MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Good to be with you, Ed.

SCHULTZ: You bet.

The CFTC, why the late disclosure on this information? Why did it take you digging to have this to come to light?

SANDERS: Well, this is information that I think our friends on Wall Street did not want to come out. It`s supposed to be top secret information. And in fact, many of the folks on Wall Street were very disturbed that we made it public.

And the reason that we made it public is we wanted to end this debate about whether or not excessive oil speculation is driving up gas and oil prices. And the answer is, when you have companies like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley owning hundreds -- owning and buying and selling hundreds of millions of barrels of oil, dominating the oil futures market, there is no more debate.

Excessive speculation is one of the reasons that the price of oil is where it is today. We have got to do what Congress passed legislation to do and that is mandate that the Commodities Futures Trading Commission end excessive speculation and have limits on how much these companies can own.

SCHULTZ: So, what do you make of a Republican Michele Bachmann out there saying that she can lower gas prices below $2 a gallon? Do you think she or any Republican has a clue on how to get this done?

SANDERS: Quite the contrary, Ed. Virtually all of the Republicans are doing their best to deregulate our efforts to control Wall Street.

Wall Street is the most powerful entity in this country. The sixth largest financial institutions own over 60 percent of all the assets of this country -- 60 percent of the GDP of this country. They are playing a
very bad role in terms of excessive oil speculation which is hurting millions of people throughout this country who have to fill up their gas tank and, in fact, negatively impacting our entire economy.

I`m afraid that Ms. Bachmann and our Republican friends will do exactly the wrong thing. They`ll continue to effort to support Wall Street, to deregulate Wall Street and let these guys continue to get away
with the murder that they`re currently committing.

SCHULTZ: Yet, they`re out on the campaign trail saying they want the full package and they have a plan to turn this around. Have you gotten any feedback from Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs on any of this?

SANDERS: No. They`re not happy. I mean, they want to maintain the myth that high oil prices today are as a result of supply and demand and that is absolutely not the case. These guys, we believe, control if you
can believe it, 80 percent -- 80 percent of the oil futures market.

They are not in the airline business. They`re not truckers. They`re not fuel dealers. They do not use oil. All that they are trying to do is drive prices up, sell, make money and we have got to deal with that issue.

SCHULTZ: Senator, great to have you with us tonight. Keep up the fight. You`re for the people, there`s no question about that. Thank you.

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