The Economic Illiteracy of Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders, the feisty Independent Senator from Vermont, is challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Originally seen as little more than a token resistance, Sanders has continually drawn crowds numbering in the thousands, and his fair share of media attention. 

A Monmouth University Poll (August 5) shows that he is still well behind the frontrunner, Clinton, but comfortably ahead of the rest of the meager Democratic field.

Sanders is tapping into the anti-establishment sentiment sweeping across the nation, blaming "establishment politics" for the woes of the country. This outsider spirit, youth appeal, and distrust towards the status quo have caused some to dub him "the Ron Paul of the left". Indeed, many young left-libertarians are applauding his stances on money in politics and crony capitalism, and deservedly so. However, this only captures a small part of his campaign platform.

From the beginning, Bernie Sanders' campaign has been about economic issues. He favors economic reforms such as a $15 per hour national minimum wage, an end to all free trade agreements, and economic redistribution (calling our current system "rigged"). For every one thing he gets right (such as his opposition to the Export-Import Bank), he gets five things dead wrong.

Sanders describes himself as a democratic socialist, and his campaign rhetoric revolves around not only the political establishment, but what he calls the oligarchy. The oligarchy is the power structure of big business and government that allegedly colludes to conspire against the average American. To an extent, he's right about the disease. Crony capitalism, government-private partnerships, or whatever other intrusions of the state into economic affairs there may be are indeed one of the biggest problems facing America today.

However, his cure is worse than the ailment. Sanders consistently advocates for MORE government intrusion into the market, not less. He wants more regulation, less freedom of trade, and less freedom of labor. While some of his proposed reforms may indeed weaken big business, he completely misses the point.

Commerical interests have a tendency to use the coercive apparatus of the government to restrict competition, increase their own market share, and lobby for regulations that benefit their own specific niche in the economy, rather than the market as a whole. Sanders sees this and decries big business. He glosses over the fact that the only reason business interests are able to do this is through the coercive apparatus of the government! The centralized, bureaurcratic, constantly growing government is the source of the problem.

In his quest to purge the country of inequality, Sanders also chooses the most ridiculous topics to attack. He has claimed that we have too many choices of deodorant and sneakers while children go hungry. He advocates for a minimum wage of $15 per hour while simultaneously pushing for full employment, and pays his interns less than his lofty minimum wage.

Bernie Sanders has consistently displayed a massive economic illiteracy. Even with the few things he gets right, his abysmal economic policy prescriptions make him the absolute wrong choice for President.