There’s a blessed consistency to the solutions radical left-wing Democrats have offered for America’s problems. As far back as the 1960s, liberal Democrats have been agitating for the government to “spend more money.” In the ’60s, it was spending six zeroes more for the government’s schemes.
But that just won’t do for today’s government Gargantua. Today we must speak in terms of nine zeroes to solve any problem created when the government was spending only six zeroes.
Senator Bernie Sanders remembers when he was agitating for the government to spend billions of dollars on the welfare state in the 1960s. There were warnings from mainstream economists back then too — that such massive spending would lead to inflation.
Of course, it did. The creation of the welfare state in the ’60s — and the monopolistic practices of the OPEC oil cartel — led to the last “Great Inflation” of the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was a no-brainer then and it’s a no-brainer now.
But old-timers like Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden believe that the rest of us had forgotten how we got trapped in spiraling inflation during that time. No internet, you see. Besides, modern monetary policy as practiced by the Federal Reserve had eliminated inflation as a cause of concern, right?
That’s what Bernie Sanders is thinking. Inflation is a figment of our imagination. So why not spend trillions and trillions of dollars to help Americans in these trying economic times?
Sanders on Tuesday told Politico Democrats should “raise the minimum wage,” “deal with Medicare,” and “deal with climate,” in order to keep Republicans from winning a legislative majority in November. By the senator’s own estimate on the 2020 campaign trail, Medicare for All could cost up to $40 trillion. And Sanders’s Green New Deal would cost at least $16 trillion. All told, his legislative proposals would total nearly double the current national debt.
The suggestion flies in the face of recent polls, which reveal voters greatest concerns involve the economy. Four in five Americans said inflation is the greatest concern determining their vote this November, a ABC News/Ipsos poll found this week.
Sanders is right about one thing: “You really can’t win an election with a bumper sticker that says: ‘Well, we can’t do much, but the other side is worse,’” he told Politico.
In fact, the Democrats have had complete control of the government since January 20, 2021, and have very little to show for it except a trillion-dollar “infrastructure” bill that a few Republicans helped pass, and a pandemic relief measure that was rammed through Congress without a single Republican vote.
Democrats are hoping that Republicans put up unwinnable candidates — not a forlorn hope — or that the Democrats can pass a slew of smaller bills, or some miracle results in a Biden turnaround in the polls.
Democrats have their own unwinnable candidates to worry about. But Sanders thinks it’s delusional thinking anyway.
“Say to the American people: ‘Look, we don’t have the votes to do it right now. We have two corporate Democrats who are not going to be with us,’” Sanders said, referring to Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).
“The leadership has got to go out and say we don’t have the votes to pass anything significant right now. Sorry. You got 48 votes. And we need more to pass it. That should be the message of this campaign.”
More radical Democrats, more trillions of dollars in government spending, more hysteria. This is a recipe for Democratic victory in 2022?
Someone tell Bernie Sanders to go back to sleep.
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