Bernie Sanders' Campaign Has Crossed Into Neverland, ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KEEP CALM AND REMEMBER OUR PLACE IN THE ECONOMY? 17FEB16

I post this analysis of  the affect of Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign platform on the American economy from +Mother Jones to make a point. Kevin Drum of Mother Jones sides with the mainstream economist who dismiss +Senator Bernie Sanders as pie in the sky. That is exactly the attitude that has kept wages low, the income gap between the 1% and the 99% increasing, and the American social contract under funded and unfulfilled. Opponents of Sanders keep repeating the mantra that his policies can't be enacted, won't happen. They are endorsing the status quo, and telling us to suck it up, to Keep Calm and Remember Your Place In The American Economy. Sen Sanders is telling people he understands we are tired of struggling, tired of economic inequality, tired of social, economic and political injustice. He is telling people we have the right and responsibility as Americans to challenge those in power and demand change that will benefit the entire nation. That is why he is calling on the American people to rise up (Bob Marley said RISE, YE MIGHTY PEOPLE") Bernie Sanders is calling for a peaceful political revolution in America, for tens of millions of voters to register and vote and take control of the political system on the local, state and national level, to make our governments of the people, for the people. What is wrong with with that? 

Bernie Sanders' Campaign Has Crossed Into Neverland

—By Kevin Drum

| Wed Feb. 17, 2016 12:49 PM ESTRichard Ellis/Zuma Wire

I'm not quite sure what I was doing last week when this first appeared, but I missed it. Here's a summary from UMass Amherst professor Gerald Friedman about the impact on the economy if we adopt all of Bernie Sanders' domestic spending proposals:

WTF? Per-capita GDP will grow 4.5 percent? And not just in a single year: Friedman is projecting that it will grow by an average of 4.5 percent every year for the next decade. Productivity growth will double compared to CBO projections—and in case you're curious, there has never been a 10-year period since World War II in which productivity grew 3.18 percent. Not one. And miraculously, the employment-population ratio, which has been declining since 2000 and has never reached 65 percent ever in history, will rise to 65 percent in a mere ten years.

The Sanders campaign hasn't officially endorsed this analysis, but we do have this:

Warren Gunnels, policy director for the Sanders campaign, hailed the report’s finding that the proposals are feasible and expressed hope that more people will look into them. “It’s gotten a little bit of attention, but not nearly as much as we would like,” Mr. Gunnels said. “Senator Sanders has been fighting establishment politics, the establishment economics and the establishment media. And this is the last thing they want to take a look at.

“It shows that over a 10-year period, we would create 26 million new jobs, the poverty rate would plummet, that incomes would go up dramatically, and we would have strong economic growth. ... It’s a very bold plan, and we want to get this out there.”

I've generally tried to go easy on Bernie Sanders. I like his vision, and I like his general attitude toward Wall Street. But this is insane. If anything, it's worse than the endless magic asterisks that Republicans use to pretend that their tax plans will supercharge the economy and pay for themselves. It's not even remotely in the realm of reality. If it were, France and Germany and Denmark would all be Croesian paradises by now.

A group of stuffy establishment economists says "no credible economic research" supports Friedman's analysis, which "undermines our reputation as the party of responsible arithmetic." Or, in Austan Goolsbee's more colorful language, Sanders' plans have "evolved into magic flying puppies with winning Lotto tickets tied to their collars."

Enough is enough. Everyone needs to get back to reality. This ain't it.