Andrew Yang seems pretty awesome

Quote: FrGamble

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.

The math simply doesn't work Padre. The GDP of the US is about $60K per capita, $12K is 20% of the GDP. There is no way any country can give away 20% of it's GDP with no return for it.

Quote: AZDuffman

I would legalize drugs up and down the line

When opiates were legal and you
could buy heroin, cocaine, and
morphine at the local druggist,
we had addicts of every stripe
and age group and religion. It
doesn't work.

Quote: Evenbob

When opiates were legal and you
could buy heroin, cocaine, and
morphine at the local druggist,
we had addicts of every stripe
and age group and religion. It
doesn't work.

I agree with Evenbob here.

Quote: Evenbob

When opiates were legal and you
could buy heroin, cocaine, and
morphine at the local druggist,
we had addicts of every stripe
and age group and religion. It
doesn't work.

I haven't formulated my opinion on this exactly, but I can say I favor legalization and taxation of marijuana. As to harder drugs, I don't favor legalization, but neither do I want to clog up jail space for petty users of them. I would rather that money be spent on treatment and prevention. As to the details, I would be open to advice.

Quote: Wizard

I haven't formulated my opinion on this exactly, but I can say I favor legalization and taxation of marijuana

The only drug you will ever see
legalized is maryjane. People
are very weak and lazy and drugs
are their first choice to make them
feel better. Make them easy to
get and you have a society of
addicts. Much like China had
pre 1949 when opiates were
outlawed.

Quote: Evenbob

When opiates were legal and you
could buy heroin, cocaine, and
morphine at the local druggist,
we had addicts of every stripe
and age group and religion. It
doesn't work.

We have addicts of every age group and stripe now. I would rather a person be able to walk into a store and buy heroin and know what they are getting than get fentanyl laced crap on the street because some dealer needs to make even more money. Same for the other "hard" stuff. The USA has been a drug riddled society since the 1860s or so. It is not going to change.

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.

Andrew Yang is the future. I fear that he may be ahead of his time. I have been a UBI proponent for some time, but it is a concept many people simply don't grasp or agree with, I fear people will not realize how important UBI is until automation takes over the vast majority of jobs....

What issues do you disagree with him on. He has a very good policy page, where he details almost every policy (something most candidates do not have, most have vague statements and talking points....)

Quote: AZDuffman

We have addicts of every age group and stripe now. .

Not like we did from after the Civil
War until 1906. People were addicted
who didn't even know it, to patent
medicines and even Coca Cola.
Coke stopped putting cocaine in
the their soda in 1903, without
being ordered to. Opiate addiction
was an epidemic in this country.
To this day you will never see a
Coke ad directed at any kid under
12. That goes all the way back to
that era.

Quote: AZDuffman

We have addicts of every age group and stripe now. I would rather a person be able to walk into a store and buy heroin and know what they are getting than get fentanyl laced crap on the street because some dealer needs to make even more money. Same for the other "hard" stuff. The USA has been a drug riddled society since the 1860s or so. It is not going to change.

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I oppose legalization of drugs. But on the other hand I see how the legalization of gay marriage opened the floodgates to legalizing every other crazy thing. So in a way, I really don't even care anymore. At this point I think we may be better off letting society crumble to the ground so that we can rebuild it that much sooner.

Quote: Wizard

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

Can you do a video explaining the Freedom Dividend?

I know you do not make many videos anymore, and I don't recall any political ones. But, with you background in the IRS and your expertise in math you are in some ways a unique authority to make an in depth analysis of the subject. I could be wrong, but I seem to recall you mentioning some time back that you also have been a fan of the UBI concept for years, so I imagine you already have done research on it.

A public endorsement from you would be an excellent shutdown to anyone who says UBI is not feasible, and your video would be an excellent citation for UBI discussions. You can speak to the value of the VAT tax and other proposals from your experience with the IRS and how it could build off of the current tax base. Also, you have a wide variety of followers, so an endorsement from you would be huge to getting more people looking his way, and just opening minds to UBI in general.

I think that between your established mathematical abilities, and your background in the IRS, you are in a truly unique position to be an authority on the topic.