Universal Basic Income
Universal Basic Income is NOT a new concept or theory that just recently entered the political conversation. It’s been talked about in America since the time that our country was founded: from Thomas Payne to Martin Luther King, Jr., and more recently, with Barack Obama, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and recent Democratic Presidential Candidate, Andrew Yang, who played an instrumental role in bringing Universal Basic Income back into the national conversation, since it was last discussed and passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in the early 1970s.
Putting universal basic income back into the national conversation helped pave the way to having Congress consider different ways of providing direct cash relief to Americans during the COVID19 quarantine. Although Congress fell short by only providing certain Americans a one-time $1200 stimulus check instead of a emergency payday loan, universal basic income is gaining more support around the country and in DC, and it’s imperative that we elect a representative who will champion a universal basic income for all Americans, where our human value is not tied to the economic work value.
Why We Need It
The main reasons for providing a Universal Basic Income of $1,000/month to every American are as follows:
- The robot apocalypse, which has already started, will severely affect our working class, with technological automation and mass layoffs to occur in the next 12 years and with 1 out of 3 Americans losing their jobs to automation and unlike previous waves of automation, this time, new jobs will not appear quickly enough in large numbers to make up for it;
- Today, we have the most tragic income disparity in our country’s recent history, with the working class, middle class and top 1% of our country’s income earners;
- Three decades of wage stagnation and decreasing purchasing power of the American people; and
- The decreasing rate of unionization (i.e., 1970s: 1 in 3 workers were unionized; Now: 1 in 20).
What’s clear is that the current system simply isn’t working.
We now have 1 out of every 7 Americans living in poverty.
We now have 20% of our children living in poverty.
We now have a working class where their purchasing power is less than or equal to what it was 30 years ago.
We now have the bottom half of all American income earners making up 11% of the total income of all American income earners, less than the 20% it had been making 30 years ago.
We have the top 1% of all American income earners making 20% of the total income of all American income earners, more than what it had made 30 years ago, at 11%.
We now have districts like ours where the average monthly rent for a 1 bedroom apartment unit is at least over $2,000 a month and where the average annual income for a family of 4 is $38,000 a year.
Something’s wrong and this recent COVID19 pandemic and quarantine has made things worse. Now it’s time for us to do something about this.
What We Are Fighting For
That is why I am fighting for a Universal Basic Income of $1,000/month for every American adult and $500/month for every American child.
Providing our U.S. citizens $1,000/month would be a powerful tool to eliminate deprivation and would push at least 41 million Americans living below the poverty line, up and above it.
What It Will Do
Many of our Americans wouldn’t have to worry about economic reasons preventing them from leaving their abusive partners.
Sudden job losses or the car breaking down or a family member getting sick and having to visit the hospital would be less catastrophic as many of our American families and individuals are dollars and pennies away from not being able to make their daily ends meet.
With consistent, unconditional cash to cover their expenses, our American families and individuals will be able to be more selective about the working conditions they’re willing to accept, without being exploited time after time again.
Our homemaker wives, husbands and partners at home raising the children would now finally be recognized for the economic value of their work.
Our entrepreneurs would now be able to have some leeway to save up and/or go back to school on the side or start a small business and new venture.
Our families would now be able to care for their sick relatives without being restricted because of limited finances.
With a “trickle up” economy, with our American people now being able to pump money back into our economy, our economy would grow by 12.56 to 13.10% – or about $2.5 trillion by 2025 – and our labor force would increase by 4.5 – 4.7 million people.
These are just a few of the many benefits providing a Universal Basic Income to every American would do.
Please check out our Universal Basic Income FAQs to learn more.