FOX "Your World" - Transcript

Interview

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MR. CAVUTO: To another controversy brewing that could rain on the president-elect's inaugural parade, this one coming from within his own party. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushing for tax hikes on the rich and soon, the president-elect supposedly reluctant to hike those taxes on anyone, anytime soon. Senator Bernie Sanders says the speaker is right on this one.

Senator, good to see you in the flesh.

SEN. SANDERS: Hey, how are you, Neil?

MR. CAVUTO: Good. Is there a rift, first off, between the speaker and the president-elect?

SEN. SANDERS: Oh, I think maybe some of you guys in the media may be exaggerating it. But there are differences of opinion. But I think there is a real sense on the part of the American people about how we have got to go forward in the midst of the greatest financial crisis that this country has experienced since the Great Depression.

And I think, most importantly, what we're looking at is a very significant stimulus package which rebuilds our infrastructure, moves us away from foreign oil, from fossil fuel, in general, to sustainable energy.

MR. CAVUTO: Well, how does raising taxes on even the wealthy going to stimulate the economy?

SEN. SANDERS: Well, that's another issue. There are differences of opinion.

MR. CAVUTO: Well, she wants to raise the taxes sooner than later.

SEN. SANDERS: And I agree with that, and I'll tell you why. One of the issues that we don't talk about enough -- you and I chat about it -- we should not be proud of the fact that we have the most unequal distribution of income and wealth in the industrialized wealth. So you have the top one-tenth of 1 percent earning more income than the bottom 50 percent. And in the last years with the tax breaks that President Bush has provided them, you have a situation where cops and firemen are paying a higher percentage of their income in taxes than the very rich.

MR. CAVUTO: I know what you're saying, and I know your position. Let's say you're right on that. You and I disagree on this, but is this the time to do it? The Obama folks -- and I've talked to Larry Summers -- have been indicating you don't do that in a slowdown. When things stabilize, you can do it. Nancy Pelosi was telling my friend Chris Wallace, yeah, do it sooner rather than later.

SEN. SANDERS: Well, I think the other side of the story that everybody is concerned about, we are spending a lot of money as a result of the horrendous recklessness of Wall Street, which is costing us $700 billion. I voted against those bailouts, as a matter of fact.

MR. CAVUTO: But can you raise that money, Senator, by hiking it just on the rich?

SEN. SANDERS: Well, that's the argument. The argument on the other hand is you got a $10.6 trillion national debt which is soaring, and we have to somehow figure out ways to recover that money. Now, my own view is that given the inequality of income and wealth in this country, it is appropriate to ask the rich to start paying more in taxes.

My own view is that we've got to end this war in Iraq as soon as possible so we're not spending $10 billion --

MR. CAVUTO: But would you do the tax hiking now? These rates die a natural death at the end of next year. Nancy Pelosi seems to be saying, well, not necessarily. What do you say?

SEN. SANDERS: I think the sooner, the better. That's my view. And if it's not now and if it's a few months later, it is not the end of the world.

MR. CAVUTO: Is there a problem Barack Obama's going to have with the more liberal members of his party, folks like you and others, who are going to say, you know, no, no, this is an area we believe strongly in?

SEN. SANDERS: Well, I think, within any group of human beings, there are differences of opinion. My own feeling is that, number one, we have to deal with this horrendous financial crisis right now. And I'll tell you something. When I go home to Vermont, people are outraged by what Wall Street did. They have put at risk, Neil, trillions and trillions of dollars.

MR. CAVUTO: But you can't pay that back hiking taxes on the rich, right?

SEN. SANDERS: Hold on one second. Have you heard an apology yet from one of these guys saying, we're sorry for our recklessness, we're sorry for our greed?

MR. CAVUTO: You're right about that.

SEN. SANDERS: It's cost us 700 --

MR. CAVUTO: But you're also very good at math, and you realize that the trillions can't be made up just hiking even the top 3 percent, right?

SEN. SANDERS: Well, I'll tell you, we need an investigation. We need to hold these people accountable. We need to break up these very large financial institutions so you're never again placed in this too- big-to-fail situation. It is a huge issue. I'm going to be aggressive on that.

MR. CAVUTO: All right. Senator, always good seeing you.

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