...making the fossil fuel industry pay for “their pollution,”...
Just where do you think the "fossil fuel industry" gets their money from? If you make them pay, they are going to pass on the added expense to their customers - that's us folks.
...garnering profit from the wholesale of energy...
That's lib-speak for increased taxation of the energy industry. Guess what happens when their costs go up? They are going to pass on the added expense to their customers - that's us folks.
...decreasing defense spending...
Ah yes, the "peace dividend" because nation-state and state-like actors such as China, North Korea, Iran, ISIS, etc. are all preparing to sit around the camp fire singing kumbya. Only problem is, the campsites they've picked out are all in neighboring countries and regions that they'd like to take over or at least subvert to their will. It's a dangerous world.
...getting new income tax revenue...
Ah, well at least here buried in the midst of the BS is a shred of honesty. Right there folks, they want to come for more of our money.
...saving federal and state safety net spending from the jobs created...
Oh, you mean like those created by President Trump's policies that have resulted in record low unemployment rates, increasing labor force participation rates, and reduce food stamp and other assistance program use?
...enforcing higher taxes on large corporations....
Oh, so it's not just fossil fuel companies and the energy industry in general, and individuals who will feel an increased tax bite - it is nearly every company. We all know the devil is in the details and I'm sure the tax fairy would visit her hell upon not just multi-billion dollar a year companies but all the way down to mom & pop outfits. Guess what happens when their costs go up? They are going to pass on the added expense to their customers - that's us folks.
...Sanders said he plans to create a 4 percent income-based premium while exempting the first $29,000 in income for a family of four, requiring employers to pay a 7.5 percent income-based premium...
Short version: more government taxation (by any other name, just as odious) and you know the story, who ultimately pays for that?
...increasing the top marginal income tax to 52 percent...
Really starting to sound like a broken record here - more taxes, paid for by...you guessed it, us!
...He also would tax capital gains at the same rates...
More taxes, money out of our pockets.
...enact the For the 99.8% Act...
Yet more taxes, more money out of our pockets.
...reform the corporate tax system...
If you're "reforming" to increase government revenue then basically you're saying you're going to increase corporate taxes. Guess what happens when their costs go up? They are going to pass on the added expense to their customers - that's us folks.
...use money from the tax on the extremely wealthy...
Again, the devil is in the details. Just who do you think an avowed communist considers "extremely wealthy?" If you have a computer or smart phone and you're reading this, compared to our beloved comrades throughout the world you/me/we are "extremely wealthy" and guess what, more taxes...
What it really comes down to, when you filter out all the BS is fundamentally two different systems for society.
Capitalism, for all it's warts and inequities both actual and merely perceived works. You have options. Maybe not a lot, maybe not the ones you want. Hey, none of us are likely to be living in Malibu, dating a supermodel, and driving a Ferrari. But with a job and a little money in our pocket our choices and our destiny are our own.
Socialism, communism, marxism, democratic socialism, fascism... Whatever name you want to give it, however you want to organize and enforce it, sucks. Sure, they sound wonderful at first, or on the surface - we'll take care of you! Look at all these great services and things we can do for you! You won't have to worry about X, Y, or Z! Anyone remember that scene from "The Avengers" where Loki is addressing the kneeling crowd, telling them something to the effect of he's there to free them from freedom? Yeah, Sanders and his ilk are Loki. They don't want to provide all these great things to us 'cause they like us or care about us. They want power and control. Everything we make, or nearly everything we make - taken as taxes, managed by the government, then services provided. Services as deemed sufficient by the government. It is literally turning over virtually all your freedom and power to the government. No thank you. In fact hell no.
Nice synopsis. Let me add that while its true these entities will all pass along the cost of doing business to their customers, whats more alarming is the prospect of the government stepping in and setting price controls, regulations,nationalization and central economic planning.
IOW Same old leftist non-sense.
And so long as Sanders remains in the race, it’s worth taking his policy ideas seriously, since he has unveiled expensive new spending proposals on a near-weekly basis. All told, Sanders’s current plans would cost as much as $97.5 trillion over the next decade, and total government spending at all levels would surge to as high as 70 percent of gross domestic product. Approximately half of the American workforce would be employed by the government. The ten-year budget deficit would approach $90 trillion, with average annual deficits exceeding 30 percent of GDP.
The $97.5 trillion price tag is made up mostly of the costs of Sanders’s three most ambitious proposals. Sanders concedes that his Medicare For All plan would increase federal spending by “somewhere between $30 and $40 trillion over a 10-year period.” He pledges to spend $16.3 trillion on his climate plan. And his proposal to guarantee all Americans a full-time government job paying $15 an hour, with full benefits, is estimated to cost $30.1 trillion. The final $11.1 trillion includes $3 trillion to forgive all student loans and guarantee free public-college tuition—plus $1.8 trillion to expand Social Security, $2.5 trillion on housing, $1.6 trillion on paid family leave, $1 trillion on infrastructure, $800 billion on general K-12 education spending, and an additional $400 billion on higher public school teacher salaries.
This unprecedented outlay would more than double the size of the federal government. Over the next decade, Washington is already projected to spend $60 trillion, and state and local governments will spend another $29.7 trillion from non-federal sources. Adding Sanders’s $97.5 trillion—and then subtracting the $3 trillion saved by state governments under Medicare For All—would raise the total cost of government to $184 trillion, or 70 percent of the projected GDP over ten years
Such spending would far exceed even that of European social democracies. The 35 OECD countries average 43 percent of GDP in total government spending. Finland’s 57 percent tops the list, edging France and Denmark. Meantime, Sweden and Norway—regularly lauded as models for the U.S.—spend just under 50 percent of GDP. The U.S. government, at all levels, spends between 34 percent and 38 percent of GDP, depending on how one calculates.
Sanders’s agenda is virtually impossible to pay for. Adding $97.5 trillion in new spending to an underlying $15.5 trillion projected budget deficit (under current policies) creates a ten-year budget gap of $113 trillion. Yet Sanders’s tax proposals would raise at most $23 trillion over the decade.
https://www.city-journal.org/bernie-sanders-expensive-spending-proposals
Note: we should get away from using the word ‘capitalism” because it is a term coined by K Marx - perhaps ‘free market’?