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Presidential candidate Andrew Yang cheerfully touted his “Freedom Dividend” during last night’s debate. We will save our economy and Americans by gifting them with $1,000 a month! WOOOO!
According to Yang, robots (whom CNN just touted as racist because robots are typically white) have taken over industries and caused unemployment to rise. His grand idea? Fork over $1,000 a month to everyone and our communities will be saved. Sounds great doesn’t it? I mean seriously, who wouldn’t want $1,000 a month arriving in your bank account – supposedly tax free? Easy money is GREAT!
“Yang addressed concerns about universal basic income in an “Ask Me Anything” forum on Reddit on Wednesday. He said Democrats in Congress will be “thrilled” to have defeated President Donald Trump and will want to get the Freedom Dividend passed right away. He also has a plan to convince Republicans — or at least enough of them for the legislation to pass in the Senate.
“For the Republicans, they’ll be like, ‘Wait a minute. Do I really want to sabotage the Dividend that will help my constituents in rural areas and areas that have been devastated by automation?'” Yang wrote online.
Yang added: “Imagine their offices back home and phone lines. Cash is a hard thing to demonize. It’s tough for Mitch McConnell to argue, ‘The money will hurt you.'””
Well, guess what? That money WILL hurt us. Here’s a breakdown of his proposal.
Only adult citizens will get the money. Thus if you are counting on a $5,000 per 5 person (2 adults, 3 kids) household, you are out of luck.
If you receive government benefits, you will be required to chose between those benefits and the Freedom Dividend. Would military veterans/spouses benefits be included or excluded from that choice? It isn’t clear since currently the only benefits listed include SSI, SNAP, and WIC.
Who will foot the bill for all of this largess?
A metric shit ton of taxes because of course.
All of this is because the economy is the villain here.
"This $1000 a month is a path forward for many Americans, who right now are going to continue to get pushed aside by the economy," says 2020 hopeful Andrew Yang about his plan for a universal basic income.https://t.co/z3rWgjDhpB pic.twitter.com/t33Hm9ACv9
— New Day (@NewDay) August 1, 2019
So let’s tax the economy to fix it! Great plan there Sparky.
Here’s the deal, jacking up payroll taxes will hurt every single business that has a payroll. Especially small to medium businesses.
A tax on financial transactions? Exactly what kind of financial transactions is he talking about?
The VAT will be taxed at European levels. I don’t think copying European economics will work here, even though he’s just positive that the VAT would generate some $800 billion in new money. Keep in mind however, that a VAT is a regressive tax because it taxes consumption.
Carbon tax? Of course, let’s tax big oil/gas/coal even more. That’ll certainly help the economy! I would presume that wind and solar would be exempt? Except that those companies also have a large carbon footprint as well.
But you see, the money poured back into people’s bank accounts will cause your local communities to flourish.
Andrew Yang website has a calculator showing how much federal government would give people in each zip code each month under Freedom Dividend. Would send $15,332,000 each month to wealthiest zip code in Washington DC. https://t.co/jX3Abotx1h pic.twitter.com/ai1oqwIXbn
— Byron York (@ByronYork) August 1, 2019
My hometown/county in Wyoming would see just over $6,000,000 per year. That will really help the economy there, right? Not necessarily given that many travel to the larger cities in the state or even out of state for such things as critical healthcare needs. They do the same when it comes to vehicles, ranch/farm equipment, clothing, home improvement, and more. Would businesses already in town benefit? Probably receive a slight bump, but I’ve a feeling it would level back out after the initial rollout.
Yang also tells us that these unconditional cash benefits will reduce poverty as it will move those on the various welfare programs OFF those programs and essentially drive them back to work. Color me VERY skeptical on that one!
But that’s ok! This Freedom Dividend isn’t a handout!
Except that it is. It’s a tax no matter which way you slice it. Furthermore, it will be a federal government program. Which means there will be more regulations and definitely MORE taxes in the future if this Freedom Dividend idea of Yang’s ever sees the light of day.
Last night Yang said the Democrat debates were political theatre. His “Freedom Dividend” idea is also political theatre and an idea that will create more problems than it solves.
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Feature Photo Credit: Donkeyhotey via Flickr.com, cropped and modified
CallieCat says: Gloriosky, Buffalo Bob…….I ran my zip code through Yang’s calculator:
$18,628,000
Every. Freaking. Month. More than Washington DC. How in the world does he come up with numbers like that? I live in a decent-sized town of about 15,000. This is not a poverty-stricken area. This town is pretty much a “bedroom” community for the bigger city just across the interstate from us. That city has a local state university, 2 hospitals, a large community of all sorts of physicians (family doctors and specialists of all kinds). There are plenty of manufacturing jobs in the area, retail jobs of all kinds, restaurants both chain and local……how does he come up with that amount of money?
I just tried the Yang UBI calculator on a couple of places I live… THIS IS GREAT! WE’LL ALL BE RICH!
I am assuming he’ll borrow 100% of these “investment funds” from the Chinese. If he taxes Americans for them, it’s a wash, not a net investment, a mere transfer, i.e. zero “investment.” UBI is a bad idea, but this is an unusually idiotic argument for it.
Yes, I know all of you know this already, but apparently Yang doesn’t. It turns out he’s an Asian who can’t do math!
Chuba says: “It turns out he’s an Asian who can’t do math!”
According to the quote I’ve seen, he claims to be an Asian who likes math. Liking it and being good at it aren’t exactly the same…
GWB says: Wouldn’t it be easier if he just let me keep $1,000 more of my own money?
Pettifogger says: No. From the Dem perspective, the more money poured through the federal sponge, the better.
Pettifogger says: George McGovern reincarnated. This plan worked poorly for George in 1972, but the American people are different now, so who knows?
MJimm says: Yes, indeed. In fact, I’m rather pissed that the George McGovern comparison, especially when paired with his 1972 election results, hasn’t been brought up far more frequently, even in reliably-snarky conservative blogs like Instapundit or Ace of Spades.
Kudos to you, Pettifogger
Pete says: In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”
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