Sanders said tonight that billionaires' wealth rose $850B in 3 years. The figure was provided by the Institute for Policy Studies, which says it made a mistake. Actual number: $710B. (Institute told Sanders campaign this morn that it'd messed up, but not clear Sanders was told.)
Sanders said "every study" finds that Medicare for All saves money overall (total health spending, obviously not government spending). Some studies do, but not every one. cnn.com/2020/02/25/pol…
Sanders was correct that inflation-adjusted wages rose less than 1% over last year. BLS says there was a 0.6% increase in avg hourly earnings between Jan 2019-2020. Combined with a decrease in the workweek, "essentially no change in real average weekly earnings over this period.”
I'm providing people the accurate figure and saying Sanders was provided an inaccurate figure. There is zero moral judgment here.
Other quick Sanders checks:
- The "87 million" uninsured/underinsured figure comes straight from Commonwealth Fund figures, for 2018. (Underinsured is a bit subjective; the Fund defines it as people whose insurance costs are higher than affordable for their income levels.)
- The "87 million" uninsured/underinsured figure comes straight from Commonwealth Fund figures, for 2018. (Underinsured is a bit subjective; the Fund defines it as people whose insurance costs are higher than affordable for their income levels.)
- The claim that the US incarcerates more people than any country in the world, even China, is true for all other countries, but questionable with regard to China in particular -- if you count the estimated number of Uyghurs and other Muslims in camps, China is likely ahead.
