It already got shot down (lol) but wouldn't now be as good a time as ever?


Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) called for introducing a universal basic income (UBI) of $1,000 a month until coronavirus "no longer presents a public health emergency."

"Most Americans don't have that safety emergency bank account even for a short term, what to speak of if you're talking about weeks, or in this case people are looking at potentially months," Gabbard said in an interview on Hill.TV.

Her proposal, H.R. 897, would give a UBI of $1,000 per month to all adult Americans "until COVID-19 no longer presents a public health emergency."

https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/487471-tulsi-gabbard-proposes-ubi-amid-coronavirus-crisis

With places like New York and Illinois closing all bars and restaurants... The hell do they expect those workers to do, find new jobs?

https://www.newsweek.com/tulsi-gabbard-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-back-universal-basic-income-response-coronavirus-1492293

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) are calling for universal basic income (UBI) in response to the growing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Gabbard introduced legislation Friday that would provide a UBI payment of $1,000 per month to every American adult until the Department of Health and Human Services declares the outbreak is over.

"The coronavirus pandemic has created a threat to the health and well-being of the American people, as well as to our country's economic stability. While some in Washington are focused on taking care of Wall Street, everyday Americans get left behind. That's wrong," said Gabbard in a statement.

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Saying she's trying to take credit for UBI. Shit is toxic.

you'll find them.

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dumb. If you were all about Policy, then you should be happy that its getting adopted.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1239601226070753281

if she said she liked it somewhere lmk

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didn;t realize Vex rides for Tulsi too lollll

Republicans are going to run left of the Democrats on this over the next few years. They'll do it as fascists, and use the creation of a firmer social safety net as a way to reinforce white supremacy and to elbow out any marginalized people they can. But they'll sell it the same way as the Dems should, with an utterly reasonable grievance:

Why didn't the recovery address the needs of poor and working class people?

It's because they realize the things the Democrats refuse to, that the "socially liberal but fiscally responsible" thing is a startlingly unpopular position. It's visibility is due to its prevalence among our betters in traditional media, but nobody likes it. You can either swim against it by getting more racist or swim against it by taking the working class seriously, which doesn't just mean providing security - it means providing them political power.

Biden's probably not going to win, but even if he does, his victory would turn the party into a well-moneyed shell of itself, representing only people who take the NYT opinion section seriously.

and not just some half-baked effort to run a third-party candidate in the presidential election - but an actual organized effort on the local/state level - slowly but surely building momentum. Running a presidential candidate should be seen as the end-game for any new party.

But the two-party duopoly is washed and voters are ever-increasingly more repulsed by it.

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We are living in an era of hyper-partisanship.

Its all tribal.


Please, please, please stop projecting your bubble to be reality.

It isn't. How have you not learned this yet?


And please, for the love of everything, study some history. America is a two party system. It is literally set up that way. Its not changing because your Twitter feed is mad at Joe Biden.

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You guys ever get bored of trolling, whining and complaining while offering zero insight/facts?

Forget that more than half of Americans (57%) want a third (or even fourth) party - or that the under 40 electorate already essentially is comprised of third party voters:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/young-left-third-party/603232/

Let’s just listen to y’all and be nothing-will-ever-change cynics. Have fun with that.


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like Occupy Wall Street on the left and the Tea Party of the right was going to bring that fabled 3rd or 4th party. It didn’t happen then and it won’t happen now.

A 3rd party could have emerged and slowly built a base as you described by winning local/state/regional/national elections over the last 11 years but that never happened. Why would it happen now?

>A 3rd party could have emerged and slowly built a base as you
>described by winning local/state/regional/national elections
>over the last 11 years but that never happened. Why would it
>happen now?

It didn't work over the last 11 years because nobody took it seriously. The Greens and Libertarians aren't serious. They are poorly organized.


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Unless you can build a movement that outperforms at least one of the two current options from jump, you're going to get marginalized like any other third party initiative.

Lib Dems and UKIP in the UK shortly became relevant a few elections ago, and it caused a lot of raised eyebrows. Now they're firmly on the sidelines again, even with Labour in crisis over the past few years. The system just went back to a two-party equilibrium.

I don't think the lack of parties is the problem.

pops up all the time.

it also doesn't happen.


also: there is no right/left divide.
good talk

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and not the politicians who've actually implemented it like michael tubbs.

just people who they already like who do nothing, instead of cats who actually make it happen.

weird.

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everyone else can fuck off lol

https://twitter.com/MasterChiefAmed/status/1239681400573394952?s=20

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.

but yea - the selective GOP outrage at this type of proposal (while they don't blink twice at bailing out industries/wall street) is pretty rich.

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Some vague statements from Mnuchin about announcements to come, if I understood correctly.

All good.

To be clear, this isn't really UBI. The whole point of UBI is that it's a permanent thing. It's meant to change the fundamental structure of the economy. A lot of Democrats want to call it UBI so they can feel important. But this is an immediate economic stimulus, and the George W Bush administration literally did this multiple times. (Anyone shocked that Mitt Romney is on board is forgetting this recent history.)

It was the wrong strategy in the Bush years because then the goal was to increase consumer spending. The Obama administration recognized that people would be more likely to increase their spending if they got the extra money without noticing it, so they did (iirc) a payroll tax holiday in the stimulus bill.

In this case, the goal is not to increase consumer spending; it's emergency funding to help people cover rent and other unavoidable expenses while they're (hopefully temporarily) not able to work. For that, cash payments are better than a tax holiday (people who aren't working can't benefit from a payroll tax holiday), so it's good to see that they seem to be turning in this direction.

Just thinking this through, so I could be blind to some things.

I think any stimulus should be more targeted at the problem. The problem isn't a general lack of consumer demand. The demand is still there, people just can't access the businesses to spend.

The problem is that some businesses are being forced to shut/slow down due to this epidemic. Or sick/exposed folks can't go into work. As a result, those employees are going to be directly impacted. So money needs to go into those peoples' pockets.
Something like expanded (and quick) unemployment insurance, flexible paid family/medical leave (paid by the government, not the business).

I don't need $1,000. My situation has not changed due to this. All I'll do is save the extra money.

Also, I know we all hate business in here. But there needs to be some type of life line given to them to get through this. There are a lot of healthy businesses (particularly small business) that are not going to be here after this next month or two. Keeping them afloat will prevent a lot of economic pain in the future

I assume the argument against targeting is that it would require setting up rules, laws, bureaucracies, which would take too long to do. Meanwhile, people have immediate needs.

If it's just a matter of the Treasury cutting a check for everybody, that can be done in a week.

If we had a truly rational government, I imagine they'd do an immediate "check in the mail" stimulus right now and ALSO get quickly to work on something like the unemployment insurance expansions you mentioned for the months (or more) down the road.

>Also, I know we all hate business in here. But there needs to
>be some type of life line given to them to get through this.
>There are a lot of healthy businesses (particularly small
>business) that are not going to be here after this next month
>or two. Keeping them afloat will prevent a lot of economic
>pain in the future

I agree entirely. There'll be a hell of a lot of carnage if this lasts three months or more. And it will.

help people, ones that dont have jobs, ones that have been laid off, ones that have reduced hours, everyone

help small businesses, pretty much put on hold their expenses. if a company does not have demand then they need to close down while we go through this. those employees need help, the company owners need help. freeze lease/mortgage payments.

overall i think we need to help people with money and supplies while also putting a freeze on the economy. some business need to stay open because they provide services we need now. others not so much.

>help people, ones that dont have jobs, ones that have been
>laid off, ones that have reduced hours, everyone
>
>help small businesses, pretty much put on hold their expenses.
>if a company does not have demand then they need to close down
>while we go through this. those employees need help, the
>company owners need help. freeze lease/mortgage payments.
>
>overall i think we need to help people with money and supplies
>while also putting a freeze on the economy. some business need
>to stay open because they provide services we need now. others
>not so much.

It's starting to sound like they could quickly raise the limits on standard unemployment. That infrastructure (assuming it can still act under quarantine) could take care of at least rudimentary means testing so that someone like me (with a good steady job in an area where it's cheap to live) doesn't get as much support as, say, a restaurant worker in San Francisco. It's not just that I don't need a thousand dollar check. It's that my thousand dollars could go to much better use elsewhere.

and not viewed as an emergency stimulus -- but implementing this plan now could be useful as sort of a beta testing to see how it would actually operate in practice.

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So it may happen. Whether or not it helps.

https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-white-house-about-direct-cash-payment-plan-coronavirus-2020-3

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Maybe we shouldn't let this become an opportunity to make American genocide more efficient.

Anybody gonna die w/o a $1K check?

How many tests can we get for $1-2T?

That should be the priority, not the economy.

where decades happen".

Andrew Yang can take credit and can build an entire political career off of moving UBI into the overton window.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/tulsi-gabbard-drops-out-of-the-democratic-presidential-primary.html


Tulsi Gabbard said on Thursday that she has dropped out of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race, after failing to gain traction in any of the nominating contests or in national polls.

“I want you to hear this from me first, friend,” she said in an email to supporters announcing her dropout. “I owe you an incredible debt of gratitude for all you’ve done as the heart and soul of our people-powered campaign: Today, I’ve made the decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency.″


Gabbard, the representative from Hawaii who officially jumped into the race in February 2019, never gained traction in national polls and lagged in fundraising. Yet she was the last woman standing in a race that saw a record six female candidates.

In the Iowa caucuses, the first contest in the 2020 primary, Gabbard received 0% of the vote, NBC News reported. She had similar results in the New Hampshire primary, the Nevada caucuses and the South Carolina primary.

She has long been seen as a controversial figure in politics, often at odds with her own party.

During her candidacy, she highlighted her record as an Iraq War veteran who would fight for good paying jobs and affordable health care.

But early on, Gabbard’s campaign came under fire for past work with her father’s anti-gay advocacy group. Her decision in 2016 to join Republicans in demanding President Barack Obama use the term “radical Islamic terrorism” and her 2017 trip to meet with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad received renewed criticism on the campaign trail.

Gabbard apologized for her past anti-LGBTQ remarks and said her position on Assad was misunderstood. She moved to the left on social issues like gay marriage and supported “Medicare for All” and a $15 minimum wage.

Her 2020 campaign received a flood of attention in October when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested on a popular podcast that the Russians were grooming a third-party candidate, apparently referring to Gabbard, whose candidacy had been promoted on some Russian websites linked to 2016 election interference.

“I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate,” Clinton said. “She’s a favorite of the Russians.”

Gabbard dismissed the accusation and vowed not to run as a third-party candidate against Trump. In January, she sued Clinton, alleging defamation.

Gabbard had a stand-out moment during the first presidential debate, when she corrected Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan after he claimed that the Taliban committed the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

“The Taliban didn’t attack us on 9/11,” Gabbard shot back. “Al-Qaeda did.”

Her last debate performance was in November.

The White House's coronavirus stimulus plan could see every American get two $1,000 checks from the government within nine weeks, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Thursday.

The $1 trillion package the White House and Senate Republicans plan on presenting would provide every adult American with a $1,000 check, plus another $500 for each child. A family with two parents and two children, for example, would get $3,000.

"As soon as Congress passes this we'd get this out in three weeks, and then six weeks later, if the president still has a national emergency, we'll deliver another $3,000," Mnuchin said. Earlier in the week, Mnuchin had pointed to a two-week target to send out cash payments.

That portion would amount to half of the bill's overall spending.





Another $300 billion in the bill would be used to help businesses keep people on payroll and offer loan forgiveness for those that do after the crisis ends.

Already, unemployment claims have shot up by some 33 percent between the first two weeks of March.

A final $200 billion would be devoted to securing lending to airlines and other critical industries hit hard by the pandemic.

The bill would be the third, and largest, in the government's response to coronavirus. The first $8.3 billion law focused on health agencies and first responders, while the second, which Trump signed Wednesday, put roughly $104 billion toward emergency paid leave, free coronavirus testing and expanded unemployment insurance.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/488412-mnuchin-americans-could-get-two-coronavirus-stimulus-checks-within-9

People with no federal tax liability would get only $600.
^ does that mean if you get a refund or only people that are not required to file?

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-updates-senate-republicans-to-release-relief-bill.html

Cash payments of up to $1,200 would go to individuals, with up to $2,400 for couples. The sum would increase by $500 for every child. The check totals would start to phase out above $75,000 in adjusted gross income based on 2018 tax returns. People with no federal tax liability would get only $600.

It would extend the tax filing deadline to July 15 from April 15.

Under the legislation, corporations could delay estimated tax payments until Oct. 15. Employers and self-employed people could delay payroll taxes.

The bill allocates up to $50 billion for airlines, $8 billion for cargo air carriers, and $150 billion for other severely distressed businesses. The government has the right to “participate in the gains” of any business it lends money to.

For two years, no executive at a company receiving a business loan may make more than $425,000 in total compensation. Executives whose salary has already been determined through collective bargaining agreements may be exempt from that restriction.

Any company with less than 500 employees is entitled to a small business loan. The cap of that loan is either $10 million or the average of monthly payments. Businesses use the loan to pay for payroll including paid sick leave, salaries, mortgages, rent, utilities or other debt obligations.

The bill includes a range of measures to encourage the production of COVID-19 drug production and essential equipment such as masks and ventilators. It says all private health plans should cover testing without cost-sharing, and increases funding for community health centers. It also aims to spur the hiring of more health care professionals to fight the pandemic.

www.Tupreme.com

:)

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