yang-policies

[ { "title": "The Freedom Dividend", "url": "https://www.yang2020.com/policies/the-freedom-dividend/", "description": "Andrew would implement the Freedom Dividend, a universal basic income of $1,000/month, $12,000 a year, for every American adult over the age of 18. This is independent of one’s work status or any other factor. This would enable all Americans to pay their bills, educate themselves, start businesses, be more creative, stay healthy, relocate for work, spend time with their children, take care of loved ones, and have a real stake in the future.\nOther than regular increases to keep up the cost of living, any change to the Freedom Dividend would require a constitutional amendment.\n\n It will be illegal to lend or borrow against one’s Dividend.\nA Universal Basic Income at this level would permanently grow the economy by 12.56 to 13.10 percent—or about $2.5 trillion by 2025—and it would increase the labor force by 4.5 to 4.7 million people. Putting money into people’s hands and keeping it there would be a perpetual boost and support to job growth and the economy.\nLearn more about Universal Basic Income", "problems_to_be_solved": [ "Approx. 40 million Americans live below the poverty line.", "Technology is quickly displacing a large number of workers, and the pace will only increase as automation and other forms of artificial intelligence become more advanced. ⅓ of American workers will lose their jobs to automation by 2030 according to McKinsey. This has the potential to destabilize our economy and society if unaddressed.", "Good jobs are becoming more and more scarce and Americans are already working harder and harder for less and less.", "It is necessary to support and preserve a robust consumer economy.", "Many Americans are stuck in the wrong jobs because of a need to survive.", "There are many positive social activities that are currently impossible for many to do because they lack the financial resources to dedicate time to it, including taking care of a child or sick loved one, and volunteering in the community." ], "main_quote": "The most direct and concrete way for the government to improve your life is to send you a check for $1,000 every month and let you spend it in whatever manner will benefit you the most. The government is not capable of a lot of things, but it is capable of sending large numbers of checks to large numbers of people promptly and reliably. We have plenty of resources, they’re just not being distributed to enough people right now. Let’s build a new kind of economy – one that puts people first. If there’s one policy that would transform American lives for the better, it is Universal Basic Income.", "goals": [ "End poverty in the most direct manner possible: giving people money", "Move our economy into its next stage of development – human capitalism – with a focus on improving everyone’s quality of living", "Prevent the massive disruption that will accompany the rapid development and adoption of automation and other AI technologies", "Allow people the freedom to switch jobs, move, innovate, and contribute to society", "Turbo-charge the economy by providing income to those who are most likely to spend it" ], "as_president": "As President, I will…\n\n Implement the Freedom Dividend, providing Universal Basic Income of $1,000/month to all American adults over the age of 18 so that we may all share in the prosperity we have contributed to and participate in the new economy.", "excerpt": "Universal Basic Income, or UBI, is a version of Social Security where all citizens receive a set amount of money per month independent of their work status or income. Everyone from a hedge fund billionaire in New York to an impoverished single mom in West Virginia would receive a monthly check of $1,000. If someone is working as a waitress or construction worker making $18,000, he or she would essentially be making $30,000. UBI eliminates the disincentive to work that most people find troubling about traditional welfare programs – if you work you could actually start saving and get ahead. With the growing threat of automation, the concept has gained renewed attention, with trials being run in Oakland, Canada, and Finland as well as in India and other parts of the developing world.Today, people tend to associate Universal Basic Income with technology utopians. But a form of UBI almost became law in the United States in 1970 and 1971, passing the House of Representatives twice before stalling in the Senate. Versions of the idea have been championed by robust thinkers of every political persuasion for decades, including some of the most admired figures in American life. Here’s a sampling:", "citations": [ { "author": "Thomas Paine, 1796", "quote": "“Out of a collected fund from landowners, “there shall be paid to every person, when arrived at the age of twenty-one years, the sum of fifteen pounds sterling, as a compensation in part, for the loss of his or her natural inheritance,. . . to every person, rich or poor.”" }, { "author": "Martin Luther King Jr., 1967", "quote": "“I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective — the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income.”" }, { "author": "Richard Nixon, August 1969", "quote": "“What I am proposing is that the Federal Government build a foundation under the income of every American family . . . that cannot care for itself–and wherever in America that family may live.”" }, { "author": "Milton Friedman (Nobel-winning economist), 1980", "quote": "“We should replace the ragbag of specific welfare programs with a single comprehensive program of income supplements in cash — a negative income tax . . . which would do more efficiently and humanely what our present welfare system does so inefficiently and inhumanely.”" }, { "author": "Bernie Sanders, May 2014", "quote": "“In my view, every American is entitled to at least a minimum standard of living . . .There are different ways to get to that goal, but that’s the goal that we should strive to reach.”" }, { "author": "Stephen Hawking, July 2015", "quote": "“Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality.”" }, { "author": "Barack Obama, June and October 2016", "quote": "“The way I describe it is that, because of automation, because of globalization, we’re going to have to examine the social compact, the same way we did early in the 19th century and then again during and after the Great Depression. The notion of a 40-hour workweek, a minimum wage, child labor laws, etc. – those will have to be updated for these new realities. What is indisputable . . . is that as AI gets further incorporated, and the society potentially gets wealthier, the link between production and distribution, how much you work and how much you make, gets further and further attenuated . . . we’ll be debating unconditional free money over the next 10 or 20 years.”" }, { "author": "Warren Buffett, January 2017", "quote": "“you have to figure out how to distribute it . . . people who fall by the wayside through no fault of their own as the goose lays more golden eggs should still get a chance to participate in that prosperity, and that’s where government comes in.”" }, { "author": "Bill Gates, January 2017", "quote": "“A problem of excess [automation] forces us to look at the individuals affected and take those extra resources and make sure they’re directed to them in terms of re-education and income policies . . .” (Gates later suggested taxing robots.)”" }, { "author": "Elon Musk, February, 2017", "quote": "“I think we’ll end up doing universal basic income . . . It’s going to be necessary . . .There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better. I want to be clear. These are not things I wish will happen; these are things I think probably will happen.”" }, { "author": "Mark Zuckerberg, May 2017", "quote": "“We should explore . . . universal basic income so that everyone has a cushion to try new ideas.”" }, { "author": "Nicole Sallak-Anderson, June 2017", "quote": "“Creating a world where UBI is our foundation would go a lot further towards equality between the sexes, for in doing so we acknowledge that the work of the home is real, and we free women from the economic constraints that childrearing has come to bear upon us, much more than our male counterparts.”" } ] }, { "title": "Medicare for All", "url": "https://www.yang2020.com/policies/medicare-for-all/", "description": "Access to quality healthcare is one of the most important factors in overall well being, and yet America is one of the few industrialized nations not to provide healthcare for all of its citizens. Instead, we have a private healthcare system that leaves millions uninsured and bankrupts even some of those who do have health insurance. At the same time, our cost of care is higher than in almost any other industrialized country while providing worse outcomes. The Affordable Care Act was a step in the right direction, providing funds to states to innovate while expanding Medicaid substantially. However, it didn’t address the fundamental issues plaguing our healthcare system:\n\n Access to medicine isn’t guaranteed to all citizens\nThe incentives for healthcare providers don’t align with providing quality, efficient care\n\n This must change.\nThrough a Medicare for All system, we can ensure that all Americans receive the healthcare they deserve. Not only will this raise the quality of life for all Americans, but, by increasing access to preventive care, it will also bring overall healthcare costs down.\nWith a shift to a Medicare for All system, costs can also be controlled directly by setting prices provided for medical services. The best approach is highlighted by the top-ranked Cleveland Clinic. There, doctors are paid a flat salary instead of by a price-for-service model. This shift has led to a hospital where costs are visible and under control. Redundant tests are at a minimum, and physician turnover is much lower than at comparable hospitals.\n\n Doctors also report being more involved with their patients. Since they’re salaried, there’s no need to churn through patient after patient. Instead, they can spend the proper amount of time to ensure that each patient receives their undivided attention and empathy.\nOutside of a shift to a Medicare for All system, we can look to the Southcentral Foundation for another important shift necessary in the way we treat patients: holistic approaches. At this treatment center for native Alaskans, mental and physical problems are both investigated, and, unsurprisingly, the two are often linked. By referring patients to psychologists during routine physicals, doctors are able to treat, for example, both the symptoms of obesity and the underlying mental health issue that often is related to the issue. The referral also leads people with issues they may otherwise try to bury – sexual abuse, addictions, or domestic violence issues – to bring them up with a doctor so that they can be addressed.\nBy providing holistic healthcare to all our citizens, we’ll drastically increase the average quality of life, extend life expectancy, and treat issues that often go untreated. We’ll also be able to bring costs under control and outcomes up, as most other industrialized nations have.\nFinally, being tied to an employer so that you don’t lose your healthcare prevents economic mobility. It’s important that people feel free to seek out new opportunities, and our current employer-provided healthcare system prevents that.", "problems_to_be_solved": [ "Millions of Americans live without healthcare.", "Even those with healthcare are often bankrupted by healthcare costs.", "Many Americans who have healthcare have policies that don’t afford them the opportunity to receive proper care.", "Healthcare costs in this country are relatively high, and outcomes are relatively poor.", "Doctors are incentivized to act as factory workers, churning through patients and prescribing redundant tests, rather than doing what they’d prefer—spending extra time with each patient to ensure overall health.", "Many health issues fall through the cracks because doctors rely on patients to bring up issues rather than treating each one holistically.", "Employees are tied to their employers because they receive the healthcare benefits through them." ], "main_quote": "Healthcare should be a basic right for all Americans. Right now, if you get sick you have two things to worry about – how to get better and how to pay for it. Too many Americans are making terrible, impossible choices between paying for healthcare and other needs. We need to provide high-quality healthcare to all Americans and a Medicare for All system is the most efficient way to accomplish that. It will be a massive boost to our economy as people will be able to start businesses and change jobs without fear of losing their health insurance.", "goals": [ "Holistic healthcare for all Americans", "Bend the cost curve of healthcare down", "Focus on preventive and holistic care", "Change the incentive structure for doctors", "Allow doctors and hospitals to innovate in treatment" ], "as_president": "As President, I will…\n\n Work with Congress to create a Medicare for All system to provide healthcare to all Americans.\nShift the way doctors are compensated to promote holistic and empathic care.\nCreate incentives for and invest in innovative treatment methods and methodologies.", "excerpt": "As jobs disappear and temporary employment becomes more prevalent, reforming our health care system will be more and more crucial. Right now, most of us rely upon our employers to pay for and provide health insurance. This will be increasingly difficult to sustain as jobs with benefits become harder and harder to come by. On the consumer side, spiraling health care costs have already become a crushing burden for Americans. Health care bills were the number one cause of personal bankruptcy in 2013 and a study that year found that 56 million Americans – over 20% of the adult population – struggled with health care expenses they couldn’t afford to pay. We’ve all seen and heard the horror stories of people coming back from the hospital with a bill for tens of thousands of dollars. For many Americans it’s a double whammy if you get sick – you not only have to deal with the illness or injury but you have to figure out how to pay for treatment.In general, the use of technology has not transformed health care the way that optimists would hope. Health care costs have continued to climb to a record 17.8% of the economy in 2016, up from 11.4% in 1989 and less than 6% in 1960. We spend about twice what other industrialized countries do on health care per capita to lesser results. According to a 2014 Commonwealth Fund report, we are last among major industrialized nations in efficiency, equity and health outcomes attributable to medical care despite spending much more than anyone else. Another study had the U.S. last among developed countries in basic measurements like the rate of women dying due to pregnancy or childbirth and rate of survival to age 5. To the extent that new technology is used, it tends to be expensive new devices and implants that drive costs ever higher. The basic practice of medicine, as well as the training, is the same as it’s been for decades.Our job-based health insurance system does the very thing we most want to avoid – it discourages businesses from hiring. For employers, company-subsidized health insurance costs are a major impediment to hiring and growth. The costs get very high for senior people with families – my last company was spending more than $2,500 a month on certain people’s insurance plans. If these costs weren’t on our books we definitely would have hired more people. Health insurance also pushes companies to make as many employees as possible into part-time gig workers or contractors.On the worker side, tons of people hang on to jobs that they do not want to be in just for the health insurance. Economists refer to this as “job lock;” it makes the labor market much less dynamic, which is bad in particular for young workers.As jobs disappear, having one’s health care linked to employment will become increasingly untenable. The need for a different approach is growing.Health care is not truly subject to market dynamics for a host of reasons. In a normal marketplace, companies compete for your business by presenting different value propositions and you make an informed choice. With health care, you typically only have a few options. You have no idea what the real differences are between different providers and doctors. Costs are high and extremely unpredictable, making it hard to budget for them. The complexity leaves many Americans overwhelmed and highly suggestible to experts or institutions. When you actually do get sick or injured, you become cost-insensitive trying to get well. Hospitals often employ opaque pricing, resulting in patient uncertainty over what their insurance will actually cover. Moreover, when you’re ill, it’s possible your faculties can be impaired because of illness, emotional distress or even unconsciousness.As Steven Brill wrote in his seminal Time magazine article on health care costs, “Unless you are protected by Medicare, the health care market is not a market at all. It’s a crapshoot.” The lack of real market discipline or cost control incentives has driven costs ever higher. Technology that should decrease costs has been kept at the door because for most actors in the system, the goal is to increase revenue and profitability. The more services, tests, appointments, procedures and expensive gadgets you use, the better. The system rewards activity and output over health improvements and outcomes.Changing these incentives is key.", "citations": [] }, { "title": "Human-Centered Capitalism", "url": "https://www.yang2020.com/policies/human-capitalism/", "description": "Capitalism as an economic system has led to unparalleled innovation and improvement in the human condition. Many consider it to have “won” the war of ideas against socialism, but that simplistic view ignores that there is no such thing as a pure Capitalist system. And our current version of institutional capitalism and corporatism is a relatively recent development.\nOur current emphasis on corporate profits isn’t working for the vast majority of Americans. This will only be made worse by the development of automation technology and AI.\nWe need to move to a new form of capitalism – Human Capitalism – that’s geared towards maximizing human well-being and fulfillment. The central tenets of Human Capitalism are:\n\n Humans are more important than money\nThe unit of a Human Capitalism economy is each person, not each dollar\nMarkets exist to serve our common goals and values\n\n The focus of our economy should be to maximize human welfare. Sometimes this aligns with a purely capitalist approach, where different entities compete for the best ideas. But there are plenty of times when a capitalist system leads to suboptimal outcomes. Think of an airline refusing to honor your ticket because they can get more money from a customer who purchases last-minute, or a pharmaceutical company charging extortionate rates for a life-saving drug because the customers are desperate.", "problems_to_be_solved": [ "At present, the Market systematically tends to undervalue many things, activities, and people, many of which are core to the human experience." ], "main_quote": "We need to make the markets serve us rather than the other way around. Profit-seeking companies are organized to maximize their bottom line at every turn which will naturally lead to extreme policies and outcomes. We need government leaders who are truly laser-focused on the public interest above all else and will lead companies to act accordingly.", "goals": [ "Make the economy work for Americans, not the other way around", "Direct capital to investments to improve human welfare, not to enrich the wealthiest Americans", "Create measurements around people, not dollars" ], "as_president": "As President, I will…\n\n Change the way we measure the economy, from GDP and the stock market to a more inclusive set of measurements that ensures humans are thriving, not barely making it by. New measurements like Median Income and Standard of Living, Health-adjusted Life Expectancy, Mental Health, Childhood Success Rates, Social and Economic Mobility, Absence of Substance Abuse, and others will give us a much clearer and more powerful sense of how we are doing both individually and as a society.\nRein in corporate excesses by appointing regulators who are paid a lot of money – competitive with senior jobs in the private sector – but then will be prohibited from going to private industry afterward. Regulators need to be focused on making the right decisions and policies for the public with zero concern for their next position.\nThe government’s goal should be to drive individuals and organizations to find new ways to improve the standards of living of individuals and families on these dimensions. In order to spur development, the government should issue a new currency – the Digital Social Credit – which can be converted into dollars and used to reward people and organizations who drive significant social value. This new currency would allow people to measure the amount of good that they have done through various programs and actions.", "excerpt": "Imagine an AI life coach with the voice of Oprah or Tom Hanks trying to help parents stay together or raise kids. Or a new Legion of Builders and Demolishers that install millions of solar panels across the country, upgrade our infrastructure and remove derelict buildings while also employing tens of thousands of workers. Or a digital personalized education subscription that is constantly giving you new material and grouping you with a few other people who are studying the same thing. Or a wearable device that monitors your vital signs and sends data to your doctor while recommending occasional behavior changes. Or voting securely in your local elections via your smartphone without any worry of fraud.Each of these scenarios is possible right now with current technology. But the resources and market incentives for them do not exist. There is limited or no market reward at present for keeping families together or upgrading infrastructure or lifelong education or preventative care or improving democracy. While our smartphones get smarter each season propelled by tens of billions of dollars, our voting machines, bridges, and schools languish in the 1960s.This is what we must change.At present, the Market systematically tends to undervalue many things, activities, and people, many of which are core to the human experience. Consider:And now, increasingly,There were periods when the Market supported some of these things more than it does today. Today, it needs to be steered to do so. The U.S. has reached a point where its current form of capitalism is faltering in producing an increasing standard of living for the majority of its citizens. It’s time for an upgrade.The Next Stage of CapitalismAdam Smith, the Scottish Economist who wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776, is often regarded as the father of modern Capitalism. His ideas of the Invisible Hand that guides the market, division of labor, and that self-interest and competition lead to wealth creation have been so deeply internalized that today we take most of them for granted. Our general thinking today is to contrast ‘Capitalism’ with ‘Socialism,’ which arose in the 1800s and advocated social ownership or democratic control of industries. Karl Marx published Das Kapital in 1867 and argued that capitalism contained internal tensions that would oppress the working class who would eventually rise up and take control. Our perception is that Capitalism – embodied by the West and the United States – won the war of ideas by generating immense growth and wealth and elevating the standard of living of billions of people. Socialism – represented by the Soviet Union which collapsed in 1991 and China which moderated its approach in the 1980s – didn’t work in practice and was thoroughly discredited.This simplistic assessment misses a couple important points. First, there is no such thing as a pure Capitalist system. There have been many different forms of Western capitalist economies going back centuries ever since money was invented around seven thousand years ago. The market feudalism of the Middle Ages evolved into the expansionist Mercantilism of European trading companies, which evolved into the Industrial Capitalism of 20th century America, and into the Welfare Capitalism of the 1960s when the U.S. and many other advanced countries established safety net programs like Social Security and Medicaid. Our current form of institutional capitalism and corporatism is just the latest of many different versions.Similarly, there are many forms of capitalism in service around the world right now. Singapore is the 4th richest country in the world in terms of per capita GDP. It has had an unemployment rate of 2.2% or lower since 2009 and is regarded as one of the most free and open, pro-business economies in the world. Yet the government in Singapore regularly shapes investment policy and government-linked firms dominate telecommunications, finance, and media in ways that would be unthinkable in the U.S. Singapore’s system of capitalism is very different than Norway’s and Japan’s and Canada’s and ours. Many countries’ form of capitalism is steered not by an unseen hand, but by clear government policy.Now imagine a new type of capitalist economy that is geared toward maximizing human well-being and fulfillment. These goals and GDP would sometimes go hand-in-hand. But there would be times when they wouldn’t be aligned. For example, an airline removing passengers who had already boarded a plane to maximize its profitability would be good for capital but bad for people. So would a drug company charging extortionate rates for a life-saving drug. Most Americans would agree that the airline should simply accept the lost revenue and the drug company should accept a moderate profit margin. What if this idea was repeated over and over again throughout the economy?Call it Human-centered Capitalism, or Human Capitalism for short.Human Capitalism has a few core tenets:There’s a saying in business that “what gets measured gets managed for.” We need to start measuring different things.The concept of GDP and economic progress didn’t even exist until the Great Depression. It was invented so that the government could figure out how bad the economy was getting and how to make it better. Economist Simon Kuznets, upon introducing GDP to Congress in 1934 remarked that “Economic welfare cannot be adequately measured unless the personal distribution of income is known. And no income measurement undertakes to estimate the reverse side of income, that is, the intensity and unpleasantness of effort going into the earning of income. The welfare of a nation can, therefore, scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income as defined above.” It’s almost like he saw income inequality and bad jobs coming.Our economic system must shift to focus on bettering the lot of the average person. Capitalism has to be made to serve human ends and goals, rather than have our humanity subverted to serve the Marketplace. We shape the system. We own it, not the other way around.In addition to GDP and job statistics, the government should adopt measurements like:It would be straightforward to establish measurements for each of these and have them updated periodically, similar to what Steve Ballmer set up at USAFacts.org. Everyone could then see how we’re doing and be galvanized around improvement.Human Capitalism will reshape the way that we measure value and progress, and help us redefine why we do what we do. It’s time to build an economy that makes people’s lives better. The market must serve us, not the other way around.", "citations": [] }, { "title": "Improve the American Scorecard", "url": "https://www.yang2020.com/policies/measuring-the-economy/", "description": "Traditionally, the economy has been measured by looking at the gross domestic product (GDP) or the stock market. Employment rates and household income are also used to measure how the average worker is doing.\nHowever, even the creator of the GDP admits that it doesn’t really reflect the full story. And, as economic inequality rises and the fruits of society’s labors accrue to fewer individuals, it’s become obvious that we need to expand our definition of economic prosperity past a single number. The bottom 80% of Americans only own 8% of stocks and rising GDP has virtually no relationship with each citizen’s wellbeing.\nWhen you measure something, you implicitly set your policy goals. By focusing our measurement on GDP, we’ve promoted production over all else. It’s time to start measuring economic prosperity using a wider index that measures human as well as monetary indicators, such as (but not limited to):\n\n Quality of life and health-adjusted life expectancy\nHappiness/Well-Being and Mental Health\nEnvironmental quality\nAffordability\nChildhood success rates\nUnderemployment\nIncome Inequality\nConsumer and Student Debt\nWork and civic engagement levels\nVolunteerism\nInfant mortality\nQuality of infrastructure\nAccess to education\nMarriage and divorce rates\nSubstance abuse and related deaths\nNational optimism\nPersonal dynamism/economic mobility\n\n In short, why use GDP as a proxy for how Americans are doing when we can easily measure that well-being directly? Let’s start an American Scorecard, directly measuring the things we should be focusing on.", "problems_to_be_solved": [ "Focus on a single number skews policy directives.", "GDP doesn’t take into account economic inequality." ], "main_quote": "Our economic system needs to be updated for a new era. GDP and profitability are increasingly unrelated to how most of us are doing in real life. We need to implement a new set of measures like mental health, happiness, childhood success and quality-adjusted life expectancy that actually indicate our progress as a society and then channel resources to improving them. We don't exist to serve the market. The market exists to serve us.", "goals": [ "Refocus our measuring tools to better capture the actual economic/well-being of the American people", "Set policy goals against measurable indicators of well-being", "Make an American Scorecard to measure progress on these goals" ], "as_president": "As President, I will…\n\n Create the American Scorecard to:\n\n Expand our measurement tools to account for other human factors that should be used to determine policy.\nLet these numbers set our policy focus and set goals against them.\nTask government departments with improving performance against various new measurements.\nEnsure that income and wealth inequality do not continue to grow in America by adopting Universal Basic Income of $1k/month per adult.", "excerpt": null, "citations": [] }, { "title": "Reduce Student Loan Burden", "url": "https://www.yang2020.com/policies/student-loan-debt/", "description": "Student debt levels have exploded relative to other forms of debt over the past decade in particular. Educational loan totals recently surpassed $1.4 trillion in the U.S., up from $550 billion in 2011 and only $90 billion in 1999. The average level of indebtedness upon graduation is up to $37,172 and there are 44 million student borrowers. Default rates have crept up steadily to 11.2%, and if you include delinquency rates it’s as high as 25%. This is limiting the growth of our economy and also crippling the advancement of millions of young people in their careers and in starting families. We need to create a clear path out of this crippling debt.", "problems_to_be_solved": [ "Education debt has exploded in recent years to unsupportable levels.", "Millions of young Americans owe tens of thousands of dollars in debt and face an uncertain financial future. Entire generations will have difficulty advancing professionally, starting families, buying homes and vehicles, and fueling the next level of economic growth due to high debt loads.", "There is low accountability for educational institutions that benefit from public financing while providing graduates little in the way of real opportunities.", "Lenders have little incentive to work with those in debt since bankruptcy doesn't eliminate student loan debt." ], "main_quote": "I understand student debt—I owed tens of thousands for years after graduating. It’s immoral how we have saddled so many of our young people with so many school loans, often for degrees that will not result in solid careers. It’s even worse if you don’t finish school - you still owe the money and don’t get the benefit of a degree. Too many of our young people have been sold false promises. We owe it to them to do all we can to reduce their burden and make it so that they will be able to move forward in gaining skills, building a career, starting a family and pursuing their ambitions. The future of our society depends on their success. As President I will see to it that the Federal government does not make one cent from providing educational loans to its citizens. I will make sure that students get the lowest possible interest rates and can refinance at those rates. I will explore a blanket partial reduction of outstanding student loans for recent graduates - call it the “Bailout for the People.” Indebted students deserve a bailout much more than the banks did. I will ask schools to forgive in part or in whole the debts of those who do not graduate. I will support a program that allows graduates to pay a percent of income instead of a fixed amount. I will establish a commission to reduce or forgive the loans of students who were induced to pursue a degree under false pretenses. I will make it easier to discharge school debt in bankruptcy. I will establish a grant program that forgives student debt for those who work in rural areas or with underprivileged populations. Last, I will gladly close schools that are essentially diploma mills preying upon the hopes and dreams of the vulnerable among us. There will be accountability for every dollar that the public is spending on school loans. We owe it to the next generation to get this right. We have to stop screwing young people and sticking them with the bill.", "goals": [ "Reduce the burden on millions of young Americans for their education", "Improve efficacy of funds invested in education", "Increase accountability of educational institutions" ], "as_president": "As President, I will…\n\n Immediately reduce the student loan payments for millions of Americans by ensuring that the American government does not profit one cent from its educational loan servicing and that students get the same interest rates as the wealthiest bank. Any profit that the government does realize will go into reducing rates the following year until profit is zero.\nExplore a blanket partial reduction in the principal of school loans, especially for recent graduates with the largest debt levels—the “Bailout for the People”—and forgiveness for debt beyond a certain period after graduation.\nPropose the 10×10 Student Loan Emancipation Act, a plan by which the federal government would buy student loan debt (negotiated rate with the private lenders) and allow students to opt into a plan to repay it through pledging 10% of their salary per year for ten years, after which the balance would be forgiven.\nAsk schools to forgive in part or in whole the debts of those who do not graduate.\nInitiate a program that allows graduates to pay a percent of income instead of a fixed amount. \nEstablish a commission that will explore debt forgiveness or reduction for students who sought degrees under false pretenses. \nChange bankruptcy laws to make it easier to discharge educational debt.\nExpand a program that forgives the debt of graduates who work in rural areas or with underprivileged populations. \nClose schools with high loan default rates and consistently low employment placement success.\nPolice and prosecute all marketing representations of schools that might induce enrollment under false pretenses. \nAllow student loan debt to be discharged through bankruptcy, thus forcing lenders to work with students in good faith to find workable repayment plans.", "excerpt": null, "citations": [] }, { "title": "Powering a Sustainable World", "url": "https://www.yang2020.com/policies/powering-a-sustainable-world/", "description": "The US is innovative and extremely capable of developing cutting edge green technology. The private sector will be more motivated to invest time and energy in developing this green technology if companies can trust that they will be able to sell their products and technological advancements oversees.\n\n When foreign governments want to buy goods from private US companies, the Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank) finances the loan that allows foreign governments to purchase those goods. The EXIM Bank can make certain goods appear more attractive to other countries, by offering better financing options for different goals, like lower interest rates. Let’s use its powers for good by making it cheaper for other countries to buy US sustainable energy technology.", "problems_to_be_solved": [ "Our country does not have a plan to export cutting edge green technology." ], "main_quote": "We can save the world for our children, make the environment healthier, and build a much stronger economy. We need to come together and get back to what America is all about - innovation, hard work, and solving the biggest problems the world is facing.", "goals": [ "Use the EXIM Bank powers for good by making it cheaper for other countries to buy US sustainable energy technology." ], "as_president": "As President, I will…\n\n Use the EXIM Bank, or create a new, Green EXIM Bank, to aggressively export US green technology throughout the rest of the world.\nDirect the State Department to engage in climate diplomacy, forming relationships with developing nations that are looking for partners in building an energy infrastructure that’s sustainable.", "excerpt": null, "citations": [] }, { "title": "Using Trade Deals to Fight Climate Change", "url": "https://www.yang2020.com/policies/using-trade-deals-to-fight-climate-change/", "description": "Once we cut fossil fuel subsidies and employ strict environmental regulations for manufacturing here in the US, corporations will want to move their operations overseas. After moving their operations to countries that allow fossil fuel production, these corporations with then sell their products back to the US through various trade deals that protect the fossil fuel industry. This would render our efforts to stop fossil fuel production useless because corporations would literally be incentivized to take away American jobs while polluting the environment. \nAdditionally, the fossil fuel industries lobby to get trade deals to provide them with incentives for development, preferential treatment in trade, or carve outs to allow them to more aggressively combat the efforts of other countries to regulate their industry.\n\n We need to ensure that our trade deals with other countries match our values and environmental goals. We need to renegotiate our trade deals that protect the fossil fuel industry. Instead, our trade deals need to ensure that any goods manufactured using unsustainable methods are appropriately costed, and the fossil fuel industries don’t get unwarranted power in the deals.", "problems_to_be_solved": [ "Corporations have incentives to avoid our environmental standard regulations by moving their manufacturing overseas." ], "main_quote": "We can make the United States the center of a new global, sustainable energy sector. This will bring money to the American people, and will create jobs in installation and maintenance that will be local and less likely to be automated. It will also reduce a primary source of income used by some of our biggest adversaries - Russia, Iran, Venezuela all rely on oil, and terrorist organizations utilize it as a primary fundraising mechanism.", "goals": [ "Keeping jobs and sustainable manufacturing practices here in the US" ], "as_president": "As President, I will…\n\n Ensure that any trade negotiation includes stringent environmental standards.\nEnsure that any trade deal doesn’t include carve-outs or exclusives for oil, gas, or coal.\nRenegotiate any trade deal that includes carve-outs for fossil fuel industries, including the ISDS exceptions in NAFTA/USMCA.", "excerpt": null, "citations": [] }, { "title": "Implement Mandatory Paid Leave Policy", "url": "https://www.yang2020.com/policies/mandatory-vacation/", "description": "The United States is the only industrialized nation without a mandatory minimum employee leave policy. While we don’t work more than every other industrialized country, we work more, on average, than most of them. This puts stress on families when they don’t spend time together and workers when they don’t get time to relax.\n\n We should join the rest of the industrialized world and institute a mandatory leave policy. All full-time workers should be guaranteed a minimum of four weeks. Contractors too should be given paid time off if they work for the same company consistently and reliably. This policy will help create jobs at the margins, decrease stress, and allow people to spend more time with their families.", "problems_to_be_solved": [ "Americans don’t have the freedom to take time away from their job for their family or other pursuits." ], "main_quote": "I love to work; work is a calling. But studies have shown that Americans would be just as productive if they had more time off. Oftentimes we do our best thinking and reflection when we are away from the office. When I was CEO of a company, I took time off and everyone performed better for it. Strong organizations allow people to step away. Americans would be happier and healthier and have better relationships with more days off and would be just as productive. It's particularly important for contractors, who feel like they can't take a day off without losing earnings as a result.", "goals": [ "Implement a minimum leave policy for full-time workers", "Give contractors some paid time away from work" ], "as_president": "As President, I will…\n\n Advocate for a minimum leave policy of four weeks each year for full-time workers, with exemptions for new companies less than 9 years old and small companies with fewer than 50 employees. \nContractors who work the equivalent of 40+ hours per week should be entitled to 1 paid week off for every 13 weeks they work for a given company.", "excerpt": null, "citations": [] }, { "title": "Right to Privacy/Abortion and Contraception", "url": "https://www.yang2020.com/policies/right-privacy-abortion-contraception/", "description": "In a perfect world, only those who are ready for and desire a child would become pregnant. But that’s not the world we live in. \nEveryone has a right to bodily integrity, and more needs to be done to ensure that women have and maintain that right.\nAccess to birth control should be provided to all Americans. It should be the decision of each individual whether she wants to use it, not a decision made for her by her doctor, family, or where she lives.\n\n Access to safe and affordable abortion services should also be provided to all Americans. Requirements placed by individual states on access should be subject to oversight by a board of doctors, not the whims of legislators who have no background on the procedure or even the basics of medicine.\nThe two most effective ways to decrease the number of abortions are to provide every woman with access to contraceptives and to provide financial, emotional, and structural support to individuals who are financially struggling and become pregnant—Universal Basic Income would accomplish this for many prospective parents.", "problems_to_be_solved": [ "The right of many American women to have control over their bodies is being unconstitutionally eroded by legislators with no medical background." ], "main_quote": "Whether to have a child is an immense personal decision. In my view, it is solely up to the woman what course to take. As a society, we should support mothers in ways big and small if they do decide to have children. I respect the feelings that many Americans have on this issue, and appreciate the values one brings to bear. But it should always be up to the woman what to do. I have the feeling that if men became pregnant instead of women there would be absolutely no restriction on reproductive rights.", "goals": [ "Protect the right to privacy of American women", "Treat women equally" ], "as_president": "As President, I will…\n\n Appoint judges who support a woman’s right to choose. \nSupport a woman’s right to choose in every circumstance and provide resources for planning and contraception.", "excerpt": null, "citations": [] }, { "title": "Make it Easy for Americans to Move for Work", "url": "https://www.yang2020.com/policies/get-america-moving/", "description": "Many Americans live in areas where there are few available jobs. However, they also don’t have the means to move to an area with better job prospects. And frequently, professional licenses don’t travel to different localities or states.\n\n In order to help people move to areas with more jobs, the federal government should subsidize the moving costs for Americans who are relocating for work. It should also work with state licensure boards to increase the mobility of individual licenses.", "problems_to_be_solved": [ "Americans often want to move for better job prospects but can’t afford the costs." ], "main_quote": "Americans are moving less than ever, which is bad for our labor market, our economy and our culture. Moving is an act of optimism that leads to adaptability and positive change. We need to get America moving again for new opportunities.", "goals": [ "Make it easier for Americans to move for work" ], "as_president": "As President, I will…\n\n Direct the IRS to create a program to refund up to $1,000 of moving expenses for any American relocating for work.\nPush to reevaluate which professional licenses are actually necessary, and remove the requirement that federal contracts go to people with those licenses when they are deemed to be unnecessary.\nWork with licensure boards to increase the mobility of professional licenses.\nUniversal Basic Income will help address this as well by giving more Americans the financial resources to move.", "excerpt": null, "citations": [] }, { "title": "Promote Vocational Education", "url": "https://www.yang2020.com/policies/promoting-vocational-education/", "description": "It seems we’re preparing our children for college earlier and earlier. College readiness is a driving force behind many educational decisions in this country. This has resulted in only 6% of American high school students being enrolled in a vocational program (in 2013), whereas comparable European nations have numbers closer to 50%.\nFor those that do start college, graduating isn’t a sure thing. 6 years after first enrolling, fewer than 60% of students have attained a degree. If you look at only open-admissions schools, the number drops to 32%. That represents a huge investment of money and time on the part of Americans that doesn’t lead them to a positive outcome.\nOn the other side, the underemployment rate for recent college grads is approaching 44%, and one-third end up in jobs that don’t require the degree they earned.\n\n College is being over-prescribed in this country. Not everyone has an interest in obtaining a college degree, and there are many jobs out there that don’t require it. Georgetown has estimated that there are 30 million good-paying jobs that don’t require a college degree. Most require some type of specialized training.\nAs a country, we need to dramatically increase our investment in vocational training, providing a viable career path for those students who are more interested in starting their careers immediately after high school instead of