"TINSTAFL. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Bernie isn't going to give us free college and free healthcare, someone has to pay for it!"
I hear that all the time, and it's upsetting. I know what TINSTAFL is, and I acknowledge that his proposals are not free. But unlike many on the right, I'm not worried about how he's going to pay for them. And neither should anyone else
In order to settle the myth that his plan is free or unpaid for, I will go over key aspects of it, below.
Here's how Bernie Sanders pays for his plan:
Rebuilding America's Infrastructure: This plan will cost a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And it will be paid for by closing loopholes that allow corporations to avoid taxes on profits stashed overseas. Congressional research shows that eliminating these loopholes would generate around 100 billion dollars of lost revenue every year, which is exactly the amount needed to rebuild America's infrastructure.
Tuition Free College: Providing public college to each student would cost about 75 billion a year (less than what the government spends on student loans already). The revenue will be raised by implementing a tax on Wall Street speculators, and it will bring in around 352 billion dollars.
Expanding Social Security: Bernie Sanders wants to make social security last longer, as well as expand its benefits. All that needs to be done is to lift the cap on taxable income above $250,000. If this happens, Social Security will be solvent until 2065.
Youth Jobs Program: It will cost 5.5 billion dollars in order to create a million jobs for the young and disadvantaged. This will be paid for by eliminating the loophole that allows hedge fund managers to pay extremely low tax rates.
Paid Family Leave: This one is cheap. It will only cost $1.61 a week from the average worker, to guarantee paid family leave for 12 weeks.
Pension Cut Prevention: To protect 1.5 million Americans from seeing their pensions cut, loopholes that allow people to avoid paying taxes on money they inherit and expensive artwork they buy, will be closed.
Clean Energy: Investing in clean energy requires the simplest plan. Instead of giving tax breaks to oil companies, use that money to invest in clean energy instead.
Healthcare: This one is the one you've been waiting for. Amounting to a grand total of 15 trillion dollars, healthcare will be provided for every American, which will save the average family over $5,000 a year. And yes, it's paid for. How? Simple. A 6.2 percent premium on businesses, 2.2 percent premium on individuals, taxing capital gains at the same rate as income from a job and raising the estate tax. Add that all up, and the United States will have easily paid for a health care plan that insures every man, woman, and child.
Bernie Sanders is offering a lot of ideas to help this country, but he won't bankrupt this country while doing it. Republican politicians and their supporters keep teasing Bernie Sanders supporters for not understanding the economics of his ideas. And this should come to an end. Bernie Sanders' plan, while expensive, is paid for. By the way, Jeb Bush's tax cut plan is $400 billion more expensive, and Republicans are not complaining.
