I'm pretty surprised that Yang has expanded past his fanbase on /pol/ tbh. He not only will say anything but already has promised everything. Anyone that opens their platform with the word "AI" is a joke.
As opposed to identity politics.
At least identity politics work for electoral purposes. I'd never vote for a person that puts identity politics front and center, but I respect the hustle of those that do. Yang is just r/politics memes synthesized into a platform, backed by post-ironic /pol/ fanbase. I don't frequently feel second-hand embarrassment but listening to him speak manages to do it.
Yang is just r/politics memes synthesized into a platform, backed by post-ironic /pol/ fanbase. I don't frequently feel second-hand embarrassment but listening to him speak manages to do it.
Well maybe you're engaged in /pol/ etc, I'm not. I do know a few things about the trucking industry, and I do read about AI/automation/robotics and production/business, and I also read a fair amount of popularly available economists, and I also am somewhat on top of foreign policy. Yang is the only sane person on all of these topics of all available candidates from the Democratic Party, excluding Tulsi Gabbard, who is at least sane on FP.
I love being a "weirdo" who won't "deny white nationalism" or "the patriarchy" or "free market capitalism" or the "welfare/warfare state" while also being interested in voting for a Taiwanese man and a Hawaiian woman who promote UBI and reducing the US global military footprint.
It's as bullshit as fear over global warming. Yeah AI is getting better, yeah sea levels are rising, no there isn't any point of doing anything until problems actually foment. Doubling the already ridiculous federal budget now because AI may end all low-end service jobs in 100 years is insanity. The idea that capitalism is a system that needs to be saved at all costs is just as bullshit. Rather than empower large corporations, who will be the only ones able to afford paying workers under a UBI system, just increase food stamps and housing as needed. Private-option socialized medicine is painful enough; private-option socialized employment will be the end of personal agency. As a borderline ancap I'd prefer with Sanders' 70s desire of nationalizing everything over this eternal corporate dick-sucking.
Which popularly available economists, btw? A lot of the mainline left-leaning ones like Larry Summers and Krugman reject the MMT stuff that Yang supports, let alone non-Kenyesians. It's guys like Tucker Carlson that like to act as if automation is ending the world as we know it, not real economists.
I'm totally against free college as well, but the fact that much of Europe can more or less fund it while virtually no one has managed to put UBI into practice tells me that the former is at least somewhat potentially affordable.
At least democratic governments are somewhat beholden to their constituents. I'll take a public monopoly over a private one that can arbitrarily seek 30% profit margins.
I don't see an ancapism in your statements, and what private monopoly are you talking about re:UBI?
I'm talking about the gradual centralization of businesses since FDR. UBI is effectively the government (i.e. taxpayer) paying the wages that massive-scale low-end employers (retailers, fast food) are in theory supposed to pay their workers. You further erode the ability of small businesses and contractors to compete in the marketplace, while taking a massive chunk of the entire economy, trillions of dollars a year, and putting it directly into the control of the government.
I'm willing to listen to how you see UBI further eroding the ability for small businesses and especially contractors to compete.
UBI has to be paid for by higher taxes, which increase the cost of doing business and adds more pressure to small businesses than large ones which can hold the burden. UBI is supposed to pay the minimum amount needed to live; by the current $12k/yr proposal, it would still pay $3k/yr less than a person making minimum wage, 40hrs a week 52 weeks an hour. For many jobs, the UBI-wage would probably be closer $6k/yr when most people don't literally make minimum wage, and when many such workers do multiple part-time jobs instead of a single M-F 9-5. So in practice, UBI subsidizes two-thirds of a Walmart's wages. At least some Walmart employees may realize that working full-time for just the remaining third of their income is a bad deal, but Walmart still needs workers. Therefore, because one of the most expensive components of running a business (wages) has been paid for by one of the most expensive and consumption-slowing taxes (a VAT), it is within Walmart's power to raise wages and/or reduce working hours to maintain employment. Most small businesses would be crippled by that. UBI is the ultimate corporate erotic fantasy.
Jim Jefferies did an interview with notorious Australian zionist activist, tied him to the alt-right in the segment and then chopped up the interview to paint a specific picture. Dude had a feeling it would happen so he secretly recorded the whole interview.
Jefferies is currently in meltdown mode.
Tried searching for Jefferies' video but can't find it. Reckon he would have taken it down?