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.