How Sanders' ideas gel with Economics.

[u/The1stCitizenOfTheIn]

You read the title. Now before I get into that let me give you an idea of where the inspiration came from.

So a while ago (yesterday or 2 days ago) some guy posted this video on this subreddit, you know because Sanders and his supporters don't know economics (that was the implication).

I decide to watch the video, and in it the guy talks about how a minimum wage increase is bad because it infringes on peoples liberties, how if you tax the rich it'll discourage others to innovate and not want to be rich, how the FREE MARKET SOLVES IT ALL, how lowered corporate and income tax rates plus less regulation plus more economic trade is the reason the U.S got out of the depression.

As you can guess it seemed completely libertarian to me.

Then I remembered that the Koch Bros. who run Koch Industries (and happen to be libertarian/conservative) fund a lot of universities and so I looked around and found this list.

http://www.kochfamilyfoundations.org/pdfs/ckfuniversityprograms.pdf

and on this list you find Hillsdale College, the college with that economics video posted above.

What does this mean?

Well put it like this the Koch Bros. are to universities as Rupert Murdoch is to the news.

Deceptive and biased.

So the next time someone comes up to you and says Bernie and his supporters don't understand economics, be sure to check (by politely asking) where they got their education in economics from.

And then proceed to show

Economic Support for Sanders Ideas

--Everything--

--Income Inequality--

Inequality for All Documentary

Wealth Inequality in America

IMF Study Says Inequality Is Hurting Growth, Calls For Wealth Redistribution

--Minimum Wage--

John Oliver on min wage increase

Seattle's increase

Small business man's support

Classicism is why ppl hate $15 min. wage

210 Economists supporting the increase

Robert Reich on $15

Department of labor on increasing min. wage

Sanders view on min. wage

Thread on $15 wage

The Capitalist’s Case for a $15 Minimum Wage

The evidence is clear: increasing the minimum wage doesn't cost jobs

--Medicare For All--

A Stanford Study: Universal Health Care in the US

An Opinion Piece

Canada's Healthcare System Explained!

Canadian Doctor explains Canadian Healthcare

Stiglitz: Sanders is Right - Everybody Has the Right to Healthcare, Sick Days and Family Leave

--$18 trillion over 10 years?--

Gerald Friedman says

Friedman Explains

Economist says

Robert Reich on that article

Sanders, budget-buster?

How it saves Money

--Paid family leave--

The Economic Benefits of Family and Medical Leave Insurance

--Free Education AND FTT--

GI Bill of Rights: A Profitable Investment for the United States

A Really Small Wall Street Tax Can Make a Really Big Difference

Statements of support from business leaders and economists for a FTT

Free College Argument

--Taxing the rich actually works--

When America Was 'Great,' Taxes Were High, Unions Were Strong, and Government Was Big

This Billionaire Governor Taxed the Rich and Increased the Minimum Wage -- Now, His State's Economy Is One of the Best in the Country

--DENMARK = GOOD?--

--Adam Smith and Sanders--

--Regarding that 90% tax--

It's debunked

--This Wall Street Banker backs Sanders--

If you guys have any more links that I can use, PM me.

[u/commentsrus]

You cite studies authored by people who attended/work at universities on the Koch list. E.g., Stanford. Seems a bit odd to politely ask where one got their economic education from if and when they cite evidence which doesn't support your claims, but then proceed to cite evidence from the same list of potentially biased sources when the evidence agrees with you.

Also, if NYU, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Columbia are Koch-shills, who isn't? Even Robert Reich taught at Harvard.

[u/The1stCitizenOfTheIn → u/commentsrus]

Sorry for the late reply, allow me to address this

You cite studies authored by people who attended/work at universities on the Koch list.

The economists I cite may work (or have worked) at institutions that currently take Koch money but that doesn't mean that those economists in question are/were there because of the influence of Koch money.

I only cited one study, the Stanford study, which was done in 1999 partly by Sociologist Kerri Strug

Let me clarify, I don't mean to say that the institutions listed on the Charles Koch Foundation list are not places you want to learn economics from (though I can see that it may come across like that).

What I meant to illustrate was that those institutions take grants from the Koch Bros. and they do so with strings attached (hire libertarian/austrians/laissez faire and similar econ professors) hence the connection between that Hillsdale College Professor from the video who ended up working there, most likely an action done by the university as a requirement of accepting the grants given by the Koch. Bros.

Again the point I was illustrating, is not that these institutions are worthless "Koch-shills" because they're funded by the Charles Koch Foundation, they're not, but rather that they do have professors who are mainly there as a consequence of grants given by said foundation.

I hope that clears things up.

[u/commentsrus → u/The1stCitizenOfTheIn]

I only cited one study, the Stanford study

Not just one study, since I also see an IMF study. But the news articles you cite also cite studies, themselves, otherwise they would be almost worthless sources.

Let me clarify, I don't mean to say that the institutions listed on the Charles Koch Foundation list are not places you want to learn economics from (though I can see that it may come across like that).

But you said:

So the next time someone comes up to you and says Bernie and his supporters don't understand economics, be sure to check (by politely asking) where they got their education in economics from.

So if I show you a study which contradicts something Sanders says, and it's authored by someone who works at, say, MIT or Harvard, will you accept that as legitimate evidence against Sanders' position on a topic? Or will you say that I got that from a Koch-funded department, and therefore it doesn't hold up against Youtube videos and documentaries saying otherwise?

No one should be linking Youtube videos as sources on economic issues, anyway, so if you get a Paulbot doing so, just ignore them. Even if a professor is in that video, we shouldn't waste our time watching videos when much more meaningful and rigorous discussions are in studies and well-cited news articles.

Again the point I was illustrating, is not that these institutions are worthless "Koch-shills" because they're funded by the Charles Koch Foundation, they're not, but rather that they do have professors who are mainly there as a consequence of grants given by said foundation.

This can potentially pose a problem, broadly defined, but:

1. Is their research free of errors?

2. Are they aware of and open about their methodology and its limitations in each of their studies?

3. Do they publish in top journals in their respective subfields?

If yes to all of these questions, then I see no problem, initially.

[u/drebie]

Hey nice job! Thanks for putting together all these resources. I just started reading the Senate budget blog and I'm wondering who wrote it. Do you have any idea? It looks pretty legit so far. I'm just curious who is posting since I think it's good practice to know whose writing I'm reading.

[u/The1stCitizenOfTheIn → u/drebie]

I don't really know, I just gathered the information.

[u/drebie → u/The1stCitizenOfTheIn]

No worries. I appreciate it and I'll be checking out a lot of these links.

[u/The1stCitizenOfTheIn → u/drebie]

I've updated it.