re: One other common theme from the "Democratic" debates tonight

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Any Yang fans in here? So ive heard him talk a few times. The most lengthily on JRE. I have yet to really hear him pressed, so not answered on how implementing universal income would affect this country once inflation was accounted for. Has this ever been answered? I just imagine all goods would just be increased therefore making the universal wage increase meaningless to actual net income. Im open to learning why im wrong just havent heard it answered yet. Thanks.

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Supposedly it's getting funded with a national sales tax. If it truly did (doubtful) then obviously you wouldn't see price inflation, though in practice for the consumer there's not much difference between a sales tax or price inflation.

More to the point though, even if prices did go up (and they probably would, with or without a sales tax), some people are going to gain more than they lose in the exchange. The average American makes roughly $40,000 a year, so Yang's UBI would increase their income by 30%. Prices would have to increase 30% before they've lost out in real terms. If they only go up 10% (which would be quite the spike) then you're better off if your income went up 30%. Better to make $52,000 a year and have $33,000 in expenses than to make $40,000 a year and have $30,000 in expenses. For half the country the deal is even better, and you have to be spending quite a bit of money before it costs you unless the inflation is really high. For instance, if the spike were 10%, you'd need to be spending $120,000 a year for inflation to offset your $1,000 a month.

And I don't mean to say that's how it would actually play out. I have no idea how much inflation you'd actually see. Maybe you would see enough to offset any realistic gains for most people.
Further, Yang's made what was in my mind a ridiculous statement--that he would punish "white supremacists" and other double plus ungood thinkers by rendering them ineligible for UBI--which completely ruins the whole idea. Since inflation affects everyone, tying the force that's supposed to offset inflation to adherence to certain political views is odiously coercive.
All in all, I'm not big on it or him.

But that's the theory behind it. I don't think it's fundamentally unsound, which I did going into it. I do not trust the implementation at all though.