Unicorns, ponies, political revolution. The Sanders Campaign Has Crossed Into Neverland

[riversedge]

Dean Barker ‏@deanbarker 3h3 hours ago

Unicorns, ponies, political revolution.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/sanders-campaign-has-crossed-neverland …
#SCPrimary #NVcaucus



The Sanders Campaign Has Crossed Into Neverland

—By Kevin Drum
| Wed Feb. 17, 2016 12:49 PM EST


I'm not quite sure what I was doing last week when this first appeared, but I missed it. Here's a summary from Amherst professor Gerald Friedman about the impact on the economy if we adopt all of Bernie Sanders' domestic spending proposals:

WTF? Per-capita GDP will grow 4.5 percent? And not just in a single year: Friedman is projecting that it will grow by an average of 4.5 percent every year for the next decade. Productivity growth will double compared to CBO projections—and in case you're curious, there has never been a 10-year period since World War II in which productivity grew 3.18 percent. Not one. And miraculously, the employment-population ratio, which has been declining since 2000 and has never reached 65 percent ever in history, will rise to 65 percent in a mere ten years.

The Sanders campaign hasn't officially endorsed this analysis, but we do have this:

Warren Gunnels, policy director for the Sanders campaign, hailed the report’s finding that the proposals are feasible and expressed hope that more people will look into them. “It’s gotten a little bit of attention, but not nearly as much as we would like,” Mr. Gunnels said. “Senator Sanders has been fighting establishment politics, the establishment economics and the establishment media. And this is the last thing they want to take a look at.

“It shows that over a 10-year period, we would create 26 million new jobs, the poverty rate would plummet, that incomes would go up dramatically, and we would have strong economic growth. ... It’s a very bold plan, and we want to get this out there.”

I've generally tried to go easy on Bernie Sanders. I like his vision, and I like his general attitude toward Wall Street. But this is insane. If anything, it's worse than the endless magic asterisks that Republicans use to pretend that their tax plans will supercharge the economy and pay for themselves. It's not even remotely in the realm of reality. If it were, France and Germany and Denmark would all be Croesian paradises by now...................................

[cantbeserious]

1. Predictably Spreading Establishment FUD - Meme Number 145

eom

[MrWendel]

3. Even more predictibly...

reading the headline and not the article #453

[cantbeserious]

4. Read The Article - Establishment FUD

eom

[MrWendel]

7. Of course...

you did.

[Betty Karlson]

18. Meanwhile, camp Clinton runs on the status quo. Which is untenable.

Clinton runs on unreal expectations, Sanders on direly needed measures.

Clinton pretends that the 20th century never ended. That is not a unicorn, it is a thylacine!*


*(thylacine = extinct carnivorous marsupial that existed into the 20th century)

[Major Hogwash]

19. Your comment is brillant squared!

To think that I could have lived my entire life without ever knowing what a thylacine is -- a situation which I find totally unacceptable to me now -- having been enriched since you have brought that term to the DU here today.

You are a scholar and a lady, Betty.
Thank you.

My hat's off to you.

[Betty Karlson]

20. You, sir, are an officer and a gentleman.

It's good to see courtesy alive and well. So nice to make your acquaintance.

[virtualobserver]

2. your story

:large

[Ron Green]

5. First of all, we ought to ditch GDP as a measure of economic growth.

There are far more complete systems, such as the Genuine Progress Indicator, that show not just how much money is changing hands, but how well we're building an economy that works for people.

[enid602]

6. optimistic

The sad thing is that Bernie is using these wildly optimistic projections to limit the negative effects of his spending increases.

[gyroscope]

8. Economic analysis conducted by University of Massachusetts

is a lot more credible than Hillary's right-wing economic agenda of giving more tax breaks to Wall Street, raising the defense budget, slashing welfare, etc.

[AgingAmerican]

9. Sanders proposals are mainstream and widely popular

Thus to Hillary they are 'Unicorns'.

[mythology]

15. It's popular until it's time to pay for them

There is a reason Sanders' proposals rely on overly optimistic numbers to make the math work. Because he knows if he really tells people what it would cost, he would lose votes.

[AgingAmerican]

16. They are easily paid for

By widely popular and mainstream means. And they are cheaper than what we have now.

Yes We Can't!!

[gyroscope]

17. But paying for Hillary's tax cuts for Wall Street and the wealthy

of course is no problem.

we'll just cut food stamp, education, welfare and social security benefits to pay for it.

[oasis]

10. "A unicorn doesn't qualify you to be president of the United States"

To paraphrase the incomparable Killer Mike.

[bravenak]

11. Good job!

[oasis]

12. Thanks. Couldn't resist knocking down two birds with one stone.

[bravenak]

14. It was asking for it

[Perogie]

13. We get it. You don't like Sanders.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. I STILL BELIEVE IN A PLACE CALLED NOPE!

Ahhh, after all these years, those words. so inspirational.