The Bern Identity

[achilles28]

Many have alluded to some sort of weird symmetry between Trump and Sanders. But other than the fact both are loathed by their party establishments, they share little in common.

It's me who's alluded to the weird symmetry

Trump and Sanders are very similar on trade and the economy. Both anti-offshoring. Both pro-American manufacturing. Both anti-free trade agreements. Both pro-infrastructure spending. Both anti-corporate inversion. Both anti-Iraq War. Both anti-ISIS, although Trump obviously a major hawk. Both pro-Veterans support. Both anti-H1B's. Both anti-open borders (Sanders sees open borders as a Republican policy to import slave labor).

Sanders actually has many more great policies. Wants to legalize GMO labeling. Decriminalize marijuana. Supports gay marriage. He doesn't come off as a gun grabber. Anti-NSA surveillance. Pro Glass-steagall.

Where he goes off the rails is on single-payer healthcare, a FTT, and a 90% top marginal tax rate. Major tax hikes across the board to pay for free medical and college education.... He opposes ISIS but has no plans for military intervention. Opposes open borders, but haven't heard anything about securing the border. Is pro-amnesty. The two share alot more in common, then Trump and establishment GOP field.

 

[jem]

progress... good at least now you realize the Federal Reserve System is privately owned. we won't have to argue that anymore... boom.

so lets see the list the list and tell us who owns or controls those banks and how many shares of the Fed they control.
maybe you can unravel this private ownership deal.
do they have cumulative voting rights?
how many shares does it take to control the Fed?

Of course I can tell you who owns the shares, it is right on each Branch Banks website. It is a required condition of joining the Federal reserve system. All the banks that are regulated through each regional bank own shares. It is a requirement. It is not optional. Don't be silly.. I've had enough of your conspiracy nonsense.

 

[Yannis]

 

[piezoe]

It's me who's alluded to the weird symmetry

Trump and Sanders are very similar on trade and the economy. Both anti-offshoring. Both pro-American manufacturing. Both anti-free trade agreements. Both pro-infrastructure spending. Both anti-corporate inversion. Both anti-Iraq War. Both anti-ISIS, although Trump obviously a major hawk. Both pro-Veterans support. Both anti-H1B's. Both anti-open borders (Sanders sees open borders as a Republican policy to import slave labor).

Sanders actually has many more great policies. Wants to legalize GMO labeling. Decriminalize marijuana. Supports gay marriage. He doesn't come off as a gun grabber. Anti-NSA surveillance. Pro Glass-steagall.

Where he goes off the rails is on single-payer healthcare, a FTT, and a 90% top marginal tax rate. Major tax hikes across the board to pay for free medical and college education.... He opposes ISIS but has no plans for military intervention. Opposes open borders, but haven't heard anything about securing the border. Is pro-amnesty. The two share alot more in common, then Trump and establishment GOP field.

He has said he wasn't as socialist as Eisenhower under whom the top rate was 90%. Sanders hasn't yet said what his economic advisers say the top bracket should be, but he has made it clear it will be greater than it is now..

 

[fhl]

The office really seems to age people.

 

[Arnie]

Take time to review Sander's single payer health proposal. You don't have it quite right. new Taxes would replace your current health insurance premiums. Sanders claims your net cost will go down substantially. I think he must be right based on experience of many other countries. Of course we are capable of fucking anything up. Look at Obamacare as an example of that.

He is proposing a tax on security transactions as a way of funding his education proposal, not health care. I haven't looked at his website, but I would guess these proposals of his are explained in some detail there. I seriously doubt the tax on transactions he is proposing is anything like 10%. it is probably in line with the SEC tax currently imposed.

It's better to discuss what he is proposing rather than what we think he is proposing.

This post displays a degree of naivete seldom seen, even here on ET.

 

[Yannis]

The main argument against any type of single payer system is not cost, imo, but that quality would go through the floor with a vengeance. That's what's happened in Europe and is gradually happening in Canada. Look at our VA system which stinks to high heaven. My doctor always looks tired, but he goes from exam room to exam room happily, like the energizer bunny, because he feels his own cash coming in... do you want to turn him into a civil servant?

Not to mention that it opens the door for the government to do all sorts of socio-political engineering. How about the Dems giving preference to groups that are loyal to them, while the liberal media lambasting the Repubs every day for (supposedly) not paying enough attention to those same groups? Did we forget already the IRS role in this administration? How about a widespread establishment of AA for life affecting decisions?

Keep the government as small as possible.

 

[achilles28]

He has said he wasn't as socialist as Eisenhower under whom the top rate was 90%. Sanders hasn't yet said what his economic advisers say the top bracket should be, but he has made it clear it will be greater than it is now..

I read the interview. He said verbatim he is not opposed to a 90% top tax rate. He further elaborated that in order to take back from the 1% who have taken from us, the tax rates on the top 1% need to be raised significantly to take the money back.

In an interview with CNBC’s John Harwood, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is running for the Democratic presidential candidacy, said he could back a 90 percent top marginal tax rate.

Harwood brought up that some have likened efforts to combat income inequality to Nazi Germany. Sanders noted sarcastically, “When radical, socialist Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, I think the highest marginal tax rate was something like 90 percent.”

Harwood followed up by asking, “When you think about something like 90 percent, you don’t think that’s obviously too high?” to which Sanders replied, “No.”

He continued, “What I think is obscene…when you have the top one-tenth of one percent owning almost as much as the bottom 90.”http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/05/26/3662773/sanders-90-percent-tax/

 

[AAAintheBeltway]

Sander is not getting the democrat nomination. I can almost promise you that. If the check writers decide that Hillary is too damaged, they will engineer some way for Biden or Kerry or someone like them to step in. The democrats haven't forgotten the shellacking they took when George McGovern ran in 1972. McGovern was a decent man, a great war hero and accomplished historian. Sanders is a crazy old man spouting off 1950's communist jargon. They would be looking at a 49 state wipeout.

 

[achilles28]

The main argument against any type of single payer system is not cost, imo, but that quality would go through the floor with a vengeance. That's what's happened in Europe and is gradually happening in Canada. Look at our VA system which stinks to high heaven. My doctor always looks tired, but he goes from exam room to exam room happily, like the energizer bunny, because he feels his own cash coming in... do you want to turn him into a civil servant?

Not to mention that it opens the door for the government to do all sorts of socio-political engineering. How about the Dems giving preference to groups that are loyal to them, while the liberal media lambasting the Repubs every day for (supposedly) not paying enough attention to those same groups? Did we forget already the IRS role in this administration? How about a widespread establishment of AA for life affecting decisions?

Keep the government as small as possible.

I live in Canada. The single-payer system in Canada is not that good. I would say it's quite bad. Cancer, heart disease and traumatic injury go to the front of the line. Everyone else waits. I've got ongoing hormonal issues from propecia use, and literally get stonewalled by every GP I see. Went through 10 already. They want to prescribe anti-depressants and refuse to perform bloodwork. 9 month wait to see a specialist. MRI's? Forget it. Our system is really based on who you know. Most doctors don't give a shit, take 3 mins to see a patient, and bill the Government 15 mins. It's a game, and a scam. The bureaucracy creates enormous fraud and abuse in the system. A best friend is a psychiatrist who works in a hospital. He can't believe the level of waste and bullshit and red tape. You don't want a single-payer system. It's not superior. Something like 40 cents of every dollar collected in taxes is spent on healthcare. The Government used to pay for some optometrists appointments, chiropractic and physiotherapy. No more. Too expensive. Services are dwindling as costs are going up.

On the flipside, I know many people who love it. They were successfully treated with late-stage cancer and heart disease. It's really triage medicine. Anything non-life threatening, you're on your own, basically. If you got a serious condition, you're covered.