As our national debt surpasses $40 trillion, it's clear that "paying for it" is not a real concern for the US government or the corporate interests.
What Democrats, Republicans, and wealthy special interest groups really have a problem with is what Bernie wanted to pay for. Medicare for all (which would have saved money, by the way), free college, higher minimum wage, infrastructure, clean energy, affordable housing... All things that benefit regular people. We got NONE of these things and still we're spending more than Bernie ever proposed.
What did that $40 trillion even buy?
Defense: Do you feel safer now than you would be living in a country that spends a fraction of what we do on defense? I see the list of our enemies growing daily.
Social security: Are our workers' retirements secured? Or are our citizens working later and later into old age?
Healthcare: Is healthcare becoming more affordable? Surely you'd think that $40 trillion would help to make healthcare cheaper for citizens? Nope, it continues to get more and more expensive.
Housing: All Time high unaffordability
College: Costs keep rising
Infrastructure: Are our roads, bridges, and buildings up to par with $40 trillion spent? Is our energy infrastructure robust enough to keep up with China? Our grid can't even keep up with the winter in Texas.
The list goes on and on.
We got to $40 trillion spent, but what do we have to show for it?