How Michael Bloomberg’s Former Campaign Manager Became Andrew Yang’s Favorite Fixer

Andrew Yang's campaign chiefs are employees of Tusk Strategies, a consulting firm whose clients have included AT&T, Uber, and private equity giant Blackstone.

Andrew Yang announces his run for New York mayor during a news conference in Morningside Park, in New York.

During his presidential run, Andrew Yang’s signature policy of sending $1,000 a month to every adult posed a trade-off. For millions of lower-income Americans, choosing the cash “Freedom Dividend” would replace other government assistance, like food stamps and housing vouchers, and not be in addition to existing programs.

Many advocates for a universal basic income (U.B.I.) criticized the design of the Yang policy, which they said would force lower-income people to choose between current social programs and the cash transfer. Yang’s $3 trillion national plan would have been funded in large part through a 10% value-added tax on consumer purchases, which progressive economists argued would hurt the economic standing of struggling people.

Yang, who is now running for New York City mayor, has downsized his guaranteed income proposal for his current campaign: an average of $2,000 a year would be given to 500,000 low-income recipients.

Full post at The Brick House Cooperative.