He’s smart and articulate, with a sheen of Silicon Valley nerdiness. Yang thinks that America’s biggest problem – and a major motivating factor for blue-collar workers is the loss of jobs to automation: the subject of his book The War on Normal People. And his prescription to solve that problem is a concept that economists call Universal Basic Income. He has lifelong ties to the Hudson Valley. He spent his early childhood, when his father was working for General Electric, in Niskayuna, and his middle and high school years in Somers after his father went to work for IBM.