Interview with Andrew Yang

Now that Andrew Yang has made it into the first debate by meeting the fundraising threshold, and being on Morning Joe this morning,  it is time to post this interview of him via Freakonomics.

I was impressed by his thought approach.  He is the first person who is talking about the economy as a ecosystem of society.  That is, it’s not just about making money.  He does not come out and say it as I would but I think he is thinking about a question I have asked here in the past: What do we have an economy for?  Is it to just produce the biggest most powerful engine in the world and watch it run?

My concern is that the MSN is not prepared to do a proper interview with a person who actually wants to discuss a comprehensive idea regarding social structure and present a plan for it as observed on Morning Joe today.  You could just tell they wanted to throw out the memes of name calling:  “socialist”, “taxing the rich”, “taxing business”, “far left”.  But, I think Mr Yang handled it well considering the short time he had vs his scope of policy.  Plus Mr. Yang had facts noting his “freedom dividend” is what Alaska has.

I don’t expect him to win, but I do hope he and his ideas get more coverage and thus pushes the Overton window back toward society.  The problem is,  his idea is very comprehensive.  It’s talking about society.  Unfortunately, our mindset wants discussion boiled down to the “1 item” reductionist meme.  You know: How are you going to bring the nation together?  My answer: Oh, I don’t know.  How do you handle a 2 year old that always says No? (Mitch McConnell  et al)

 

Here is the link: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/andrew-yang/