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Donkees

(31,452 posts)
Sat Jun 29, 2019, 05:36 PM Jun 2019

Why calling Bernie Sanders a 'radical' is nonsense

By Jeffrey Sachs and Vanessa Fajans-Turner
Updated 4:13 PM ET, Sat June 29, 2019

Excerpt:

Sen. Bernie Sanders has been labeled a radical for advocating for a publicly-financed health care system. Yet other high-income countries finance their health care overwhelmingly through the public sector, with much lower costs and higher life expectancy than in the US, which relies on private health financing for around half of total health spending.

The same goes for Sanders' call for publicly-financed higher education. Almost every other high-income country has tuition costs that are a tiny fraction of those in the US. Meanwhile, the US has saddled a generation of young people with $1.5 trillion of student debt.

Sanders and others are labeled radicals for supporting the Green New Deal, a proposal that calls for the US to move from fossil fuels to clean energy, with the goal of curbing greenhouse gas emissions while creating high-paying jobs. Yet every other high-income country is sticking with the Paris Climate Agreement -- which will require decarbonizing the energy system in order the meet the goals of the agreement. Only the US under Donald Trump has announced the intent to withdraw from that agreement.

Sanders and others are labeled radicals for advocating labor rights for workers, including paid family leave, sick leave and vacation time for all. Yet these protections are commonplace in the other high-income countries.

The ruling class -- dominated by billionaires like Donald Trump and the vested interests that prop him up -- have played the same name-calling game for decades. Legislate tax cuts for the wealthy, turn a blind eye to polluters, shut down tax audits on the rich, abandon antitrust laws, put corporate lobbyists in charge of the regulatory agencies and then attack anyone who calls foul a "radical."... For too long, our national politics and policies, fueled by corporate campaign contributions, have put corporate greed ahead of the common good. It's time to stop labeling pragmatic solutions as radical and out of reach, and to adopt effective strategies that have been proven to work in many other high-income countries.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/29/opinions/bernie-sanders-radical-sachs-fajans-turner/index.html

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Why calling Bernie Sanders a 'radical' is nonsense (Original Post) Donkees Jun 2019 OP
Sanders embodies everything possible with a Prosper Jun 2019 #1

Prosper

(761 posts)
1. Sanders embodies everything possible with a
Sat Jun 29, 2019, 08:08 PM
Jun 2019

thriving regulated taxed capitalist economy. Everybody including billionaires*** would benefit. Everybody would benefit and that is what Bernie stands for. As the campaign goes on I think the reality of a Sanders presidency will wake people up to they are being deprived.

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