Voting for a favourite motto for this year’s international basic income week is still possible, until Saturday, 29th of February. Facebook and Twitter pages are also available, for more information. The winning motto will be announced up until the end of March, and will start being used in Basic Income Week’s joint events in September.
Andrew Yang. Picture credit to: Inquisitr
Andrew Yang, the United States presidential candidate for the 2020 elections who most notoriously pushed (his own version of) a basic income policy to public debate in the country, has dropped out of the campaign for the Democratic Party setup. This has been reported in several news outlets, some of which had allegedly been deliberately underreporting his activities as candidate. On this issue, Scott Santens, a prominent basic income activist, has written on social media (Facebook):
Amazing how the #YangMediaBlackout ended the moment Yang dropped out of the race. Suddenly every media outlet is falling over themselves to cover the candidate they worked so hard for so long to hide. Congrats. You got the outcome you wanted. But this fight is far from over. The #YangGang has awakened.
Thank you to all of you for everything you’ve done, pouring your heart and soul into this campaign which has become a movement. The Yang Gang is incredible and important and we will change the world. I hope you all will continue fighting for the economic justice we all so desperately need.
Fear is a weapon used against us to keep us in line, but hope is a shield.
(…)
It will take the effort we’ve all put in for Andrew Yang and more. It will even require us running for office. Everyone in the YG who runs for office, we will need to support as we have Andrew. What happens next is up to us.
One of my main takeaways from this campaign is every one of us is now equipped for life with the skills to forge a new path. Democracy requires active not passive engagement, and the we just learned everything we need to know. Those tools are now ours to wield. Watch out world.
The Yang Gang is only getting started.
Andrew Yang himself has also written a message on this occasion (transcript from a post by Michael Howard, another long-time basic income activist):
Thank you for your incredible support these past months. You all have uplifted me and inspired me and Evelyn and this campaign at every turn. Your passion and energy. Your donations and hundreds of thousands of hours of calling and volunteering. Your enthusiasm, dedication and commitment.
We have accomplished so much together. We have brought a message of Humanity First and a vision of an economy and society that works for us and our families to millions of our fellow Americans.
We went from a mailing list that started with just my Gmail contact list to receiving donations from over 430,000 people and support from millions more across the country.
One of the things I’m most proud of — we gave $1,000 a month for a year to 13 families across the country.
We highlighted the real problems in our communities as our economy is being transformed before our eyes by technology and automation. We stood on the debate stage and shifted our national conversation to include the fourth industrial revolution, a topic no one wanted to touch.
Our signature proposal, Universal Basic Income, has become part of the mainstream conversation. We increased the popular support for Universal Basic Income to 66% of Democrats and 72% among voters 18-34.
And without a doubt, we accelerated the eradication of poverty in our society by years, perhaps even generations.
And that is thanks to all of YOU!
Though thousands of voters came out for our campaign tonight in New Hampshire, it is not the outcome we fought so hard for. It is bitterly disappointing for many of us.
But it should not be.
Every single day I’ve had supporters say to me:
“Your campaign helped me out of a depression. Thank you.”
“Working on this campaign has made me a better human being.”
“I met my significant other because of you.”
“Your campaign brought my family together. Your campaign got me excited about politics for the first time.”
These are all things that people have said to me in the past days. I’m incredibly proud of this campaign. We have touched and improved millions of lives and moved this country we love so much in the right direction.
And while there is great work left to be done, I am the MATH guy. And it is clear tonight from the numbers that we are not going to win this race. I am not someone who wants to accept donations and support in a race that we will not win.
And so tonight, I am suspending my campaign for president.
This is not an easy decision. Endings are hard and I’ve always intended to stay in this race until the very end. But I have been convinced that the message of this campaign will not be strengthened by my staying in this race any longer.
Endings are hard. But this is not an ending.
This is a beginning.
This is the starting line. This campaign has awakened something fundamental in this country and ourselves.
We’ve outlasted over a dozen senators, governors, and members of Congress and become the most exciting force in this entire race.
The Yang Gang has fundamentally shifted the direction of this country and transformed our politics, and we are only continuing to grow.
My goal when I first started was always to solve the problems that got Donald Trump elected. And I know in order to do that, I will support whoever is the Democratic nominee. That said, I hope this campaign can be a message, and word of caution, to all of my Democratic colleagues.
Donald Trump is not the cause of all of our problems. He is a symptom. We must cure the disease that got him elected, and in order to do that we must address the real problems that affect our people and offer solutions to actually solve them.
Those solutions are bold, and many think they are crazy. But I hope my campaign has made it a little less crazy to think we can lead our country to eradicate poverty. In fact, five candidates in this field have already supported it or expressed openness to supporting Universal Basic Income.
I stand before you today and say that while we did not win this election, we are just getting started.
This is the beginning.
This movement is the future of American politics.
This movement is the future of the Democratic party.
This wave is just beginning and it will continue to build until we rewrite the rules of this economy to work for us, the people of this country.
Thank you to each and every person who made this campaign possible, I love and appreciate you. Being your candidate has been the privilege of my life. We will continue to do the work and move this country forward.
Thank you all. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.
– Andrew
More information at:
Nick Statt, “Andrew Yang has withdrawn from the 2020 presidential race“, The Verge, February 11th 2020
Daniel Strauss, “Andrew Yang drops out of 2020 presidential race“, The Guardian, February 12th 2020
Jeff Yang, “Thank you, Andrew Yang“, CNN, February 12th 2020
Basic Income Hub is organizing an event in which Peter Sloman will present his new book “Transfer State: The Idea of a Guaranteed Income and the Politics of Redistribution in Modern Britain“, together with Barb Jacobson and Michael Pugh. Barb is a Director at Basic Income UK and has been a prominent basic income activist for many years and Michael Pugh is the Co-Founder and Director of the Basic Income Hub, a new initiative powered by Compass.
The event will happen on the 17th of February, at Compass, 81a Endell Street WC2H 9DX London, from 6 to 8 pm. Registration can be done here.
A new report from the Basic Income Canada Network (BICN) details how Canada could improve income security for everyone, with three options for a basic income for adults, while maintaining current child benefits for those under 18.
“We’ve seen interest in basic income grow far beyond theoretical debates. BICN is now frequently asked what it would look like in Canada,” said Chandra Pasma, a member of the BICN Advisory Council and co-author of the report. “Our report clearly shows there are multiple options Canadian governments could use to implement a successful basic income program.”
A basic income is an unconditional cash transfer from government to individuals to enable everyone to meet their basic needs, participate in society, and live with dignity, regardless of work status. The call for a basic income is growing, including from public health and environmental sectors, Nobel laureate economists, marginalized communities and people concerned about precarious work and technological disruption. The urgent need to reduce inequality and its costly consequences has led some researchers, advocates, and politicians to the conclusion that basic income is inevitable.
Statistics Canada’s Social Policy Simulation Database and Model (SPSD/M) was used to model the funding of the options, combining existing resources with changes to the tax/transfer system, including tax fairness measures. All options are based on BICN’s principles and goals–to reduce inequality, including inequality between women and men; prevent poverty; provide everyone with greater income security, including middle-income earners; and ensure the wealthiest individuals and corporations contribute their fair share. Each option in the report, Basic Income: Some Policy Options for Canada, meets these overall goals.
Option 1 is for 18-64 year olds based on household income, operating much like child benefits, with the $22,000/year ($31,113 for a couple) benefit amount gradually reducing as other income increases; seniors benefits remain in place.
Option 2 is similarly income-tested and is for all adults, including seniors.
Option 3 is a universal model, sometimes called a demogrant, that provides the same benefit amount to every individual adult.
“The options vary administratively so don’t get sidetracked by the size of the different up-front costs,” notes Sheila Regehr, Chair of BICN. “It doesn’t mean one is much more expensive than another. The options have similar results for people and they are all funded from similar sources.” The report also notes that other funding sources for a basic income are possible, as well as downstream savings that can help make it even more affordable.
“Basic income in Canada is not a question of possibilities, but of priorities,” said Regehr. “It is clear from child and seniors benefits that it works for many Canadians already. The federal government’s priority now must be to take leadership to make it work for everybody; we are all part of the future of this country.”
To download the full report, click here.
To download a summary of the report, click here.
