Presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders called into The Breakfast Club this morning (February 26) and explained how he intends to pay for ambitious programs such as free college and an expanded Medicare plan that would be available for all citizens.
“It’s not college that’s free,” said the Democratic Senator from Vermont. “It’s public colleges and universities. I want to do that because today a college degree is the equivalent of what a high school degree was 50 or 60 years ago. Also, you’ve got student debt there crushing millions of people in this country. People graduate school with $50,000 to $100,000 of debt. We are going to pay for that, not by taxing you, but by imposing a tax on Wall Street speculation. You remember that when Wall Street’s greed and illegal behavior crashed this economy, the congress bailed them out. Now it is Wall Street’s time to help the middle class. That tax on Wall Street speculation will pay completely for public colleges and universities being tuition free and lowering student debt.”
On the topic of health care costs, Sanders said he believes the government should move to provide a single payer system which would cover all Americans. “It will save you, the average middle class family thousands of dollars a year on their health care costs,” he said. “So if you want to save money, yes, your taxes will go up a little bit, but your health care costs will go down a whole lot.”
Bernie Sanders On Donald Trump
When Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump was mentioned, Sanders described his momentum as a “joke” that is “not funny anymore” and blasted the businessman for pitting people against each other.
“He’s tapping into a lot of anger and a lot of frustration and he’s doing it in a way that a lot of demagogues have always done it: They scapegoat people,” said Sanders. “They play one group off against another. They tap people’s anger and say, ‘It’s the Muslims’ fault. We’re gonna prevent Muslims from coming to America and we’re gonna make America great and all Latinos are rapists and criminals and we’re gonna throw them out.’ That’s crap. We have serious problems in this country that need serious solutions. What he’s doing is tapping the worst and most basic instincts of people. We’ve gotta stand up to him and fight back.”
Sanders also said he plans to raise the minimum wage to $15, institute pay equity for women workers, invest $1 trillion to create 13 million jobs and rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. He also outlined a three step plan to curb police brutality:
“Number one, if a person dies while being arrested by a police officer or in police custody, that should trigger a department of justice national federal investigation. Number two, if police officers break the law, they have to be held accountable. Number three, we’ve got to demilitarize these local police departments that look like occupying armies. We’ve gotta make police departments look like the diversity of the communities they serve. In my view, we’ve gotta get marijuana out of the federal controlled substances act because African Americans are four times more likely to arrested for the possession of marijuana than whites despite the fact that both communities smoke marijuana at about the same level. There’s a lot that has to be done, but we need major major police reform in this country.”
Bernie Sanders On Killer Mike
To those questioning whether the 74-year-old Brooklyn native is too old to be Commander-In-Chief, Sanders credits years of distance running as the key to his health. He also thanked Killer Mike for supporting his campaign.
“I’ve gotten to know Killer Mike in the last couple of months,” he said. “This is a very very impressive guy. He’s a very smart guy and a guy who does an extraordinary job in communicating with young people. I’m very happy to have him onboard. I’m not gonna tell you I’m very knowledgeable about Hip Hop.”
BERNIE FOR PRESIDENT!
Bernie has been a civil rights activist for 50 years. The same year he was getting arrested in Chicago for protesting racist police, Hillary was working closely for the republican party. Hillary is very much responsible for the epidemic of mass incarceration that we currently face.
If you listen to this interview you’ll hear comments nearly identical to those of Malcolm X in his “Ballot or the Bullet” speech: “police departments need to look like the people they serve.” AMEN.
Vote for this man for real change.
(1) Bernie was no where around when Rodney King was being beat to death with the LA riots being born from that… nor was he anywhere around when Blacks were dying all over the place after Katrina when Bush took his time to respond. The ONLY time Bernie seems to have been active in civil rights was 50 years ago. But Hillary has been active for decades. She’s been walking with gay pride parades for decades. She’s been advocating for children and women and old folks and poverty for decades. Go check her voting record. Go check the awards she’s won for her active civil rights. Then compare it all with Bernie’s. *laughs*
(2) Hillary was in high school, 17 years old, when we was working as a ‘Goldwater Girl’ helping on a campaign. But then she changed to the Democrat party and has been a Democrat, fighting for Democrat values, since.
(3) Hillary was NOT responsible for the mass incarceration we face today, she was not in Congress or any other position to make legislation. Nor is she influencing cops to arrest blacks or shoot them unarmed, nor is she influencing judges to sentence blacks to prison for nonviolent crimes. She has nothing to do with the militarizing of police depts.
(4) Stop blaming Hillary for the policies of her husband, good or bad.
(5) Start educating yourself. Be informed. Stop spreading lies.
Is this Hillary defending herself?
Nobody gives a damn bout Hillary standing up for gay rights….homosexuality prevents reproduction so of course she would stand up for that…..she don’t really care bout us….Go Sanders
I don’t know whether you’re exaggerating or not, but Rodney King didn’t die from that beating in the ’90s…that’s not a big point, but I’m pointing that out because I don’t know how personally familiar you are with the facts of the Clintons’ history with the black community. (I’m a black woman who was a teenager during their White House years.) Also, their history with the LGBT community is awful, with the Defense of Marriage Act, Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell, and Hillary herself opposing gay marriage up until just a few years ago. (Bernie’s been walking in gay pride parades since the ’80s, and his state was one of the first to recognize civil unions.)
Hillary was extremely active in Bill’s policy-making back then; no, she wasn’t elected, but she still talks about the work she did then trying to get universal healthcare, right? (It was a stupid move anyway for Bill to give the first lady the lead on a major policy initiative and which she completely failed at; imagine how the country would’ve reacted if Pres. Obama had given Michelle the lead on Obamacare???)
Hillary and Bill are a two-fer. You don’t get one without the other. Some people think that’s a good thing, but they’ve proven to be devastating to the black community. Welfare reform severely hurt women and children, so you can throw away her legacy with the Children’s Defense Fund. (Check out what Marian Wright Edelman had to say about all that.) The 1994 Crime Bill was partly written by Joe Biden, pushed hard by Hillary, supported by the Congressional Black Caucus, voted on by Bernie (yes, Bernie), and signed by Bill. No one’s hands are clean on that one. BUT Bernie was the ONLY one of them who railed against the severity and targets of that bill. (He voted for it because the Violence Against Women Act was folded into it, but he hated it.) Hillary, on the other hand, 100% loved that bill, and sold it by calling young black men “super predators.” (The way she described them made them sound like straight sociopaths.) If you think that the explosion of locking up and otherwise disenfranchising black people — and Hillary Clinton vocally co-signing and encouraging it — is not directly connected to what’s happening today, then YOU need to start educating YOURSELF. Be informed. Stop spreading lies.
Damn dude – for someone telling others to educate themselves you really don’t know anything about Hillary Clinton’s destruction of the black community. *smdh*
Great question.
Way to do your home work and set the record straight. Vindication could not be more wrong.
im from the uk, I promise you America he whole world wants Bernie 2 win pls vote or him, if young people vote he win win ! if not your looking at Hilary/trump…. you don’t want that !!!
This guy is a living legend! He is the so switched on. If you would rather have trump over him you are tragically ignorant!!!!!
Cool story bro tell me snorezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Bearnie Sanders all the way. No way Im voting Hillary…she represents the greedy corrupt corporations that have run down this country. N she will take us to more wars
#Bernie2016