Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)Mark Wilson/Getty Images
On May 20, 2015, Matthew Yglesias writes on VOX:
The media isn’t taking Bernie Sanders seriously as a presidential candidate because he doesn’t seem to have a realistic path to winning the nomination. But he does have a large and highly engaged fan presence on the internet, and his Tuesday Q&A session on Reddit was full of moments that illustrate why his fans love him so much. He is an utterly self-confident, utterly fearless exponent of liberal and social democratic ideals in a country where such notions are rarely shouted from the rooftops.
He’s a politician who doesn’t care about hitting his next quarterly fundraising numbers or what he can round up 60 votes for in the Senate. He’s just here to speak the truth as he sees it. Here, excerpted from the Q&A, are 11 answers that exemplify why he’s such a hero to online progressives.
7) Future-proofing the economy
ImLivingAmongYou: What do you think will have to be done regarding massive unemployment due to automation permanently killing jobs with no fault on the people losing these jobs?
Bernie Sanders: Very important question. There is no question but that automation and robotics reduce the number of workers needed to produce products. On the other hand, there is a massive amount of work that needs to be done in this country. Our infrastructure is crumbling and we can create millions of decent-paying jobs rebuilding our roads, bridges, rail system, airports, levees, dams, etc. Further, we have enormous shortages in terms of highly-qualified pre-school educators and teachers. We need more doctors, nurses, dentists and medical personnel if we are going to provide high-quality care to all of our people. But, in direct response to the question, increased productivity should not punish the average worker, which is why we have to move toward universal health care, making higher education available to all, a social safety net which is strong and a tax system which is progressive.
10) Working toward a universal basic income
Stack0verfl10w: What is your stance on Universal Basic Income(UBI)?
Bernie Sanders: So long as you have Republicans in control of the House and the Senate, and so long as you have a Congress dominated by big money, I can guarantee you that the discussion about universal basic income is going to go nowhere in a hurry. But, if we can develop a strong grassroots movement which says that every man, woman and child in this country is entitled to a minimum standard of living — is entitled to health care, is entitled to education, is entitled to housing — then we can succeed. We are living in the richest country in the history of the world, yet we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country and millions of people are struggling to put food on the table. It is my absolute conviction that everyone in this country deserves a minimum standard of living and we’ve got to go forward in the fight to make that happen.
http://www.vox.com/2015/5/20/8628901/bernie-sanders-redditt
Bernie Sanders skips over the ever-growing job destroying impact that results from automation and robotics––technological non-human means of production, to focus solely on job creation and education. Yet that won’t really address this constant technological change that is occurring and diminishing the need for human labor, no matter how well educated one is. What Bernie Sanders should advocate is the passage of the proposed Capital Homestead Act, which would accomplish abating economic inequality and create universal personal OWNERSHIP of wealth-creating, income-producing capital growth assets––the assets of automation and robots, all technological non-human means of production, while simultaneously creating millions of jobs to build a future economy that can support general affluence for EVERY child, woman, and man.
