Reich writes: "I've had so many calls about an article appearing earlier this
week in the Wall Street Journal - charging that Bernie Sanders’s proposals
would carry a 'price tag' of $18 trillion over a 10-year period - that it's
necessary to respond. The Journal's number is entirely bogus, designed to
frighten the public."
Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)
The Wall Street Journal's $18 Trillion Dollar Lie About Bernie
By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page
17 September 15
I've had so many calls about an article appearing earlier this week in the Wall
Street Journal -- charging that Bernie Sanders’s proposals would carry a “price
tag” of $18 trillion over a 10-year period -- that it's necessary to respond.
The Journal's number is entirely bogus, designed to frighten the public. Please
spread the truth:
(1) Bernie’s proposals would cost less than what we’d spend without them. Most
of the “cost” the Journal comes up with—$15 trillion—would pay for opening
Medicare to everyone. This would be cheaper than relying on our current system
of for-profit private health insurers that charge you and me huge
administrative costs, advertising, marketing, bloated executive salaries, and
high pharmaceutical prices. (Gerald Friedman, an economist at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst, estimates a Medicare-for-all system would actually
save all of us $10 trillion over 10 years).
(2) The savings from Medicare-for-all would more than cover the costs of the
rest of Bernie’s agenda—tuition-free education at public colleges, expanded
Social Security benefits, improved infrastructure, and a fund to help cover
paid family leave – and still leave us $2 trillion to cut federal deficits for
the next ten years.
(3) Many of these other “costs" would also otherwise be paid by individuals and
families -- for example, in college tuition and private insurance. So they
shouldn't be considered added costs for the country as a whole, and may well
save us money.
(4) Finally, Bernie’s proposed spending on education and infrastructure aren’t
really “spending” at all, but investments in the nation’s future productivity.
If we don’t make them, we’re all poorer.
That Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal would do this giant dump on Bernie,
based on misinformation and distortion, confirms Bernie's status as the
candidate willing to take on the moneyed interests that the Wall Street Journal
represents.
Your thoughts?
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<BR>Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)</P><P class="noslink"><A
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target="_blank"></A></P><p class="txtimg"><BR><H1 class="txttitle">The Wall
Street Journal's $18 Trillion Dollar Lie About Bernie</H1><P
class="txtauthor">By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page</P><P
class="date">17 September 15</P><P> </P><P><IMG
src="/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-I.jpg" border="0">'ve had so many calls about
an article appearing earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal -- charging
that Bernie Sanders’s proposals would carry a “price tag†of $18 trillion
over a 10-year period -- that it's necessary to respond. </P><P
class="indent">The Journal's number is entirely bogus, designed to frighten the
public. Please spread the truth: </P><P class="indent">(1) Bernie’s proposals
would cost less than what we’d spend without them. Most of the “cost†the
Journal comes up with—$15 trillion—would pay for opening Medicare to
everyone. This would be cheaper than relying on our current system of
for-profit private health insurers that charge you and me huge administrative
costs, advertising, marketing, bloated executive salaries, and high
pharmaceutical prices. (Gerald Friedman, an economist at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst, estimates a Medicare-for-all system would actually
save all of us $10 trillion over 10 years). </P><P class="indent">(2) The
savings from Medicare-for-all would more than cover the costs of the rest of
Bernie’s agenda—tuition-free education at public colleges, expanded Social
Security benefits, improved infrastructure, and a fund to help cover paid
family leave – and still leave us $2 trillion to cut federal deficits for the
next ten years. </P><P class="indent">(3) Many of these other “costs" would
also otherwise be paid by individuals and families -- for example, in college
tuition and private insurance. So they shouldn't be considered added costs for
the country as a whole, and may well save us money.</P><P class="indent">(4)
Finally, Bernie’s proposed spending on education and infrastructure aren’t
really “spending†at all, but investments in the nation’s future
productivity. If we don’t make them, we’re all poorer. </P><P
class="indent">That Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal would do this giant
dump on Bernie, based on misinformation and distortion, confirms Bernie's
status as the candidate willing to take on the moneyed interests that the Wall
Street Journal represents. </P><P class="indent">Your
thoughts?</P><P><CENTER><p class=" fb_reset" id="fb-root"><p style="top:
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