This is where Kevin Drum lets his full economically clueless side show.

He’s always been a “nothing is possible” centrist, of course. Also, he claims to understand politics but really does not. For instance, among the many other nuances he misses, Bernie’s proposal is how you start a negotiation.

Simplest and most effective negotiation tactic in the world is to begin the ask with more than you ever realistically expect to get. (As opposed to the Obama negotiation technique of giving everything away in advance and hope the other side cedes some bare crumbs back out of pity.)

Let’s take a look at Drum’s “insight,” though.

This is why even our lefty comrades in social democratic Europe don’t guarantee jobs for everyone. It would cost a fortune; it would massively disrupt the private labor market; it would almost certainly tank productivity; and it’s unlikely in the extreme that the millions of workers in this program could ever be made fully competent at their jobs.

First of all, no. Second, massively disrupting the private labor market is the whole fucking point. Goddamn Drum is without a single bit of clue.

Third, have you noticed that we have a really massive military, and a large number of government employees? Why does he (nor any other centrist) examine it from that perspective? There are about 1.5 million active duty military members currently. In addition, there approximately 22 million government employees of all types in the country already. That is out of about 155 million full-time and part-time workers total.

In other words, government and military jobs are already 15% of all existing employment in the country. Adding even 10 million people (Kevin Drum’s horrific nightmare scenario) will make that a whopping 21.6%. Oh my, how will we ever pay for that increase back to…just a bit above what it was during the unbearable year of 1972.

Surprised? I’m not, because I know my history and I know exactly what has Kevin Drum all angsty and yet embarrassingly clueless at the same time. Being a “no change is possible” centrist means you are more concerned with your house price than the future generations; more cognizant of the possibility of having to share your gold-plated health care plan with someone who doesn’t deserve it than with how the next generation is even going to live; and more interested in fighting the future than with helping your fellow citizens also partake in the great prosperity Drum has enjoyed his entire life — including that Drum went to a nearly-free college in the 1970s that he also cites now as an impossibility.