Hi, I'm Anthony Galli and Bernie Sanders was asked recently
if he supported a Universal Basic Income and here was his response...
I understand that idea and I have a better idea… I think in a nation in which there
is so much work to be done… just think about it… You got an infrastructure which is crumbling,
we can put millions of people to work doing that, transforming our energy system, in terms
of weatherizing homes all over this country, building a more efficient transportation system,
putting more money into wind and solar and other sustainable technologies we can create
millions of jobs doing that. You want a world-class child care center? You need well-educated,
well-trained, well-paid child care workers. We need more doctors in rural areas and in
urban areas we need more nurses. We have a dental crisis all over this country. We need
to train dentists and get them out there. We need more social workers. You want to reform
our criminal justice system? You are gonna need people to start working with prisoners.
You want kids not dropping out of high school? You need mentors working with them. There
is an enormous amount of work to be done and what we believe in is guaranteeing a job in
this country to anybody who is prepared to work. I think that's the better approach!
I think Bernie is 50% correct. As I said in a previous video: AS LONG AS THERE ARE PROBLEMS
IN THE WORLD THERE IS A JOB TO BE DONE. Bernie highlighted some of those problems and for
fun I’ll throw a few more into the mix: We have HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people illegally
crossing the border between legal ports of entry every year. Let’s hire thousands
of more border patrol agents. We have courts that are so backed up by legal cases that
defense attorneys often pressure their clients to take plea deals.
Let's hire more judges so our legal system can be more just. We have police officers who are
overworked and undertrained, especially in our inner cities. Let’s hire more police.
We have cities covered in rust, graffiti, and liter. Let’s put people to work beautifying
our cities through the use of artwork and cleanup and reimagining unused public spaces.
Who will rule the world depends upon who will win the AI arms race between the United States
and China. We MUST train and hire more engineers. Let’s also explore space! This alone has
the potential to create as many jobs as there are stars. => Those are just a few ideas.
I welcome you to include more in the comments if you'd like. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve
been writing for years about the threat automation presents to labor, but let’s not ignore
the problems right under our noses by becoming fixated on the horizon. Now where I disagree
with Bernie is on a “Job Guarantee”. The idea of a Job Guarantee is that it aims to
=> create full employment and price stability, by having the state promise to hire unemployed
workers as an employer of last resort. => Now on paper this may sound like a good idea,
but in reality it would destroy our economy. And here’s why… The American political
left would NOT use the federal government strictly as an ELR. No, no, no. You could
be guarding a garbage can and Bernie Sanders would want to pay you a “living wage”
plus benefits. According to his Jobs-for-All plan, “Sanders wants the government to provide
guaranteed jobs at $15 an hour, plus benefits.” Private companies wouldn’t be able to compete
with such a cushy offer from the federal government. Just look at the math: 44% of Americans make
under $15 an hour. 44%! This means it would be in the economic self-interest of over 50
million Americans to line up for a government job. Businesses will therefore be forced to
dramatically increase their pay in order to keep their workers from leaving to go work
for the government, but labor is already the largest cost for business with 50% of businesses
going out of business in their first 5 years. And the first businesses to close won’t
be Walmart and Amazon as some on the left would like to imagine. Instead it will be
Mom & Pop shops and startups. There is a reason why Walmart ACTIVELY lobbies for a higher
minimum wage and it's because they know it kills their competition. You see big business
loves big government. The 1% love the 1%. So if Bernie gets his way we’ll all live
like small cogs working for a highly inefficient government bureaucracy or a highly inefficient
corporate monopoly. Then after the small fish die a lot of the big fish will eventually
leave/die too. => The Cycle: Businesses close/move-abroad => Government hires => Taxes rise => Businesses
close/move-abroad => Government hires => Taxes rise => etc… (eventually
economic collapse) => Not to mention that as more and more of the labor force is made
up of government workers they’d have more and more political leverage to demand even
higher pay. It’s like if you worked for a business where you had the ability to vote
for your boss. You’d end up with a boss who expects little and pays a lot. Such a
business would quickly go out of business, but since we are talking about the government
they don’t have to worry about that problem. I believe a far more practical solution than
a guaranteed income or guaranteed job is for the government to focus on keeping unemployment
below 5% — when it rises: cut taxes/increase spending — when it drops: increase taxes/cut
spending. Economists think in terms of percentages. Voters prefer absolutes.
But if these “guarantees” were so smart then why haven’t they been implemented by
the socialist Meccas, such as Norway and Sweden? Or why weren’t they implemented long ago?
Inequality is not new. In fact it is the historical norm. It’s because they aren’t actually
smart proposals, but are the sort of policy proposals that sound smart to an ever-growing
number of ignorant voters who can’t even name the 3 branches of government and yet
have the arrogance to vote for who gets to sit in those branches. We live in a country
where the “right to vote” outweighs the responsibility to get informed first, which
means if you’re a politician all you have to do is promise FREE and GUARANTEED and you’ll
be labeled a “visionary” by a media that panders to the lowest common denominator.