March 29, 2024

ipartisan solutions for our local problems’

Our community is constantly struggling to lure new businesses to our towns and then, once they do open, it is very difficult to keep them in business. Children that grow up here and become such a huge part of our community often never come back home because raising a family here is hard without the jobs that larger cities have. Most households in the United States have difficulty paying for an unexpected four-hundred dollar expense because they are living paycheck to paycheck. And even though GDP is higher than ever, so are the rates of drug addiction and suicides. The future we are leaving for our children doesn’t look great.

I believe that Democratic Presidential candidate Andrew Yang has practical and bipartisan solutions for our local problems. He has over 150 policies on his website (Yang2020.com), but the one that I believe would make the biggest impact here in Adair county is the Freedom Dividend. The Freedom Dividend is a form of Universal Basic Income where one thousand dollars would be given to every citizen eighteen years old and older every month for the rest of their lives. It is paid for without increasing the Federal Debt. Andrew Yang wants to implement a ten percent Value Added Tax on non-basic items that will force companies like Amazon (who made eleven billion dollars last year and paid zero in taxes), to pay their fair share back into the economy.

Imagine what one thousand dollars a month for every adult citizen in Adair county would do? It would immediately lift families out of poverty. It would support retired people who are currently trying to live off of Social Security (the Freedom Dividend stacks with Social Security). It would help college students pay off their student debt. It would enable people to afford their insurance premiums. It would give entrepreneurs the capital to start new businesses and give the rest of us enough money to buy their products and services. The Freedom Dividend would add sixty-six million dollars to the Adair county economy each year!

Andrew Yang is a parent and a patriot, but he is not a politician. He wants to be President to solve problems, not to build a career in Washington. What would YOU do with one thousand dollars a month for the rest of your life? How would that money help your children and this community?