As a Bernie supporter, I keep getting told I don't understand basic economics, but nobody has been able to explain what exactly these basic economic principles are.

I'm sympathetic to Bernie but I probably won't vote for him. To be fair, I don't think he is any more economically illiterate than any other campaigning politician, but here are my specific reasons:

*Start with the biggie, health care. Basically his supporters extrapolate Medicare/Medicaid costs across the general population and then say "look how much we can save!" I'm union with excellent health insurance, I don't want the same quality of care for my family as homeless people and indigent seniors receive. You can't extrapolate cost savings without also admitting that's the new standard of care. I'm kinda/sorta for a single-payer type system, but it has to be realistic with a "basic for everyone/anyone" , "willing to buy insurance" and "rich person/head of state" tiers.

*Regressive taxation: He supports an increase in the social security tax rate to support family leave. I believe in more progressive taxation not more regressive. In addition, I think taxes on employment are awful. I believe in income based taxation; why should somebody making $20,000 a year on dividends pay nothing towards this goal while the person making $20,000 a year as a janitor has to pay?

*Wayyyyyyyy too many of his supporters seem to be young kids with high student loan debt talking about how great it would be to forgive that debt. Why not pay off pawn store loans? That would help poor people far more than paying off college loan debt. I picture most Bernie supporters as the type that get worked up over H1B visas but support illegal immigration. If you don't like competing against an Indian dude for a programming job try being an uneducated American competing against 3rd world guys for a dish washing job.

*When did he start defining Socialism the way he does now? I'm pretty sure he meant a different thing when he was running for Mayor a few decades ago but now pretends is just a normal left-wing term. This isn't really an economic argument against him, I've just never heard the transition term wise.

I live in California, so my vote doesn't matter anyway.

/r/SandersForPresident Thread