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Andrew Yang
Andrew Yang (Forward Party) ran for election for Mayor of New York. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 22, 2021.
Yang was a Democratic candidate for president of the United States in 2020. He filed to run for the office on November 6, 2017. He suspended his presidential campaign on February 11, 2020.[1]
The cornerstone of Yang's platform was the universal basic income (UBI). Yang described the UBI as "a form of social security that guarantees a certain amount of money to every citizen within a given governed population, without having to pass a test or fulfill a work requirement." Yang's UBI proposal was a payment of $1,000 per month for every adult American citizen.[2]
Prior to running for office, Yang founded the nonprofit organization Venture for America, which trains recent graduates to work for startups. He also worked for a healthcare startup, founded a national education company, and practiced law as a corporate attorney.[3]
Yang changed his voter registration from Democrat to independent on October 4, 2021. In a statement about the change, Yang said, "Now that I’m not a member of one party or another, I feel like I can be even more honest about both the system and the people in it...I believe I can reach people who are outside the system more effectively. I feel more . . . independent."[4]
In 2022, Yang announced the formation of the Forward Party alongside former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman and former U.S. Representative David Jolly.[5] At the time of formation, the party said its goal was to attract a coalition of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents "who want to move past the era of divisiveness and do-nothing politicians," and it planned to recruit "solutions-oriented candidates to run for office, at all levels."[6]
Biography
Yang was born in 1975 and grew up in Schenectady, New York. He received a B.A. in economics and political science from Brown University and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.
Yang practiced corporate law for five months before becoming involved with startups in the areas of fundraising, healthcare, and education. His first effort was Stargiving.com, a website he launched in 2000 aimed at getting celebrities to make charitable donations. The site was unsuccessful, and he went on to serve as vice president of the healthcare software startup MMF Systems from 2002 to 2005. The following year, Yang founded the educational startup Manhattan Prep, where he served as CEO and president until 2011. In 2009, the company was acquired by Kaplan.[7][8]
In 2011, Yang founded Venture for America, a nonprofit organization that trains recent graduates and young professionals to work for startup companies in cities such as Baltimore, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland.[9] President Barack Obama (D) gave Yang the Champion of Change award in 2012 and named him presidential ambassador for global entrepreneurship in 2015.
Yang also wrote two books: Smart People Should Build Things in 2014 and The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future in 2018.[10]
Prior to his 2020 presidential bid, Yang had not run for public office.
Yang announced the formation of the Forward Party in 2022 and became the first co-chair of the new party alongside former Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman.[5]
Elections
2021
See also: Mayoral election in New York, New York (2021)
General election
General election for Mayor of New York
The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of New York on November 2, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Eric Adams (D) | 67.0 | 753,801 |
 | Curtis Sliwa (R / Independent Party) | 27.8 | 312,385 | |
 | Catherine Rojas (Party for Socialism and Liberation) | 2.5 | 27,982 | |
 | William Pepitone (Conservative Party)  | 1.1 | 12,575 | |
 | Quanda Francis (Empowerment Party) | 0.3 | 3,792 | |
 | Stacey Prussman (L) | 0.3 | 3,189 | |
 | Raja Flores (Humanity United Party) | 0.2 | 2,387 | |
 | Fernando Mateo (Save Our City Party) | 0.2 | 1,870 | |
 | Skiboky Stora (Out Lawbreaker Party) | 0.0 | 264 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.6 | 7,013 | ||
| Total votes: 1,125,258 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Vitaly Filipchenko (Independent)
- Deborah Axt (Working Families Party)
- Christopher Krietchman (Independent)
Democratic primary election
Democratic Primary for Mayor of New York
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Eric Adams in round 8 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.
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Total votes: 942,031 |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Loree Sutton (D)
- Carlos Menchaca (D)
- Barbara Kavovit (D)
- Edward Cullen (D)
- Max Rose (D)
- Zachary Iscol (D)
Republican primary election
Republican Primary for Mayor of New York
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Curtis Sliwa in round 1 .
|
Total votes: 60,051 |
|||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Sara Tirschwell (R)
Conservative Party primary election
The Conservative Party primary election was canceled. William Pepitone advanced from the Conservative Party primary for Mayor of New York.
Working Families Party primary election
The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Deborah Axt advanced from the Working Families Party primary for Mayor of New York.
2020
Presidency
- See also: Presidential candidates, 2020
Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) won the presidential election on November 3, 2020. Biden received 306 electoral votes and President Donald Trump (R) received 232 electoral votes. In the national popular vote, Biden received 81.2 million votes and Trump received 74.2 million votes.
Yang filed to run for president on November 6, 2017. He suspended his presidential campaign on February 11, 2020.[1]
Ballotpedia has compiled the following resources about Yang and the 2020 presidential election:
- Recent news stories about the 2020 presidential election;
- An overview of key national and state campaign staffers;
- Endorsements from politicians, public figures, and organizations;
- An overview of candidate campaign travel; and
- A list of other presidential candidates who are running for election.
Click here for Yang's 2020 presidential campaign overview.
Campaign themes
2021
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Andrew Yang did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign website
Adams' campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Government New York City’s government is not just in crisis — it often is the crisis. COVID-19 has exposed the City’s mismanagement in stark detail. And it is Black and Brown communities who suffer the most from its dysfunction. I know because I lived it. As one of six children with a single mother who struggled to make ends meet, I have committed my life to making the City work better for those who need it the most. Inefficiency and inequality lead to injustice. How? New York has tremendous resources — but it often wastes them on programs that do not deliver the desired result or spends them in ways that do not help the New Yorkers who need them the most. I will make our City government more efficient, effective, and equal. Here’s how. A more efficient city Today, the City governs from crisis to crisis — always dealing with the immediate problem and never the cause. Structural changes and smart management are necessary to create efficiency and reduce inequality. I will do that by: Closing the budget gap without affecting public services Instituting real-time governing Finding the waste A more effective city City agencies each keep their own records and data, with very little productive interaction — and New Yorkers who need help fall through the cracks. Using technology, we can focus on making government more effective by tailoring New Yorkers’ interaction with the City down to the person. My plan includes: Building one digital platform for New Yorkers to access all City services Bringing the City to the community by delivering services in storefronts and in-person in lower-income neighborhoods Creating a Recovery Score to track our progress with analytics A more equal city Finally, the City must do a far better job of maximizing its resources and using its regulatory powers to help deal with structural economic and social issues. That includes prioritizing spending on programs, services, and contractors that reduce inequality. It also means revisiting regulations that discourage growth, particularly of our Black and Brown owned small businesses. My plan includes: Prioritizing minority- and women-owned businesses for City contracts Eliminating the fees for starting a small business Instituting a warning system for violations that do not pose immediate danger Maximizing the use of City assets — particularly office buildings for affordable housing Economy Our city is in serious economic trouble. The pandemic has cost us hundreds-of-thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue. And the deep hole we find ourselves in is not entirely due to COVID-19. Our economy was built on uneven ground: pervasive inequality, with just a few sectors accounting for most jobs, and vast wealth disparities. Before the pandemic, Latino and Black households in the city averaged approximately half the income that white households did. Eric Adams Speaking Infront of Outdoor Dinning Area Our recovery starts with public health and public safety. But there are other things we can and must do immediately to save our economy. Some things will take years. Some things will take a generation. But we must get started now on all. Here’s how we bring back New York better than ever. Step 1 - Protect what we have built and who built it Since the pandemic and its disastrous impact on this country’s economy, we have seen a significant downturn that is far worse than most American cities’. Estimates are that, even after the COVID crisis is somewhat under control, New York City will have half-a-million fewer jobs than before the pandemic. We have to right the ship, fast. Step 2 - Create a stronger, deeper, fairer 21st Century economy New York City must position itself to lead in the industries of the future: the green economy, healthcare/biotech, digital technology and cybersecurity. Our workers were unprepared for this even before the pandemic. Invest in green infrastructure projects through a municipal bond program. Step 3 - Create an equitable economy that gives everyone the opportunity to thrive Black and Brown communities were sidelined as the New York City economy flourished. For instance, the communities I grew up in — Brownsville and South Jamaica — continue to experience significant unemployment while massive development and economic expansion occurred in other parts of the city. Those communities have waited long enough — now we will build an inclusive economy for them that is equitable and enduring. Education The quality of a child’s public education in New York is unfortunately and unnecessarily often determined by what neighborhood they live in and how much money their family has. This leads to unforgivable racial disparities that limit the futures of thousands of our kids, year after year. Now COVID-19 threatens to deepen those disparities even more, as lower-income families without adequate internet access and childcare options struggle with blended and remote learning. But we also now have a chance to completely reimagine our education system. I believe the key to improvement is opening as many paths to success for our students as we can, and to focus much more on how they learn—not just what they learn. To do that, I will desegregate our schools, institute a year-round school year, significantly expand school and instruction options, prioritize universal access to both online and in-person classes, feed our kids only healthy food in schools, and focus on the holistic growth of every student. Our immediate focus should be on improving remote learning, which has been a disaster for thousands of families. This is both a failure of our City government and the internet providers who have been promising for years to improve access to lower-income New Yorkers and have not delivered. We can and must do something to correct this injustice. Internet providers need City approval to operate in New York. We should be using that leverage to force them to connect the families of schoolchildren and offer free service. We must also offer clear paths to college and careers through our schools. For instance, I am very proud of the Brooklyn STEAM Center, a first-of-its-kind facility that offers high school students real-world work experience in emerging professions. Poor education and lack of preparation leads to incarceration. As many as 80 percent of Rikers Island inmates do not have a diploma or GED and a third of college-aged inmates read below a fifth-grade level. The vast majority of those New Yorkers are Black and Brown. We can fix this and close the racial performance gaps by greatly improving the educational options for parents and students so that each child gets a quality education that is right for them. In the coming weeks, I will lay out my full vision for reimagining our public education system. I look forward to sharing it with you so that we can begin to build brighter futures for our children. Health OVID-19 tore through New York City when it first hit the United States, leaving unimaginable death and suffering in its wake. And the fight is far from over. Although we have made great strides in understanding, treating, and tracking the virus, our planning is flawed and inconsistent — and it is costing us lives. At the same time, COVID-19 hit us as hard as it did because our public health system was — and still is — woefully inadequate, especially for communities of color. Like a patient with a weak immune system, the underlying condition that has allowed COVID-19 to kill so many Black and Brown New Yorkers is inequality. We cannot hope to control the coronavirus without also curing that disease. People of color in our city have far-higher rates of chronic illness and the comorbidities that make people vulnerable to COVID-19 and other viruses. Black New Yorkers’ life expectancy is a full four years lower than the citywide average. That is the result of poor healthcare, lack of healthy food options, and unhealthy living conditions. I was one of those people of color living with a chronic illness that could have been prevented. I was diagnosed with diabetes and lost sight in my eye. My doctor told me I was facing blindness and amputations. So, I switched to eating only healthy foods and began practicing mindfulness. Within weeks, I was feeling better. Within months, I had sent my diabetes into remission. Now I want to do the same for all New Yorkers who just need access to quality healthcare and food to improve their health and protect themselves against illness and this deadly virus. I am certain we can. What it will take is an unprecedented commitment to public health from City government. Turning around this city starts with taming COVID. We need an all-in effort that restores public confidence as it protects public health, undoes the deep racial health disparities in our city, and reduces inequalities by increasing delivery of services. I have already released a number of proposals that should be implemented immediately, including: instituting a color-coded vaccination program to ensure we reach herd immunity and vaccinate the most vulnerable New Yorkers as quickly as possible; ; sending community health workers directly into neighborhoods with high morbidity rates; expanding access to telehealth; building out a robust rapid-testing program, and setting up COVID care centers in NYCHA complexes and in vacant storefronts in lower-income communities. In the coming weeks, I will lay out a detailed plan for how to improve our public health system, the health of New Yorkers, and our success against the coronavirus. Safety Today our city faces an unprecedented crisis that threatens to undo the progress we have made against crime. The shootings and deaths are startling. And communities of color are the hardest hit. People do not feel safe in their homes or on the street. We cannot go back to a New York that is unsafe for New Yorkers—especially our children. We won’t go back. As a former police officer who patrolled the streets in a bulletproof vest in the 1990s, I sadly know what I am talking about. Lawlessness spread through our city like a disease then, infecting communities with the same terrible swiftness that coronavirus threatens today. At the same time we face a crisis of confidence in our police. And we cannot have lower crime without greater trust. I personally understand the distrust and anger with the NYPD. As a young man, my brother and I were beaten by police at a precinct house, and we carry the psychological scars of that to this day. That is why I called out racism in the department as an officer and formed 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement to push through reforms. And why I continued to call for change throughout my career, including the successful effort to stop the unlawful use of Stop-and-Frisk. But the debate around policing has been reduced to a false choice: You are either with police, or you are against them. No. That cannot be true. Because we are all for safety. We need the NYPD — we just need them to be better. We also need a plan of action. When I was a police officer, I was part of the team that developed what is now COMPStat. That system of tracking crime and analyzing data allowed us to take crime from historic highs to historic lows. There is a way forward. With all stakeholders at the table and a laser-like focus on addressing the reasons behind our spike in shootings, we can put this fire out before it consumes entire neighborhoods and torches our reputation as the safest big city in America. With a commitment to justice that is felt in the heart of officers, new technologies, clear objectives, better organization, good old fashioned police work and better relations with the communities they serve, we can have both safe and fair. In the coming weeks, I will share with you my detailed plan for tackling crime, reforming policing, and bringing justice to our criminal justice system. Housing New York City is always changing — but every once in awhile, there is a sea change. At these pivotal moments, New York’s strength has always been its resiliency and its ability to adapt. After 9/11, we remade downtown Manhattan into a live/work community that prioritized livability and did not depend completely on the 9-to-5 workweek. After Sandy, we rethought our shoreline. Now we face perhaps our greatest test: COVID-19. The effect of the virus on the way our city works — or doesn’t — is apparent. For instance, suddenly places like Midtown that generated so much economic activity for New York seem built for another era. But we can also see much more clearly now how the design of our city was already flawed — and often how those flaws perpetuated inequality. New York may be a group of communities, but it is also one city, and we should all be in this recovery together. Let’s start acting like it. To see ourselves as walled-off enclaves is an old, and frankly biased, way of thinking. Housing — including affordable housing — can be and should be put anywhere it can go, as long as it benefits those who need it. And the infrastructure and space for jobs that support the city must also go where it is smartest to build — not just easiest. An aggressive affordable housing plan To deal with our housing crisis in New York, I believe the city must rapidly build new affordable housing while protecting existing apartments anywhere and everywhere we can. That means bold, aggressive measures that are even more necessary now as we simultaneously fight a pandemic and an economic crisis. More options for New Yorkers to live and work Much of our city is zoned for another era, when all New Yorkers lived in one area and worked in another. When COVID-19 hit, it economically decimated neighborhoods dominated by tall office towers, where retailers, restaurants, and other businesses relied almost entirely on 9-to-5 workers. The city also relies too heavily on office workers and the service economy overall, when it could and should be expanding employment options in areas like life sciences, urban agriculture, and manufacturing. The investments NYCHA tenants deserve Even before the pandemic, we knew that tens-of-billions of dollars was needed to make basic improvements to NYCHA homes and complexes throughout the city. Now the virus has exposed even more issues that need immediate attention. I believe we need an all-in approach to raise enough funds and make the most use of them in order to save NYCHA tenants from dilapidated buildings and deteriorating apartments.[11] |
” |
| —Eric Adams for Mayor[12] | ||
2020
The following campaign themes were published on Yang's campaign website:
| “ |
THE FREEDOM DIVIDEND Any change to the Freedom Dividend would require a constitutional amendment. It will be illegal to lend or borrow against one’s Dividend. A 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. PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED GOALS As President, I will…
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. MEDICARE FOR ALL Access to medicine isn’t guaranteed to all citizens The incentives for healthcare providers don’t align with providing quality, efficient care This must change. Through 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 bring overall healthcare costs down. With 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. 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. Outside 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. By 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. Finally, 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 employee-provided healthcare system prevents that. PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED GOALS As President, I will… 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. HUMAN-CENTERED CAPITALISM Our 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. We 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: Humans are more important than money 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 GOALS As President, I will…
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: Parenting or caring for loved ones Unskilled Labor and Normal People 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 Capitalism Adam 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: Humanity is More Important Than Money 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: Median Income and Standard of Living 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.[11] |
” |
| —Yang 2020[13] | ||
The following individual policy pages were listed on Yang's website as of August 29, 2019:
- The Freedom Dividend
- Improve the American Scorecard
- Data as a Property Right
- Reduce Mass Incarceration
- Right to Privacy/Abortion and Contraception
- The Penny Makes No Cents
- Automatic Voter Registration
- Carbon Fee and Dividend
- Decrease Pre-Trial Cash Bail
- Decriminalize Opioids
- Early Childhood Education for All
- End Partisan Gerrymandering
- Fight for Equal Pay
- File Income Taxes
- Free Financial Counseling for All
- Grid Modernization Race to the Top
- Gun Safety
- Head of Culture and Ceremony
- Hold Pharmaceutical Companies Accountable
- Implement Mandatory Paid Leave Policy
- Increase Assistance for Single Parents
- Legalize Marijuana
- Lower the Voting Age to 16
- Make Election Day a Holiday
- Make Puerto Rico a State
- Make Washington, DC, a State
- Making Taxes Fun
- Paid Family Leave
- Pathway to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants
- Promote Vocational Education
- Prosperity Grants
- Public Council of Advisors
- Reduce Student Loan Burden
- Regulate AI and other Emerging Technologies
- Restoration of Voting Rights
- Southern Border Security
- Support for the Arts
- Support the DREAM Act
- Tort Reform/Reasonableness Dismissals
- Zoning
- 12-Year Congressional Term Limits
- 18 Year Term Limit for Supreme Court Justices
- Algorithmic Trading/Fraud
- American Exchange Program
- American Journalism Fellows
- American Mall Act
- Automatically Sunset Old Laws
- Campaign Finance Reform
- Capital Gain/Carried Interest Tax
- Closely Monitor Mental Health of White House Staff
- Combat Climate Change
- Control the Cost of Higher Education
- Control the Cost of Prescription Drugs
- Controlled Substance Waivers for Veterans
- Crypto/Digital Asset Regulation and Consumer Protection
- Democracy Dollars
- Ease the Transition to Self-Driving Vehicles
- Economic Crime
- Empowering MMA Fighters
- End Bidding Wars for Corporate Relocation
- Ending Veteran Suicide
- Entice High-Skill Individuals
- Every Cop Gets a Camera
- Every Vet Under a Roof Initiative
- Expand Access to Medical Experts
- Expand Selective Schools
- Extend Daylight Saving Time All Year
- Fighting the Rise of White Nationalism and Extremism
- Financial Transaction Tax
- Foreign Policy First Principles
- Free Marriage Counseling for All
- Fund Autism Intervention
- Fund Medical Technology Innovation
- GI Bill Improvements
- Human-Centered Capitalism
- Improving Veteran Health
- Increase Teacher Salaries
- Invest in America’s Mental Health
- Life-Skills Education in All High Schools
- Limit Bureaucracy in the Federal Workforce
- Local Journalism Fund
- Make Community College Affordable for All
- Make it Easier to Save for Retirement
- Make it Easy for Americans to Move for Work
- Media Fragmentation
- Medicare for All
- Military Training: The Gold Standard
- Modern Time Banking
- Modernize Military Spending
- Modernize Voting
- NCAA Should Pay Athletes
- Net Neutrality
- Nuclear Energy
- Nuclear Launch Decisions
- Opioid Crisis
- Preservation of Public Lands and Water
- Prevent Airlines from Removing Customers
- Prevent Corruption in the Federal Government
- Proportional Selection of Electors
- Provide Basic Banking Services through the Post Office
- Quantum Computing and Encryption Standards
- Ranked Choice Voting
- Rebuild American Infrastructure
- Reduce Harm to Children Caused by Smartphones
- Reduce Packaging Waste
- Reduce Wildfires
- Relocate Federal Agencies
- Reverse Boot Camp
- Revive the Office of Technology Assessment
- Robo-Calling Text Line
- Support the Revival of Earmarks
- Timing of Payments for Small Businesses
- Value-Added Tax
Noteworthy events
Formation of the Forward Party (2022)
On July 27, 2022, Yang announced the formation of the new, national political party, the Forward Party. Yang became the party's first co-chair alongside former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman. The party was formed through a merger of three groups: the Forward Party, created by Yang; the Renew America Movement; and the Serve America Movement, whose executive director at the time of the announcement was former U.S. Representative David Jolly. At the time of the announcement, the party set a goal of achieving legal status and ballot access in 30 states by the end of 2023, and in all 50 states by the end of 2024.[14]
As of March 2023 the party listed three platform priorities on its website:[15]
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On February 2, 2021, Yang announced that he had tested positive for coronavirus.[16]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term Andrew Yang.
See also
2021 Elections
- Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing
- Presidential candidates, 2020
- Presidential election, 2016
- Presidential Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Daily Beast, "Andrew Yang Ends His 2020 Presidential Bid," Febraury 11, 2020
- ↑ Yang 2020, "What is UBI?" accessed February 21, 2019
- ↑ Yang 2020, "Meet Andrew," accessed February 21, 2019
- ↑ Andrew Yang, "Breaking up with the Democratic Party," October 4, 2021
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Axios, "Yang announces new Forward party with other centrist groups," July 27, 2022
- ↑ Forward Party, "Moving Forward Together," accessed March 16, 2023
- ↑ Yang 2020, "Breaking: Andrew Cracks Top 10 in CNN Rankings," May 23, 2019
- ↑ The Center for Public Integrity, "9 Things to Know About Andrew Yang," February 12, 2019
- ↑ The New York Times, "No Six-Figure Pay, But Making A Difference," July 13, 2013
- ↑ Yang 2020, "Buy the Book," accessed February 21, 2019
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Eric Adams for Mayor, "Vision," accessed Apri 16, 2021
- ↑ Yang 2020, "Policies," accessed February 25, 2019
- ↑ Reuters, "Former Republicans and Democrats form new third U.S. political party," July 27, 2022
- ↑ Forward Party, "Platform," accessed March 15, 2023
- ↑ CNN, "Andrew Yang tests positive for Covid-19," February 2, 2021
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