At a 'Fight the Oligarchy' rally on Sunday in Chicago, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke on wealth inequality and the disproportionate power of billionaires.
00:00The truth, thank you. The truth is politics is not complicated. What politics is about is trying to understand where we are today, how we got to where we are, and maybe most importantly, where we want to go in the future.
00:30Now, you may think that that's a pretty simple proposition. Well, where are we today? What's the problem? We all know where we are. Well, we don't. Where do we want to go in the future? Are we really discussing that?
00:45So I want to start off with a proposition, and I'm going to say it over and over again. We are the wealthiest country in the history of the world. There is no excuse why every man, woman, and child in this country is not enjoying a decent standard of living. Period.
01:10And everybody in America has got to understand it. No excuse for 800,000 Americans sleeping out on the street of so many of us not having quality healthcare. No excuse at all.
01:31So what is going on in America today? Well, what the media doesn't talk about very often, and what you almost never hear in the halls of Congress,
01:43is the reality that today you are living in a nation where a handful of incredibly wealthy people, multi-multi-billionaires, have enormous power and control over our economy, over our media, over our political system.
02:06And we are gathered here today to say that is going to change.
02:23Today in America, we have more income and wealth inequality than we have ever had in the history of this country.
02:34You all got that? Never been more unequal, not in the 1920s, not in the 1860s, than it is today.
02:43Today, and again, one of the things the media does, and what the establishment does, and the whole culture, not a conspiracy, it just happens,
02:51is they kind of tell us what we should be upset about, what we should be outraged about.
02:58If some kid with a gun goes into a 7-11, we're supposed to be outraged. We are. That's a crime.
03:02But somehow, we are not outraged when so few have so much, and so many have so little.
03:13Well, I think we should be outraged at that.
03:16In America today, if you can believe it, if you can believe it, one person, our good friend, Mr. Musk,
03:29you are familiar with Mr. Musk.
03:36One man owns more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households.
03:45You got that?
03:48Can you believe that? I mean, it is to me, now you don't hear that discussed very much, right?
03:52I think I'm one of the few people who talk about it.
03:56So, in the richest country on earth, it doesn't matter how rich we are because of this massive inequality.
04:03One guy, more wealth than the bottom 52%.
04:06The top 1%, more wealth than the bottom 93%.
04:11CEOs today are making 350 times more than the average worker.
04:20CEOs today are making 350 times more than the average worker.
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