CNNMoney On Sanders’ Proposals

CNN tries to be politically neutral, but it’s a network that’s often accused of libearl bias by Republicans.

And even CNN has come out with this strongly worded piece about Sanders’ proposals. The analysis the Sanders campaign is using claims:

… if Sanders became president -- and was able to push his plan through Congress -- median household income would be $82,200 by 2026, far higher than the $59,300 projected by the Congressional Budget Office.

In addition, poverty would plummet to a record low 6%, as opposed to the CBO's forecast of 13.9%. The U.S. economy would grow by 5.3% per year, instead of 2.1%, and the nation's $1.3 trillion deficit would turn into a large surplus by Sanders' second term.

Claiming that the forecasts of a Congressional office are low by over 25% is not common. All the social programs in the U.S. have not been able to budge the poverty rate below 10% over the last 50 years. Our economy has not grown at 5.3% in decades, but if it did happen I could see the next part — that the deficits will shift to surplus — as reasonable. So the Sanders’ conclusions are … way outside of what we think of as possible.

On the other hand, a credible D.C. think tank has estimated that “…Sanders' plan to pay for health care would fall short by at least $3 trillion”. This is on top of the Sanders assumption that their healthcare plan would cost $10.7 trillion, and that’s assuming they will get $3.1 trillion in savings from it going forward.

Give them credit though. Their position is that pretty much everything is screwed up, so they’re going to change everything. So they’ve put together an ambitious plan that they believe in. If Sanders does get elected, and tries this, it will certainly be the biggest experiment in lurching a developed economy towards socialism since France in the 1980’s. But, we should be fairly realistic too: a good analogy would be the 76ers hiring a new coach tomorrow, who promises a championship next season, and says they’re going to start by knocking off the Warriors when they play next month.