Why I support X

[Microcosm]

So I thought this would be an interesting opinionated thread specifically aimed towards the U.S. presidential run. However, you can expand it to different people in different political areas if you'd like.

Basically, state a person that you fervently agree with and outline exactly why you support them. Feel free to debate and challenge others' opinions and arguments.

I'll start.

Why I support Bernie Sanders

When choosing someone to support in presidential elections, it is important to me to decide who represents not only my personal interests, but also the interests of most people, and the individual who promises such benefits in the most concise and realistic way. A great factor of importance related to that sentiment is that the person supported should not attempt to control or swindle the people for his or her own political gain, that an executive of the people is not an executive of his own political bias, but rather of the will of those who he ultimately represents and the will of the law. It follows, therefore, that an executive should be someone who constantly and consistently maintains principles which favor the common man and woman.

Senator Bernie Sanders has an active and successful background in politics. Without going into details about Sanders' policy plans, a conclusion can be made: His focus is truly on the people, both oppressed minorities and common majorities rather than money and corporations, two institutions that can truly destroy the honest principles of politicians. His rival, Hillary Clinton, claims the same virtues, but is not consistent in them. This is clear by mounds of evidence ranging from shady emails to the massive corporate-interest contributions given to her campaign that drive her to act in the favor of the elite rather than in that of the people.

With that out of the way, I'll now summarize some specific policy plans(a commodity which most other presidential candidates have yet to provided) to support my opinions.

Tuition-free College

Sanders has been running on the idea of tuition and debt free college (https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free) from the beginning. A minuscule tax on elite Wall Street institutions can easily make college cost a lot less for all Americans. A common opposition argument for this is that it will devalue the college degree. However, this is not true because money is not the only factor in the attainment of a college degree. Merit is more important. In short, the opportunity for all Americans to attend college should not be determined by the wealth of a prospective student, but by his merit and will to succeed, and that is the kind of freedom that Bernie Sanders stands for in education.

Fighting Climate Change

It goes without saying that climate change is a huge problem that faces the modern world. Bernie Sanders supports the fight against climate change (https://berniesanders.com/people-before-polluters/) and would have various routes of influence as president to instruct changes.

More on Sanders' beliefs can be found here (https://berniesanders.com/issues/).

While I don't agree with everything Sanders says, it is clear that his principles have a just, honest, and reliable foundation. For that, I trust him as president and believe his service would be a valuable asset to the progression of the United States.

[West Coast Sheriff]

I like him too. I don't think we can pay for his economic policy. It would be nice if we could.

[RiHouse]

I'd write one as well, but I'd just be repeating what you said.

[Microcosm]

I like him too. I don't think we can pay for his economic policy. It would be nice if we could.

While I'm no economist, people that are seem to agree that many of his reforms are possible.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johntharvey/2015/09/21/can-america-afford-sanders/#6ba4b91f1b07

[Judean Zealot]

I truly wish I had a political figure I was fervently in favour of. Unfortunately, I don't. :(

[Vlerchan]

While I'm no economist, people that are seem to agree that many of his reforms are possible.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnthar.../#6ba4b91f1b07
Jesus Christ. That was my reaction when I read the claim made in that article. I skipped the article at first thinking it would just be another tax analysis but now that I've gone back: Jesus Christ.

I also checked and the author works in a university and teaches macroeconomics. That's em.. troubling.

The US can never be forced to default on the national debt, no matter how large.
Yes. The government can print as much money as it wants. If anyone turned up to inter-war German history they'd realise that this works to a point. The point is quite quickly reached.

The biggest problem is that with more cash sloshing around - like implied - inflation will rise. This might be fine in the immediate-run but in the long-run monetary policy is always non-neutral. That's econo-speak for the fact that it doesn't affect real (inflation-adjusted) output because people's expectations adjust.

It's true that the US government can keep issuing debt to investors - insofar as investors exist to purchase it. That means it if we get technical it can avoid default. But if investors stop feeling like the debt is secure - it's never going to be repaid for example - then investors will curtail their supply that debt. That results in interest rates increasing - as investors require better returns to match the risk. There comes a point where the rate of interest on debt begins to outstrip the rate of growth. That's when default is inevitable. Because then raising taxation reduces growth and makes the fundamental problem worse - and borrowing increases interest rates further. Hello: downward; Hello: spiral.

Not to mention that this translates to private investment. When a government raises the fiscal deficit it increases demand for loanable funds and thus 'crowds-out' investment.

In other words, if all of our resources are fully employed–which is our real budget constraint, not dollars–then this can cause the demand for goods and services to outstrip supply and thereby drive up prices.
The point he's making here is that inflation occurs when actual output exceeds potential output. The problem is that inflation is a function of multiple variables. The one worth considering here is expectations. If investors expect inflation to rise - because say the government decide it was going to de facto default on it's debt obligations - then the investors that decide to risk keeping their cash tied up in that state's assets - and don't splurge-out on German bonds or something - are going to start asking for considerable premiums. That in itself produces inflation and the mechanism can be found in even the most simplest of models.

But let's not stop there. When people start to believe that the dollar is going to devalue significantly these same people aren't going to use it to conduct international trade. The dollar is the world's reserve currency because most people see it as safe. Once that image fades it will stop being the reserve currency. So on top of inflation spiralling out of control there's going to be considerable inflationary shock as central banks begin to offload dollars as fast as possible. In the simplest of models there's a term for shocks and errors: that's what this will be.

That’s not our problem today, however, when the standard measure of unemployment is 5.1% and the broad one is 10.3% (the latter includes discouraged workers and those who have taken part-time employment but wanted full-time).
The labour market is tightening.

And this is why we have seen neither hide nor hair of even moderately high inflation during the current run up of the debt.
Expectations are also on the floor.

But returning to the main point, anyone who says the federal government doesn’t have the budget to manage Sanders’ (or anyone else’s) programs doesn’t understand how modern macroeconomies work.
Just for reference his argument consists of quote-mining hedge-fund managers.

The federal government’s budget is not analogous to your own and it cannot run out of money[.]
To conclude: no-one denies the essential truth of this statement but confidence isn't infinite.

[Merk]

I agree that sanders would do a fairly good jo. Im not saying who I would if I could vote for.. but he should use this as his runninG image.
http://12632-presscdn-0-44.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/bernie.jpg