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The US should implement Andrew Yang's policy of a Universal Basic Income.

The first argument is the welfare problem: Welfare has failed to help the majority of those in poverty, As Santens 2019 of Techcrunch explains 76% of those who qualify for housing benefits, In reality receive nothing. And 75% of those in poverty do not even qualify for food stamps. Indeed, Jan 2019 of the Washington Post quantifies 13 million of the neediest Americans don"t receive any welfare from the government. Welfare fails to cover the neediest for two reasons. First, Welfare punishes people for gaining income, Creating welfare traps. Moving up to the middle class causes families to on net lose money, As benefits from welfare disappear. Hughes 2014 of the Cato Institute finds that upon entering the middle class, Workers face a net income decrease of more than 25, 000 dollars as benefits disappear and taxes increase. This causes millions of Americans to remain at low income jobs to maintain a higher net income. Thus, Dorfman 2016 of Forbes concludes that many Americans refuse promotions to maintain access to welfare benefits. This makes it nearly impossible for people under welfare to improve their conditions. Second, Welfare stops the impoverished from becoming self-sufficient in the long term Harvey 2018 of Colorado Politics writes Trump has imposed work requirements for recipients of SNAP, Housing, Medicaid, And many more. Forcing people to take jobs to qualify for aid. This kills upward mobility as, Harvey concludes, Individuals seek low-paying jobs, And abandon learning skills to reach high paying jobs that allow for social mobility. The work requirements trap millions in low-income jobs with 0 chance for promotions. Indeed, Mcausland 2019 of NBC quantifies 700 thousand people have lost access to SNAP after new work requirements. Moreover, Bernard 2019 of CNN finds 18 thousand Medicaid recipients lost access in Arkansas after new regulations, With 15 other states expected to soon pass more restrictions. The impact is extreme poverty The situation for those who find jobs is dark, But the future for those who fail to do so is even darker. Semuels 2016 of the Atlantic finds that those who could not find jobs were left with 0 government help, Pushing them into extreme poverty. Thus, She quantifies that 1. 5 million households are living on 2 dollars or less every day. Moreover, Long term people fall back into poverty after leaving welfare, Semuels finds that over 5 years, 78% of welfare recipients fail to escape systemic poverty. Creating a system where people can opt-in for UBI if welfare doesn't meet their needs solves for these issues. The second argument is the UBI Solution. A universal basic income solves the problems of welfare in 3 ways. First, A UBI solves the welfare trap by giving access to benefits regardless of income. Dorfman explains, A UBI would replace welfare by providing all households sufficient income to live on. By providing benefits regardless of income, A UBI eliminates the welfare trap, Allowing movement into the middle class. Second, A UBI allows people the resources to escape low income jobs Dent 19 of the Guardian writes that a UBI allows workers to turn down bad jobs and take time to train their skills to acquire high paying jobs. This allows workers to take promotions and increase their income to better their lives. Third, A UBI promotes small business Currently, Buchanan 15 of INC quantifies that entrepreneurship has declined by 44% in recent years because people are afraid to take risks. A UBI promotes small business in two ways First, Santens 16 of the Medium explains a UBI gives entrepreneurs a perception of safety allowing increased engagement in creating startups. Indeed, Straubhaar 18 continues that if entrepreneurs are assured that failure will not lead to destitution, And that their subsistence minimum is secured, They will assess future challenges as opportunities not threats. Second, Santens continues a UBI creates a viable consumer base for these new businesses, Allowing them to grow. This is why he empirically finds after the implementation of a UBI in Namibia increased entrepreneurship 300%. More entrepreneurship is critical as Dor" 19 and Longely 18 explain, Small firms account for 44 percent of US economic activity and employ over half of the nation's workforce. Kritikos 14 and Hixon 17 add entrepreneurs spur economic activity by creating new technologies and generating high value jobs. These pay higher wages and increase purchasing power, Inducing high economic growth. The SBEC 16 furthers that they account for 62 percent of job growth. The impact is poverty reduction By promoting social mobility, A UBI, As Mathews 17 quantifies would cut the poverty rate by 84%, Lifting 40 million Americans out of poverty Thus we affirm.