I hope you socialists are sitting down, because this is gonna sting.
Senator Bernie Sanders and political candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez really want "Medicare for all", their term for "free" socialized public healthcare.
This is objective #1 in their socialist utopia: a nation where all medicine and healthcare services are "free".
But as any sensible person knows, healthcare can never be "free". There's a reason why doctors and healthcare professionals earn such high salaries: their jobs are extremely difficult, time consuming and potentially lethal if not performed with the utmost care and caution. Even if the recipient of these services isn't paying anything, someone somewhere needs to foot the bill so a nation of over 300 million people can receive the treatment and medicine they need to lead healthy lives.
But Senator Sanders, the independent socialist from Vermont, has a plan: everyone gets to visit a healthcare professional and receive medication that's covered (or mostly covered) by funding from the Federal government. This is his "Medicare for all" plan.
As most taxpayers already know, Medicare is a popular insurance program for seniors. Under Sanders' plan, everyone gets access to this program, young and old alike, with no co-pays or deductibles during checkout time.
Okay, we're listening: how much would this socialist wet-dream cost?
According to an analysis released Monday by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia, the grand total of the "Medicare for all" program would cost taxpayers a whopping $32.6 trillion over 10 years.
Just so we're clear, that's trillion with a "T", not billion with a "B" or million with an "M".
Like I said, I hope you were sitting down when you received that news. I can’t be held responsible for anyone who suffered from a sudden fall after receiving that news. After all, I warned you.
I'm sure you don't need a long winded explanation about why America can't afford to go $32.6 trillion deeper into debt. We’re currently $21 trillion in debt and the consequences of this little bind we’re in are numerous: lower national savings, lower national income & higher interest payments which can lead to large tax hikes and spending cuts, all of which decrease America’s ability to respond to problems.
And let's not forget the other obvious consequence of "Medicaid for all": if you don't need health insurance that also means you don't need to buy health insurance (duh). And if you don't need to buy health insurance, that puts the 2.6 million Americans working in the insurance industry in a tough spot. Imagine 2.6 million people suddenly out of work. Thanks, Bernie. I’m sure they all wanted to update their resumes and feverishly search for a new form of income while struggling to pay their bills.
So Bernie Sanders' program puts America $32.6 trillion deeper in debt and puts millions of people out of work. That doesn't like any "utopia" I've ever heard of but okay, Bernie, if you say so.
I know what you're thinking: does Bernie Sanders know how destructive his plan is? If he fights for the underdog, maybe he'll have a change of heart after hearing this news?
Funny you should ask (even though technically you didn't): Bernie is well aware of this news and he's already responded to it.
Rather than dissecting the facts and explaining how the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia may or may not have their facts wrong (they don't), Bernie is taking shots at how they got their funding (ironic, since they're taking aim at how his reckless program gets it's funding).
You see, the Mercatus Center gets their funding from Koch Industry. Ya know, those evil twisted Koch Brothers who give money to universities and fund liberty-minded politicians.
Bernie said in a statement, "This grossly misleading and biased report is the Koch brothers response to the growing support in our country for a 'Medicare for all' program."
That's the evil two word phrase that, when uttered among people on the Left, makes their skin crawl: Koch Brothers.
The Left loves to hate the Koch Brothers. They'd like you to believe Charles and David Koch are two warlocks who live in a dungeon where they feed children to dragons and get their powers by drinking virgin blood every night before they soak in a hot tub of Sulfuric acid to help preserve their lizard skin.
Democrats love to draw a line between the Koch Brothers and the GOP (but they're not technically Republicans, they're independent libertarians).
Democrats want you to think the Koch Brothers are the biggest political donors in America (they're not even in the top 10).
Democrats also want you to think every time the Republicans do something unpopular, the Koch Brothers are behind it (they're not).
Democrats even blame the Koch Brothers for Trump, but they never funded him and he's openly attacked them for their stance on free trade and immigration.
This all goes back to the old Left versus Right illusion: there are more than two sides to American politics just like there are more than two wings in the Republican party.
But to the Left, that separation between ideologies on the Right is almost impossible to see.
Because of the popularity of candidates like Bernie and Ocasio-Cortez, Democrats keep moving farther and farther to the Left, which is definitely not resonating with moderates and centrists.
So while Bernie Sanders chooses to ignore math and attack the Koch Brothers because of the boogie-man association that goes along with their family's name, facts are facts.
Facts don't care where funding comes from. Facts also don't care if you're popular with college kids.
And, to quote Ben Shapiro, "Facts don't care about your feelings."