In Germany, taxes are 39.5% of GDP. In the US, they are 26.6% of GDP. There’s no realistic proposal that has ever been advanced, not even from the Bernie/AOC/Warren types, on how to raise the extra $2.8 trillion annually that would be required. Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax wouldn’t even raise that much money over a decade, much less annually.

"extra $2.8 trillion" is incredibly dishonest. Nothing in any universal/single-payer healthcare proposal magically adds $2.8 trillion in actual medical expenses to the system. It's fundamentally an accounting change, akin to a married couple with a joint banking account deciding who'll pay the restaurant bill this time.

To be like Germany, you would have to take $2.8 trillion from the private sector and put it into the public sector by taxing and spending an extra $2.8 trillion. That’s not an accounting change—the government doesn’t have a joint bank account with the private sector.

> To be like Germany, you would have to take $2.8 trillion from the private sector and put it into the public sector by taxing and spending an extra $2.8 trillion.

And those taxes would replace the insurance premiums employers and individuals are currently paying out the ass for. It's a difference in who writes the checks, not how much actually goes out of individuals' pockets.

Claiming "$2.8B in new taxes" is like claiming "I Venmo you $5, you Venmo me $10" costs me five bucks.

> That’s not an accounting change—the government doesn’t have a joint bank account with the private sector.

That "joint account" is the GDP you're on about.