I am not feeling the Bern. Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont is now giving Hillary Clinton a run for her money in the New Hampshire primary with a 5 point lead. He is, however, still lagging nationally behind her. Sanders, a self-described socialist, is getting many people on the far left excited. His belief in socialism is refreshing to those who agree with it. He is what many call the honest candidate who knows where he stands on the issues and doesn’t flip flop, like the democratic frontrunner.

The reason there is this excitement about Sanders is because of what he is promising. He is promising free college, free retirement and other entitlement spending. To those who don’t realize that nothing in this world is “free”, he seems like a very attractive candidate. But everything has a cost, and that is why I am not feeling the Bern.

Estimates shows that all the new spending he is proposing would cost 18 trillion dollars. Add that to the 19 trillion dollars of debt the US is already in and you get 37 trillion dollars of debt. But Sanders has a solution, tax the rich, tax businesses and tax, tax and tax some more. He is like Oprah Winfrey saying ‘you get free college,’ ‘you get free retirement,’ but unlike Oprah, he is actually going to make you pay for it.

The top earners in the US pay a 38 percent tax rate, in 2011, the top 10 percent supplied 68 percent of all the tax revenue and somehow they aren’t paying their fair share according to Sanders. There are sources, that are saying the Sanders is considering taxing those at the top at 50 percent of their income. When a tax rate is over 50 percent, people are paying the government to work, so why would they work?