Andrew Yang on Welfare & Poverty Democratic Presidential Challenger & Tech CEO

Launch largest basic income program in the country

Disentangle economic value and human value

Yang went first. He has centered his campaign on providing Americans a freedom dividend of $1,000 per month per person and has gained a loyal following for talking about how the post-industrial economy has left much of America behind.

"We're in the midst of the most extreme winner-take-all economy in the history of our country," Yang said. "We have fallen into this trap, where we've allowed the market to tell us what we are all worth."

Stay-at-home moms, he said, are "worth" nothing. Neither are caregivers. Or local journalists. "Most artists, sorry, artists, but it's true" he said, are seen by as being worth "zero." Yang concluded: "The mission in this campaign has to be for us to disentangle economic value and human value."

If no action taken, minority wealth will be zer0 by 2053

Relaxing zoning laws would boost affordable housing

Increase affordable housing; get localities to change zoning

UBI costs $1.3 trillion, but grows economy by $2.5 trillion

The cost of $1.3 trillion seems like an awful lot. For reference, the federal budget is about $4 trillion and the entire U.S. economy is about $19 trillion. But there are myriad ways to pay for it. The most sensible way to pay for it in my view would be with a value-added tax (VAT)--a consumption tax--that would generate income from the people and businesses that benefit from society the most.

Freedom Dividend: create a universal basic income

Create culture of lifting up the least among us

Most people who are struggling today aren't struggling because of choices they made. Often economic hardship is the result of things outside of a person's control, like job loss, illness, or the place where they were born. It can also be the result of a culture that cares more about stock portfolios than people in need.

Jesus' command to love our neighbor is at the heart of Christianity. More than 70% of Americans call themselves Christians. My question for each one of them comes from 1 John 3:17: "How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?"

Non-profit work is dispiriting if not rapidly expanding

I now run a nonprofit, so I obviously believe that tax exempt organizations can serve incredibly useful roles and create value. The issue with nonprofits is that they tend to be small and have difficulty growing.

Philanthropy budgets are tied to [how much money] is donated each year. This figure has been relatively constant at about 2% of GDP since 1970. 50,000 new nonprofits get formed every year. So every year you have a growing number of nonprofits vying for a fairly constant set of resources.

If a nonprofit is on a growth path, then it could be a dynamic opportunity. But most nonprofits aren't rapidly expanding. It's dispiriting being in an environment with scarce resources and little opportunity for advancement.