How Bernie Sanders will pay for his programs

I have read several instances of where people have questioned how Bernie Sanders will pay for the free programs he is proposing, like college tuition, universal healthcare, expansion of Social Security and more. You can see a full explanation of all issues by the candidate here but let me cover the above three in this post. For those of you who follow the Bern, you probably know that his aspirations are quite lofty, but that he believes sincerely in his ability to reach for and attain these goals. And in each case he has a specific solution to fund each program.

What the general public has to understand--something Bernie's supporters already know--is that these reforms have been so long coming that the momentum of needed change is now on their side. The time has come to rid this country of the corporate and wealth control that has been building for so many years now. The people need America delivered back to them and this is exactly what Bernie Sanders plans to do. There will be a fight and ideologues like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, plus the bulk of the conservative right, will have to be dealt with. We can only hope the people will win.

First, free college tuition for all will cost around $75 billion a year. It will be paid for by imposing a tax on Wall Street speculators that would generate about $300 billion in revenue. See the link here for detailed information.

Second, healthcare coverage for every American, paid for by a 6.2 percent income-based health care premium paid by employers, a 2.2 percent income-based premium paid by households, progressive income tax rates, taxing capital gains and dividends the same as income from work, limiting tax deductions for the rich, adjusting the estate tax, and savings from health tax expenditures.

Three, the expansion of Social Security Paid for by lifting the tax on taxable income over $250,000 so that the wealthy pay the same percentage of their income into Social Security as working people. More information here.

A Bernie Sanders presidency will give us the chance to catch up with other Social Democracies around the world that already offer these programs to their people. But it is up to the people of the U.S. to make this happen.

NOTE: I do plan to repost this randomly.

Bernie Sanders Sayings

Do the elected officials in Washington stand with ordinary Americans - working families, children, the elderly, the poor - or will the extraordinary power of billionaire campaign contributors and Big Money prevail? The American people, by the millions, must send Congress the answer to that question.

Mitch McConnell is Senate token asshole

Mitch McConnell the village idiot at work

It takes the language of a sailor--used to be one--to describe this numbnuts who has opposed everything Barack Obama has done from the first day he took office. Most likely Mitch McConnell is a racist, but it is confirmed that he hates the President and makes me ashamed that Kentucky is my birth state. It is beyond me how McConnell was ever elected to Congress, then became Senate head? This jerk is the epitome of what is wrong with the GOP Congress, actually the Republican Party in general.

Apparently there is nothing we can do to get rid of him now, but it should prove to Republican voters what is wrong with their side of the aisle, and to Progressives that we need to get to the polls in November to vote conservatives like him out of office. But I can't imagine those on the right coming to their senses when 35% of them support Donald Trump, with Ted Cruz even in the double digits. This country is fucked up and will only survive under a Progressive President like Bernie Sanders, with much of the unrest pointing certain segments of the population in his direction.

The naysayers are already condemning the Bern for his Nevada loss. Clinton should have won that state with a unanimous vote but she didn't and Sanders walked away with 15 delegates to her 19. Do you remember that Bernie was once behind by 40 points in Nevada? And by the way, here's where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders stand in the pledged delegates that will choose the Democratic nominee...they are tied at 51 delegates apiece. But Sanders still needs more money to fight off Clinton's Super Pacs and you can contribute here.


 

Bernie Sanders Sayings

What the American people want to see in their president is somebody who not necessarily can win every fight, but they want to see him stand up and fight for what he believes, take his case to the American people.

Bernie Sanders holds his own in delegates

Wasn't able to post again on Saturday due to a glitch on Blogger, but Bernie Sanders did come in second with 47.4% of the vote to Hillary Clinton's 52.5%. Not significant and certainly not what Clinton expected with her experience in 2008 from this state. And she was outdone by Sanders on the Latino vote with Bernie getting 53% while winning 68% to 28% of the younger voters. Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight noted that most of Nevada voters are "mostly old.

But at the outset Bernie Sanders won 15 Nevada delegates to Hillary Clinton's 19. Overall, Sanders has 52 delegates, Clinton 67 and with this close a race, and the fact that we have only gotten started in primaries and caucuses, I'd say Bernie is sitting pretty good.

Clinton Nevada Hispanic lead over Sanders cut to 3 points

The Latino vote in Nevada will be very important today and Bernie Sanders has improved his standing in just one week from behind 11 points to just 3 on Feb. 14. Overall Bernie is within 2.4 points. Of course we are in the moment, Nevada, that is, but Clinton's steady decline and Sanders durable increases bode well for the rest of the country. A win in Nevada should carry positive momentum into the So. Carolina primary.

More later on the Nevada race.

Bernie Sanders Sayings

Establishing a 0.03 percent Wall Street speculation fee, similar to what we had from 1914-1966, would dampen the dangerous level of speculation and gambling on Wall Street, encourage the financial sector to invest in the productive economy and reduce the deficit by more than $350 billion over 10 years.