@mimi

Or perhaps I should say, I don't know whether to trust him or not.

But see what I said above about his supporters.

I started to be suspicious about him. It's difficult for me to understand what he is really about. May be he is a nice guy, but niceness doesn't qualify for being honest. I am confused. As always.

@mimi His signature issue is Universal Basic Income, which is certainly an interesting concept. He was also, as far as I can tell, a genuine proponent of Medicare for All. One thing that has bothered me is that supposed proponents of MFA make such weak arguments for it during debates. This is slightly true of Sanders but certainly true Warren for example, who is utterly unconvincing. Yang, however, in one debate made the very strong argument that MFA would be a great boon to small businesses in that it would save them money and greatly simplify the process of getting health care for your employees. My take on Yang is that he is genuine, unlike Buttigieg, for example, who is a neoliberal (CIA?) shill.

I started to be suspicious about him. It's difficult for me to understand what he is really about. May be he is a nice guy, but niceness doesn't qualify for being honest. I am confused. As always.

@wokkamile that end being the end of food stamps and the safety net for the poor.

in the large field, never cranky or negative. I was interested in his effort a year ago when he got in, and like the UBI idea. But as more of his other policies came forth, I found they were disappointingly standard fare, so not in keeping with his revolutionary UBI proposal.

Someone elsewhere made the comment that for a candidate whose slogan was simply MATH, Yang failed to calculate properly the wisdom of devoting so many campaign resources to Iowa when NH was his more favorable terrain.

I wouldn't mind seeing him run for Congress soon, preferably to replace one of the Blue Dogs. His national exposure and positive campaign will help him in that effort.

@snoopydawg My son was a big Yang supporter. He's a physics major in college. He called me last night to talk about the debates last week. I said this was the best statement by any candidate.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xugXaYIBVaU&list=TLPQMTIwMjIwMjBw-k26Tof...

Yang was great on some issues, but I think his best was when he called out Pete and said that Rump is just a system of bad disease that has been affecting the country and those issues are what needs to be addressed. I don't think this is the last we will see of Yang.

@aliasalias perfectly some of the most important issues with UBI. While it sounds great, nice easy "solution" to get rid of "complexity" it sure does not address how that complexity actually functions. Math indeed. Easy math without taking the true reality of the rot of neo liberal capitalism in any real way. That's my problem with the yang gang, easy "solutions" that are anything but. No thanks.

And of course his goal is to look like the pragmatist in the room, must address that deficit but do not address how it came to be (hint, social programs are NOT the issue there) but somewhere along the way he's badly screwed up the math. 1000 a month is no where near what it takes to actually live anywhere in this country. And he sure ought to know that as a technocratic math driven wunderkind, right?

First of all I get less than $800 a month on Social Security and I couldn't afford to live where I do without the section 8 rental subsidy and I rely upon food stamps (and the food bank)to survive. One lady who used to live in this building once told me that if she only got $20.00 less a month on her check she would qualify for over a hundred dollars in food stamps, instead of the $35.00 a month available,if she wanted to mess with all the paperwork.

That said, the way I understand it if my income jumped up a thousand dollars all those things would be gone and collectively they worth more.

First off whenever the pittance that comes from the SS COLA upgrade each year happens (when it does happen)I immediately get a letter telling me that due to my "increase in income" my food stamps are being reduced by almost the same amount (I'm at $92.00m a month now). So kiss that goodbye.

That's the least of the damage, the change in my rent is a big one because I would no longer have section8 housing assistance and without that my rent would go from $233.00 a month to $785.00 a month. Big jump.
I would also lose assistance I get each year with my electric bills because everything here is electrical,and I have everything on a power strip but keep that bill low by not leaving any lights on when they are not needed and by dressing warmly in the winter to keep from having to turn on the heater.
But in this small apartment I have almost forty houseplants (one grandson calls it PaPa's jungle) so I have to turn on the heat sometimes. Not a big change here but it all adds up.

I'm undoubtedly forgetting a few other things but SS worries me the most, in fact when I asked the local office about making some side money by being a 'process server' ($75.00 a pop) I was told it wasn't a concern but she said that without looking at my file first she wasn't sure how much I would be allowed to make without reporting it to them. Which doesn't sound good.

Like I said I'm probably forgetting a few other things but say I get that $1,000 a month and all those changes what happens if the very next Congress puts an end to it all ? Both sides are big on beating the deficit drum so that could happen.
Then what happens?
It took me almost two years to get on section 8 housing, and that was twelve years ago. Now it's a lot longer, in fact they didn't accept any applications for a few years, and when the lady downstairs inquired the answer was there were no applications, do it online and wait. That was about a year ago, still no word.

I'll add this, there are only a couple of people in this building that are not on section 8 housing, and I know of no apartment complex without people on section 8, with the exception of the ones rented out by students at WWU.

So what happens to me and the damn near countless others across the Country that are in the same situation if the UBI happens?

@aliasalias

that keeps people in poverty. Get a bump in funds for one thing? Blam your other benefit get cut down by that amount as you said. And like you said if you want to make some extra money it comes with a limit. Go over $1,300 when you're on Medicaid you owe for anything it's paid for the month. $1 over? Congrats you now owe them possibly thousands. Can't pay it? You better find a way.

It took me almost two years to get on section 8 housing, and that was twelve years ago. Now it's a lot longer, in fact they didn't accept any applications for a few years, and when the lady downstairs inquired the answer was there were no applications, do it online and wait. That was about a year ago, still no word.

The wait time across the country is beyond ridiculous because no one is building affordable housing, but they damn sure are getting breaks to build high density apartments everywhere. Or if someone does want to build it then they get met with the NIMBYs who think people who are money challenged are bad people and they don't want their property values to go down.

But many people better get off that bandwagon because every day more families are falling through the cracks of this rigged for the elite system.

Many cities are doing ubi with no strings attached and it's working. People don't buy new cars and other expensive things with it. They are going to the doctor or dentist or other things that they have had to put off for too long.

This system is what Bernie is trying to end. The rigged, socialism for the upper classes and corporations. Can anyone explain why oil companies need tax breaks and subsidies? Look at how much profit Amazon made last year and how much tax they paid on it. Zero, but then they got millions back anyway. Rigged!

First of all I get less than $800 a month on Social Security and I couldn't afford to live where I do without the section 8 rental subsidy and I rely upon food stamps (and the food bank)to survive. One lady who used to live in this building once told me that if she only got $20.00 less a month on her check she would qualify for over a hundred dollars in food stamps, instead of the $35.00 a month available,if she wanted to mess with all the paperwork.

That said, the way I understand it if my income jumped up a thousand dollars all those things would be gone and collectively they worth more.

First off whenever the pittance that comes from the SS COLA upgrade each year happens (when it does happen)I immediately get a letter telling me that due to my "increase in income" my food stamps are being reduced by almost the same amount (I'm at $92.00m a month now). So kiss that goodbye.

That's the least of the damage, the change in my rent is a big one because I would no longer have section8 housing assistance and without that my rent would go from $233.00 a month to $785.00 a month. Big jump.
I would also lose assistance I get each year with my electric bills because everything here is electrical,and I have everything on a power strip but keep that bill low by not leaving any lights on when they are not needed and by dressing warmly in the winter to keep from having to turn on the heater.
But in this small apartment I have almost forty houseplants (one grandson calls it PaPa's jungle) so I have to turn on the heat sometimes. Not a big change here but it all adds up.

I'm undoubtedly forgetting a few other things but SS worries me the most, in fact when I asked the local office about making some side money by being a 'process server' ($75.00 a pop) I was told it wasn't a concern but she said that without looking at my file first she wasn't sure how much I would be allowed to make without reporting it to them. Which doesn't sound good.

Like I said I'm probably forgetting a few other things but say I get that $1,000 a month and all those changes what happens if the very next Congress puts an end to it all ? Both sides are big on beating the deficit drum so that could happen.
Then what happens?
It took me almost two years to get on section 8 housing, and that was twelve years ago. Now it's a lot longer, in fact they didn't accept any applications for a few years, and when the lady downstairs inquired the answer was there were no applications, do it online and wait. That was about a year ago, still no word.

I'll add this, there are only a couple of people in this building that are not on section 8 housing, and I know of no apartment complex without people on section 8, with the exception of the ones rented out by students at WWU.

So what happens to me and the damn near countless others across the Country that are in the same situation if the UBI happens?