The White House is rolling out a jaw-dropping price tag for selected policies in the Democratic Socialists of America's platform, estimating they would cost the country $49 trillion over the next decade — or roughly $355,000 per American household. The figure comes from a new Council of Economic Advisers report titled “The Real Cost of Socialism in America,” timed as both parties gear up to make socialism a defining issue of the 2026 midterms.
According to the New York Post, the report was produced by the Council of Economic Advisers under economist Christopher Phelan, who evaluated seven major policies drawn from the DSA's “Workers Deserve More” platform. The White House separately warned in its statement accompanying the report that implementing the DSA platform would trigger up to 160% cumulative inflation over ten years, slash worker paychecks by nearly 30%, and cause severe job losses, according to a release from the White House. The CEA's own household-level estimate assumes the costs would be financed through some combination of borrowing or tax increases, and the agency says it scored the economic effects of both approaches.
Medicare for All Drives Much of the Price Tag
The single largest line item in the CEA's estimate is Medicare for All, which the report pegs at $49.4 trillion, assuming enrollees pay no premiums, per the same account. That cost is partly offset, the report notes, by $2.8 trillion in administrative savings and $4.3 trillion in federal Medicaid savings. Single-payer advocates have long argued the approach would ultimately save individual Americans money by replacing private insurance policies, while opponents point to inefficiency, long wait times and limited services in countries that have adopted similar systems — a debate that has simmered since single-payer proposals failed to gain traction back in 2010.
Beyond health care, the CEA report assigns costs to several other DSA planks: canceling all student debt and making undergraduate education free would run $3.6 trillion, ending ICE deportations and amnesty programs could cost $530 billion, the DSA's proposed 32-hour workweek would cost the federal government about $920 billion, and Green New Deal policies were scored at $370 billion. A universal 1.5% cap on rent increases was estimated at $16 billion. On the revenue side, the report credits the DSA's proposed wealth tax — a 5% annual levy on wealth above $1 billion — with bringing in $3.94 trillion over ten years.
Wages, Jobs and the Stock Market
Wages, Jobs and the Stock Market The CEA presented the following as ancillary effects of its proposed wealth tax: Americans' real wages would fall 2.5 percent, translating to about $1,700 a year in lost real wages for the median full-time worker. It projected 1.1 million workers would end up unemployed, that real GDP would be 2.4 percent lower by the tenth year — a cumulative $8.6 trillion hit — and that the price level would run 2.8 percent higher. The report also estimated stock market capitalization would fall by $3.8 trillion, with the median 401(k) losing about $2,100.
Notably, the CEA report states it did not evaluate all the costs or savings tied to the DSA's broader proposals, which also include moving toward abolishing police and prisons, defunding the Department of War, and abolishing the Senate, the Post reports. That last proposal has already divided Democrats: Sen. Bernie Sanders offered a flat “No” when asked about abolishing the Senate, while Sen. Mark Kelly called it “not a serious recommendation,” according to VTDigger. The DSA's platform, officially launched in July 2026 and approved by its National Political Committee, also calls for drafting a new U.S. constitution and making the presidency and Supreme Court subordinate to Congress, as detailed by PBS.
A Familiar Playbook, Revived for the Midterms
This isn't the first time the Council of Economic Advisers has taken aim at left-leaning economic policy with a formal report. Back in October 2018, the CEA published “The Opportunity Costs of Socialism,” which argued that living standards in Nordic countries ran 15% to 30% lower than in the United States — a report timed around the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx's birth and aimed squarely at Medicare for All and wealth tax proposals, according to the Trump White House Archives.
The renewed focus on DSA policy comes as the organization has notched real political momentum. The group reported surpassing 120,000 members on July 4, 2026, making it the largest socialist organization in U.S. history and eclipsing the 113,371 dues-paying members Eugene Debs' Socialist Party of America claimed back in 1912, per The Daily Signal. That growth has been fueled by high-profile wins, including Zohran Mamdani's 10-point victory in the November 2025 New York City mayoral race over former Governor Andrew Cuomo — the most prominent electoral win for a DSA member in modern U.S. history, as reported by The Forum.
In 2026, Claire Valdez in NY-07 and Darializa Avila Chevalier in NY-13 won their New York primaries. Republicans have repeatedly pointed to those victories as evidence that democratic socialist ideas are gaining a foothold within the Democratic Party, even as establishment figures like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have distanced themselves from DSA-backed planks such as Medicare for All, a dynamic Hoodline previously covered when Jeffries dodged the question.
Mainstream Democrats Have Narrower Proposals
It's worth noting that the DSA's platform differs sharply from the economic proposals mainstream Democrats have actually introduced in Congress. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Pramila Jayapal reintroduced the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act in March 2026, proposing a 2% annual tax on net worth between $50 million and $1 billion and a 3% tax above $1 billion — far below the DSA's 5% rate on fortunes over $1 billion — with UC Berkeley economists estimating it would generate $6.2 trillion over ten years, according to CBS News. Separately, Sanders and Rep. Mark Takano reintroduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act in September 2026, which would lower the federal standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours without cutting pay, an effort the Takano press office says responds to a 93% surge in worker productivity since 1979.
Politically, the White House appears intent on using the new report to tie moderate Democrats to the DSA's more sweeping demands ahead of November. President Trump has claimed more centrist Democrats would adopt the movement's priorities if the party retakes Congress, per the Post's reporting. White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said Democrats' embrace of communism and socialism threatens the nation's fundamental values and would impose trillions in costs on American families, adding that Trump will fight back against communism and decline. The Democratic Socialists of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Post reports.
