I guess we'll have to wait and see how it shakes out. With most so-called socialist countries it starts with good intentions but ends catastrophically. What you should be concerned with is the fact that wealthy capitalists in government might be in favor of a VAT if it's done in such a way where it will cause them to capitalize even more off of the poor.

Yang's free money would be less insulting to my intelligence if he wasn't going to do a VAT to pay for it, even then, it would have to be paid for with taxes so its six to one, half a dozen the other. When he talks about imposing the VAT he suggests with his words that it's only going to affect Amazon and Silicon Valley.

However, VAT is a tax on financial transactions, so it seems Yang is suggesting jacking up the prices on every financial transaction by at least 10% and then to cover the difference "for the program costs" he proposes adding "a carbon fee that will be partially dedicated to funding the Freedom Dividend."

Partially can mean anything, it can mean 0.001%. My guess is that Yang is bankrolled by the carbon tax hucksters to lure people in with the offer of "free money" so they will accept a carbon tax. They're lobbying the American people with their own money to get more money. In the end, when you account for the VAT and carbon tax, everyone will end up short-changed. Many Americans are weak-willed, gullible, and very susceptible to influence. All that said, Yang, might very well defeat Trump.

What more is there to say? May the better system win. All I can continue to stress is: be careful what you wish for. I think you've fallen prey to a sophisticated hustle constructed by the very capitalists that you loathe.

Corporations are in the business of making money. These institutions have a fiduciary responsibility to make their shareholders a profit, and this means they are legally obliged to do just that. That said, any top-down tinkering with the system that causes the profits of these entities to diminish will almost instantaneously get countered by the corporations when they raise their rates to compensate for the loss in revenue and appease shareholders. In the end, consumers will foot the bill.