Bernie Sanders will not cost the nation $18 trillion

[Bubzer]

The Wall Street Journal, perhaps fearing Bernie Sanders working his way up in the polls, does some good old-fashioned fearmongering Tuesday, with a story claiming that Sander's proposals will cost the nation $18 trillion over the next decade. Hogwash, says Sanders. And he's right.

"That is not the reality, and we will be responding to the Wall Street Journal on that. I think most of the expense that they put in there, the expenditures, have to do with a single-payer health care system," the independent Vermont senator said in an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday.
Sanders said the WSJ had "significantly exaggerated" those costs, and hadn't accounted for the benefits of "eliminating the cost that you incur with private health insurance." […]

"The truth of the matter right now is that as a nation, we spend far far more on health care per person than the people of any other nation. And yet we continue to have about 30 million people who have no health insurance, many more who are underinsured and we pay, again, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs," Sanders said. "No question to my mind that moving toward a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program is the most cost-effective way to provide health care to all of our people." […]

"Second point, which they really didn't get into, is: We are going to demand that the wealthiest people and the largest corporations in this country do start paying their fair share of taxes," Sanders said. "When we have massive income and wealth inequality—when 58 percent of all income is going to the top 1 percent, when you have major corporations in a given year paying zero in federal income taxes, yes we need real tax reform to bring in substantially more revenue."

...

More at the link

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/15/1421562/-Bernie-Sanders-will-not-cost-the-nation-18-trillion?detail=facebook

[sarge43]

1. Looks like we're at the "Then, they fight you." stage n/t

[merrily]

2. I wonder if we will ever know how much we spend on and because of "defense."

NSA
FBI
CIA
Secret Service
Military, all branches
Pentagon
Homeland Security
VA hospitals and benefits
Whatever they hide in the nooks and crannies of other parts of the budget
Only God and the NSA know what else.

How much did Iraq cost us again? A billion an hour, was it?

[Bubzer]

3. Those are scary numbers to contemplate.

[merrily]

4. I was hyperbolic about Iraq. It was a steal at about $7 million a day--that they'll admit to.

The War Against ISIS Could Cost American Taxpayers Up To $1.5 Billion A Month

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/26/syria-iraq-war-isis-costs_n_5883898.html

Math has never been my strong suit, but that's a lot.

[Enthusiast]

5. Kicked and recommended!

We knew they would make shit up.

[Bubzer]

6. Yeah, we did. The good news though is we're on point to counter it pretty darn quick!

[eridani]

7. Single payer is cheaper--s the article points out, you have to consider the savings from--

--shitcanning private insurance. As Dennis Kucinich once said "We are already paying for universal health care--we just aren't getting it."