( – promoted by BP)
Last night in the beautiful Bliss Auditorium at the St. Albans Historical Museum I was serving up lasagna and listening to Senator Bernie Sanders take questions from the crowd. Bernie painted a pretty clear picture of America’s growing income inequality and he didn’t mince words about the cause: greed. A few large corporations, banks and families (Bernie mentioned the Waltons for example) own most of the wealth in America.
Much of that wealth was accumulated by shutting down some 60,000 manufacturing facilities in America in the last 50 years and instead relying on labor in places like China and Vietnam where people work for less than a dollar per hour.
This weekend I was at Franklin County Field Days and I also talked with a couple of voters and Cassandra Gekas, who is running for Lt. Governor, about Social Security disability benefits. Cass said working people have got to stop fighting among themselves for a few hundred dollars in government benefits and start demanding that the economy provide them with more opportunities to work and thrive.
Much more below the “fold”
We should be demanding that those who have grown wealthy reinvest in America. We should expect them to believe in and hire our workers. We should fix our crumbling roads and bridges, expand broadband access, catch up with Europe and Japan on high-speed rail.
Bernie made the choice in 2012 pretty clear last night, and I agree with his view. We don’t have the public resources to put Americans to work rebuilding our infrastructure because we’ve fought two long wars while at the same time cutting taxes. On top of this disastrous scheme, recession has reduced revenues to their lowest levels in decades as a percentage of GDP. Many in Congress would now like to blame programs like Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid for our $1.2 trillion deficit and our $16 trillion debt.
So we should cut back on our investments in health, education and infrastructure, right? It seems to make sense that if there’s less money coming in for revenues we should be cutting back on spending, but this is wrong. We won’t find our way to an America with a competitive rail system, a 21st century energy portfolio, better schools, safer roads and quality employment for all working people through austerity and tax breaks.
Fixing this economy requires businesses and individuals with resources to pay for a revitalized America. Anyone who loves this country should be proud to chip in. Bernie said 93% of the new income generated in America in 2009-2010 went to the top 1% of earners. Is it wrong for us to ask them to pay a little more to help America to get back on track? Let’s demand that Congress close tax loopholes, stop subsidizing profitable industries, and work together for a long-term vision of shared prosperity. American labor is ready to work.
Cass is a very bright lady who will perk up Vermont politics. She has a tough race, thus needs all the help any of us can give her.
Bernie has gone over to the dark side. His support of the F-35 at a cost of TRILLIONS demonstrates his commitment to the military/industrial complex and lack of support for the real people. He stills talks the talk, but is now not walking the walk.
Amen.
Bernie does talk about the oligarchy and greed but he exempts Lockheed Martin and subsidiary Sandia from this to get pro military brownie points.. You can’t be honest about the oligarchy if you exempt the military industrial energy complex whose CEOs often make even more than the Wall Street captains. And Bernie who made affordable housing such a central part of his administration in Burlington is now content to let the housing of working class and immigrant populations be devalued for a big show about what an honor it is for the VT Guard to get the F-35. The F-35 is a major corporate boondoggle that has not tested well and keeps doubling in cost. I don’t think we need more Democrats who triangulate with the Republicans. Sad to see Bernie take this road.
It is also sad that Leahy and Welch put jingoism in front of intelligent economic policy but it is all I expected from them. The longer one is in the government the more corrupt they become, that seems to be a pretty ironclad rule.Kucinich and Wellstone were exceptions and now they are out. All power to the military who protect the corporations! Heil Homeland!