Bernie Sanders Has a Jobs Plan. It's Called 'Socialism.'

[Chris]

So Bernie comes up with a problem so solve joblessness in the US: Give everyone a government job! New old deal!!

Bernie Sanders Has a Jobs Plan. It's Called 'Socialism.'

...Sanders has announced a new plan to make sure everybody who is unemployed gets a job. His plan is just to invent a bunch of new government jobs and pay $15 an hour with benefits! Ta-Da! Problem solved.

...No, really. That's kind of the plan. According to The Washington Post, which reported the proposal yesterday, Sanders' office doesn't have a cost estimate or any idea how it will be funded yet. Post policy writer Jeff Stein turned to a study by a pack of "left-leaning economists" for the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, who seem to think only good things will happen with the creation of millions of government-funded jobs, and hardly any bad things. Klein notes:

Job guarantee advocates say their plan would drive up wages by significantly increasing competition for workers, ensuring that corporations have to offer more generous salaries and benefits if they want to keep their employees from working for the government.

So what sort of government work is there that would provide $15 an hour plus benefits to millions of unemployed Americans? The Levy Economics Institute study provides several examples of how these guaranteed jobs might play out at the local level. Here's one:

A local artist collective employs painters, actors, musicians, and stage hands to run year-round productions for the community. They organize school outreach programs, run summer camps, and offer free art, music, and literacy classes for disadvantaged/special needs youths. They collaborate with local schools in offering art enrichment programs.

...The report openly uses the Works Progress Administration of the New Deal as a model to support it.

...The study estimates that this program could attract as many as 15 million participants. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, 2017 ended with 22.3 million people employed in government sector jobs—that's federal, state, and local all combined. This program would result in about a 50 percent increase in people who work for the government....

[Captdon]

This from a man who never held a job.

[Chris]

This from a man who never held a job.

Govt job as Senator.

[AZ Jim]

The original new deal helped save America at a very dangerous point in history. Sanders goes too far in his ideas. He shows a lack of understanding of the ramifications with his "free" programs.

[Chris]

The original new deal helped save America at a very dangerous point in history. Sanders goes too far in his ideas. He shows a lack of understanding of the ramifications with his "free" programs.

Baloney, it prolonged the Great Depression just as Obama prolonged the Great Recession.

Agree on Sanders. He seemed exciting last campaign but has since lost touch with reality.

[Chris]

It's more than government jobs at $15/hr, it's healthcare and other perks.

Democrats' Universal Job Plan Would Be a Socialist Disaster

Sen. Bernie Sanders is set to announce a plan that guarantees every American "who wants or needs one" a lifetime government job paying at least $15 an hour, with health insurance and other perks. This new progressive workforce will then, according to The Washington Post, build glorious "projects throughout the United States aimed at addressing priorities such as infrastructure, care giving, the environment, education and other goals."

It would be one thing if the nation's leading socialist—and perhaps the most popular Democrat in the country—were the only one interested in creating a state-run workforce to "compete" with the private sector. A number of other allegedly moderate Democrats and prospective presidential candidates, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker, favor a universal job guarantee as well. It's rapidly becoming a mainstream idea.

...Corporations are concerned with profit. If the minimum wage kills jobs, why should we believe businesses (especially smaller ones) would compete with government-funded projects that can print money and create salaries (and benefits) that are wholly untethered from the real cost of labor? Businesses would simply hire fewer Americans—especially those Americans first getting into the labor force.

Of course, it's more likely that our state-run workforce would be deployed for ideological and political priorities rather than economic ones. If history is any indicator, it would be used to prop up politically useful projects and keep failing industries afloat, undermining creative destruction, innovation, and long-term growth.

...Most of all, making government responsible for every American's job prospects would change the dynamics of governance—forever. Not only would politicians be expected to help create the economic conditions that make growth possible; they would then face another unrealistic expectation. Unemployment would no longer be a function of economic conditions but rather heartless politicians who fail to create jobs for voters.

This is exactly what left-leaning economists who obsess about inequality and push zero-sum fantasies about wealth and growth want....