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Why Andrew Yang’s push for a universal basic income is making a comeback

  • July 31, 2020

Perhaps those most suited to make a difference right now are businesses and corporations, Yang told CNBC, speaking ahead of his keynote address at an event called Citizen Verizon Assembly for advancing social change.

Large corporations especially have the resources right now to strengthen communities in need of assistance, he said. Many businesses have begun investing in organizations that are pushing for social change or investing in their own initiatives. 

Yang encouraged companies to understand the difference between just “adopting messaging around social change versus when they make real commitments and investments.” Financial investment into employees and communities ultimately “helps move us in a better direction,” he said. 

At the same, it’s understandably tough for businesses to make these investments as they navigate the effects of the pandemic, Yang added.

“We’ve put many businesses in an impossible situation where we want them to do the right thing by their workers, but they’re subject to economic pressures and reporting deadlines where if they show a downturn in revenue and profitability, then their stock is going to get punished if they’re a public company,” he said.

These investments would be part of a larger effort to change the way the economy works for Americans. The backbone of the U.S. economy hasn’t evolved to meet the needs of Americans, Yang said. “We’ve been pretending that our economy is still like it was in the 1970s or ’80s, where you had one job and you stayed at that job for decades,” he said. That job came with health insurance and benefits, things that are not as guaranteed today. Most jobs created today, he said, are gig, temp and contract jobs that don’t have security or benefits to them. 

In this way, he said, businesses can offer solutions to help and change the scope of the American workforce. 

And consumers will respond to their willingness to advance social change. “If a company were just to say, ‘Hey, I’m not in the business of doing good. I just want to operate my business just as if nothing has changed,’ I think that many consumers will probably be less excited about spending their dollars with those companies,” Yang said. 

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/29/why-andrew-yangs-push-for-a-universal-basic-income-is-making-a-comeback.html

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