Time for Universal Basic Income in U.S.
Recent news headlines declared that 89% of Rental Assistant Funds had not yet been distributed. Tied up in an ineffective bureaucracy, people in need are left wanting.
Andrew Yang, recent presidential and New York City mayoral candidate, proposed Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a way to deliver government assistance to the populace. UBI provides every citizen with a regular payment, regardless of means, to use in any way they desire. There may be an age requirement, e.g. 18 or older, but fundamentally everyone receives government money to do with as they choose.
On the flip side, UBI would replace myriad government programs designed to support the public, including unemployment assistance, food and housing subsidy, health care and education aid, among others. UBI can eliminate a great deal of bureaucracy and, for the most part, the opportunity for corruption and theft. Further, it gives the government an easy, fast and efficient way to provide help during national emergencies such as the covid pandemic, and regional calamities such as hurricanes, fires and floods by temporally dialing-up the amount of money delivered to affected persons.
The concept of Universal Basic Income may have caught the country unaware when introduced by Yang, but time has come for it to be seriously considered.
Larry Jordan
Amsterdam
Trump bears brunt of Afghanistan debacle
Kori Shake is a foreign policy expert who worked for the National Security Council and the State Department during George W. Bush’s administration and is director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. She had this to say about Donald Trump’s February 2020 peace agreement with the Taliban:
Mr. Trump agreed to withdraw all coalition forces from Afghanistan in 14 months, end all military and contractor support to Afghan security forces and cease “intervening in its domestic affairs.”
He forced the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban fighters and relax economic sanctions. He agreed that the Taliban could continue to commit violence against the government we were there to support, against innocent people and against those who’d assisted our efforts to keep Americans safe.
All the Taliban had to do was say they would stop targeting U.S. or coalition forces, not permit Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations to use Afghan territory to threaten U.S. security and subsequently hold negotiations with the Afghan government.
Several days ago, the Republican National Committee deleted their praise of Trump’s “historic peace agreement” from their website. It’s clear that Trump and the Republican Party own the lion’s share of the Afghan debacle. Nevertheless, they’re pointing the finger of condemnation at President Biden in an effort to shift the blame to him.
And nevertheless, Trump’s supporters will eat the pap that’s shoved down their throats with the gusto of a hungry hound dog.
Walter Wouk
Summit
Is Saratoga a superspreader site?
Just wondering – has anyone else considered that the Saratoga racetrack and the night life in Saratoga might be a superspreader for the coronavirus?
I read negative remarks about motorcycle rallies and other large gatherings, but we’re pretty “guilty” right here in the Capital District. And we wonder why infection numbers are rising?
Ethel Robinson
Schoharie
