Thursday, September 3, 2015

What if Trump and Sanders BOTH run as third party candidates?

Trump as much as said that he will run as a third party candidate if he does not get the Republican nod.  Nearly all of the focus has been on Trump.  I want to burn a few pixels talking about Bernie.

Sanders is running neck-and-neck with the presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton.  Mz Clinton has an enormous amount of baggage that may derail her candidacy.  So the Democratic king makers in their smoke-filled rooms are now touting Joe Biden.  Where is the respect?

According to Bernie's website, this is what Bernie stands for.  My comments with blue background:
  1. Demanding that the wealthy and large corporations pay "their fair share" in taxes.  He does not elaborate how "fair share" will be calculated.
  2. Increasing the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour.  A proven job and business killer.  Will he also ensure that business owners net at least $15/hour?
  3. ...rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, railways, airports, public transit systems, ports, dams, wastewater plants, and other infrastructure needs.  In many cases "make work" that distorts the signal value of pricing.  We have "shovel ready" jobs adding curbs to rural roads simply to buy concrete and generate paychecks for the otherwise unemployable.  Nobody seems very concerned about "carbon footprint" when buying concrete.
  4. Reversing trade policies like NAFTA, CAFTA, and PNTR with China.  Nothing like starting a trade war.  Does he really think industry will start building flat-screen TVs in the US?
  5. Making tuition free at public colleges and universities throughout America.  Living in a dorm on a large campus is a pure manifestation of socialist paradise.  "Free" food.  "Free" room.  "Free" access to mates. "Free" medical.  "Free" bus rides.  A 15 hour/week work load is considered grinding.  A godlike caste system of administrators, TAs, RAs, associate professors, assistant professors, tenured professors, professors emeritus...  Our kids will be surprised when we re-enroll in college because it is the most economical form of assisted living.
  6. We need to re-enfranchise the more than two million African Americans who have had their right to vote taken away by a felony conviction.  This is a direct quote.  Does that mean that non-African American felons will still not be able to vote due to a felony conviction?
  7. As president, Sen. Sanders would expand funding for Planned Parenthood.
  8. Sanders would require employers to provide at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.  Another job killer.  This would be further disincentive to hire people under the age of 45.  Presumably available to full time workers.  Do you suppose this would make part time workers more attractive?
  9. Sign comprehensive immigration reform into law to bring over 11 million undocumented workers out of the shadows. That is, amnesty.
  10. As mayor of Burlington, (Sanders) was a strong collaborator with unions.  Most economists believe that collective bargaining power distorts the economy.  It makes winners and losers, it does not increase the size of the pie.  Unions are most successful when some portion of the counterparty's "plant" is immobile.  Immobile can be due to fixed costs, captive customer base or long development lead times. 
  11. ...tax carbon and methane emissions.  I guess you have to pay for college somehow.  It will be pretty interesting when all of those urban poor are paying half their income for heat and air conditioning.
  12. The Federal Reserve, a government entity which serves as the engine of the banking industry, must eliminate its internal conflicts of interest, provide stricter oversight.  This falls under "...even a blind pig category." But can he do this with an executive order?  I don't think he will get much help from the legislature.
  13. (Sanders) proposed a financial transaction tax.  A little bit of numerical damping can be a wonderful thing for system stability.
  14. (Sanders supports) a tax on Wall Street speculation to make public colleges and universities tuition-free.  Historically, government subsidies drive up the cost of inputs with modest increases in production.  And why go to college if there are no jobs?  Better to reconfigure it into a Club-Med, socialist utopia.  But they better put it on a pleasant tropical island with temperate trade winds.  An island like Cuba.  Oh.  Wait. Never mind.

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