Can America Afford Bernie Sanders?

Crunching the numbers on Bernie Sander's programs.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfh57GfVYmo

 

As far as the free college. To help control cost wouldn't colleges have to eliminate many of their extra curricular activities? Many of the colleges in Europe that are free tend to be stripped down to primarily academics. Are Americans ready to give up many of the extra curricular activities that they enjoy in college in order to make them more affordable?

 

Apply some ointment to get rid of the Bern.

 

Hillary thought it was just another STD she caught from Bill.

 

He wants to in his own words, raise an additional ninteen point seven trillion dollars in taxes arely below the size of the national debt will be, by next inauguration day. We have no way of even reducing its size, because the money is overminted and not sound to begin with, it's all fiat. Therefore we don't have near enough to even fund any of it. Bernie doesn't even have the balls to keep a insignifigant protestor from snatching his mic out of his hand. So how's he going to have big enough balls, let alone management skills to keep us afloat? His platform is to simply bribe everyone with a bunch of free shit that isn't free to begin with and out of everyone else's. We don't even have enough to properly fund the so claled affordable care act, so how are we supposed to fund something even bigger and more expensive?

 

Higher taxes replace insurance premiums, in the single payer health plan. Anybody from Europe can explain this. It works. Why pay insurance companies a profit? You get nothing out of it, unless you're an investor in one of those companies.

 

The money will come from taxes. The taxes will exist if the majority of people really want them to exist. Whether the minority likes it or not, and vice versa. Majority of Americans support higher taxes. On top of those taxes, there will be taxes on the practice of speculation on wall street. A tax as small as 30 cents per $1000 could make a HYUUUGE (350 Billion) amount over the course of the following decade.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2013/08/21/a-wall-street-transaction-tax-would-be-good-for-the-economy-and-the-budget

Bernie was himself an activist in the 1960s. He understands the need to take a live mic if you feel the need to say something important. If he would have been forceful with her. Not only would he have damaged his reputation with women, but his relationship with blacks would also suffer greatly. He did EXACTLY the correct thing. No matter who the person was, or what they looked like. Step out of the way, give her the mic, let her speak, let them boo, then pull her aside after to talk about what her cause is. Maybe you could build a useful relationship with a faction of a demographic that you might NEED come time to vote.

Its not free, you said so yourself. So stop trying to scare supporters of Bernie off with the whole 'Free shit' line. Its old as Marx. You would rather have Cruz you lose, or Trump-a-lump, or Rubio Losedays as President over Bernie? That is your right. I wish you the best of circumstance.

 

Of course we can't afford the affordable healthcare act, do you have any idea how expensive private insurance is? The government is subsidizing people who can't get employer subsidized insurance.

If you pay employer sponsored healthcare what you see taken out of your paycheck each week is only a portion of the total cost. Your employer foots a big chunk of the bill.

This is why I don't understand why voters who are very pro business aren't also pro single payer. It would come out cheaper for employers to pay a tax rather than continue to offer private plans to their employees.

A single payer system would come out cheaper because the industry would be much more regulated and prices would be negotiated and strictly controlled. Not sure if you're aware but there is very little price control in healthcare right now. It varies based on contracts between individual insurance companies and individual healthcare providers and can vary wildly. Healthcare is also not subject to the same economic laws as other industries. Price doesn't exactly go down with demand.

Healthcare should be regulated in the same vein as any other public utility company in America. Costs will continue to skyrocket as long as healthcare providers and insurance companies continue to set completely arbitrary rates.

 

Also as far as bernie allowing the BLM group to snatch his mic, he has said he wanted to give them a chance to make their voices heard. Being a good listener and letting your constituents speak should be a requirement for any politician, not a sign of weakness.

 

I'm not too big on the single payer approach for healthcare. From what I've read on Canada's single payer system you're gonna have some problems with single payer.

I've come to the conclusion that maybe that public option would have been good for the U.S to help makeup for the shortcomings of our private oriented system. Meanwhile up in Canada they seem to need a "private option" to makeup for the shortcomings of their public system.

Canada must offer private options along with universal health-care to combat long wait times: report | National Post


Most in U.S. want public health option: poll | Reuters


Basically it seems like to have a good healthcare system you'll need some amount of both private and public options.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/08/news/economy/sanders-income-jobs/

 

^

From that CNN article.

I will say this. Since America hasn't had a single payer system and most of the other stuff Sanders is promoting at this point it isn't exactly clear what the results would be. So right now many people are throwing out numbers that may or may not be too accurate.

 

Motion

Why?

I went to University at a time when it was a government grant (not a loan) and there wasn’t very much different then, than now, concerning extracurricular activities?

[SIZE=11pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The NHS has worked incredibly well but it has its problems most of which are due to successive right wing governments forcing ‘free market’ ideas on it since the 1980’s (internal markets, competition, targets, outsourcing and the ruinous PFI’s). Looking at what they are doing anyone would think that they actually are trying to bring the popular NHS to its knees.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]*[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Motion we have discussed economics before, I’m presuming you still favour the more neoliberal/free market approach? [/SIZE]

 

To improve a nation's overall healthcare, ideally. The profits made by insurance companies could save others who need more expensive meds/treatments.

 

I am not a team sports fan, so I say eliminate the "pro" college sports like basketball, and football.

 

How many tens of thousands of dollars would you be willing to borrow for the right to see college football and basketball games?

Of course, you know sports programs at private schools aren't going anywhere, no matter what.

Lots of people go to community colleges now, for financial reasons, where there are no sports programs at all.

 

From what I understand most single payer countries do offer a private option as well. I was reading the other day canada is one of the few countries that does not.

Keyword: ideally.

I'm not sure it works like that in reality. If an insurance company has to dip into their shareholder's profits they're most likely going to hike up premiums and deductibles to make up for it.

 

But this is not 'nam

I agree, which is why I had to include the word. Both happens. Profit on itself is not a dirty word. It's what they do with it. If they have enough they can even give bonusses to their directors for all I care (but only then and rather not at all, dirty socialist that I am )