Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumHere's how much a Bernie Sanders presidency would cost
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Whether most Americans prefer Sanderss statist agenda to the alleged abuses of corporations and Wall Street (the notorious top 1 percent) is what defines this election. Whatever the case, Sanders is proposing a hugely expensive transformation.
Lets examine the $50 trillion. The list below shows various spending programs that Sanders has proposed, with one important exception: The first item on the list is the Congressional Budget Offices estimate of the deficits under existing policies for the next decade. That figure is $13.1 trillion.
Sanderss Spending, 2021-2030:
1. Deficits under existing policies: $13.1 trillion
2. Free college for all and the cancellation of existing student debt: $2.2 trillion
3. Expand Social Security and other retirement benefits: $1.4 trillion (estimated by the Progressive Policy Institute)
4. Housing for all: $2.5 trillion
5. Eliminating household medical debt: $81 billion
6. Green New Deal (programs to stop global warming): $16.3 trillion
7. Universal child care and preschool: $1.5 trillion
8. Medicare-for-all: $17.5 trillion
Total: $54.6 trillion
Sanderss proposals wont raise nearly as much money as he thinks they will, says Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Even if they did, they wont pay for everything he wants.
For example, Sanders proposes a wealth tax on taxpayers with a net worth (assets minus liabilities) of $32 million or more. The tax would gradually rise from 1 percent up to 8 percent on fortunes exceeding $10 billion. Sanders estimates this would raise $4.35 trillion over a decade.
Not likely, says Gleckman. About half of the wealth of the rich is contained in privately held businesses that, unlike publicly traded stocks, are hard to value. He thinks the tax would raise far less than expected. Rich people wont stand by and pay taxes, he says.
They will hire expensive lawyers to avoid taxes. Similar problems would erode revenue from a proposed tax on financial transactions, he says.
Even with some added tax revenue, there still would be a $25 trillion gap between Sanderss spending plans and an equivalent amount of new tax revenue, says analyst Ben Ritz of the PPI. Federal spending would approach 40 percent of gross domestic product, up from about 20 percent now.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
dalton99a
(81,515 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TexasTowelie
(112,244 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
OnDoutside
(19,962 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Gothmog
(145,314 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(297,304 posts)when someone like Howard Gleckman is paying attention to the math.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Thekaspervote
(32,778 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Historic NY
(37,451 posts)dumbass has already blown up the budget into the trillions,
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
brush
(53,787 posts)knowing how to pay for themsorta like the naiveté/egoism in thinking America is ready to elect a socialist.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Recursion
(56,582 posts)We can find or print the money. We can't print the workers.
A Green New Deal is going to create 15 million jobs? Who the hell is going to work them? There's already twice as many open positions in the US as there are people looking for work (7 million vs. 3.5 million). There's not some idle cache of construction engineers and environmental scientists sitting around on their duffs looking for something to do.
Location is a problem too. Promising "a job for everyone" sounds nice, but where will these jobs be? Are you going to open a jobs center in West Bumblefuck, Iowa, and 17,000 other tiny towns like it? Because right now if you can fog a mirror and you're in a metro area you can get a job.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
mahina
(17,668 posts)Plan.
Still a little blue over here.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
mahina
(17,668 posts)/ I am not undecided. I picked a great candidate right early and we just lost.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
safeinOhio
(32,688 posts)name a couple of Post Offices
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
OnDoutside
(19,962 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided