Price tag of Bernie Sanders’ proposals: $18 Trillion

[Panhandle Progressive]

His agenda includes an estimated $15 trillion for a government-run health-care program that covers every American, plus large sums to rebuild roads and bridges, expand Social Security and make tuition free at public colleges.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/price-tag-of-bernie-sanders-proposals-18-trillion-2015-09-15

[Matty]

He's awful. And his revenue-raising proposals don't even sniff covering that.

It's just bizarre bizarre bizarre the philosophy that man has towards government .

[°Leprechaun]

None of these would happen without the support of both Houses.

[°Leprechaun]

What about the cost of war? Not just in money but in lives.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

note: this is $18t over the course of a decade.

[Torie]

That's over a decade, so that is a "mere" 1.8 trillion per year. No problem!

[DrScholl]

That's the problem with Sanders, he can make proposals, but can't really cover how to pay for them. That aside, where would he get the support in Congress?

[°Leprechaun]

More than likely if any Democrat is elected, the Republicans will control both Houses.
Certainly if a Republican is elected s/he will get whatever s/he wants from both Republican
Houses. Either way the Republicans will have to receive all (under a Republican POTUS)
or a some (under a Democrat) of the blame for out of control spending. Before the Republicans can blame the Democrats
for huge budgets, they need to get their own Houses in order, no?

Republicans love to talk about tax cuts, but without spending cuts, tax cuts are foolish.

Defense is a good place to start.

[Flake]

[Lief 🗽]

Hahah, $32 trillion in savings from abolishing a major sector of the economy. Sure, Bernie. Sure.

[Torie]

Hahah, $32 trillion in savings from abolishing a major sector of the economy. Sure, Bernie. Sure.

Maybe Bernie is counting as "savings" folks not having to pay insurance premiums anymore.

[The Free North]

Dear lord, he is starting to make granny look good.

Both primaries are truly a comedy of errors at this point. When does the grown-up campaign start?

[Pyro]

"Go big or go home"

[Lief 🗽]

Basically, Sanders' plan has two parts: $15 trillion on healthcare and $3 trillion on everything else. The $3 trillion on everything else is a good plan and roughly comparable to the Republicans' various deficit-growing tax cut plans. And then the healthcare plan is pie-in-the-sky nonsense.

[Mehmentum]

I don't understand how Sanders plans to save money by 'ending regressive healthcare'.  What is he referring to by regressive healthcare, and how will ending it save us 32 trillion? 

Imo, I don't think the U.S can afford a single payer healthcare system while simultaneously spending so much on the military.  European countries can afford the healthcare programs they have in large part due to not needing to pay much on defense because of the U.S.

[Simfan34]

The government is not spending $3.2 trillion on healthcare a year. That figure must be total healthcare spending-- which obviously doesn't count as government spending.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I assume the theory goes that if Americans are no longer paying insurance premiums, their pockets will become heavier and they will use that cash to grow the economy. The trouble is as Lief suggests, a lot of people are employed in that side of the healthcare business, to the extent that writing-them off would cause a lot of disruptment to employment especially in areas where the industry is a big employer.

I imagine the tax ememption for employmer-provided healthcare would no longer be needed and thus could be repealed to end some budget woes.

I'm often sceptical of "corporate welfare" attacks - not that I doubt it exists, but I feel it is much more pernicious and pervasive than to be quantified as a large sum and then eliminated. Also it should be considered that "fossil fuel welfare" includes externalities, so the info graphic that flo posted would come with a carbon/fuel tax.

Infrastructure is a good spend, although take a lot of those reports that go INFRASTRUCTURE MUST BE INVESTED NOW OR DOOM with a pinch of salt - consider their authors! I hope such spends would be on grids, Internet and trams rather than roads and (sadly) increasingly less likely high-speed rail boondoggles.

You know what I really would find cool? If sanders or trump or whatever used America's navy to encircle and blockade places like the Cayman Islands until they squeal. Sadly neither would do it - Trump probably uses such schemes unashamedly and Sanders would cite "international law" like a LOSER.

What about the cost of war? Not just in money but in lives.

Has sanders actually said he wants to make cuts to the pentagon? He seems very "business as usual" in terms of foreign affairs...

[sparkey]

The government is not spending $3.2 trillion on healthcare a year. That figure must be total healthcare spending-- which obviously doesn't count as government spending.

The graphic doesn't even say $3.2 trillion, it says $32 trillion, which is even more ridiculous.

Who made the graphic? Just some Bernie supporter?

[politicus]

European countries can afford the healthcare programs they have in large part due to not needing to pay much on defense because of the U.S.

A tiresome myth, that keeps getting repeated around here.

1) There is no objective need for Western countries to uphold a collective military superiority on the level we have now. There is amble room for US defence cuts in many areas (the Navy would be an obvious place to start, tanks is another).

2) What possible military threats that Europe can not handle ourselves are you "protecting" us against? Russia could not pull off a military invasion of Western and Central Europe + Britain and France have nuclear forces as deterrence.

[emailking]

The government is not spending $3.2 trillion on healthcare a year. That figure must be total healthcare spending-- which obviously doesn't count as government spending.

The graphic doesn't even say $3.2 trillion, it says $32 trillion, which is even more ridiculous.

Who made the graphic? Just some Bernie supporter?

It's over 10 years.

[sparkey]

The government is not spending $3.2 trillion on healthcare a year. That figure must be total healthcare spending-- which obviously doesn't count as government spending.

The graphic doesn't even say $3.2 trillion, it says $32 trillion, which is even more ridiculous.

Who made the graphic? Just some Bernie supporter?

It's over 10 years.

Whoops, I knew that, what I missed was Simfan34 saying "a year."

Still, none of the "savings" numbers in the graphic are realistic, with the closest maybe being the last two, and with those, Bernie will have to sell tax hikes and high gas prices. Fortunately, it looks like Bernie isn't the one promoting these ridiculous numbers, and it just comes from a supporter on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/comments/3l1cz6/hey_wall_street_journal_ftfy_in_response_to_18/

[Lief 🗽]

The government is not spending $3.2 trillion on healthcare a year. That figure must be total healthcare spending-- which obviously doesn't count as government spending.

The graphic doesn't even say $3.2 trillion, it says $32 trillion, which is even more ridiculous.

Who made the graphic? Just some Bernie supporter?

It's over 10 years.

Whoops, I knew that, what I missed was Simfan34 saying "a year."

Still, none of the "savings" numbers in the graphic are realistic, with the closest maybe being the last two, and with those, Bernie will have to sell tax hikes and high gas prices. Fortunately, it looks like Bernie isn't the one promoting these ridiculous numbers, and it just comes from a supporter on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/comments/3l1cz6/hey_wall_street_journal_ftfy_in_response_to_18/

Bernie Sanders supporters are economically illiterate. Shocking news.

[Averroës Nix]

It's more economically literate than J. Bush's tax proposal (and most coverage thereof), at least. Or, God forbid, any of Paul Ryan's budgets.

Obviously you're not going to get cogent, nuanced policy analysis from a visualization that fits on an index card.

[Marokai Backbeat]

It's more economically literate than J. Bush's tax proposal (and most coverage thereof), at least. Or, God forbid, any of Paul Ryan's budgets.

Obviously you're not going to get cogent, nuanced policy analysis from a visualization that fits on an index card.

No. Bernie has to give me the 13,000 page bill to prove he's not economically illiterate.

[Lief 🗽]

It's more economically literate than J. Bush's tax proposal (and most coverage thereof), at least. Or, God forbid, any of Paul Ryan's budgets.

Well, yes, obviously. But that's not a very high bar to clear.