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In reply to the discussion: The Gauzy Myth of the Sanders Campaign [View all]Gothmog
(166,838 posts)The first study backs up the Biden plan and is contrary to sanders' magical plan. The second study you posted was amusing. You may want to re-read the prior post on societal savings. The second study relies on magical societal savings that are not tax revenues in the real world and cannot be used to pay for a program. Societal saving are speculative at best and cannot be used to pay for a program which is why sanders utterly and completely failed in getting Vermont to adopt his magical plan.
I used to be a college debater and I know now studies such as the one cited are prepared. It seems that there are some fairly aggressive assumptions used in this study and I doubt that these savings will be realized in the real world. There is a reason why sanders has totally and utterly failed to get his magical single payer plan adopted in the real world which is that policy makers cannot us magical or theoretical savings to pay for a program.
Prof. Krugman and I treat the so-called societal savings the same way that we both treat the magical economic growth that is supposed to be generated from GOP tax cuts. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/weakened-at-bernies/?_r=0
To be harsh but accurate: the Sanders health plan looks a little bit like a standard Republican tax-cut plan, which relies on fantasies about huge supply-side effects to make the numbers supposedly add up. Only a little bit: after all, this is a plan seeking to provide health care, not lavish windfalls on the rich — and single-payer really does save money, whereas there’s no evidence that tax cuts deliver growth. Still, it’s not the kind of brave truth-telling the Sanders campaign pitch might have led you to expect.
GOP tax cuts are not magical and never pay for themselves.
If you want the second study to be taken seriously in the real world, then identify how the plan will be paid for. A government cannot spend magical savings and can only use tax revenues. The study identify societal savings which are nice but which are not tax revenues
The real world is a nice place. Magical savings are nice but cannot be used in the real world. sanders has utterly and completely failed to get his magical plan adopted anywhere including Vermont. sanders is careful to never tell anyone how he would pay for his program and cite amusing but worthless studies like the one in the OP. No governmental entity have accepted sanders plan because it would need a large raise in taxes.
The real world is a nice place.
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
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