1/ @JoeRogan is wrong when he says Bernie Sanders has been "insanely consistent" in his views. Not so much, really. So many questions, @SenSanders
2/ Why does Bernie Sanders no longer promote hardcore socialism, particularly nationalizing key industries? He sure used to, as I write in my @TheWeek column: theweek.com/articles/89120…
3/ Given that there's a 47% chance he's our next POTUS -- if he wins the Dem nomination, a 33% chance, according to betting markets -- Sanders owes voters more than a handwave explanation. This is a key change in his ideology!
4/ What lessons have the events of the past 50 years taught Sanders, especially the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of China? Did two of the most significant events of the 20th century give Sanders occasion to question his priors about central planning and markets?
5/ Was Sanders distressed by the failure of the centrally planned Soviet economy? He typically only offers a condemnation of the authoritarian political system. Back in April, Sanders told a Iowa audience that Soviet-syle socialism was “not my thing.” Weak.
6/ "During its lifetime, many other countries made similar or greater social and economic gains with more consent and less violence ... the Soviet economy should be remembered but not mourned." Does Sanders mourn the human waste of Soviet socialism?
voxeu.org/article/soviet…
voxeu.org/article/soviet…
7/ Last September, Sanders praised China and its leaders for having "made more progress in addressing extreme poverty than any country in the history of civilization." But those gains didn't come from socialism done right.
8/ The economic consensus, as recently summed by @CRS4Congress, is that it was "foreign trade and investment and implementing free-market reforms" that sparked China's suddnen and rapid economic ascent." fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL…
9/ Today Sanders likes the Nordic model. But it "entails a lot of capitalism and pro-business policies .... minimal reliance on corporate taxation and plenty of co-pays and deductibles in its healthcare system."🤔jpmorgan.com/jpmpdf/1320747…
10 and Final/ Does Sanders have a critique of socialist economics? We actually know little about his thinking and its evolution beyond the simple claims of his repetitive and haranguing stump speeches. Maybe it's about time we found out. theweek.com/articles/89120…
