About this item
From entrepreneur Andrew Yang, the founder of Venture for America, an eye-opening look at how new technologies are erasing millions of jobs before our eyes-and a rallying cry for the urgent steps America must take, including Universal Basic Income, to stabilize our economy. The shift toward automation is about to create a tsunami of unemployment. Not in the distant future--now. One recent estimate predicts 13 million American workers will lose their jobs within the next seven years-jobs that won't be replaced. In a future marked by restlessness and chronic unemployment, what will happen to American society? In The War on Normal People, Andrew Yang paints a dire portrait of the American economy. Rapidly advancing technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and automation software are making millions of Americans' livelihoods irrelevant. The consequences of these trends are already being felt across our communities in the form of political unrest, drug use, and other social ills. The future looks dire-but is it unavoidable? In The War on Normal People, Yang imagines a different future -- one in which having a job is distinct from the capacity to prosper and seek fulfillment. At this vision's core is Universal Basic Income, the concept of providing all citizens with a guaranteed income-and one that is rapidly gaining popularity among forward-thinking politicians and economists. Yang proposes that UBI is an essential step toward a new, more durable kind of economy, one he calls "human capitalism."
About the Author
Andrew Yang is the founder and CEO of Venture for America, a fellowship program that places top college graduates in start-ups for two years in emerging US cities (Detroit, New Orleans, Providence, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Cleveland, Philadelphia, among others) to generate job growth and train the next generation of entrepreneurs. Venture for America is regarded as one of the leading social innovation initiatives in the country today and has a goal of helping create 100,000 new US jobs by 2025. Andrew has worked in start-ups and early-stage growth companies as a founder or executive for more than twelve years. He was the CEO and president of Manhattan GMAT, a test preparation company that was acquired by the Washington Post Company/Kaplan in 2009. He has also served as the cofounder of an Internet company and an executive at a health care software start-up. He has appeared on many media outlets, including CNBC, Fox News, Time, Techcrunch, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, and was named a Champion of Change by the White House for his work with Venture for America, as well as one of Fast Company's "100 Most Creative People in Business." He is a graduate of Columbia Law School and Brown University and lives in New York City with his wife and son.
