US presidential hopeful Andrew Yang bowed out of the US presidential election race a couple of weeks ago. His main agenda was a $1,000-a-month universal basic income (UBI) for all Americans. He was extremely popular on social media and with younger people, however the mainstream American media tended to favour more seasoned candidates. It seems that “established power” and “reputation” are far more important in American politics than you know, actual merit. UBI is pretty much dead in the water in American politics, at least for the time being. Germany, however, have apparently slipped under the radar and implemented a UBI-esque policy into law. Since 2005, all adult German residents who are unable to make ends meet have been entitled to the so-called Hartz-IV payment of around €424 (so a bit over AU$700 a month). However, recipients had to meet some strict requirements. For example, if you’re not employed, you must look for work, attend all job interviews, and accept any reasonable work that is offered. Failure to do so could result in your payment being docked, or even cancelled for a number of months. Late in 2019, the German supreme Court ruled that the terms of the Hartz IV policy were unconstitutional. Essentially they ruled that a 100% penalty would constitute an undue hardship on recipients, and thus a violation of human dignity seriously encroaching upon the minimum standard of living guaranteed by fundamental rights. The ruling dictates that the maximum the Government are allowed to cut people’s payments is now 30% no matter what. You could lie on your sofa and play video games all day long and still receive €300 a month. Is this a Universal Basic Income? It depends how you define it. Currently Germany has an extremely low unemployment rate of 3.1% (Australia is currently sitting at around 5.3%). We’ll probably have to wait a year or two before we can fully analyse the effects of the new German policy, but I suspect it won’t hurt Germany and will help regular Germans. ANDREW YANG’S BOOK ON BASIC INCOME The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future ▶ https://amzn.to/2Px9gw3 MY GEAR Rode NT-USB Microphone ▶ https://amzn.to/2OjhgB4 Lenovo ThinkPad Edge Laptop ▶ https://amzn.to/2TKMdB5 ALTERNATIVE TO YOUTUBE https://lbry.tv/$/invite/@DailyRantAustralia:d IMAGE RIGHTS Andrew Yang by Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) OUTRO MUSIC Fortress Europe by Dan Bodan (https://www.youtube.com/user/danbodan) ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIeTiQcCdo0

I’m sure you’ve heard by now about the infamous kiss where Spanish football President Luis Rubiales kissed midfielder Jennifer Hermoso without her permission. The reaction across the media was swift – BURN HIM! As with many things of late, you’re only allowed to have one opinion on this story, and that is you have to demand that he be punished to the maximum extent possible. He has to lose his job. He has to lose his livelihood. He has to be charged with sexual assault! It’s the crime of the century, right? Right? In this video, as I often tend to do, I wish to play devil’s advocate. First of all, of course I think nobody should be the victim of an unwanted kiss. Nobody should be forced to kiss anybody. Of course not! This is not me supporting Mr Rubiales’ actions, but one thing I like less than an unwanted kiss is mob mentality, and as usual, that’s what we’re seeing. The mob demands blood, figuratively speaking. A simple slap on the wrist will not do! They want him out! They want him to be charged with a crime! But is this a proportionate response? Are unwanted kisses so rare and so evil that we must act with overwhelming force to eradicate them once and for all? Here are my comments, noting once again, I’m not here to defend Mr Rubiales. When I was a kid growing up in Australia, my uncles and aunties would come over, and without fail, my aunties would kiss me. Often on the cheek. Sometimes on the lips. Either way, I didn’t like it. If I protested, they just did it more, not in a spiteful way, but in an affectionate way. Occasionally, I would complain to my parents, but as I grew up, I realised this is just what they did to show affection. Despite not liking it, I got used to it. In my early 20s, I moved to Japan. The Japanese typically do not like public displays of affection, exactly how I like it. However, where I was working, I was surrounded by people from all different countries. One of my flatmates, an American guy, was dating an Italian lady. Whenever I met her, she would always kiss me. In formal settings, she just kissed me on the cheek. In more casual settings, like in a bar after she had a couple of wines, she’d kiss me on the lips – just a quick peck – but I hated it. I know it was just her way of greeting people, because she pretty much did it to anybody she was friends with, or who was friends with her boyfriend. In Japan, I also knew an older Spanish couple. The lady also always kissed me as a greeting or when saying goodbye. Again, I didn’t like it, but I put up with it, because by this stage of my life, I just realised some people liked kissing as part of their culture, or whatever. Yeah, I didn’t like it, but after growing up with aunties who always did it, I just assumed this is what humans do. When I came back to Australia, a lot of my friends’ mothers, or neighbours would come up and kiss me, you know, as a “long time no see” sort of kiss. Again, I didn’t like it, but I just grinned and bore it. Even Seinfeld had an episode where everyone was kissing Jerry when they met him, and he was just sick of it, so he asked them to stop, which they didn’t take too kindly to and ended up defacing his photo. As you can tell, I’ve experienced a lot of unwanted kisses in my life. I presume other listeners have as well. The only reason these unwanted kisses stopped really, is because of the pandemic, but I presume they’ll start up again soon enough. So what’s my point? Well… Mr Rubiales is Spanish. He comes from a touchy-feely culture, one which I’ve experienced. He got caught up in emotion and kissed a player after she won the World Cup. I’m not saying he did the right thing, not at all. I personally hate people kissing me. I completely understand how people didn’t like it. But does this mean we need to cancel him? And just one more point. What if the opposite happened? It doesn’t take very long to find an example on the internet. 40-year-old Jenny McCarthy kissed 18-year-old Justin Bieber grabbing him by the neck and then the butt after announcing him as the winner of the pop album of the year. All in good fun, right? Justin simply replied, “I feel violated right now”. So if he shouldn’t be cancelled, what do I think should happen to Luis Rubiales? Based on this one kiss alone, and assuming nothing else has gone on behind closed doors, personally I think a simple “I’m sorry to have upset you. I got caught up in the moment. I promise to never do it again” would be enough. But actually, he has already apologised, but that wasn’t enough. The insatiable mob want him burnt. SPANISH SOCCER BOSS LUIS RUBIALES ASKED TO QUIT AMID SEX ASSAULT PROBE AND MOTHER'S HUNGER STRIKE https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-29/luis-rubiales-faces-sex-assault-investigation-in-spain/102786468 JENNY MCCARTHY KISSES JUSTIN BIEBER, THEN EXPLAINS HERSELF https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-xpm-2012-nov-19-la-et-mg-mccarthy-kisses-bieber-amas-justin-bieber-story.html MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEhI6AkfbcM

“The more you care about what other people think of you, the more you live a life that isn't yours.” ~ William (Daily Rant Australia). This is my channel trailer which (hopefully) explains what I am all about. Lots of people don’t like me, some people love me, but either way, I’m here to stay on YouTube until YouTube either kick me off, or go bankrupt. I rant about a lot of stuff, but don’t let the name fool you. Although I call myself Daily Rant, I don’t make a video every day. Making videos is really, really time consuming. However, I do publish fairly often with a goal of two or three videos a week. If you watch any of my videos, you’ll find there’s lots of things I don’t like about the world (well, more specifically, about the people in it). But one thing that I can guarantee, is that I’ll be honest. I only speak truth, sometimes disguised as sarcasm, but truth all the same. Despite what my critics say, I’m not going away. As I said at the start, “The more you care about what other people think of you, the more you live a life that isn't yours”. If you want to hear some honest conversation — something that is severely lacking on YouTube — subscribe to Daily Rant Australia today. MY GEAR Rode NT-USB Microphone ▶ https://amzn.to/2OjhgB4 Lenovo ThinkPad Edge Laptop ▶ https://amzn.to/2TKMdB5 OUTRO MUSIC Fortress Europe by Dan Bodan (https://www.youtube.com/user/danbodan) ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnZPGJ-f9A0

The myth that young people can’t buy a house because they’re lazy, or waste their money, is busted. According to a new report by the Grattan Institute, young Australians are simply not as wealthy as their predecessors were three decades ago. Older households (65 years and older), have almost four times as much wealth as younger households (34 years and younger) on average. This is compared to only 2½ times 30 years ago. Relative income and expenditure has also increased. When it comes to government benefits, older households are getting a lot more than they used to increasing from about $17,000 30 years ago, to about $28,000 per year now. (Note: all these figures have been adjusted for inflation). Younger households are unsurprisingly the ones funding all of this. If you could conclude one thing from this information, it would be that the tax and transfer system has become increasingly generous to older Australians, which leaves Millennials and Generation Z to carry the burden threatening the sustainability of the so-called ‘Generational Bargain’. MY GEAR Rode NT-USB Microphone: https://amzn.to/2OjhgB4 MUSIC Stasis Attempt by Max McFerren #inequality #millennials #wealthinequality ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuNQoSbD69Y