The Mercatus Center, a libertarian think-tank out of George Mason University, is releasing a study today that will show how much Vermont senator Bernie Sanders's "Medicare for all" idea would cost.

The Associated Press wants to make sure you read that correctly:

That's trillion with a "T." The latest plan from the Vermont independent would require historic tax increases as government replaces what employers and consumers now pay for health care, according to the analysis being released Monday by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia. It would deliver significant savings on administration and drug costs, but increased demand for care would drive up spending, the analysis found. Sanders' plan builds on Medicare, the popular insurance program for seniors. All U.S. residents would be covered with no copays and deductibles for medical services. The insurance industry would be relegated to a minor role.

When asked how she would pay for her democratic socialist agenda, which includes the Medicare for all program, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made is sound so easy:

"This is an excellent, excellent question," she replied. "I sat down with a Nobel Prize economist last week – I can't believe I can say that, it's really weird – but one of the things that we saw is, if people pay their fair share, if corporations and the ultra wealthy – for example, as Warren Buffett likes to say, if he pays as much as his secretary paid, 15 percent tax rate, if corporations paid – if we reverse the tax bill, raised our corporate tax rate to 28 percent ... if we do those two things and also close some of those loopholes, that's $2 trillion right there."

That "$2 trillion right there" is over ten years. In other words, Ocasio-Cortez is coming up only $30 trillion short in funding her fantasy.

No response yet from the democratic socialists, but you can imagine them impugning the integrity and motives of the people who conducted the study rather than intelligently debating the issue. That's because they are economic dunces and don't have a clue how they are going to pay for free health care, free college, or other freebies they think we all need. All they know is that the coercive, tyrannical power of government to seize and control must be employed in service to their agenda.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.