Who should be the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee?

Andrew Yang will introduce Universal Basic Income

Question: Who should be the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee?
Position‹7 of 8›: Andrew Yang
Argument‹2 of 2: Andrew Yang will introduce Universal Basic Income

Andrew Yang understands the coming technological disruption, and the need to rethink labor and income. He will address this by introducing Universal Basic Income (UBI).

The argument

Yang proposes offering a "Freedom Dividend", a UBI paying every American over 18 $1000 per month, in order to combat job loss due to automation. This comes at a time when no other politicians have a plan for this massive shift which would leave many more people unemployed with no form of income. Yang will pay for this by instituting a value-added tax raised from companies profiting from automation. A study by the Roosevelt Institute suggested that this policy could grow the economy by 2.62 per cent and expand the workforce by 1.1 million.

Context

The idea of Universal Basic Income is a support system in which all citizens, regardless of existing means or employment, receive a certain amount of income from the state.

Premises

[P1]Automation is poised to eliminate large numbers of jobs, leaving many Americans without income and no other candidate has a plan to address this. [P2] Yang's Freedom Dividend would provide every American adult $1000 per month, funded by a value-added tax on companies profiting from automation. [P3] Independent analysis suggests this UBI would grow the economy by 2.62 percent and expand the workforce by 1.1 million. [C] Therefore, Andrew Yang should be the 2020 Democratic nominee because he will introduce a needed and economically beneficial Universal Basic Income.

Counter-arguments

UBI is not a realistic policy. Its price tag alone of $2 trillion equates to about half of the federal budget. It could introduce a whole host of new problems, such as less people wanting to work or landlords simply raising rent in response, meaning those who need UBI the most would face a disproportionate rise in costs as it came about. Additionally, UBI would propose to replace welfare, meaning that the highest net gain would go to the upper and middle classes who do not currently need or use welfare.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] An UBI is not the most efficient way to fairly provide a safety net to citizens.