During the 2020 presidential selection process for the Democrat party, Andrew Yang proposed sending Americans monthly stimulus checks for $1,000 USD a person. This idea was immediately attacked by Republicans as ‘socialism’ (which it is), and then, only a short time later, Trump signed the COVID stimulus bill, which is arguably the largest application of socialism ever in American history, and with the second check just disbursed and a third in the making, it is on its way to outdoing by far that which was proposed by Yang.
Now according to Yang and reported by Fox 5 NY, he is proposing the long-discussed ‘universal basic income’ in New York City.
“We can eradicate extreme poverty in New York City,” Yang said. “If you put just a little money in their hands it can actually be what keeps them in their home and, again, avoids them hitting city services that are incredibly expensive.”
He admits his plan will need to include very difficult budgetary decisions.
Some political experts say that the biggest issue facing Yang’s campaign may be that he isn’t considered enough of a New Yorker by voters to lead the city. That is a notion Yang rejects.
“Anyone who thinks that somehow my New Yorkness is in question can just come and say it to my face and see how ridiculous it is,” Yang has said. “I remember walking north away from the crumbling towers on 9/11. I remember getting married to Evelyn at City Hall. I remember having our son at St. Luke’s while Hurricane Sandy was turning the lights off all over the city.”
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A recent survey showed Yang with a single-point lead over Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams among likely Democratic primary voters.
“I moved to New York City 25 years ago,” Yang said in a tweet announcing his candidacy. “I came of age, fell in love, and became a father here. Seeing our city in so much pain breaks my heart. Let’s fight for a future New York City that we can be proud of.” (source)
If things continue at this rate, there will be a UBI in no time, as I am expecting this to be an important trend to watch for the future.
But the problem with a UBI is that which it always has been with money printing. One does not print one’s way to prosperity, as prosperity comes from demand, and demand comes from want or need, and that cannot be artificially generated without serious long-term consequences. Indeed, it is easy for everybody to be a millionaire, if having a million dollars means that a man lives in dire poverty as it take a million dollars to buy a loaf of bread.
This is the reason why I have emphasized that one needs to consider alternative stores of value, such as metals or land, as a serious potential asset because the devaluation of money coming to the Western world, which is also a hallmark of any declining empire. In times of chaos, things that hold value are those which always hold value by their intrinsic nature, physically contained in their being. One cannot print an ounce of gold, nor can one draw a piece of real land to live on. This is what always separates those things which cannot lose their full value from those which can, as while the price of metal or land can rise and fall, it can never go to zero, whereas paper money can and in many cases historically will return to its intrinsic value, which is that of the paper that it is printed on.
Yang’s words will attract many people, but do not be deceived by them, because they are just words, and even if Yang was to realize what he has proposed, he cannot print his way out of economic reality, unless that reality is printing himself into the cause of monetary devaluation and misery for so many people who honestly saved their earnings only to see them vanish because of political actions.