MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript
Interview
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With us tonight, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the 13 who signed that letter to the CFTC.
Senator, good to have you with us tonight.
This ought to be a slam dunk for the Democrats, shouldn"t it?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Should be a slam dunk for the American people.
Look, I come from a rural state. The price of gas is soaring. People drive long distances to work. This is money coming right out of their wallets. It is an outrage.
You know, this is not the first time we"ve seen this movie. In 2008, you will recall that you had the oil companies. You had Marathon Oil and Shell saying that 25 percent to 50 percent of the huge increase in gas prices at that point when prices went over $4 a gallon were due not to the fundamentals of supply and demand but to speculation. We"re seeing that movie again today.
SCHULTZ: You know, Senator, I have to ask. Does the White House understand what"s going on and the severity of this on middle class families and everybody? Because the president was suggesting local gas station owners are gouging at the pump. It"s Wall Street, isn"t it?
SANDERS: I agree with you, Ed. You know, the truth of the matter is we can beat up on the CFTC all that we want, and I should tell you--I put a hold on Gary Gensler when he was nominated based on his past actions when he was involved in the deregulation of Wall Street.
But the truth of the matter is: if the president is strong and the president makes it clear that the American people cannot afford to pay 75 cents a gallon more today than we did a year ago, and demands that the CFTC does the right thing, I think that they will act. So, I think we"ve got to ask that the president of the United States stand up today for working families.
SCHULTZ: And you"ve got to replace Mr. Dunn with the kind of commissioner that"s going to realize the severity of this. Do you think that the Republican --
SANDERS: We"ve got to do the --
SCHULTZ: Yes, go ahead.
SANDERS: I just want to say, Ed, we do have to do that. But that is not going to be for many, many months. What we need is action right now.
SCHULTZ: And it"s not only gas. It"s food prices. We just saw the biggest jump since 1974 in vegetables, up 50 percent. I mean, how much are speculators costing working Americans not only at the gas pump but at the grocery store?
SANDERS: Well, here"s the irony--as you know as a result of the financial reform bill, we made sure that the CFTC had the capability to deal with excessive speculation. That"s what we wanted them to do. And, unfortunately, they"re not doing that. I think the president has got to be active and action is needed right now.
SCHULTZ: How do you feel about the Republicans blocking the funding of the CFTC? How much is a road block is this going to be?
SANDERS: Well, it"s obviously a problem. It"s nothing new. What the Republicans do is believe in deregulation. They want to allow large corporations on Wall Street to do anything that they want without proper regulation. It is not dissimilar from many other actions they"re taking.
I should also point out that one of the things that"s going on now is that the re--it seems to me that Wall Street is taking advantage of the Middle East crisis. You know and I know that right now the supply of gasoline in the United States today is at an 18-year high, an 18-year high. And yet I think what Wall Street is doing is using the guise of the Middle East crisis to raise prices and force prices up through market speculation.
SCHULTZ: You"ve got 13 Democrats onboard. Every Democrat should be onboard with this in my opinion. And, finally, Senator, do you know for a fact where the president stands on position limits?
SANDERS: No, I don"t. No, I don"t.
But I do know that on this whole issue of Wall Street speculation, he has not been anywhere near as strong as he should be. In fact, he has not been strong at all.
SCHULTZ: Senator Sanders from Vermont, good to have you with us tonight. I appreciate you joining us.
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