Stossel: 2020 Candidates' Worst and Best Ideas

The 2020 campaign season is getting started. John Stossel says he's "repulsed by most politicians" because "not only are they mad for power, they push bad ideas."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) has proposed that the post office go into the banking business, so that poor people can access banking.

Sanders says the "Postal Service could make billions of dollars a year by establishing basic banking services."

Stossel wonders: "Really? The people who mishandle mail?" The post office loses billions every year. "Now they're going to manage our money?" he asks.

Sanders doesn't stop there. He wants "a ban on for-profit charter schools" and a moratorium even on nonprofit charters.

He wants that even though the vast majority of studies show charters increase learning.

The bad ideas keep coming.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) wants to force everyone to buy fertility treatment insurance.

Sen. Cory Booker (D–N.J.) wants government to guarantee everyone a job and to pay many people's rent.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) would cancel student loan debt of up to $50,000.

Former Vice President Joe Biden would make college free.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D–Calif.) would force companies to prove they pay men and women equally for the same work.

And she'd "hold social media platforms accountable" for "hate."

"That sounds nice," Stossel points out, "but if politicians get to decide what is 'hate,' they will censor any idea they don't like."

President Trump also has bad ideas. For example, Stossel says, he misunderstands the trade deficit. That's led him to start trade wars around the world.

Fortunately, many of the candidates also have good ideas—from Trump's regulation cutting to Biden's support for free speech, to Rep. Tulsi Gabbard's (D–Hawaii) steadfast opposition to war.

"All the candidates have bad ideas," Stossel says. "But some are a bigger danger to our liberty than others."

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The views expressed in this video are solely those of John Stossel; his independent production company, Stossel Productions; and the people he interviews. The claims and opinions set forth in the video and accompanying text are not necessarily those of Reason.