consider successful in regards to the gun debate, and what do you feel the underlying cause to these mass murders are?
We need to attack the problem at every level, which includes sensible gun control. To me the underlying cause is mental illness, alienation and overprescription of drugs. If we could get our mass shootings down to international norms (near zero) that would be success.
lol, how much of this ama is dedicated to you grifting the pockets of all the neckbeards on here who love star trek and UBI?
My facial hair is limited to some faint whiskers. But I love Star Trek - and we need to start heading there deliberately and intentionally or we will be left with Mad Max. The future is now people.
As much as I think universal basic income is a very interesting concept, I think it's too much too soon for people in the US where millions of people don't even have access to basic health care.
What makes you think you can run on such a platform and actually stand a chance?
It honestly sounds like a publicity stunt without actual intent of winning.
All revolutions start with something that seems far-fetched. Will become increasingly common sense over time. 70% of Americans believe that technology is wiping out many more jobs than it creates. This is new. People are catching on. Big changes are required.
As much as I think universal basic income is a very interesting concept, I think it's too much too soon for people in the US where millions of people don't even have access to basic health care.
What makes you think you can run on such a platform and actually stand a chance?
It honestly sounds like a publicity stunt without actual intent of winning.
That's the challenge - but everything great starts someplace unlikely. I've started organizations from the ground up before and most would look at them in their early days and think they probably wouldn't go anywhere. And yet sometimes, if enough great people get together, they go to very profound places. I've lived it. We shall live it again. Partially because there isn't much of a choice.
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Geez man if you can make $200 million from $12k a year I should give you all of my money to invest! :) I assume you mean $200k.
Someone who's upper middle class would likely end up paying a significant amount into the VAT so you wouldn't wind up quite that far ahead. But a UBI does indeed reward frugality and good habits.
Given the political climate you have zero chance of winning on a platform focused on UBI. Democrats and Republicans alike would label you things like a communist. Maybe something like this would work in 2040 or beyond but in 2020 it’s not happening. If you think your platform could work in 2020 you lack the intellect necessary to be president. If you have the intellect necessary to be president you already know this. I have a hard time believing this is anything more than a money grab.
Prove me wrong. What do you actually plan on doing with campaign contributions?
2040 will be here before we know it. McKinsey has 30% of jobs subject to automation by 2030. Bain has 20-25% of jobs by the same year. The President of MIT just declared this as his top priority. We need to move fast. I intend to speed us up and help us get there.
People get the rate of change wrong all of the time. ;)
The amount of taxation needed to fund it would kill any innovations made.
Yes if you tax only innovation. VAT much broader and generates more revenue.
Wait, wait, wait. Are you implying that politicians might promise ridiculously impossible things without actually having any plan, or even intention, of following through with it?
I've never heard of such a thing. Surely one could not say that both major political parties are stock full of people like that. No siree!
/s
Response comes below. VAT plus current spending gets you 65% of the way there. Revenue from increased consumer spending and economic growth plus cost-savings makes up most of the difference. Still have to make some choices but it's much more affordable than most believe. Much more affordable than the alternatives. Keep in mind that we printed $4 trillion for the bank bailout. No inflation. No one voted for it. A Universal Basic Income is a stimulus of people that will support the consumer economy and our society ongoing.
If you can't handle the most basic question about your schtick on Reddit, you may as well throw in the towel. What a waste of time.
See below. And my website. Our economy is at $19 trillion and grew by $4 trillion in the past 10 years alone. This is much more affordable than most people believe, and our economy will only continue to grow as automation takes hold.
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My plan to fund UBI is a Value-Added Tax of half the European level. Because our economy is so vast this would generate between $700 and $800 billion in revenue, and this is necessary to capture the ongoing gains from automation (income taxes don't work very well for that). We spend $500 billion in income support, welfare and disability right now that would be redundant. Our revenue to GDP ratio is 25% which means we would get back 25% of the economic growth that would be generated by putting $1,000 into every American's hands, which would increase the size of the economy by $2.5 trillion according to the Roosevelt Institute. Finally, we currently spend almost $1 trillion on healthcare, incarceration and homelessness services which would go down. This is an evergreen stimulus of the American people, economy and society. It is pro-growth. Paying for it is really not that difficult - it just requires us to start making honest choices.
Our economy is $19 trillion and grew by $4 trillion in the last 10 years alone. We printed $4 trillion for the banks. As the man said in Inception, "We need to think . . . bigger."
I too want to know the details of this plan. I am all about ubi but i dont understand where the money comes from. With 247,813,910 adult in the US $1000 each means $247,813,910,000 for a budget not forgeting the cost of setting up a system for dispersal. I want to know how you plan to pay for it?
See above or below. The system for dispersal is actually very very cheap. UBI does away with a lot of the cumbersome bureaucracy required for means-tested programs.
Honestly when people don't respond to really important highly voted questions in these AMAs, I lose quite a bit of respect or interest in them.
This is a very very very important questions. $1k/month for every adult? $247 billion/month, so $2.9tril/year?
Honestly this just smells like a way to promote his book rather than an actual run for anything.
Edit: Well got a response. Don't really agree but I at least respect the responses and attempting to answer the hard questions.
I was busy answering other questions. Apologies. See below or above for answers.
What social programs will you cut in return?
As you'll see on my website, the plan is to allow people to opt-in to the Freedom Dividend. They can keep their current program benefits if they'd prefer. Many people would prefer $1,000 no strings attached to $1,000 in in-kind benefits with a case manager and bureaucracy. If they're getting more than $1,000 they'll likely retain their current benefits.