via Joshua Kennon:

Despite wanting to support him, after reading Senator Sanders’ economic and tax plan, I have come to the same conclusion that most mainstream economists have.  Only, I’m going to be more blunt about it.  You know I’m not a fan of cursing and I try to be as even-minded as I can so please absorb what I am about to say to you in all seriousness because that is how it is intended.  This is not a joke.  I do not say this lightly.  I am not kidding.

My verdict: When it comes to economic and tax policy, Bernie Sanders is bat shit crazy.

I wince even saying it so vulgarly but there’s no other way to quite emphasize how insane this man’s proposals are.  I don’t say that to provide a sense of hyperbole.  I’m not trying to generate an emotional response.  I’m telling you that I think the man’s economic and tax policies are deranged.  In a real sense, he is a sort of anti-Obama.  Whereas President Obama’s proposals are ultimately workable and sound policy, even if I feel like they go too far at times on the revenue raising side before he’s forced to compromise with Congress, what Senator Sanders wants to do is not only unworkable, it’s immoral.  It’s disgusting.  It is nothing but the recycled, failed policies of the 1970’s; garbage that will ultimately harm the poor and middle class.  It is so unbelievably, catastrophically bad that I cannot imagine anyone but the economic illiterate or someone so deeply vested in political ideology that they’ve lost all semblance of objectivity supporting this.

It is abundantly clear why none of the Democrats would work with him in the time he has been in the Senate to get anything meaningful done.

it is abundantly clear why none of the Republicans would work with him in the time he has been in the Senate to get anything meaningful done.

It is abundantly clear why he has a shockingly and inappropriately small net worth and tens of thousands of dollars in personal credit card debt despite having a very lucrative six-figure income for many, many years now.

He cannot be trusted with money.  He cannot be trusted with the nation’s economy.  He cannot be allowed to get anywhere near the economic and regulatory framework of the greatest wealth-producing system in global history.  No matter how much I agree with him on much of everything else, I will not support this kind of lunacy.

To put it bluntly, Bernie Sanders’ tax plan does not just “soak the rich”.  He all but declares war on the both the middle and upper middle classes as well as the self-employed.  By way of illustration, if you are a reasonably successful dentist living in a suburb who owns your own practice, you are going to get mauled to such a degree that it will result in a materially lower standard of living for you, your spouse, your children, and your grandchildren.  It will result in a gargantuan increase in the size and power of the government – the very government everyone is complaining is already too corrupt!  This is true even accounting for the theoretically lower cost of healthcare.

Specifics matter so let’s get into some of the details:

Continue to: My Thoughts on the Bernie Sanders Tax and Economic Proposal –