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WATCH LIVE: Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate in New Hampshire

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sagehen2/07/2020 7:47:22 pm PST

re: #116 jaunte

Has Yang ever explained how his guaranteed minimum income doesn’t kill all other programs that provide some kind of support to the poor?

I first heard of UBI when I took Econ 101 (in the late 70’s). That was sort of the whole idea behind it.

Automation wasn’t such a big deal back then, inequality wasn’t even close to what it is now. The rationale for UBI was that it would entirely eliminate any need for minimum wage, food stamps, disability benefits. All those legislative debates over how much aid is proper, or the criteria to qualify, would be moot. The agencies that verify eligibility and process the payments, could be shut down.

And the single-employer mining towns or factory towns that depopulate when the one industry shuts down… people could stay, unemployable (for educational or physical reasons, or taking care of their elderly parents) people who can’t afford a big city could move to those towns where cost of living in really low… and then those towns would need schoolteachers and grocery stores and craft supply or outdoor equipment stores, and would be repopulated.