Freedom

By Newsmax Wires  

The White House Council of Economic Advisers said Thursday that implementing major policies backed by the Democratic Socialists of America would impose a nearly $49 trillion net fiscal burden over the next decade, as Republicans seek to make the group’s growing influence an issue in the midterm elections.

The 92-page report, titled “The Real Cost of Socialism in America,” examined eight elements of the DSA’s “Workers Deserve More” agenda, including Medicare for all, student debt cancellation and free college, immigration policies, universal rent control, a Green New Deal, a 32-hour workweek, a wealth tax, and changes to policing and incarceration.

Seven of those policies could be scored against the federal budget and would carry a gross cost of $52.84 trillion from 2027 through 2036, according to the report.

A proposed 5% annual wealth tax on billionaires would generate an estimated $3.94 trillion, bringing the net fiscal burden to $48.9 trillion.

“This amounts to approximately $355,000 per American household,” the report said, adding that the spending would have to be financed through additional debt or higher taxes.

Medicare for all accounts for most of the projected cost. The CEA estimated the single-payer system would add $47.4 trillion to federal deficits over the decade after accounting for projected administrative and Medicaid savings.

Canceling student debt and providing free undergraduate tuition would cost between $2.1 trillion and $3.6 trillion, depending on whether free tuition extended to private colleges.

The report used the higher figure in its overall calculation.

The report estimated the DSA’s immigration proposals would cost between $440 billion and $613 billion over 10 years, and a 32-hour workweek mandate was scored at $918 billion, Green New Deal policies at $370 billion and universal rent control at about $16 billion.

The report did not assign a fiscal cost to the DSA’s public-safety proposals.

The council also modeled how the government could finance the net $49 trillion cost. If financed entirely through additional borrowing, it estimated the added deficits could push 10-year Treasury yields above 10% and 30-year mortgage rates above 12%.

Financing the policies through taxes instead would require substantial increases in effective individual and corporate income-tax rates under the CEA’s model.

The council estimated the resulting changes in taxes, investment, and labor supply would eventually reduce real gross domestic product by 14.6% and after-tax hourly wages by 28.4%.

“The Democrats’ embrace of communism and socialism is not only an existential threat to our nation’s fundamental values, but also a complete disaster for American families who would pay trillions to fund these out-of-touch ideas,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told the New York Post. “President Trump will fight back at every turn — always choosing capitalism and freedom over communism and decline.”

The report comes as the DSA has gained greater electoral prominence.

The organization said its membership reached a record 120,000 this summer while DSA-backed candidates won a series of Democrat primaries.

Republicans have sought to link the broader Democrat Party to the organization’s platform ahead of the Nov. 3 elections.

The DSA’s platform does not necessarily represent the positions of individual Democrat candidates, including candidates endorsed by the organization.

The group describes its agenda as an effort to give working people greater control over the economy and government.

Newsmax contacted the DSA for comment.