A concern I've had in the past couple days.

[DaGimpster]

Hey everyone!

First of all, I'm turning 38 this year so keep that in mind I ponder these issues.

While I went Bernie here in Iowa, and I'm strongly behind him, the signs that the global economy might be in trouble have concerned me. This would be on *anyone* who is elected, but I'm worried that Sanders would get socked with a confluence of economic issues like Carter did. Thus he would be unable to help usher in many of his bold reforms.

Now keep in mind, I'm not brining this up to say don't vote for Bernie. I'm just curious if any of the older members of the forum have pondered this as well?

[virtualobserver]

1. It could help those reforms to occur

It could be more like Roosevelt in the Great Depression.

[TTUBatfan2008]

12. Exactly...

The worst economy ever led to the boldest economic agenda ever getting passed into law. A majority of people already agree with Sanders on some major issues. A depression might make them even more desperate to see some of those programs come to pass.

[tazkcmo]

2. Considering the choices

I'll take Sen Sanders in a financial down turn over any others running as his focus would be on how he can help the people most affected and not the corporations who will make a few less million ala 2008.

[DaGimpster]

4. a good point and I also don't think

Bernie would start MORE unnecessary wars to "stimulate" the economy.

[tazkcmo]

5. Very good additional point! n/t

[Kalidurga]

3. I pondered what would happen if suddenly people didn't have to save up for college for their kids...

And what would happen if people suddenly had an extra 500 dollars a month more that they weren't spending on health insurance, plus not paying deductibles and for medications.

I have also pondered what would happen if this tax on speculation happened and people with that kind of money decided it would be better to actually make things people need and use instead of just pushing numbers around with nothing physical to show for it.
IE, I think they would actually create some real jobs to get a return on their money instead of speculating.

And yes the global economy is in big trouble and most the time it turns out it's in trouble because of austerity measures.

[tazkcmo]

6. Austerity

coupled with illusion.

[Kalidurga]

7. Yep

It turns out when you cut the incomes of the poorest people it does bad things to the economy. People don't buy stuff if they don't have money.

[libdem4life]

8. Any President will. Difference is, Bernie has spent years in Congress and already has

working relationships with both Democrats and Republicans. He's been on financial committees. He's not only listened to, he has helped to co-sponsor legislation that reflect his beliefs. They respect him. He's been elected many times for many positions.

Neither of this describes Carter, Clinton, or Obama when he was first elected for that matter.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

13. He has a lot of experience and connections

in this country and globally.

[libdem4life]

14. I'm not so well versed in that...could you elaborate?

[Trajan]

9. Bernie's solutions would counter negative factors in the marketplace

The solution to economic downturns is often best found in government spending - when all else fails - pump money into the system ...

Bernie's spending plans, for instance, will increase economic activity and wealth for the middle and lower classes by a goodly amount, and, whenever we get money in our hands, we spend it.

It's amazing how well a 'fair market economy' performs for regular people ...

[in_cog_ni_to]

10. Maybe this will help alleviate your fears. Bernie KNOWS economics.

He'll be a GREAT president! Be sure to follow the link and read the entire article. It's worth the read!

What Kind of Mayor Was Bernie Sanders?

In his eight years as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Bernie Sanders revitalized the economy and solidified support for progressive municipal policies.


By Peter Dreier and Pierre Clavel

John Davis remembers a meeting in 1986 when Bernie Sanders, then the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, confronted the owners of the city’s largest affordable-housing complex. The federal program that had subsidized the Northgate Apartments for 20 years had a loophole that allowed the landlords to convert the buildings into market rentals or luxury condos.

“Bernie pounded his fist on the conference table in his office and told the owners, ‘Over my dead body are you going to displace 336 working families. You are not going to convert Northgate into luxury housing,’” recalled Davis, who was Sanders’s key housing aide.

Under Sanders’s leadership, the city adopted a number of laws to stifle the owners’ plans. One ordinance required apartment owners to give residents two years’ notice before a condo conversion. Others gave residents a pre-emptive right to buy the units and prohibited landlords from bulldozing buildings unless they replaced them with the same number of affordable units. (These measures lowered the selling price of the property.) Sanders then worked with the state government and Senator Patrick Leahy to get the $12 million needed to purchase and rehabilitate the buildings. The city allocated funds to help the tenants hire an organizer, form the Northgate Residents Association, and start the process of converting the complex to resident ownership. Today, Northgate Apartments is owned by the tenants and has long-term restrictions to keep the buildings affordable for working families.

The battle over Northgate Apartments illustrates Sanders’s general approach to governing. In addressing this and many other issues, he encouraged grassroots organizing, adopted local laws to protect the vulnerable, challenged the city’s business power brokers, and worked collaboratively with other politicians to create a more livable city.
<snip>

http://www.thenation.com/article/bernies-burlington-city-sustainable-future/

[libdem4life]

15. That was a great article. Could the choice be clearer...someone who has already done it, to

someone who has dreamed of it for decades.

[djean111]

11. Hillary would just make sure that Wall Street and the 1% would be okay.

She would smilingly slash safety nets. Our insurance premiums and co-pays would be going up so that insurance and pharma would keep making more and more profits. I wouldn't look to a wealthy Third Way politician who is BFFs with Blankfein and Kiddinger to help anyone but the 1%.

I wouldn't ponder on this for even one more second.

[TBF]

16. Let me turn that question on you -

who do YOU think can manage the economy better? Bernie has been at this 30+ years and has the interests of normal Americans at heart. The other candidates are falling over each other for endorsements from the establishment. As someone who has been on this planet for close to half a century you bet I have pondered these questions. I've seen what the establishment does - they keep the money for themselves. I'd ready for someone who endorses some redistribution.



Further I would direct you to Robert Reich (who knows some things about economics - and winning a Rhodes Scholarship to study Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Oxford - and secretary of Labor under Pres. Clinton) who has answers for skeptics of Bernie:

Six Responses to Bernie Skeptics:

1. “He’d never beat Trump or Cruz in a general election.”

Wrong. According to the latest polls, Bernie is the strongest Democratic candidate in the general election, defeating both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in hypothetical matchups. (The latest RealClear Politics averages of all polls shows Bernie beating Trump by a larger margin than Hillary beats Trump, and Bernie beating Cruz while Hillary loses to Cruz.)

2. “He couldn’t get any of his ideas implemented because Congress would reject them.”

If both house of Congress remain in Republican hands, no Democrat will be able to get much legislation through Congress, and will have to rely instead on executive orders and regulations. But there’s a higher likelihood of kicking Republicans out if Bernie’s “political revolution” continues to surge around America, bringing with it millions of young people and other voters, and keeping them politically engaged.

3. “America would never elect a socialist.”

P-l-e-a-s-e. America’s most successful and beloved government programs are social insurance – Social Security and Medicare. A highway is a shared social expenditure, as is the military and public parks and schools. The problem is we now have excessive socialism for the rich (bailouts of Wall Street, subsidies for Big Ag and Big Pharma, monopolization by cable companies and giant health insurers, giant tax-deductible CEO pay packages) – all of which Bernie wants to end or prevent.

4. “His single-payer healthcare proposal would cost so much it would require raising taxes on the middle class.”

This is a duplicitous argument. Single-payer systems in other rich nations have proven cheaper than private for-profit health insurers because they don’t spend huge sums on advertising, marketing, executive pay, and billing. So even if the Sanders single-payer plan did require some higher taxes, Americans would come out way ahead because they’d save far more than that on health insurance.

5. “His plan for paying for college with a tax on Wall Street trades would mean colleges would run by government rules.”

Baloney. Three-quarters of college students today already attend public universities financed largely by state governments, and they’re not run by government rules. The real problem is too many young people still can’t afford a college education. The move toward free public higher education that began in the 1950s with the G.I. Bill and extended into the 1960s came to an abrupt stop in the 1980s. We must restart it.

6. “He’s too old.”

Untrue. He’s in great health. Have you seen how agile and forceful he is as he campaigns around the country? These days, 70s are the new 60s. (He’s younger than four of the nine Supreme Court justices.) In any event, the issue isn’t age; it’s having the right values. FDR was paralyzed.” In any event, the issue isn’t age; it’s having the right values. was paralyzed, and JFK had Addison’s Crohn’s diseases, but they were great presidents because they fought adamantly for social and economic justice.