This was outstanding Ed Dolan, thank you for writing it.

One thing that I’m wondering is what you think of Andrew Yang’s version of UBI. I’ve read Mr. Yang’s book The War on Normal People which seems to fit into the “futurist” perspective that you described. I find his case compelling, although as with pretty much everything I run across, I have my doubts.

In particular, if I’m remembering this correctly, Mr. Yang’s proposal is that people who are receiving the current smorgasbord of benefits would get to choose whether they want to keep receiving those benefits or receive UBI. So UBI wouldn’t stack on current benefits, but it wouldn’t completely replace them. Your position seems to be that one of the best ways to defray the cost is by getting rid of as many existing programs as possible.

I’m curious, is Mr. Yang’s plan feasible and do you think he can cover the cost with his proposed value added tax?

Thanks again for your outstanding article.