Andrew Yang is running for president and proposing a Freedom Dividend, giving EVERY citizen $1000/month.

It would include shrinking the existing welfare state to eliminate the bureaucracy and disincentives to work (the welfare trap).

There's a lot more to his platform, if you haven't heard of him check out his interview on Joe Rogan:




I think he's my new favorite candidate.

I mean hey, that's ONLY $320 billion dollars a month. We can totally afford THAT!

I'm not completely on board with the idea either, but that's an overly simplistic way of looking at it, and unfortunately an expected one considering your ideological bias. There would be far less expenditure on other areas of the welfare state and an increase in spending from the additional disposable income. I'm also guessing he isn't a hawk so there is a few hundred billion saved from military expenditure to play around with too. It would be interesting to see the costings for his proposals.

This post was edited by dro94 on Mar 9 2019 06:13am

His plan will take into account assistance already being received. Which means in most cases , the benefit is going to be given to people who are already working full time.

Mostly I think the debate that is fair to debate on is how much inflation this could cause. Or at the very least , this gets us ready to think about how we need the government to react with the coming autopocalypse.

This is an unprecedented scenario in many ways. No one can predict how this is going to play out. I think on some level people trust that whoever is running the show knows what they're doing, but nobody does. Just go watch The Big Short to get an idea of that.

At some point, we will not be able to afford the interest on the debt. Politicians will have 2 options: 1) Massive cuts to spending and entitlement programs. This will be incredibly unpopular with people who now view themselves as ENTITLED to these programs. In order to save themselves politically and defer blame the other option will become reality. 2) Inflation. The currency will be massively inflated because the debt will be half as bad if the dollar is worth half as much. Unlike a normal boom and bust cycle, or even the 2008 collapse, this will be a long term economic disaster. If the dollar loses it's place as the global reserve currency in the process, which it should, it will be compounded by a flow of dollars that are no longer circulating around the world, as holders try to offload them as they lose value, coming back to the U.S.

Everything that goes up, must come down. The American empire is no exception. A complete lack of economic understanding like that displayed by the left and many on the right as well is one of the largest threats facing this nation.

This post was edited by nineinchnailz on Mar 9 2019 08:07am

That's not a bias, so much as a rational understanding of fiscal responsibility and economics. I'd say if there is any bias being displayed, it is solely yours. This proposal is fiscal insanity.

This post was edited by nineinchnailz on Mar 9 2019 08:03am

It is inevitable.

Anything to attempt to reduce federal taxes for me is worth a try. If the government gave me $1000 a month it would just mean we were paying 600 in federal taxes at month vs. 1600 to the government. The flow would still be my pocket to there's. Then they could give it to you folks who probably need it.

$1000, what percentage of Americans would use this money wisely into funding a better lifestyle or career for themselves? Lol.

Like, 1.2%? And those are the people who likely wouldn't need it anyways because if they're focused on that aspect, they're probably doing well regardless.

lol this post

Nobody is less responsible with cash than food stamps.

This post was edited by Skinned on Mar 9 2019 08:47am

America's debt to GDP ratio is similar to most rich Western countries. Increases in GDP leading to increased tax revenues as well as inflationary erosion of debt make the debt manageable. It will be manageable for the foreseeable future but the real concern is when the next recession hits there won't be much wiggle room for the government to provide fiscal stimulus.