Comments

1

Thanks Rich!
Have a great weekend!
(And Go Hawks!)

3

Yang was making some good points on Twitter last night about how the media is manipulating the Democrat's primary process by playing gatekeeper and leaving his name off polls where he is polling the same as candidates they choose to include.

5

Dan Savage is a boomer, but I never knew him to blame everyone for his mistakes. Perhaps the stereotype is inaccurate?

6

One ancient dictator down, several more to go. Also, I seem to remember schultz pulling out months ago due to back pain and I was very glad to not have to hear about him any more at that time...

7

@5: I think that might have been a tongue-in-cheek reference to the stereotype (typically used by boomers) that millennials always blame everyone but themselves for their failures.

10

Good choices for the weekend.

Remember, the only reason to vote for Drumph is the Sharpies.

11

@5 Dan Savage is at the very tail end of the Boomers, or very early Gen X depending on who you ask. 1961-1965 are kind of mushy transitional years. My parents are traditional Boomers being WWII babies and I don't have the same cultural references and influences that they do even if according to Pew I'm supposed to be part of their demographic.

14

So corporate wealth would prefer Warren over Sanders because of her... 2% wealth tax? Double check that.

15

I think Yang achieved his goal of getting the idea of the UBI out there into something approaching the mainstream. Similar to Insley in that he never had a realistic chance at competing anyway and so now he's just gotta work to keep his ideas in the discussion going forward.

17

@9 Boomers are generally classified as birth years 1946 to 1964. But I imagine people like Dan (and Obama) might consider themselves GenX.

The Boomer generation is so large, it shouldn’t be generalized, just as the older Millennials are nothing like their younger counterparts.

18

@12: The Democratic party would suffer huge losses if a UBI changed the face of welfare in this country, so there is no way they would let Yang win the nomination, even if he did have a puncher's chance. They need that welfare to buy votes, and are not going to let someone alter that dynamic, or support any plan that would practically lower the amount of people receiving welfare.

We also know from the Podesta emails that during the 2016 election many news outlets (MSNBC among them) were running stories by the Clinton campaign for notes and running stories that the Clinton campaign wanted, so we already know that these networks are already willing to run what the DNC tells them to run.

22

Oh. My. That evil Democratic Party not allowing some polling nearly zero to promote his future book sales. Those meanies.

Meanwhile. No Stranger writer saw the biggest news of the morning in that the Republican Party has abandoned primaries and caucuses for 2020? A virtual coronation for Trump. Well. So much for believing in choice.

Like David Frum said "If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy."

23

I hope Saul Spady likes boogers for brunch.

24

@20: Because according to Yang's plan, you have to choose either traditional welfare or the UBI. You don't get both. This would bring people off the welfare rolls, and hopefully off of complete government dependence, which is the whole idea.

25

A person that makes 50k a year pays $36 a year to subsidize food stamps and $907 a year to subsidize corporate loopholes.

Lets work big to small when it comes to getting people off welfare.

28

UBI is a buy off, releasing the pressure, keeping people disengaged and entertained, rather than actually dealing with the problems that cause the inequalities and lack of public goods in the first place. I don't see how his tax incentive plans are supposed to reverse any of the income inequality in the first place- just seems like more Obama-style compromises only with UBI so that people don't get as worked up about the bailouts.

I'm glad Yang has brought UBI in general to public attention so we can start discussing it, but the way he wants to implement it isn't going to solve anything.

Also he overestimates how much automation is a problem- not that I disagree that it's a problem, but within the context of global dollar-based capital in which companies can cross borders but workers cannot and a trade war and imperialism, etc the automation is just a tiny drop in the bucket and really has nothing to do with the inevitable shift to a multicurrency world which is what the current US decline is much more about.

Then there's the market based solutions to climate change which again are better than nothing, but libs have been trying variations of them for a couple decades now- he seems to have no plan for how his support for things that others have failed at are going to be any different.

I agree though that there isn't much media coverage on him, which is a shame because along with Bernie and Tulsi, he's a candidate who is really trying to shift the Overton Window. It would be interesting to hear a discussion between the three of them.

29

@26: Strange how millennials love bash corporations for all sorts of evils but love to inhale their unhealthy products.

30

@27: Some may choose to remain dependent on the government, but they are already making that choice now anyway. $1,000 a month is also less right now than the "average" welfare family receives in benefits per month in every state (lowest is mississippi, roughly $16,000 per year), and it is cash assistance which is more flexible than a WIC card or something to that effect.

Although it should be noted that the main reason for the UBI is to offset massive job loss due to automation, so this should be the main way it is judged.

However, the argument is basically that with the UBI, a person can feel confident to go get a job or try to get better employment because they do not have to fear the welfare cliff any longer. Also, giving people living on the edge of poverty an extra grand a month can give them the confidence to take more risks and invest more into their futures without fear of being left in the cold.

36

@35: Yang also doesn't dress appropriately.

37

@32 I don't really see what that has to do with anything regarding the problems causing US economic decline, wealth inequality, defunding of public spaces, climate change, etc. But agree with you absolutely @31. I was optimistic about her at first, but clear now that she's just the compromise candidate.

@35 You might be right about that. I hadn't thought of it that way- he's not getting less attention than Booker for example. I just think there's a good discussion to be had about UBI and imperialism, and so I wish Yang and Tulsi were given a bit more attention since they are on about that (in the same way Inslee was known as the climate change guy) though I have massive disagreements with both of them.

38

"The beauty of UBI is that it doesn't favor any one group. All Americans get a dividend, even white people."

Hahaha. No, the beauty of UBI is it absolutely favors the landlord class. Take the oft cited Alaska Permanent Fund - it did next to nothing to lessen child poverty rates or lessen widening income disparity or reduce the cost of living in Alaska which has just steadily gotten higher - rents there are 47% above the national average.

Cash UBI has never worked at anything, ever, anywhere. Other than to funnel all that government lucre to rent seekers.

UBS is a more promising similar alternative.

CITE: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/06/universal-basic-income-public-realm-poverty-inequality

STUDY:
http://www.world-psi.org/sites/default/files/documents/research/en_ubi_full_report_2019.pdf

But. As a landlord myself, sure. Go ahead. Sounds fabulous.

39

@23:

On the line they call that the "Glo's Special-Special".

40

"The NRA is a terrorist organization:"

Y.E.S. Thank you, Rich.

And far 'right' wing Terrorists are FINALLY
getting (some of) the Attention they deserve
from the FBI. Excellent.

42

Thank you and bless you, Rich.
Choke on it, Howard.
GO, SEAHAWKS!!!
@17 Escapee from S. Idaho: Yeppers! Spot on about the Boomer generation. I, too, like Dan Savage, am at the tail end of that very large age demographic, and heartily agree that it shouldn't be generalized (no one group should be). But I do get a kick out of the fact that I'm in the same bracket along with my much older siblings, born a decade ahead of me (Thank you, U.S. Census Bureau!).
@40 kristofarian for the WIN! Agreed and seconded.
@41: Get a nap, muffy. And do something about that atrocious rug.


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