NY Post Editorial Board Shreds Bernie Sanders’ ‘Magic Math’

| February 29, 2020


“Free” college and medicare, universal child care, housing for all, and the Green New Deal. These are just a few of the tremendously expensive planks in Bernie’s platform. Exactly where the money to pay for all of this will come from is unclear, but that matters not to the FSA. Why should it- they (mostly) pay no taxes and get their free stuff, and the Bern want to give them more. The fact this will beggar the country doesn’t matter. The NY Post Editorial Board takes Bernie to task over this. Read on.

‘Pay with Unicorn Dust’

By: HANNAH BLEAU

The New York Post editorial board unleashed on socialist senator and Democrat frontrunner Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Friday, ripping his grandiose plans to spend trillions and drastically expand the size of government and mocking his recently released fact sheet — which supposedly addresses cost concerns of his various proposals — as not even passing the “laugh test.”

The editorial board took aim at Sanders over his recently released fact sheet, in which he attempts to explain how he will fund his “major” multitrillion-dollar campaign proposals like “free” college, universal child care, housing for all, and the Green New Deal. Summed up, Sanders plans to pay for his costly proposals by increasing taxes (and creating new ones), enacting penalties on the fossil fuel industry, and slashing military spending. He also contends that his $16.3 trillion Green New Deal plan will create 20 million jobs, thereby resulting in a new tax base and additional government revenue.

“No one’s surprised that the numbers don’t remotely add up — or even pass the laugh test,” the Post’s editorial board writes, noting that his fact sheet only covers 10-year costs for a handful of his major proposals:

Independent estimates from progressive outfits like the Urban Institute put the price for Medicare for All at well over $30 trillion. Sanders insists it will cost half that because he’ll magically cut costs.

It adds up to easily doubling what the federal government spends now.

And all his new taxes only bring in about half what he means to spend.

Assuming they work as intended: Of course he pretends they wouldn’t slow the economy in the least. (Hey, it worked in … well, nowhere, but Bernie doesn’t care.)

The scary part is Bernie currently is leading the Dem pack, and it is anticipated he will do well on Super Tuesday, and pick up a bunch more delegates.

Read the rest here: Breitbart

Category: "Teh Stoopid", 2020 Election, Democrats, Economy

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Sabre22

Green new deal 91 trillion over 10 years 9.1 trillion per year. Medicare for all 32 trillion for 10 years as well. 3.2 trillion per year. A total of 12.3 trillion dollars for just these two programs. The current federal budget is about 4 trillion. Adding in JUST these two giveaways. The total federal budget would be 16.3 trillion dollars annually. The Current Gross Domestic Product for the country is 21.427 TRILLION dollars annually. So not factoring in ALL the other Bernie giveaways His annual budget would destroy the gross domestic product for the whole country and how long would the GDP remain at this level if he were elected. Typical Communist utopia pipe dreams.

HMCS(FMF) ret

I was listening to an economist last night about this – he was thinking that Bernie would have the Fed go nuts and print money like crazy to cover this, then go back and tax the fuck out of people to “pay” for it. Sounded like a recipe for inflation and devaluation of the dollar on a scale not seen since the Great Depression (if then). Don’t like this scenario at all…

Hondo

Actually, for the first 3 and last 2 years of the Great Depression (1930-1939), inflation was negative – e.g., prices dropped and the purchasing power of the dollar increased. Inflation wasn’t particularly high during the middle 5 years, either – in spite of massive New Deal spending.

comment image

Perhaps you’re thinking the 1921-1923 German Weimar Republic hyperinflation? =

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation_in_the_Weimar_Republic

HMCS(FMF) ret

Thanks for the correction, Hondo…

Fyrfighter

This is why the left has spent decades infesting what used to at least nominally be an education system, turning it into an indoctrination system. Without low information voters who have been taught lies as fact since kindergarten, the dims could never win an election.

Bill R.

Bernie’s nothing but a friggin’ Communist, even if he won’t admit it himself. His actions over the years prove otherwise. I spent half my military career training to go to war with people like him. Why the hell would I even consider voting for the likes of him?

LC

Per a funny comment I saw:

“Simple, he’ll have Mexico pay for it!” /s

HMCS(FMF) ret

That’s pretty good, LC…

Poetrooper

Except, as to be expected, it’s a dig at Trump.

Consider the source…

LC

Congratulations, Poe, you’ve identified exactly why the joke works. You must be fun at comedy shows, huh?

Hint: It can be funny and a dig at the same time. That’s generally how political jokes work. I’m pretty sure HMCS(FMF) understood the context.

Hondo

Yes, the joke works LC. But it works by skewering Bernie the Commie while also pointing out the fact that Trump’s quip, when it is actually analyzed, is in reality quite plausible. Best estimate of the cost of an effective border wall – so far as it can be remotely accurately estimated at present – seems to be around $25-30 billion. For ease of discussion, and to allow for 20% in unforeseen extra costs, let’s say $30 billion. Amortized over a 10-year period, that would be $3 billion a year in constant-year dollars. To show Mexico would pay for it, we need to demonstrate one of two things: either (a) that Mexico directly paid for building it, or (b) we avoided costs that Mexico would have otherwise transferred to the US equal to the cost of building the wall over a 10 year period. It’s quite easy to believe that an effective border wall could accomplish (b). Illegal immigration across the Mexican border adds substantially to the cost of education, healthcare for the poor, and a host of other income transfer programs; it also contributes greatly to tax avoidance (many here illegally work “off the books” for cash). All but the last of these are subsidized by the Federal government in some manner, and most are legally mandatory entitlements. (Spare me the “illegal immigrants aren’t eligible” argument. While there is some legal deterrent effect, fake green cards and stolen Social Security numbers are used often. And no hospital can legally turn away anyone in need of care.) The last directly reduces legitimate Federal tax receipts for both Social Security and the IRS. Don’t believe it’s possible? Well, let’s look at Medicaid. Medicaid block grants are $413.4B annually (The linked source indicates that 65% of block grants to states are for Medicaid, and that Federal block grants to states now total $636B annually). Given the number of individuals estimated to be in the US unlawfully, saving $3B annually just from Medicaid through cost avoidance – say, via reducing demand from those here illegally through reduced illegal immigration due to an effective… Read more »

LC

You channeling Poe’s ‘fun-at-parties’ mindset now, Hondo? It was a joke. And, as you pointed out, on the first analysis it skewers Trump, but on the second it skewers Bernie, too.

The joke doesn’t talk about pricing because it’s unimportant – it’s a joke. It’s like telling the sailor-with-the-red-shirt joke (a really good one, mind you) and getting into the physiology of whether that’s really likely but missing what’s funny about the punchline.

If you want to discuss the financial aspects of Bernie’s plan, I’m happy to. And we can probably both quote all manner of things to support our position. If you want to hear a joke and haven’t heard the red-shirt sailor one, I’ll post it here.

Hondo

And my whole point, LC – which you apparently missed entirely or willfully ignored – was that the supposed “skewering” of the POTUS is based on a lie blindly accepted by the ignorant and propagated by the media and the Left. When analyzed, the supposed “skewering” of the POTUS . . . is simply BS. In fact, the numbers rather clearly and strongly imply that if we build an effective border wall, Mexico WILL indeed end up picking up the cost for same – and then some. The US almost certainly will save the inflation-adjusted construction cost of such a wall over a reasonable time frame (say 10 years) through cost avoidance in future Federal entitlement programs during the same period. In contrast, Mexico’s costs will, during that same period, increase – because we’re no longer letting Mexico use unlawful immigration as a way to get rid of population and/or transients simply in order to avoid paying the costs associated with providing them basic governmental services and infrastructure and/or securing their own southern borders. In short, Trump was actually right. From a future cost avoidance perspective, the wall pays for itself by avoiding future costs associated with social programs and infrastructure due to illegal immigration. Those costs get shifted back to their rightful payer – Mexico – which for decades has used uncontrolled immigration to the US as a de facto “safety valve” to avoid having to pay the full cost of supporting a rapidly-increasing population. And with Pemex and other recent progress, Mexico now really has the wherewithal to do that – if their government is administered honestly and efficiently, that is. And yeah: I really would like to hear someone explain how Bernie the Commie’s proposals will be financed. Hell, Bernie doesn’t even know himself what they will cost (or anything approaching what they actually entail) and can’t be bothered with something as bourgeois as math. So if you’ve got that kind of crystal ball (Bernie certainly doesn’t) – drag it out and we’ll all find out. I’m rather sick of seeing the Left’s lies in the media… Read more »

Mason

Except so many people have no grasp on the reality of the economy. They all think government money is free money. Remember the people who thought they were going to get everything in life for free because Obama got elected? Sanders is literally promising everything for free, so the idiots will vote for him. The people who feel guilty for being competent middle class adults will vote for him.

Our only saving grace is that if he does indeed win, he’ll come into office a lame duck. He won’t be able to get anything passed because both parties dislike him.

ninja

Mason wrote:

“Remember the people who thought they were going to get everything in life for free because Obama got elected?”

Who could forget?

A 26 Second video from 2008. From what I understand, the woman in the video, Peggy Joseph, changed her mind about BHO years later and turned on him.

Wonder why? *grin*

5th/77th FA

The seagull will be here shortly with his irrefutable empirical data to prove all of us ignorant, basket of deplorable, echo chamberists wrong. He is presently self pleasuring himself while fantasizing about deep throating Bernie while humming orange man bad.

That pesky math trips up the free sh^t promisers every.damn.time!

Remember children, you can vote yourself into Socialism, but you have to shoot your way out of it.

HMCS(FMF) ret

The “New Math” fucks with their minds every damn time…

A Proud Infidel®™️

I bet that you have a betting pool on how many times Lars will yell “Orange Man Bad!” before he passes out and I’m sure that he’s getting his opinion about this from on of his UC Berzerkely profs right now!

The Other Whitey

Da, da, tovarischii! 2+2=5! Pravda!

11B-Mailclerk

And some of them still try to use that, or justify that.

Some Resistnik convinced his commissar that “2+2=5” was a wonderful idea for a slogan. Of course the dummies agreed.

But you would think -someone- Red would have said “this really looks stupid”. Nyet! Party never wrong!

Then again, they ignore the glaring obvious faults in Marx…

Hondo

Actually, in the USSR it was used as a slogan to “encourage” shortening of the first of Stalin’s 5-Year Plans to 4 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_%2B_2_%3D_5#Soviet_planning

Here’s a link to the famous Soviet poster using the slogan:

comment image

11B-Mailclerk

I still say it was a resistnik who slipped one past the commissars.

It is just too stupid for words, thus perfect propaganda for Communism.

They did stuff like that.

26Limabeans

This is gonna be great.
The final showdown between Communism and Freedom.
Bernie Bros are gonna riot when he looses.
Been waiting for this since Krushchev banged his shoe
on the desk at the UN. Scared my mom to tears.
This is gonna be great.

HMCS(FMF) ret

I think this is gonna be popular in Milwaukee this summer:

26Limabeans

Oh boy.

11B-Mailclerk

“…if you listen to fools,

The Mob rules”.

rgr769

People don’t realize how much of a commie Bernie is and was. That kibbutz he lived in for a few weeks in Israel back in the day was a communist kibbutz. It was full of Stalin sympathizers. In fact one of its leaders was later tried and convicted of being a spy for the USSR. But then Mayor Buttplug’s daddy is also a committed Marxist who has been a proponent of the Gramsci form of communism. He is an advocate of the Gramsci’s Marxist plan of “marching” through our institutions so that commies have influence and ultimately control of them. That plan is in full force and effect on our college campuses, like the one where Daddy Buttplug is a prof.

SFC D

The only rule of economics that is totally inviolable is “There ain’t no free shit”.

rgr769

That is axiomatic, just like there is no “free lunch.” I have eaten the “free” lunch in a bar or two, seems the beer is always about ten to twenty five cents more than the beer in bars without the “free” lunch. Somebody is always subsidizing the free lunch, since salami and cheese doesn’t grow on trees.

Thunderstixx

I dunno about the cheese thing not growing on trees…
The crap they sell for cheese here in Texas tastes like sliced cardboard so it really does come from trees…..

Hack Stone

But Heavy Chevy would still eat it.

SFC D

Spaghetti grows on trees.

Comm Center Rat

The other consideration is who will buy the DEBT Bernie generates implementing his socialist utopia. DEBT is sold in the form of US Treasury securities (bonds, notes, bills) with various maturities.
The US national debt currently stands at a record $22.4 trillion as of May 2019. Foreign holders have $6.53 trillion worth of US Treasury securities.

China, Japan, and the UK are the largest foreign holders of US debt. But the Chinese economy was already slowing its growth before the Coronavirus, Japan’s economy is in and out of recession almost annually, and the UK is facing post-Brexit economic uncertainty.

If the US can’t sell more debt then it becomes much harder to service the interest payments on our current debt load without borrowing from or cutting other programs like Social Security, TRICARE, etc. It doesn’t really matter if the US ever pays off its national debt. What matters is the USG is able to keep servicing the interest payments on the national debt. That’s what keeps the US dollar as the world’s most stable currency.

Ex-PH2

“No one’s surprised that the numbers don’t remotely add up — or even pass the laugh test,” the Post’s editorial board writes…

That is the ultimate gigglesnortt. Sanders has never had a real job in his entire life, and has no idea where money really comes from, but somehow, he will gin up that much cash… Okay, sure, and I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell him.

His solution is to print more money. I deeply pity his tax accountant at tax time.

(Walks away laughing.)

David

Never had a real job and is a multimillionaire. Maybe I took the wrong path by going in the Army and then, y’know, working? Apparently I’m the dummy.

Ex-PH2

Snap out of it. He has bummed money all his life off other people, and that’s about it, y’know.

A Proud Infidel®™️

Bernie Sanders was once kicked out of a hippie commune for being too lazy.

26Limabeans

And he would always Bogart the joint.

ninja

A 1 minute 44 second video from March 2010.

All you need to do is substitute the name Obama to the name Bernie (except the color of their skin).

Some things never change.

Just Lurkin

Buy gold.

Before a Democrat president once again makes it illegal to own.

RGR 4-78

“He also contends that his $16.3 trillion Green New Deal plan will create 20 million jobs”

That is a lot of rickshaw drivers and ditch diggers.

NHSparky

Someone has to dig the ditches that Antifa dipshits are going to be shot and buried in.

Someone forgot to tell the revolutionary folks when the revolution is over, so is their usefulness to the state.

HMCS(FMF) ret

And Barry O, the JEF said how many “shovel ready jobs” were created by the “stimulus”?

RGR 4-78

I saw several 1 mile sections of state highway overlaid in my AO by the stimulus taxpayer dollars, I called it the Obama black top, over half the workers on every crew looked like they were freshly north of our southern border.