This is my slightly updated post (from 2 weeks ago) on Yang based on the podcast and some new immigration platform info for people who are looking for a overview opinion:
Being a fan of Lee Kuan Yew [911 had said he saw a little bit of him in Yang during the podcast] and what he was able to do in a single lifetime (i.e. turn Singapore from a backwater town into a major world player), I decided to watch the entire interview. For anyone that hasn't watched videos on Lee Kuan Yew and have an interest in how to build/run societies, I highly recommend looking over some videos of/about him on YouTube. Fascinating guy.
Anyhow, I really like what I saw with Yang for the most part.
Some PROS I heard:
1. He really gets it on many fronts; especially how the tech sector is wiping out entire industries and making out like bandits while everyone else is holding a big bag of shit. And ultimately, what this is doing to society and especially men. He gets that if you destroy a ton of men economically, the society is pretty much lost.
2. His basic case on UBI is that we need it ASAP because there is no way to create enough jobs to replace what will be rapidly lost over the next several decades due to AI/automation/robots and that 12k/year will cushion the blow; giving people a lifeline to work with. Money will come primarily from streamlining welfare benefits and a VAT (valued added tax); with the intention that if companies are gonna kill massive amount of jobs, the overall society should benefit as well and a VAT will redistribute some of the gains. This makes sense even though it goes against initial intuition.
3. He emphasized on numerous occasions not just men, but how blue collar white men especially, are really getting the shaft in modern times and how the current democrat party doesn't give a shit about them.
4. Middle aged truckers and most people are not going to learn to code. Re-training into hot sectors for most people is a proven failure.
5. I dig his emphasis on how being a stay-at-home parent or taking care of an elderly parent isn't really acknowledged by modern economic standards and the measuring standards of a country's success need to change. He wants to move from GDP being the primary metric to other things that measure human well-being (suicide rates, mental health, mortality, etc).
6. Free college is stupid and won't fix anything. He says what anyone with common sense knows: we don't need more college grads; we need more vo-tech/apprenticeship training into jobs that are way less likely to be automated.
7. Regarding feasibility of implementing a UBI: it's very possible because while the government sucks at lot of things, it's pretty good at giving (certain) people money.
The CONS for me (for now):
1. The big one for me immigration. He comes from educated/professional immigrant parents and he acknowledges that they are a different profile from your typical Latin American immigrant (illegal and legal) but he wants to give a path to citizenship to illegals anyway assuming they follow certain standards like maintaining/having a clean background. Apparently, it's not practical to remove 10 million plus illegals. I disagree enormously but Trump obviously isn't going to do it and it would take a revolt at this point probably and so, this is likely the next best realistic alternative. From a democrat especially in 2019.
From his website:
Pathway to Citizenship (Make Them Earn It).
Quote:Quote:
Problems to be Solved
--1 1+ million undocumented immigrants are currently living in the United States
-- While the vast majority of these immigrants aren’t a security risk, having that volume of individuals in this country that aren’t known to the US government is itself a security risk
-- It would be prohibitively expensive and disruptive to deport all these individuals
-- These individuals tried to circumvent the legal immigration system into the US, and any pathway to citizenship for them must reflect this fact.
[the following is the juicy bits]
As President, I will…
-- Secure the southern border and drastically decrease the number of illegal entries into the US
-- Provide a new tier of long-term permanent residency for anyone who has been here illegally for a substantial amount of time so that they can come out of the shadows and enter the formal economy and become full members of the community.
-- This new tier would permit individuals to work and stay in the country, provided they pay their taxes and don’t get convicted of a felony.
-- This tier would put them on a longer, eighteen-year path to citizenship (the same amount of time it takes those born in the US to get full citizenship rights) [don't like this line but whatever; I got my citizenship day fucking 1], reflecting our desire to bring them into our country but also their decision to circumvent legal immigration channels.
-- Invest heavily in an information campaign to inform immigrant communities of this new tier of residency, and deport any undocumented immigrant who doesn’t proactively enroll in the program
Source: https://www.yang2020.com/policies/pathwa...m-earn-it/
Goddamn, that is pretty fuckin awesome and reasonable for a democrat in 2019. Shit, this is just reasonable period.
18 years and no felonies? Don't get in the program, get the fuck out!
I can dig that (if it is actually enforced).
Think about it on his immigration platform:
1a. 18 years without citizenship would keep illegals out of presidential elections for 4 cycles. Most democrats want them voting as illegals right now and/or want to give them citizenship and voting rights right now.
1b. The felony deal will get rid of the real scumbags and 18 years is a LONG dragnet to catch a lot of dirt bags.
1c. If they don't get with the program, instead of just floating through life, they have to get the fuck out.
1d. This answers a big question I had about UBI and illegals and the circumstances if/how they would get: Since these people won't be citizens, no 1000 bucks for them for 18 years! He says that illegals that have only been here for a "substantial amount of time" would qualify for the PR status; which implies he understands that there would be a mad rush of illegals to the US to get the free money if he won the election. And therefore, he needs to have a past time period qualifier to prevent the mad rush.
Big fear is this would get water down in Congress from 18 years to 5 or something.
But the initial platform is solid and incredible for a democrat in 2019. Trump clearly has lost the will or ability to remove illegals on a mass scale and will probably get nothing done of significant substance except some partial wall built. So, given that the Trump base is majorly deflated and the demographics are working against the GOP, this is probably the realistic next best alternative with regards to illegals.
It's WAY better than any other democrats platform on this issue. That's for fucking sure.
2. He wants to do Medicare for All but where doctors get a flat salary instead. I'm just going off his website but I'd be really worried about flat salary doctors in America if the VA and military medical are anything to go by. I know those are true socialized examples with gov't workers but I'd like to see some sort of tiered model based on body fat percentage and other poor lifestyle choices.
Fat ass who abuses their body? You're paying a surcharge.
That said, Trump has done barely fuck all to fix the healthcare system. At this point, I'd rather have Medicare for All than the expensive as hell disaster we have right now.
Bottom line for me so far:
For a democrat in 2019, he is about as good as it will ever get I think. The rest of the field with the possible odd or so exception is such a hot fire cluster fuck of worthless retards; none of which are worth remotely considering at a basic level.
I could see the democrat base and a lot of crossover Trump voters getting behind his UBI deal but I would imagine by not playing the identity politics game and God forbid, acknowledging poor white people, he could be shoved to the side similarly to how Jim Webb was ignored in 2016 when he tried to acknowledge poor white people problems during the debates. As a minority advocating for medicare for all and a UBI, he might be able to overcome it though.
In such a large primary field of retards, he could come out like the semi-sensible one in the clown house if he has strong debate performances. There is also the asian-american race factor which could be a major pull for him in places like California (which moved up its primary to Super Tuesday I believe) as well as Washington state, NYC area, and other locations with significant Asian populations. Asian-Americans to my recollection have never had a serious US Presidential contender or even primary contender and with many Asian-Americans becoming more politically aware and active (ex: Harvard admissions lawsuit), it will be interesting to see how they vote when given a choice to vote for one of their own.
Whether Yang could actually win anything, it's possible. He is selling something that is rooted in genuine concerns that appeals across the entire political spectrum and even across socioeconomic classes (plenty of white collar work will be automated soon as well); while also appealing to peoples natural desire for free stuff. He has obvious high raw intelligence and if he can combine that with some charisma and strong debate performances, he could be a powerful contender.
That all said, if we are going to get stuck with a democrat super majority in the near future, which is likely the case with the demographic war largely lost from the looks of it unfortunately (excluding secession/revolt/Trump declaring martial law),
I would rather someone like this Yang guy setting the tone/agenda by a significant margin vs the rest of the democrats currently running. The rest of the field makes me want to abandon ship or start a civil war if they win in 2020.