Bernie Sanders’s statistical shenanigans
Good news! I read through all the presidential candidates’ economic plans so you don’t have to. I even came up with a handy rule of thumb to help you quickly assess everyone’s ideas.
Here’s the rule: The more growth a candidate promises, the worse his or her economic plan probably is.
Why? Not because promising bonkers growth suggests economic illiteracy, necessarily, though it might. The reason this axiom works is that promises of big growth usually signify a statistical sleight of hand — legerdemath, if you will.
If a candidate is making ridiculous claims about how much he’ll grow the economy, he probably needs to make those claims to hide the massive deficits that his policies would create under less generous (i.e., more realistic) assumptions. Astronomically higher economic output and employment create an astronomically larger tax base, after all, which helps offset the costs of spending increases or tax-rate cuts.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/candidates-legerdemath/2016/02/18/45520e72-d67f-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html