Andrew Yang is consistent.
He ran for the Democratic nomination for President. His campaign didn't go so well causing him to drop out.
Sadly for him, he might have been a bit early.
Since the crisis hit, the conversation surrounding universal basic income has increased. This was the platform that Yang ran on.
Recently, the government started sending out checks to each adult and child in the U.S. People are starting to receive their $1,200 stimulus (what is being paid to each adult).
This is not enough for Yang. He feels that $2,000 should be provided each month until we are clear of this crisis. This is an idea that is also shared by a few in Congress.
As always, the question is how to pay for it.
Yang had this to say:
“When the house is on fire, you don't worry that much about the water you're using to put it out,” he said as part of a web chat with Axios. “We have the equivalent of a $21 trillion fire on our hands, and we have to do everything we can to help people get through this.”
https://www.coindesk.com/yang-says-current-stimulus-payments-to-americans-arent-enough
The challenge with this entire situation is the fact that nobody knows how long things will last. At the same time, we are unsure how much economic damage was done thus far. In the U.S., things are about a month in. The lockdown is going to continue until the end of the month at a minimum.
As this goes on longer, the calls for more help will come. Thus far, the Fed is following their usual playbook which is to pump a lot of money into Wall Street and the banks. History showed this does not end up reaching the average individual who is affected by these downturns.
Odds are we will see a move towards UBI from countries in Europe before the United States accepts it. Of course, if this thing goes on 6 or 7 months, viewpoints could be radically altered.
We certainly on uncharted ground.