Universal basic income (E4)
In this episode, Front Running looks at the signature policy from presidential candidate Andrew Yang. If Wall Street is getting richer thanks to the trillions of dollars the Fed has deployed to bailout the financial system, why shouldn't the ordinary citizen also get some of this 'free money?' Yang is proposing a $1000 per month no questions asked 'freedom dividend' for all US citizens. Is this a solution to the problems of globalization?
For this episode of Front Running, Max and Stacy are joined by guests, Sinclair Skinner, an entrepreneur with a background in engineering, Marshall Auerback, a market analyst and a researcher at the Levy Institute, and Josh Crumb, a businessman and former Wall Street banker. They discuss the issue of justice, and how voters feel they have been ripped off by the current political and economic setup, where only some are too big to fail. They also debate whether or not automation or trade deals are the route source of the declining incomes of the working class. Is a universal basic income the right answer? Would Bernie Sanders' idea for a 'jobs guarantee' work better? And what about the ideas from the right rather than the left? F.A. Hayek, the Austrian-British economist, had originally proposed a sort of universal basic income (UBI) policy decades ago, when he suggested that a minimum floor would create a fairer market for jobs, as it would put the employee on a more level playing field with employer. Tune in to learn more about the possibilities and perils of UBI.