Pope Francis may want to consider joining the #YangGang.
The pope expressed his belief that the time is now to consider the concept of universal basic income in an Easter Sunday letter about the coronavirus pandemic sent to the leaders of major social movements.
“This may be the time to consider a universal basic wage which would acknowledge and dignify the noble, essential tasks you carry out,” Francis wrote. “It would ensure and concretely achieve the ideal, at once so human and so Christian, of no worker without rights.”
The pope also said that some low-income workers “have been excluded from the benefits of globalization.”
“You do not enjoy the superficial pleasures that anesthetize so many consciences, yet you always suffer from the harm they produce,” Francis wrote. “The ills that afflict everyone hit you twice as hard.
“I hope that this time of danger will free us from operating on automatic pilot, shake our sleepy consciences and allow a humanist and ecological conversion that puts an end to the idolatry of money and places human life and dignity at the centre,” he added.
The concept of UBI was amplified by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who advocated for a plan that would give all American adults a “freedom dividend” of $1,000 per month.
During a September debate, Yang announced that he would be providing a small group of randomly-selected U.S. citizens $1,000 a month for a year as a test run of his policy proposal. He has since begun payments despite dropping from the race.
Yang also said that he was in contact with the White House during the decision to provide many U.S. citizens with $1,200 checks as part of the coronavirus relief package.
