Socialist Bernie Sanders, the current front runner in the race for the Democratic nomination for president, was grilled on Sunday during an interview for not knowing the cost of his multi-trillion dollar big government programs.
Anderson Cooper, normally a host on CNN, hosted CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday, where he pressed Sanders over the cost of his programs and over how he intends to pay for them.
Cooper noted that the number of big government programs for which Sanders is advocating, including everything from government-run health care to the far-left “Green New Deal,” will cost well into the tens of trillions of dollars, with some top experts attaching a nearly $100 trillion price tag to his proposals.
“How much will that cost?” Cooper asked.
“Obviously, those are expensive propositions, but we have done our best on issue after issue – in paying for them,” Sanders responded.
“Do you know how all – how much though?” Cooper pressed. “I mean, do you have a price tag for all of this?”
“We do. I mean, you know, and, and, the price tag is – it will be substantially less than letting the current system go,” Sanders responded. “I think it’s about $30 trillion.”
“That’s just for Medicare for All, you’re talking about?” Cooper continued. “Do you have a price tag for all of these things?”
“No, I don’t,” Sanders responded. “We try to – no, you mentioned making public colleges and universities tuition free and cancelling all student debt, that’s correct. That’s what I want to do. We pay for that through a modest tax on Wall Street speculation.”
“But you say you don’t know what the total price is, but you know how it’s gonna be paid for. How do you know it’s gonna be paid for if you don’t know how much the price is?” Cooper pressed.
“Well, I can’t, you know, I can’t rattle off to you every nickel and every dime,” Sanders responded. “But we have accounted for, you – you talked about Medicare for All. We have options out there that will pay for it.”
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Anderson Cooper grills Bernie Sanders for not knowing how much his multi-trillion-dollar socialist programs are going to cost and over Sanders’ absurd claim that he knows how he is going to pay for them, despite not knowing how much they’ll cost.pic.twitter.com/6WCxVD8zp1
— Nathan Brand (@NathanBrandWA) February 24, 2020
Last month, Sanders was questioned by CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell over the very same issue and again had no answer over how much his programs cost and O’Donnell gave him the benefit of using the low-end estimates for the projected costs.
“You are a self-proclaimed socialist,” CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell began.
“‘Democratic,’ put in there please,” Sanders shot back.
“Thank you. Your agenda has promised free health care for everybody, free college tuition, and to pay off people’s college loans,” O’Donnell continued. “The price tag for that is estimated to be $60 trillion over ten years, correct?”
“Well look, we have political opponents who come up –” Sanders responded.
“You don’t know? You don’t know how much your plan costs?” O’Donnell pressed.
“You don’t know; nobody knows,” Sanders responded. “This is impossible to predict.”
“You’re going to propose a plan to the American people, and you’re not going to tell them how much it costs?” O’Donnell persisted.
“Of course I will,” Sanders responded. “Do you know exactly what health care costs will be – one minute – in the next ten years if we do nothing? It will be a lot more expensive than a Medicare for All single payer system.”
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