Bernie needs a better answer about the $15T Swift Boats! [View all]

[Admiral Loinpresser]

Bernie needs a better answer about the $15T BS.

1. The WSJ lied about Bernie’s platform by attacking pending House legislation (the Conyers single payer bill).

http://www.wsj.com/articles/price-tag-of-bernie-sanders-proposals-18-trillion-1442271511

2. They claimed that Bernie’s single payer program would cost an additional $15T in federal spending over ten years (a double lie).

3. The lie about the $15T was rebutted the next day by Professor Gerald Friedman, author of the study on which the WSJ was based. Friedman, in an open letter to the WSJ published in the Huffington Post, stated that under his study, the federal government would SAVE about $5T in expenditures over ten years.

“Because of the nearly $10 trillion in savings, it is possible to fund over $4.5 trillion in additional services while still reducing national health care spending by over $5 trillion. With these net savings, the additional $14.7 trillion in federal spending brings savings to the private sector (and state and local governments) of over $19.7 trillion.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gerald-friedman/the-wall-street-journal-k_b_8143062.html

4. This morning, Bernie appeared on CBS and was grilled about the WSJ $15T lie. CBS perpetuated the lie with a graphic stating: “Cost of Sanders’ New Programs—Medicare for all: $15T.” See CBS video at 3:35.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/128052672

5. In response, at 3:10 of the video, Bernie said that businesses would no longer have to buy private health insurance for their workers and the per capita cost of healthcare would come down. His answer was true, but inadequate, imo.

6. I believe the Swift Boating on this issue has just begun and will only grow much greater.

7. The correct response, imo, is political judo: a single payer plan will NOT cost anything extra, in fact, it will SAVE the federal government trillions of dollars over ten years, as well as saving individuals and businesses over $10T over the same period.

So here is my suggested response to $15T questions:

“Let’s be clear: the Wall Street Journal, a right wing newspaper owned by billionaire Rupert Murdoch lied about single payer health care. The Conyers single payer plan now pending in Congress will NOT cost anything extra, in fact, it will SAVE the federal government about five trillion dollars over ten years, as well as saving individuals and businesses over $10T over the same period.

In an open letter to the WSJ, Gerald Friedman, the author of the study said exactly that the day after the spurious attack. In due course I will come out with my own plan that will have comparable savings with the Conyers plan.”

Bernie’s answer was good, but not adequate in my view. We must meme the public into associating single payer with SAVINGS, not COST. Otherwise we may lose this battle, and this is central to Bernie’s platform. The Swift Boats are already in the water. Now is the time to sink them with the torpedoes of optimally-framed truth.