Vermont Senator and socialist Bernie Sanders told CNN Sunday the financial elite and Wall Street are responsible for the destruction of the middle class in America.
“People do not understand why the middle class of this country is collapsing at the same time as almost all of the new income and wealth is going to the top one percent,” Sanders said.
He also said “the business model of Wall Street is fraud.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper tried to get Sanders to comment on the flagging campaign of Hillary Clinton, but he zeroed in on the economy and climate change.
Commenting on Sanders’ remarks, Zero Hedge noted that Wall Street “will never change until serious jail sentences are handed out for the serious fraud, as opposed to taxpayer bailouts.”
Sanders did himself and his campaign a disservice by avoiding Hillary Clinton’s connection to Wall Street and the so-called billionaire class.
Clinton’s top campaign contributors are Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse Group.
On August 25 a progressive group sent a letter to Clinton asking her to support a bill proposed by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) that would make so-called “golden parachutes” for corporate executives illegal and address the “undue and inappropriate corporate influence at the highest levels of government.”
In addition to “free” college tuition, Sanders said a key part of his platform is climate change.
“People want us to deal with climate change,” he said and claimed the issue is generating “enormous enthusiasm.”
Climate change, however, did not even register on a Gallup poll conducted in early August.
The poll indicated the primary concerns of American are the economy, unemployment, the federal debt and deficit, the high cost of living, the gap between rich and poor and taxes.
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