Bernie Sanders has said he will pay for all his new programs mostly by confiscating the income of the top 1% .  Mostly.

Sanders has detailed how we would pay for some of his initiatives. A $70 billion a year plan to make tuition free at public college and universities, for example, would be funded by a tax on Wall Street speculation, he says.

But in other cases, Sanders’s vision remains a work in progress. For instance, he has said the wealthy would start paying their “fair share” of income taxes during his presidency but has not spelled out exactly what that means.

Sanders’s agenda also includes moving to a single-payer health-care system, guaranteeing workers paid family and medical leave and providing universal child care and pre-kindergarten education.

“So you’re saying we can pay for all of this without raising taxes on anybody but the 1 percent?” Maher asked during the show.

“We may have to go down a little bit lower than that — but not much lower,” Sanders replied.

A little bit, but not much lower.  Probably only the top 1.5%, right?

Here are a few questions Bernie wasn't asked:

1) About this money he plans to confiscate.  What is it doing right now – sitting in vaults gathering dust?  Almost certainly it is invested, either directly or through banks, in companies – companies that make products and employ people.  Take away the money, and companies can do less of this.  What is the impact of that?  Bernie wasn't asked.  Whenever there is talk of raising taxes, there is never talk of the consequences of removing that money from the private sector.

2) Where is the fairness in asking the top 1% (or, inevitably, the top 5%, 10%, or 25%) to pay more taxes, when they will not receive anything in return for it?  How is that fair?  Was the money earned in illegal ways?  If not, what is the moral basis for taking away large amounts of these people's money and giving nothing in return?  Does Bernie believe that taxpayers should simply enjoy this massive violation, much as he once wrote that women should enjoy being raped?

3) Bernie was also not asked about the national debt, currently $18 trillion and growing, or the $200 billion or more in unfunded liabilities the country faces.  Even if all the money from the top 25% were confiscated, there still would not be enough to pay for all that.  What is Bernie's plan for dealing with this looming catastrophe?

4) Why should college be free to everyone when the majority of people are not suited for college?  Even today, public colleges have enormous dropout rates.  If you make it a free good, many more will attend and drop out.  Isn't that a waste of taxpayer dollars?

5) When we have a single-payer system and the government sets reimbursements, what incentives will people have to become doctors when they are paid very little?  What incentives will individuals have not to curb their demand for health care if they are not paying for any of it?

6) Why will Bernie not be upfront about the fact that the top 1% cannot even pay for his own programs, and tell us how far down he is going to reach with his confiscatory tactics?  Why is it that totalitarians can never be honest about their program until after they get into power?

7) Once Bernie gets into power, does he plan to liquidate the petit bourgeoisie and push tech workers onto collectivized digital farms?

This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.