Left-Leaning Economists Question Cost of Bernie Sanders’s Plans

[ProudToBeLiberal]

With his expansive plans to increase the size and role of government, Senator Bernie Sanders has provoked a debate not only with his Democratic rival for president, Hillary Clinton, but also with liberal-leaning economists who share his goals but question his numbers and political realism.

The reviews of some of these economists, especially on Mr. Sanders’s health care plans, suggest that Mrs. Clinton could have been too conservative in their debate last week when she said that his agenda in total would increase the size of the federal government by 40 percent. That level would surpass any government expansion since the buildup in World War II.

The increase could exceed 50 percent, some experts suggest, based on an analysis by a respected health economist that Mr. Sanders’s single-payer health plan could cost twice what the senator, who represents Vermont, asserts, and on critics’ belief that his economic assumptions are overly optimistic.

His campaign strongly contests both critiques, defending its numbers and attacking prominent critics as Clinton sympathizers and industry consultants.

http://nytimes.com/2016/02/16/us/politics/left-leaning-economists-question-cost-of-bernie-sanderss-plans.html?referer=https://www.google.com/

[cosmicone]

1. Everyone knows

that free stuff is not free

and unicorns are expensive as hell if you find one!

[AOR]

2. "Left-Leaning Economists Question Cost of Bernie Sanders’s Plans"

Austan Goolsbee,Jared Bernstein, Kenneth E. Thorpe = left leaning economists





Fuck the New York Times and their narcissistic, establishment hack, errand boy, capitalist bootlicker Paul Krugman.

[jkbRN]

13. Well said!!

[beam me up scottie]

14. ^^^THIS^^^

[litlbilly]

3. proud to be something, but liberal? not even close

[litlbilly]

4. You make it so easy to trash anything you post

[litlbilly]

6. Oh and sid, you are on ignore too, cya

[SidDithers]

5. DU rec...nt

Sid

[PotatoChip]

7. This came out in the MSM over two weeks ago.

Here is a rebuttal published in HuffPo by:

David Himmelstein
Professor of Public Health at CUNY and Lecturer in Medicine at Harvard Medical School

Steffie Woolhandler
Professor in the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College; Lecturer in Medicine, Harvard Medical School

On Kenneth Thorpe's Analysis of Senator Sanders' Single-Payer Reform Plan

01/29/2016 01:23 pm ET | Updated Jan 29, 2016

Professor Kenneth Thorpe recently issued an analysis of Senator Bernie Sanders' single-payer national health insurance proposal. Thorpe, an Emory University professor who served in the Clinton administration, claims the single-payer plan would break the bank.

Thorpe's analysis rests on several incorrect, and occasionally outlandish, assumptions. Moreover, it is at odds with analyses of the costs of single-payer programs that he produced in the past, which projected large savings from such reform (see this study, for example, or this one).

We outline below the incorrect assumptions behind Thorpe's current analysis:

1. He incorrectly assumes administrative savings of only 4.7 percent of expenditures, based on projections of administrative savings under Vermont's proposed reform.

More here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-himmelstein/kenneth-thorpe-bernie-sanders-single-payer_b_9113192.html

[beam me up scottie]

8. Hey at least they're recycling!

New memes are expensive and wasteful.

[PotatoChip]

15. Yes. Apparently they are.

[livetohike]

9. K&R

[gyroscope]

10. 3 versus 170

170 American economists signed a letter approving Sanders economic plan.
Economists are overwhelmingly in favor of Sanders plan, but the NY Times never bothered to report it.

[NCTraveler]

11. While Sanders isn't going to win, in this instance he is a very useful tool to progressives.

He is making the country more comfortable with the thought of healthcare as a right. More comfortable with a stronger Fed. That in itself is extremely important. Lets lighten up on Sanders and his thoughts here. He simply doesn't need to be perfectly thought out, and he isn't. That doesn't mean he isn't helping us to a better future by making the citizens more comfortable with these thoughts.

The party is going to benefit from the Sanders campaign in the long run. Once the primary is over and the libertarians, conservatives, anarchists, etc. go back to their handlers, we will be at a great spot moving forward. The rest will stick with us and work toward a more just future.

[ananda]

16. Left leaning liberals worry about the increasing harm and loss of life ...

... if taxes aren't raise to benefit the greater good, meaning real people
and the public commons.

[Stargleamer]

17. And Hillary's plans (or lack thereof)??

are those just met with silence??