Trickle Down (Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent)

• the war being waged against the middle class
• our nation is falling behind in education compared to the nations we compete with, we are in 12th place
• the need for repairing our aging, run down infrastructure
• millions are working longer hours for lower wages
• all the gains in recent years went to the most wealthy, while the middle class lost ground
• There is a wealth transfer. The system is rigged to transfer wealth from the middle class to the most wealthy.
• Is this what our country is supposed to be about?
• The imbalance is fundamentally immoral.
• This imbalance is bad for our financial stability and threatens our security.
• Our challenge is to make sure our economy helps all people, not just the rich, the Koch brothers, those with millions to give to politicians.
• Trickle down economics, which began with Reagan, has not worked, and here are the data to prove it.
• Half of all Americans are making less than $20/hour.
• We have more people living in poverty than at any time in our history.
• Half the kids in our public schools are living in poverty.
• These conditions can lead to widespread social unrest.
• No society has ever flourished without a prosperous middle class.
• Since 1980 we have seen the corporate and top individual tax rate plunged to much lower levels. We have deregulated everything.  We did all the things the wealthy and the powerful wanted us to do. But instead of unleashing the job creators and ushering in a new golden age that benefits all people, these supply-side gimmicks brought us income inequality and instability.
• The policies that Republicans promote will make these problems worse.
• They intend to cut Social Security; end current Medicare and privatize it, transferring more costs to the poorest; cut taxes on millionaires and corporations; and increase military spending.
• Here is what does work: The economics during the golden age of capitalism (opposite of trickle down): SALES create jobs.  People have to have money available to buy, to increase sales, and that is when companies hire (not just because they want to but because they have to, to be able to keep up with demand.)  If we spend less, we shrink our economy.
• Hard-working people with money to spend are the real job creators. But the vast middle class is disappearing.  They just can't do it anymore because the people at the top are taking too much of the income.
• This is a recent phenomenon.  In previous decades, the middle class did well when the economy did well.  That doesn't happen anymore because of the way the system is now rigged by the wealthy.
• The Keystone Pipeline Bill does not create jobs.  Repairing our infrastructure would create plenty of jobs and make us competitive in the world again.
• Raise the minimum wage so that workers are not starving.  Deal with the scandal of overtime abuse by corporations. Make sure young people can get well educated; competing nations make tuition free for all. Take on Wall Street and regulate them so they behave in a responsible manner.  Make sure that the elderly and disabled can afford food, medicine, and shelter (the Republicans want to cut their benefits). There are simple solutions to fix the problems with Social Security; it does not contribute to the deficit and it is not going broke; to make it solvent, expand benefits, lift the cap on taxable income so that wealthy pay their fair share into the system.
• Trickle down economics is a fraud.

http://youtu.be/m0wp0kbBeJU
Interview: