There are many legitimate questions about Sanders’s campaign, ranging from his electability as a self-described socialist to his approach to reforming health care, which many Democrats warn could be a political disaster to surpass the implementation of Obamacare. But the WaPo editorial board, in full stentorian take mode, makes the fatal flaw of trying to take Sanders down with its “very serious person” brand of economic analysis.
And what do we learn? That the “evolution and structure of the world economy, not mere corporate deck-stacking,” explains the economic inequality Sanders rails against; that his Medicare-for-all plan “would be more grounded in reality if he addressed the fact of chronic slow growth in Europe”; and that his argument that deficit spending results in economic growth “resembles Republican arguments that tax cuts will juice the economy and pay for themselves—and is equally fanciful.”
But in fact corporate deck-stacking, particularly in the tax code, does cause more corporate wealth to flow to the top 1 percent. Chronic slow growth in Europe in the past decade has been caused by punishing deficit-cutting austerity measures. And economists agree that spending does result in growth, much more so than tax cuts, and in certain situations may even pay for itself. Ask Larry Summers.
The WaPo editorial board accuses Sanders of allowing ideology to “guide his thinking.” Do I even need to write the rest of this kicker?