Hey friends. How many of you guys are working either in Boston, Silicon Valley, or Seattle? I don’t know about you but it kinda felt prescribed from the very moment we entered engineering school. Graduate college and then get a high paying tech job in one of 5 cities.
Part of the reason why we move there is that our friends are there. A big part of the reason is that the money is there. No one’s making $100k+ fresh out of college if they’re not working for either a tech behemoth or well funded startup.
And there’s nothing wrong with getting dat money. Maybe you racked up a bunch of student loans going to $$$ college and you need to pay that back. Maybe your parents paid for your college and you need to show them that their investment was worth it, prove to them that you’re not a loser. Maybe you have expensive hobbies. Or maybe you just wanna live a nice life with nice things. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to make a lot of money.
But realistically speaking, not all of us get that high paying job, I sure didn’t. And not all of us even want that high paying job, I still kinda do. We have passions outside of engineering, but you would be insane to say that you didn’t feel any pressure to get dat money.
Our education has put us on the path for relative success. Software, AI, robots, XR, etc. Cutting edge, cool ass stuff. Technology is making things so much more efficient and convenient. Press a button and you can get toilet paper delivered to you within the hour. But also, technology is replacing human jobs in every sector from retail, to trucks, to backroom clerical. It’s no longer just outsourcing, we have robots taking human jobs in manufacturing, warehouses, driving, and more. We have software that helps us be more efficient in our jobs, reducing the need for as many people.
As people who have graduated with an engineering degree, we are the economic winners of this movement, safe for the next 20~30 years. But, there are many more people who aren’t as lucky.
If you made it this far, let me pitch you Andrew Yang’s Freedom Dividend. A universal basic income that will provide every American over eighteen $1000 a month, no strings attached. We live in the richest country in the world, and every American should share in the prosperity that is currently concentrated in big tech, oil, pharma, etc.
That money can help people with all different types of needs.
- Pay for rent, groceries, basic necessities or pay off loans
- Move to places with more job opportunities or go back to school
- Pay for childcare or give people the option to stay at home
Rather than waiting for government to invest in some program, we individually know best where we want to spend our money.
So without further ado, this is how $1000 a month would change my life.
- Stop worrying so much about what salary comes with the job
- Use the time savings to go surfing more
- Donate more money to causes I care about (the environment, Olin, Andrew Yang lol)
- Try starting something from my “Jiaying’s business ideas” list
- Take that international flight to visit my family more frequently
What would you do with $1000 a month?
Extras for the Yang curious:
Yang on Nigahiga’s Off the Pill (Podcast) - This is what originally Yang’ed me
Yang on the Joe Rogan Experience (Podcast) - Though this podcast goes into much more detail
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