MSNBC "Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

Interview

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Well, you"re right. There is--some of us are screaming and some of us have made the point that the United States now, Ed, has the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country on earth. We"re looking at the top 1 percent earning 22 percent of all income in America, more than the bottom 50 percent.

And here is another fact, Ed, that you should put up there on your charts. And that is the top 400 wealthiest people in this country, wealth, own more wealth than the bottom half of America, about 150 million people. During a recent 25-year period, 80 percent of all income made in this country went to the top 1 percent.

SCHULTZ: So, the Republicans, have they done anything to turn this around in your opinion?

SANDERS: Quite the contrary. What they have done is fought for huge tax breaks for the very wealthiest people in this country. What they have fought for, along--I have to say--with some Democrats, is a trade policy which allows large corporations to throw American workers out on the street, move to China, bring your products back into this country, which results in the decimation of our manufacturing sector.

What the Republicans are very clearly doing is representing the very wealthiest people in this country and they could care less about anybody else. Unfortunately, because of the nature of our campaign finance system, there are too many Democrats also hooked up to big money, and are not standing up for working families or the middle class.

SCHULTZ: Now, when you look at the debt ceiling conversation that"s going on, they want more cuts if they"re going to agree to anything. And the cuts that they are attacking right now are on the blue liners. I mean, all of these wage earners in America who are being asked to do more by these Republican governors and give up more, they"re all blue liners. You know, the breaks are still going to the red liners.

SANDERS: The problem we have is the Republican proposal is so outrageous that literally people don"t believe you when you tell them. They don"t believe you when the Republicans--when you tell them that the Republicans want to end Medicare as we now know it, shift the cost back on to senior citizens, give them an $8,000 check, and say, go get a private insurance company to take care of your needs.

Good idea. You may be lucky to stay in the hospital for two or three days.

Slash Medicaid, slash education, slash nutrition, slash the Environmental Protection Agency, etcetera, etcetera.

And, by the way, as part of that proposal, despite the fact that the rich are getting richer while the middle class is going to collapse, you know what we"re going to do, Ed? We"re going to give another trillion dollars in tax breaks to the very wealthiest people in this country.

SCHULTZ: That"s exactly what they want to do. They want to cut the corporate and the personal income tax rate another 10 percent.

And I said that in the commentary. The red line? It ain"t high enough. And the blue line can never be low enough. And--

SANDERS: There is no end to their greed and if we don"t begin to stand up and stop it, in a very forceful way, there is not going to be a middle class left in this country.

SCHULTZ: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, great to have you with us again tonight here on THE ED SHOW. Thanks so much.

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