Posted on 02/27/2020 10:54:09 AM PST by karpov
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Bernie Sanders presidency could begin modestly with a roughly $300 billion federal jobs guarantee before pushing for trillions of dollars in new spending on health care, the environment and infrastructure, says a key adviser to the U.S. Democratic front-runner.
Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont and self-described democratic socialist, has promised a sweeping transformation of the U.S. economy if he wrests the keys to the White House from President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.
A jobs guarantee, which would see the federal government ensure employment for anyone who wanted to work, would be a logical first step for the would-be president, said Stephanie Kelton, who has been Sanders’ senior economic adviser since his unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign.
“I like very much the idea of getting a safeguard in place right away because, like most people, I worry about what happens when the next downturn comes,” Kelton, an economics professor at Stony Brook University in New York state, said to journalists this week on the sidelines of a National Association for Business Economics meeting.
Kelton estimates the jobs guarantee would increase the federal deficit by about 1.5% of gross domestic product while ensuring the elusive goal of full employment. The U.S. deficit currently stands at 4.5% of GDP.
Such a proposal is not a novel idea in U.S. history or even the current presidential race. Government employment programs were used to ease the sting of the Great Depression, and have been more recently proposed by Democratic presidential candidates including Senator Elizabeth Warren.
But Sanders has made it a centerpiece of his agenda.
It would, Kelton said, form an ultimate economic backstop that ensured full employment even in a recession and expanded federal spending just as private sector incomes ebbed.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
He sounds as knowledgeable about the real world as AOC.
'We can't afford to pay you'
'But my job's guaranteed!'
Yes, let’s all work for the state!
...and free Fidel Literacy Re-Programming!
Bernie Boyz counting chickens already?
Ping.
How much of the $300 will go towards Planned Parenthood front organizations. How much will go towards DNC, EarthFirst, Solyndra shell organizations. How much will be kicked-back to Dem politicians via front organizations who receive part of this $300 billion?
Oh, yeah, this sounds like a terrific idea!
Exactly. Economy is producing lowest unemployment ever, so why screw it up with higher taxes to create government jobs.
You win the prize. We have every reason to believe this $300 billion will go to illegals. Imagine the added incentive for millions more to storm the open border.
I would bet Bernie would use part of that $300 billion to hire illegals to remove the wall, brick by brick. And then he would open the flood gates to hire more.
Where’s Stalin when we need him?
How much of the $300 will go towards Planned Parenthood front organizations. How much will go towards DNC, EarthFirst, Solyndra shell organizations. How much will be kicked-back to Dem politicians via front organizations who receive part of this $300 billion?
All of it.
Stephanie Kelton is a woman.
Can’t imagine Bernie actually winning, he has too much baggage and his health is an issue.
What concerns me more is his economic adviser, Stephanie “money grows on trees” Kelton and how far her “Modern Monetary Theory” will pervade into politician’s minds.
A jobs guarantee, which would see the federal government ensure employment for everyone, regardless if they want to
work or not, would be a logical first step for the would-be president, said Stephanie Kelton, who has been Sanders’ senior economic adviser since his unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign.
He knows the pain of being unemployed. And he wouldn’t wish that agony on anyone!/s
Only $300 billion for a jobs program? I’m not impressed. I’d expect at least $300 trillion from a communist.
Bernie Sandinista
In this context “job” means “the government gives me a paycheck to go out and be a Community Organizer”.
...because those guys sh*tting in plant pots in San Francisco should be paid for their fertilizer.
I think that unfortunately she’s actually on to something with Modern Monetary Theory.
They’ll get away with printing dollars by the truckload. And everyone in the world will continue to believe that they have value.
Because at this point money is all a Jedi mind trick anyway.
And the alternatives are just too terrible to contemplate.
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