WEALTH IS FREEDOM:

The first point of agreement between Republicans and proponents of UBI is about what the government is good at: relatively little. This is one of Yang's favorite points. A government program with a bunch of bureaucrats operating file-the-proper-paperwork mechanisms is bound to have some inefficiencies. But, as Yang points out, what the government does well is promptly and reliably sending out a load of checks in the mail. Republicans balk at the idea of UBI because it seems like an extreme version of your standard government handout. But it isn't. It actually eliminates most of the government subsidies against which Republicans have traditionally marshaled principled arguments.

The second point worth considering is what it means to put that money in the hands of individual Americans instead of the federal government. It is the ultimate vote for the free market. It's no longer the government dictating what the best use of that money would be. That money is going straight to the people who have the most intimate, on-the-ground knowledge of the particulars of their life circumstances: themselves. I can't personally imagine anyone more capable of doing the job--especially not a government bureaucrat. It is, in fact, the opposite of the government telling people what to do and how to do it.

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