New York entrepreneur and 2020 presidential long shot Andrew Yang visited New Hampshire Wednesday to make stops at the True Brew Barista coffee shop in Concord and N.H. Democratic Party headquarters.
Yang is going all in on "Universal Basic Income" for his campaign. He says all Americans age 18-64 should get $1,000 a month from the government in order to stem the wealth gap and the effects of job loss from automation.
Local high-schooler Michael Leung just stopped in at True Brew to get tea, but ended up chatting with Yang for a bit.
“I think $1,000 a month is a little extreme, but it does sound like a great step forward for equality and the wealth gap,” says Leung, who was familiar with the idea of a Universal Basic Income before meeting Yang.
Opponents say the proposal is unaffordable, but Yang points to entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, who have also gotten behind the idea.
“They know that we are going through the greatest economic and technological transition in human history and we need to get in front of it,” Yang says. “We need our government to catch up to where technology is.”
Yang will test his idea starting with New Hampshire. He says he'll give one Granite Stater $1,000 of his own money every month for a year.
“The goal is to illustrate the impact a thousand dollars a month can have on a family or a household here in New Hampshire and putting my money where my mouth is,” says Yang.
Here's Yang speaking about his proposed "freedom dividend":
