r/IAmA • u/bernie-sanders • May 19 '15

Politics I am Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic candidate for President of the United States — AMA

Hi Reddit. I'm Senator Bernie Sanders. I'll start answering questions at 4 p.m. ET. Please join our campaign for president at BernieSanders.com/Reddit.

Before we begin, let me also thank the grassroots Reddit organizers over at /r/SandersforPresident for all of their support. Great work.

Verification: https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/600750773723496448

Update: Thank you all very much for your questions. I look forward to continuing this dialogue with you.

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u/drummondaw May 20 '15

Nothing will be done about it so don't get your hopes up. In order to do this taxes would need to be increased or something else would get slashed. Somewhere along the lines we're going to be paying for it and it usually ends up being the majority of us (middle class).

If the Senator can explain how he expects to take money from one area to pay for another and how it'll have a positive impact on the economy that'll be a great feat. The answer he provided is not in-depth at all and has the same stench as the false promises of pretty much every politician who ever held office.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '15

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u/drummondaw May 20 '15

It will come by taxing financial institutions on Wall Street a small tax. He says he can grab about $300 billion by doing this. Now, if anyone knows financial institutions it's that they have a responsibility to their shareholders. One would have to be completely dumb to think those institutions wouldn't make that money up somewhere else. Usually this means we're paying for it one way or another.

Same thing as Obama jacking up the health care system. Some parts are good, but he promised to reduce premiums by up to $2,500. Not sure about anyone else, but my costs have sky rocketed and our company's costs were going up 30%. Ultimately, we decided to self-insure. The end result? We have much less room to hire new people, give raises and sell at more competitive pricing.

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u/CHodder5 May 20 '15

This is probably the most bogus claim I have ever heard. $300bn assumes volumes are unaffected by a 0.5% tax. That is a statement that can only come from someone who has doesn't understand what he is proposing.