(This article was written by Peter Huessy and appeared in GeoStrategic Analysis. Essay: Thirty Two Months to Bankrupt America)
The DSA specific platform includes a call for single-payer healthcare (Medicare for all), government assistance for all tuition and childcare, guaranteed jobs, expanded retirement benefits, universal paid family leave, rent control, and expanding affordable housing. Here are the costs of these ideas using relatively conservative assumptions.
There are 55 million retired workers in the USA; the average income is $54,700. Increasing that by 10% would cost $301 billion.
62m Americans cost $1.2 trillion in Medicare at $15,000/yr
300m more Americans would cost $2.7 trillion at $9000/yr
Currently all Medicare premiums bring in $382 billion. Including all other health care premiums would bring in $1.1 trillion; net result is $2.8 trillion more government costs. But for free health care, no premiums would be charged. That’s a total Fed bill of $3.9 trillion.
Global Zero Carbon: If European energy prices prevailed in the USA, every American over 15yrs old would pay $6800 a year vs $2380 today, for gas and electricity. Overall, the US would spent not $1.57 trillion for all energy but closer to $3.1 trillion.
Current college tuition debt is $1.9 trillion; currently 16 million Americans attend college and university at an average annual cost of $38,000—for the US government to pay that annual tab would cost $608 billion/yr.
Paying for childcare would be for 26 million parents with children under 6 years ago. The cost averages per family per year $3800. For the US government to pay would cost: $106 billion a year.
Guaranteed jobs: There are 162 million people working in the USA earning an average of $65,000. For the US government to guarantee 10% of the workforce jobs would cost $1 trillion.
Paid family leave would cost another $100 billion at 10 weeks for just 10% of the US workforce.
Rent/mortgage is paid by 117 million households at an average monthly cost of $1300-$1500; this would cost the government $1.824 trillion if housing was free/$912 billion in 50% subsidized.
Expanding the current 1.4 million housing units built each year in the USA by 10% would cost $45 billion at an average construction cost of $330,000.
So, the DSA platform as published would conservatively cost: $9.4 trillion. More than the $7.1 trillion in the entire Federal Budget now spent by Uncle Sam. And double all the spending by ALL 50 state and local governments of $4.7 trillion.
All USA millionaires and millionaires have $26 trillion in all assets and wealth, and if 100% confiscated able to pay for DSA programs for under 32 months. Note: US Billionaires have $4 trillion and millionaires have $22 trillion total wealth. If we just took the billionaires money we could pay for these programs for 5 months.
Peter Huessy is a Senior Fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy, a Washington D.C.-based foreign policy and defense think tank.
