Politics 2020: The Money Side of Things // Post #3: Andrew Yang's Money POV
This post is part of a larger series on the 2020 Presidential Race and I want YOUR input!
Email me by clicking the button below to share your questions, thoughts and ideas. I will be interjecting regularly scheduled money posts with a political post once a month.
Welcome to Verdi’s first deep dive into a Democratic Presidential candidate! Each of these posts will include the following: 1) a quick and dirty fact list about the candidate, 2) an analysis on the candidate’s views on key money related issues and, 3) the Verdi Advising opinion on the candidate.
Andrew Yang Facts:
From New York (Schenectady to be exact, but since I just had to look that up three times to make sure I spelled it right, we won’t be returning to that word)
Background in startups, law & nonprofits
Lawyer for 5 months in NY
Co-founded test prep company, Manhattan Prep, which was later bought by Kaplan
Founder of Venture for America (VFA) nonprofit
Debate nerd (perfect for those Presidential ones)
Went to Brown University for undergrad and has a law degree from Columbia Law School
Lives in NYC
Married to wife Evelyn and has two sons
His favorite anime is Akira (TY Wikipedia)
His campaign slogan is MATH (Make America Think Harder) 😂
Where He Stands On The Economy
Yang is all about “human-centered Capitalism.” In a nutshell, he believes that our current economic system focuses too much on corporate profits and not enough on the humans involved. Therefore, he believes that our economy should exist to serve the common goals of our society, not just the owners of large businesses.
The Verdi Vote: 👍 (we totally agree, but really wish he would be more specific on how to change the system. It is A BEAST and words alone won’t do it.)
Where He Stands On The Cost of Living, AKA Why He Loves Universal Basic Income
UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME
Universal Basic Income, or, The Freedom Dividend, as Yang calls it, is a guaranteed amount of money that every adult receives. Yang’s policy proposal is to give each American adult $1,000/month. There are a few important things to note for this policy: 1) It doesn’t matter where you live, the $1,000 is just $1,000 2) If you receive government benefits then you have to give those up to receive the money. If your benefits exceed $1,000/month, Yang expects you to keep your benefits instead.
Yang focuses a lot on our changing economy and how many jobs are being taken over by technological changes. He believes that the Freedom Dividend will help by providing for the basics while we are looking for jobs, starting businesses or going back to school.
Yang proposes to pay for the Freedom Dividend by doing two things:
Consolidate some welfare programs. He isn’t super clear on what this looks like but notes that there are inefficiencies that could be improved.
Add a Value Added Tax of 10%. This is a tax on the production of goods or services a business produces.
The Verdi Vote: 🤷♀️ (we like the sound of helping people get through transitions, but aren’t yet convinced that this is the right way)
Yang supports Medicare for All, which basically means that we’d all have health insurance through the Federal government instead of through private insurance companies. However, unlike other candidates like Elizabeth Warren & Bernie Sanders, he also says that those who want to keep their private insurance should be able to. He also stresses the need for a more holistic approach to health care -- for example, he talks about the benefits of primary care physicians referring patients to psychologists as part of an overall approach to medical issues.
He has not fully explained how he proposes to pay for this change. He has said that we need to change how we pay doctors -- moving to a salary basis instead of a price-per-service model (i.e. doctors’ pay is now typically based on the procedures and work they perform).
The Verdi Vote: 🤷♀️ (as always, we need to see the #s)
Where Verdi Stands on Yang
Overall, we’re intrigued by Yang and his proposals, but aren’t convinced yet. If he makes it further into the campaign and does well we expect to get some more specific information from him and will do a follow up post then.
Want to give to the Yang campaign? Click here.