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Jack Dorsey is giving Andrew Yang $5M to build the case for a basic income

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Re: Jack Dorsey is giving Andrew Yang $5M to build the case for a basic income

#361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, how can it be funded by vat anyways? We’re talking about trillions per year to fund. Are you taxing cars 1000%? It doesn’t add up.

I think you're overestimating how much would be paid out. Taxes can go up on the employed by roughly what they receive in UBI, unemployed get UBI instead of unemployment benefits. It all balances out.

This is not a VAT anymore. Why do UBI specialists sidestepped how this gets funded? What is there to hide?

Re: Jack Dorsey is giving Andrew Yang $5M to build the case for a basic income

#362

I could see UBI as an alternative to federal government spend. E.g. every time I hear about the U.S. sending billions to the middle east, I wonder how much more effectively it could be spent in the hands of thousands upon thousands of americans. It’s almost like implementing something closer to direct democracy instead of representative republic democracy in regards to spending...

As Eisenhower put it

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children...

This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

Re: Jack Dorsey is giving Andrew Yang $5M to build the case for a basic income

#363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what immigrants mean here. Like migrant workers or illegal immigrants? Otherwise, we are a country full of immigrants who have become citizens or legal residents and would benefit from UBI.

Immigrants means anyone in the US that isn’t a citizen. Legal residents would not get UBI until they become citizens.

Why wouldn't we allow legal residents to receive it?

Re: Jack Dorsey is giving Andrew Yang $5M to build the case for a basic income

#364

>> Yang says Humanity Forward plans to immediately distribute Dorsey’s contribution in the form of small cash grants of $250 to nearly 20,000 people who’ve lost their jobs or taken an economic hit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic So money based on certain non-universal conditions? Isn't this one of the root problems? People cannot accept a truly universal system - you've already got too much; that guy lives in th…

> UBI seems like it would be the most powerful vote-buying weapon ever created in the hands of any government given the opportunity to implement it.

What's the difference between debating over UBI and increasing/decreasing taxes with regard to buying votes? Truly universal as you say there's only one question re: UBI what's the monthly payment? With tax code there's a million different loopholes and special interest carve outs etc.

Re: Jack Dorsey is giving Andrew Yang $5M to build the case for a basic income

#365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So overall dilution of the currency. Then, increase UBI some more to make up for it. Then, dilute the currency some more. Over a few cycles become the new Venezuela as most entrepreneurs leave for greener fields.

Easy solution -- we stop the process of QE and replace it with a UBI. Why is dilution OK in the name of big corps but the next incarnation of Hitler when it's for you and I?

Because supply-side is what provides the country with the best economy in the world.

Re: Jack Dorsey is giving Andrew Yang $5M to build the case for a basic income

#366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Direct from yangs site ( https://www.yang2020.com/policies/value-added-tax/ ) > This VAT would vary based on the good to which it's applied, with staples having a lower rate or being excluded, and luxury goods having a higher rate. That's the beauty of a VAT. It can be tuned to reach the desired result.

> That's the beauty of a VAT. It can be tuned to reach the desired result. But who will do the tuning? My guess, as a former corporate tax lawyer, is that it would be done by industry lobbyists, seeking preferential treatment for their clients' products.

Well, duh. How else do communists exert control and power?

Re: Jack Dorsey is giving Andrew Yang $5M to build the case for a basic income

#367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Immigrants means anyone in the US that isn’t a citizen. Legal residents would not get UBI until they become citizens.

Why wouldn't we allow legal residents to receive it?

Politics mainly. It's already hard to convince people to give up part of their wealth for their fellow citizens. Good luck convincing them to give it up for non-citizens.

Also, logistics. If immigrants can get the UBI, then people would flood in from all over the world just to get UBI. You'd either have a ton of expense, or you'd have to make legal immigration nearly impossible.

Re: Jack Dorsey is giving Andrew Yang $5M to build the case for a basic income

#368

I could see UBI as an alternative to federal government spend. E.g. every time I hear about the U.S. sending billions to the middle east, I wonder how much more effectively it could be spent in the hands of thousands upon thousands of americans. It’s almost like implementing something closer to direct democracy instead of representative republic democracy in regards to spending...

As Eisenhower put it Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children... This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cl…

Beautiful quote. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Jack Dorsey is giving Andrew Yang $5M to build the case for a basic income

#369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Immigrants means anyone in the US that isn’t a citizen. Legal residents would not get UBI until they become citizens.

Why wouldn't we allow legal residents to receive it?

It would certainly be challenging to be a non-citizen resident if you have to pay the same taxes as everyone else, but are cut out of such a major benefit.

Basically a gigantic extra tax for not having citizenship.

Re: Jack Dorsey is giving Andrew Yang $5M to build the case for a basic income

#370
post #166
post #157

UBI only makes sense in the science fiction world that Andrew Yang and other non-technical journalists think is somehow imminent. We still need people to make things. There are still guys hanging off the side of garbage trucks every day and people still pick fruits by hand. If no one does these things, you will starve and die. We cannot survive forever on financial engineering by bureaucrats and importing all our nec…

This is anecdotal but I haven’t seen guys hanging off garbage trucks in a long time. Around here it’s just one guy with a hydraulic arm on the truck that picks up the cans and dumps out garbage, and he does it very very efficiently. Pretty soon it should be possible to even replace the driver with a self driving truck that goes around pre determined paths in the neighborhood.

"pretty soon" is when? garbage trucks are giant, quarter million dollar machines with giant forks on them that could demolish thousands of homes in an accident before someone shoots its tires. this seems like one of those things that will still be done manually for years after level 5. imagine a self-operated crane constructing a skyscraper. it's not that it's inherently more difficult than self-driving--the stakes are too high and one disaster could undo decades of savings from not hiring people.
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