Here's how much a Bernie Sanders presidency would cost

[George II]

If you ever wondered how much Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) vast array of policy proposals would cost, we now have a reasonably good estimate from his own staff. The answer is about $50 trillion over the next decade. Sanders may or may not be a “democratic socialist” — whatever that means — but he clearly is a soak-the-rich radical who would dramatically expand the government’s role, from cradle to grave.

Whether most Americans prefer Sanders’s 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.

Let’s 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 Office’s estimate of the deficits under existing policies for the next decade. That figure is $13.1 trillion.

Sanders’s 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

Unfortunately limited by the 4-paragraph guideline, MUCH more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-sanders-bill-for-democracy-50-trillion/2020/02/26/c6963114-58dc-11ea-9b35-def5a027d470_story.html

[msongs]

1. besides the house and senate... nt

[emmaverybo]

10. So then how would he pass even one of these? And where does that leave us on everything

else?

[BilltheCat]

3. Simple as pie right?

Bill Clinton raised taxes on the wealthy and was hunted mercilessly for 8 solid years; they trying to impeach him from the day he was inaugerated and when that failed they were willfully trying to bankrupt him. Those who think Obama had it bad i'm convinced must have been in diapers during the Clinton years.

[ehrnst]

22. Like HRC did from those on the far left who smeared her with misogynist slurs.

[Mike 03]

4. FYI

The size of the U.S. economy was at $20.58 trillion in 2018 in nominal terms and is expected to reach $22.32 trillion in 2020.

https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/

[flotsam]

6. I noticed elsewhere today we would save over $200 million

just on golf!

[DownriverDem]

8. Anyone hear

that repubs are voting for Bernie to help trump win a second term?

[RhodeIslandOne]

9. Honestly, you are not helping

I don't care about any of that. It's never going to happen. It should happen though.

The bottom line is, saying it's going to happen ensures Donald Trump wins. And that ends this country. Once and for all.

[thesquanderer]

13. Good point. We hear "It will break us economically" and also "It will never pass."

But it can't be both.

What it would be is a compromise worked out through congress, like all other presidential plans.

[RhodeIslandOne]

14. Even AOC realizes this

I have no idea what goes thru Bernie's head but whatever. My guess is he'd sabotage compromise.

[thesquanderer]

17. If an MFA bill crossed his desk, I don't see him vetoing it, even if it isn't 100% what he wanted nt

[totodeinhere]

11. I am one of the Americans who "prefer Sanders's statist agenda to the alleged abuses of corporations

and Wall Street." And apparently a lot of voters so far agree with me including better than 70% of the attendees at my local caucus here in Nevada who voted for Bernie.

[CrawlingChaos]

12. Raise taxes on the rich, cut military spending...

...make corporations pay their fair share

Viola'! Paid for!

[Hav]

16. Maybe paid for in Fantasy land

In the real world, words aren't enough besides fooling naive followers. You'd actually need to pass all of that, likely while dealing with a Repub Senate.

[NurseJackie]

15. Not worth it.

[TomSlick]

18. Nah, ain't gonna happen.

Other than renaming post offices in Vermont, Sen. Sanders has been largely ineffective in passing legislation he drafted. Why would a President Sanders be any more effective?

Remember what a feat of legislative brilliance it took to pass the Affordable Care Act? The ACA was a much more modest proposal than any of the Sanders agenda items listed. Absent the Democrats keeping the House and taking the Senate, a President Sanders will not be able to pass any part of his agenda.

[George II]

19. His "bully pulpit" couldn't get a version of universal healthcare coverage passed in Vermont.....

...and just this week they passed a minimum wage falling far short of $15 per hour. If he can't convince his own state to pass those two in a state with less than 0.5% of the population of the US, how can we expect it'll pass in a diverse country of 330 million people?

[David__77]

20. Way too austere. Double it.

...

[Ron Green]

21. "Statist Agenda" is a glib term I've heard lots of Libertarian ideologues use,

but if you make the effort to think more deeply you’ll hear Sanders talk about worker self-directed enterprises, co-ops and other employment models that can help move us away from the “alleged” abuses of corporations and Wall Street.

I won’t call you a Republican, but the things you post on this here “Democratic Underground” are very much like what I read in my local GOP newspaper.