Bernie Sanders is a Proud 'Democratic Socialist' Who Will Raise Taxes and Spend Trillions More [Video]

By Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

You've got to hand it to Bernie Sanders, he's at least honest about what he is. He may be crazy as a June bug, too old for the job, a pervert and just shy of a Communist, but he's up front about not being a capitalist and instead being a socialist. He's also up front that he would tax the pants right off working America to pay for all kinds of infrastructure improvements. To the tune of $1 Trillion more dollars - by the time he would do that, we'd be over $20 Trillion and right off a cliff. When Sanders was cornered on Meet the Press, he didn't hold back and stood his ground. He upped the unemployment number, but not even close to reality. Think more like 30%. They've tried this shovel ready jobs crap several times and it always fails... just like Progressivism, socialism, Marxism and communism. Fail. Sanders would be the final straw that breaks America's back. He doesn't seem to understand what 'deficit' means.

From the Daily Mail:

Bernie Sanders said Sunday that if he's elected president he will raise taxes on American companies and upper-income earners to pay for a $1 trillion infrastructure-rebuilding jobs program even as America's public debt crests over the $18 trillion mark and twelve-figure annual deficits continue to pile up.

'Real unemployment in this country is not 5.1 per cent,' he said on NBC's 'Meet the Press' show. 'It is 10 per cent.'

'I want to invest a trillion dollars in rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. I do want to do that because I think that will create up to 13 million jobs.'

'Is deficit reduction important? Of course it is,' Sanders said. 'But so is creating the millions of jobs we desperately need. So is making public colleges and universities tuition free.'

Host Chuck Todd ribbed the Vermont senator for vacillating on what was once a badge of pride – his embrace of the 'socialist' label – noting that he has largely ditched the term in favor of the less politically radioactive 'progressive' label.

'Are you a capitalist?' he asked the senator.

'No, I'm a Democratic socialist,' Sanders shot back, noting that 'I've been elected as an Independent throughout my political career.'

The increasingly popular Sanders, whose New Hampshire rallies could be mistaken for rock concerts as he leads the Democratic field in the Granite State by 10 points, channeled the 'Occupy' movement on Sunday.

'We have seen a massive, massive transfer of wealth in the last 30 years from working families to the top one tenth of 1 per cent whose percentage of wealth in this country has doubled in the last 30 years,' Sanders complained.

'So what do you do? You take a hard look at our tax system. And you say, "You know what? Corporate America, you ain’t going to stash your money in the Cayman Islands and not pay any taxes at all".'

'If you are very, very wealthy, as Warren Buffett reminds us, you know what? You're not going to continue to pay an effective tax rate lower than middle class people.'

Sanders said clamping down on America's producer class with higher taxes would provide enough new government revenue to pay for the 13-digit jobs program he envisioned for his first term in the White House – without running up even more public debt.

'A lot of that debt and deficit has to do with huge tax breaks for the wealthiest people in this country and large corporations,' he said.

Sanders pledged to support the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, but insisted that the party should veer further and further leftward toward European-style socialism.

'Do I think that countries like Denmark and Sweden, where healthcare is a right and virtually free to all people, where public college education is free, where childcare is excellent and stronger, where workers in the middle class make higher wages where they're stronger in terms of reducing income and wealth inequality – can we look to those countries for some guidance?' he asked.

'Understanding they're much smaller, more homogeneous and different than us, yes. I do think we can.'

Vermont, with its fierce streak of independence and its Ben & Jerry's factory, is one of few places in America where a self-described socialist could be elected to Congress.

Sanders has only recently begun to shy away from hard-core leftism as the first Democratic primary debate approaches. Tuesday will mark his inaugural on-stage tussle with Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state who is politically more centrist.

He drew sharp contrasts on Sunday between his positions and hers on the politically charged Keystone XL pipeline and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, both programs where Clinton parted ways with the Obama administration late in the game.

'From day one I opposed the Keystone pipeline,' Sanders said, 'because I believe that if you're serious about climate change, you don't encourage the excavation and transportation of very dirty oil. That was my view from day one.'

He recounted his votes against a series of trade pacts that he said would have benefited China, including the TPP.

'I think they have been a disaster for the American worker,' Sanders said. 'A lot of corporations that shut down here move abroad. So people will have to contrast my consistency and my willingness to stand up to Wall Street and corporations, big corporations, with the secretary [Clinton].'

It's not bad enough that Obama has created a massive entitlement class and that people have been unemployed for years. Sanders wants to provide free college to everyone, free healthcare and redistribute more wealth. How will he pay for all this? That magical Progressive pill... taxation. The man is math challenged and has slipped a cog. He's also a climate change guy. Goodie... and he's all in for banning guns. But young people are flocking to this old socialist. I honestly don't know why, other than he's anti-establishment. I don't think they really get what his presidency would do to this country and to them. Sanders has a long history with the Democratic Socialists of America - many of his stances are communist. The guy is poison to America. I guess it's true that people want what is bad for them. That goes for politics as well. Bernie Sanders would literally 'fairness' and 'freebie' this country to death. Just say no to the Bern and save our deodorant.