Andrew Yang on how a universal basic income could help alleviate poverty in America
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang on poverty and homelessness in America.
A proposal to pay every American adult $1,000 per month is an opportunity to "put economic resources directly into" the taxpayers' hands, Andrew Yang said.
Yang, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, told Laura Ingraham on "The Ingraham Angle" his plan would also be an incentive for cities to "invest in people who are struggling with substance abuse or homelessness."
He claimed his proposal, dubbed the "Freedom Dividend," would help fix problems faced by people who are struggling.
"It would create an economic path forward for many people who, right now, are struggling and don't have access to, let's say, treatment for substance abuse problems, or mental health issues," Yang said.
Yang claimed he's traveled around the country and heard from voters who feel they are not "connected" to some of the positive results happening in the U.S. economy.
"The experience I'm having when I talk to voters around the country is that 70 percent of them are living paycheck to paycheck. Fifty-seven percent can't afford an unexpected $500 bill," he claimed.
"The experience I'm having when I talk to voters around the country is that 70 percent of them are living paycheck to paycheck. Fifty-seven percent can't afford an unexpected $500 bill."
Yang, 44, described the current economy as "winner-take-all" and said that in urban areas, poor and wealthy are living "next to each other in different circumstances."
"We need to wake up to the fact that we're in the midst of the greatest economic transformation in our country's history, and start moving in the direction of just putting economic resources directly into our hands."
In a previous Fox News interview, Yang criticized the Trump administration's tax cut, saying it benefits the wrong people.
"There is a lot of population that is struggling in the economy that has been charged up somewhat by a tax cut -- most of which the benefits went to shareholders and stockholders instead of workers," he said.
Fox News' Victor Garcia contributed to this report.
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