Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240713

Are, bernie. They are not with you. Amy two out of seven. That is the number of Democratic Candidates at last nights debate who are billionaires with Michael Bloomberg and at either end of the stage, frontrunner Bernie Sanders was at the center facing a barrage of criticism. Your hearing it tonight, the ideas im talking about are radical. They are not. In one form or another, they exist in countries all over the world. Amy we will speak with anand winnersdas, author of take all. Just wrote the billionaire election does the world belong to them or to us . We will also then go to columbia and charleston, South Carolina, for reaction. And we will look at billionaire Michael Bloomberg facing calls to release his tax records. I got into this race only 10 or 12 weeks ago. We have been working on our tax returns. We probably have another couple of weeks to go. We have complied with every single requirement for disclosure. And when i was mayor in new york, we had tax returns out 12 years in a row and we will do that in the white house. Amy we will speak with order bob hennelly. He covered bloombergs three terms as mayor of new york city and says bloomberg is lying about releasing his taxes. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The u. S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention is warning americans to prepare for an outbreak of the coronavirus thats rocked china and hammered the global economy, saying its not question of if but when the virus will come to the United States. The warning came as new coronavirus cases spread far beyond chinas hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, where more than 50 Million People remain on lockdown. Overnight, more deaths were reported in china, italy, japan, and south korea, where a u. S. Soldier has been quarantined after contracting coronavirus. In iran, where the Public Health system has been decimated by the u. S. Led sanctions, a lawmaker says 50 people have died of Coronavirus Infection in the city of qom alone. Elsewhere, algeria has reported its first case and brazil has reported its possible first patient. In the u. S. , San Francisco mayor london breed declared a state of emergency tuesday, even though there have been no reported cases in the bay area. Nancy messonnier, director of the cdcs center for immunization and respiratory diseases, warned americans to prepare for serious disruptions to daily life. Some interventions that may be most impacted effective like School Closures are also the most likely to be associated with unwanted consequences and further disruptions. Secondary consequences of some of these measures might include missed work and loss of income. This wholed situation may seem overwhelming and that disruption to everyday life may be severe, but these are things that people need to start thinking about now. Amy the cdcs stark warning came on the same day that white house economic adviser larry kudlow dismissed the threat of coronavirus, telling cnbc the virus is contained. His remark echoed President Trumps assessment tuesday that coronavirus is very well under control. On capitol hill, senators grilled Senior Administration officials over their response to the crisis. This is republican senator john kennedy of louisiana, who blasted acting Homeland Security secretary chad wolf for struggling to produce basic facts about the coronavirus. , youreecretary supposed to keep us safe. My budget supports you are the secretary of Homeland Security. And you cant, if we have enough respirators and you cant, if we have enough respirators . Amy meanwhile, u. S. Stock markets plunged for the second stight day tsday, wi the dow nes falling by nearly 1900 points this week on fears that the coronavirus will further damage the global economy. In charleston, South Carolina, seven candidates for the democratic president ial nomination squared off for a raucous debate tuesday night, focusing a barrage of criticism on frontrunner Bernie Sanders as he seeks to consolidate his lead in saturdays primary. Two of the candidates are billionaires, Michael Bloomberg and tom steyer, who were at either end of the stage, joined by former Vice President biden, Senators Elizabeth Warren and amy klobuchar, and former south bend mayor Pete Buttigieg. Audience members at times booed sanders and cheered buttigieg and bloomberg. South carolina tv station wcsc reported the Charleston County Democratic Party offered tickets to people who sponsored the debate at a cost of 1750 to 3200 per sponsorship, calling it the only guaranteed way to get a ticket. After headlines, well spend the we will spend the hour playing highlights of the debate. Police accused of turning a blind eye to violence against muslims committed by hindunationalist mobs. On tuesday, assailant set fire thomas qualitate attackers use pickaxes to attack muslims protesting against International Prime minister Narendra Modi perseus law that widely india. Ts immigration to the violence came as President Trump wrapped up his visit to india where he joined modi for a massive rally before praising a u. S. India weapons deal. Trumka earlier today we expanded our defense cooperation with agreements for india to purchase more than 3 billion of advanced American Military equipment, including apache and romeo helicopters, the finest in the world. Amy he syrian observatory for human rights said tuesday Syrian Government offensive on the last major rebelheld province of idlib left 20 civilians dead, including at least nine children, after russianbacked Syrian Forces targeted schools and hospitals for attack. The deaths were reported as turkishbacked opposition fiters said theyve captured the strategic northwestern town near a junction of two major highways. The violence in idlib has forced hundreds of thousands, and by some accounts over one million, people to flee to squalid camps near the turkish bored. Turkish border. A spokesperson for the internional committee of the red cross on tuesday warned against further attacks on hospitals and schools and demanded safe passage for civilians. International committee of the red cross is deeply alarmed by the rapidly deteriorating security and Living Conditions of the hundreds of thousands of newly displaced civilians in the idlib area are running out of options to find basic safety for themselves and their families. This is the worst wave of displacement we have seen during the syrian conflict. Now with a harsh winter conditions, we see people trapped, isolated, and running out of ways to cope. Amy the u. S. Military has vastly underreported the number of civilians killed in u. S. Supported airstrikes in somalia, with the number of civilian deaths as much as 69 times greater than acknowledged by u. S. Africa command. Thats according to data released tuesday by the watchdog Monitoring Group airwars, which found between 71 and 139 civilians have been killed in u. S. Backed strikes in somalia since 2007. That figure far exceeds africoms official count of just two civilian deaths. Back in the u. S. , Supreme Court ruled in a sharply divided five to four decision tuesday the family of a 15yearold mexican teen killed by a u. S. Border patrol agent a decade ago cannot sue the officer in federal Court Without the approval of the u. S. Congress. In 2010, the teenager, Sergio Adrian hernandez guereca, was shot across the el pasojuarez border by u. S. Border patrol agent jesus mesa, jr. The team was in mexico. Its the latest example of impunity for u. S. Border patrol officers who commit homicide across the mexican border. In 2018, a federal jury in tucson, arizona, found Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz not guilty of manslaughter after for shooting and killing 16yearold Jose Rodriguez through the u. S. Mexico border fence in 2012. To see our coverage with his family in mexico, go to democracynow. Org. A British Pharmaceutical Company has reached a tentative deal to settle hundreds of u. S. Lawsuits over its role in fueling the opioid crisis. The generic drug manufacturer mallinckrodt says the 1. 6 deal has the support of billion attorneys general from 47 u. S. States and territories. Federal data show the company was a top provider of highly addictive prescription pain medication at the peak of the opioid crisis, shipping some 2. 3 billion pills over an eightyear period beginning in 2006. In los angeles, a group of women whove accused Harvey Weinstein of Sexual Misconduct said tuesday theyre encouraged by the hollywood movie moguls conviction on charges of rape and Sexual Assault in a manhattan court. New york authorities have said theyre prepared to release weinstein into the custody of their counterparts in los angeles, where he faces charges he raped one woman and sexually assaulted another on backtoback nights in 2013 during oscars week. The charges could bring weinstein an additional 28 years in prison. This is one sarah ann masse, one of more than 90 women whove accused Harvey Weinstein of sex crimes. As we turn our efforts and attention to that trial in los angeles, i have a message for harvey. For all abusers. Victim blamers. And those who have retaliated against us. This one is for you. Your time is up. The time for survivors to rise up and thrive has come. Amy opera superstar Placido Domingo has apologized to more than two dozen women whove accused him of Sexual Misconduct in the workplace spanning decades, writing i respect that these women finally felt comfortable enough to speak out, and i want them to know that i am truly sorry for the hurt that i caused them. On tuesday, soprano singer luz del alba rubio stepped forward with her own story of abuse, saying domingo had her blackballed from working at the Washington National opera and from other roles after she refused his repeated and unwelcome sexual advances. Rubio told reporters before, he was a denier. Then, he was a victim. Now he is looking for redemption. If he means it, if he is really sorry, i would ask him to apologize to us, face to face. There have been women suffering for 20 years. He should ask for our forgiveness. And police in orlando, florida, have released video of an officer handcuffing and arresting a sixyearold African American girl as she cries and begs to be let go. After the incident in september 2019 drew national outrage, one of the arresting officers, dennis turner, was fired. The newly released video shows a second officer, who has not been identified but whose last name appears as ramos in the body cam video, binding the hands of sixyearold kaia rolle in plastic restraints before leading her out of her Elementary School and placing her in a squad car. No, please amy kaia was then fingerprinted, photographed for a mug shot, and sent to a juvenile detention center. Criminal charges against the sixyearold were dropped the next day. Kaias grandmother is pushing for a florida bill that would prohibit police from arresting anyone under age 12 except in extreme circstances. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Two out of seven. That is the number of Democratic Candidates in last nights debate who are billionaires. Michael bloomberg and tom steyer were at either end of the debate stage in charleston, South Carolina, with frontrunner Bernie Sanders front and center, facing a barrage of criticism from his challengers. He was flanked by former Vice President biden, senator Elizabeth Warren, senator amy klobuchar, and former south bend mayor Pete Buttigieg who all tried to appeal to africanamerican and moderate voters in battleground states. This is moderator Norah Odonnell questioning Bernie Sanders during the debate which was sponsored by cbs and the Congressional Black Caucus institute. Senator sanders, we havent had a national i deployment rate this low for this long and 50 years. Karen South Carolina, the unapplied net is even lower. How will you convince voters that a democraticsocialist can do better than President Trump with the economy . Sanders well, youre right, the economy is doing really great for people like mr. Bloomberg and other billionaires. In the last three years, last three years, billionaires in this country saw an 850 billion increase in their wealth. But you know what . For the ordinary american, things are not so good. Last year, real wage increases for the average worker were less than 1 . Half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck. 87 million americans have no Health Insurance or are underinsured. 45 Million People are struggling with student debt. 500,000 people tonight are sleeping out on the street, including 30,000 veterans. That is not an economy thats working for the american people. Thats an economy working for the 1 . I think donald trump thinks it would be better if he were president. I do not think so. Vladimir putin thinks that donald trump should be president of the United States. And thats why russia is helping you get elected so you lose to him. Sanders let me tell mr. Putin. Ok, im not a good friend of president xi of china. I think president xi is an authoritarian leader. And let me tell mr. Putin who interfered in the 2016 election, try to bring americans against americans. Hey, mr. Putin, if im president of the United States, trust me youre not going to interfere in anymore american elections. Amy so this was the final debate before saturdays primary in South Carolina and super tuesday when 14 states will vote. South carolina tv station wcsc reported the Charleston County Democratic Party offer tickets to people who sponsored the toate at a cost of 1750 3200 per sponsorship, calling it the only guaranteed way to get a ticket to last nights debate. In a few minutes, we will go to South Carolina to get reaction. At first, were joined in new york by anand giridharadas, editoratlarge at Time Magazine. His book is winners take all the elite charade of changing the world. On sunday, he had a cover story of the New York Times we can review Weekend Review titled the billionaire election does the world belong to them or to us . Welcome back to democracy now so that is pretty astounding. Two of the seven Democratic Candidates who are considered so often the republican the peoples party, are billionaires. What does this say to you . Selfdescribed billionaire election probably isnt one. You know, lets stick with the physical seen that you just showed those shots out. I think it is a metaphor for what ive called the billionaire election, the billionaire referendum that 2020 is stop yet the seven people on stage. On two ends are actual billionaires. The two candidates in the middle , Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, are candidates who have risen to prominence, precisely on the platform of running against billionaires. The 1700 to 3200 dollars tickets, which captures the way in which the Democratic Party is an ostrich, not understanding that we live in an age in which people actually rising up against plutocracy and this is the kind of, you know, foot fault you dont want to make. And then you have cbs, big corporation, twitter owned by billionaire, billionaires are the stewards, the captains have an economy that has generated so much of the rage this year that is being is presenting itself in the election. So this is an election in which you have to have you have to know where you stand on the question of billionaires in order to vote on this primary, this general election. If you do not have a perspective on billionaires, you cannot actually make this choice meaningfully. For a very long in this country, the story that we have told about billionaires is, they are like helium balloons. They are people who happened to have drifted up from among the rest of us. That has been the story. Yes, they have more, be they gap was a little too high, but they were just people who drifted up and maybe if we could get more people filled with helium and drift up, we would be better off. A truer story is emerging, which is that a lot of those folks is up there because they are standing on other peoples backs. They stand on peoples backs by using and abusing tax havens like bermuda hello, bloomberg they stand on peoples backs by profiting from an economy like the Financial Sector that has destroyed the American Dream for so many people hello, Michael Bloomberg. They stand on peoples backs by lobbying for Bottle Service Public Policy that is a private benefit to them detrimental to the public. I think americans are actually waking up to the fact that we have been living in what i call this winners take all america in which the country is not being run for americans. It is being run for money. I have actually gotten tired of the language of inequality, even though i wrote an entire book about it multiple books about it. It does not click with people what were are actually talking about. If youre someone listening to this you probably arent because youre watching mocracy nopw , inc. About it this way. And every year, a certain amount of future rains on all of us. A certain amount of progress rains on all of us, certain amount of innovation rains on all of us. When that new stuff, the future, who gets it . Harvest the rainwater. What has happened is the future has become a thing that is privately gated and enjoyed and monopolized by very few people. Which means that you can be living in an age where extraordinary things are being invented, the internet is being invented, medical advances are happening. But if you are not in the gated community that enjoys the feuds of the future, or second 1979 and that destroys true as a matter of wages, health care access, Information Access for many people who are listening to media that is distorting their minds. And i think what is at stake in 2020 is we wake up to the idea that either we are going to resign ourselves to living in a country that billionaires rule or were going to muster the gumption to remind billionaires that they are living in our country. Amy i want to go tonight last nights debate, but the las vegas debate. The time when Mike Bloomberg, you might have called him the pinata in nevada. This is the exchange between senator sanders and former new york city mayor Mike Bloomberg. This was moderated by msnbc. Sanders what we need to deal with this protest level of income inequality is make sure that those people who are maybeg mr. Bloomberg, your workers played some role in that as well. Those is important that workers are able to share the benefits also. When we have 70 people go to work every day and they feel not good about their jobs. They feel like cogs in a machine. I want workers to be able to sit on corporate boards as well so they can have some say over what happens to their lives. Mayor bloomberg commode you support what he is proposing . Bloomberg absolutely not. I cannot think of ways that would make it easier for donald trump to get reelected than listening to this conversation. It is ridiculous. Were not going to throw out capitalism. We tried that. Other countries try that. It was called communism and adjusted network. Amy if you can respond to that, anand giridharadas, and also talk about when Mike Bloomberg said i worked hard that many. First of all, it is so interesting given this is it is an election, contest about connecting with people. It is so interesting to me that being that rich, as Michael Bloomberg is, makes there be no one in your life who actually tells you how you come across to people. He has the charisma of a large piece of cheese that ate a robot. It is hard to even make up how unable he is to connect to people, but he is probably just around by people who are like, oh, my god, sir, your connecting. Which is part of the problem of being a billionaire. That exchange was so telling. What happens in vegas absolutely must not stay in vegas. He iss arguing is not just a guy who happens to be rich running in a progressive primary. He is running as a rich guy with all of the rich got intuitions, which is i am worth 60 billion because i earned that and else had part in it. That does ideology not belong in the Democratic Party. It is a kind of 20th century it is old, to be honest. It is just old. I know through my reporting, number billionaires who absolutely dont think that anymore. That is not even cutting edge thinking within the circle of billionaires. I have had billionaires text me, what is this guy doing . Lets be clear. Michael bloomberg is making billionaires and comfortable with his defense of billionaires. This is a true fact. I think we have to think about this notion that he is articulating. It is a notion in which his wealth is somehow independent of all of the extraordinary things a society that we have all paid into from Public Schools to public roads to the financial regulators who allowed them to build that kind of business. Michael bloomberg look, anyone watching this should feel grateful to america. But Michael Bloomberg should feel 60 billion times more grateful that anyone watching. Right . All of your lives watching this are pretty dependent on america being a functioning thing with nice things. But he is really dependent on those common things. On wall streetds regulators doing their jobs. He really depends on the United States court system doing its job well. Nothing he does is possible without that. He really depends, when youre hiring many people, a welleducated workforce. It feels particularly charlie shui have an obligation to be 60 billion times more grateful than the average person for public system to denigrate them and claim everything you made is your private prerogative that you could have done in any context in the World Without any shared system. Amy i want to go back to blight Michael Bloomberg last night in South Carolina talking about the influence his money had on the 2018 midterm election. The new democrats that came in, but nancy pelosi in charge, and gave the congress the ability to control this them. Ent, i get amy you are the author of winners take all. He said, look how i used my money. Is so interesting. Enough as prescient present enough to write this book because i knew he was going to run but i didnt. I read it precisely out of people like him. A few years ago, the phenomenon i noticed about america that led bloombergs was the of the world have two sides to them. If you look at Michael Bloombergs philanthropic activities which run with the activities that many, many people like him we cant deny that. A lot of money being given away, maybe more than ever in history. More money is flowing, 400 billion dollars given away in america every year. A lot of money. I looked at people like him giving money away, doing these ends, giving back, making a difference. Africa, africa, africa. They love africa. All of the talk about these activities. But then inconveniently, i looked at a second thing, which is also true about people like Michael Bloomberg, is if you look at the actual economic data, they were monopolizing as i said earlier, the fruits of the future. Monopolizing progress. On the one hand, they were doing all of these nice things, which Michael Bloomberg absolutely does. On the other hand, they were actually increasing, not decreasing, their share of the pie every year. It started to make me wonder, what is the relationship between all of these nice activities and the bad activities, the generosity and the justice . The conclusion i came to in the book is that the kind of giving that folks like Michael Bloomberg do is the wing man of their taking. The kind of generosity they engage in is the wingmen of the injustice they uphold. In the making a difference that they talk about is the wing man of their making ecm bloomberg how because he is using his wealth to purchase the presidency. That is certainly a way in which having that money and using the rep. Dent reputation can help you. Second, a lot of people who have endorsed him our people have benefited from his charitable largess. You use this making a difference to actually increase, not decrease, your power. In an age of plutocracy, which we are in, the central issue in this country is whether you are to find a way to break the struggle hold on wealth and power of a few people at the top. And if you do not have a plan to do that, you by default have a plan to perpetuate that. Amy would you say the billionaires election, talking about it that way, sort of a coded way, critique of capitalism . And now when you have Michael Bloomberg coming into the race, will be in South Carolina so much a super tuesday, his pouring millions into taking on Bernie Sanders and trying to make this an issue about socialism, redbaiting him as much as possible, trying to pose it as you either have me or you have cuba . This is such an american talking point that Michael Bloomberg is engaged in that we all need to educate first of all, i think there are some people who had a great life in the 20th century who should have considered remaining in it. Like, if your framework if you are still running Nuclear Drills in your mind, you may not belong in the 21st century. I see on tv all the time there are people who clearly have cold war trauma and i feel for them, but we are not actually in the cold war anymore. We are under completely different. In a completely different era. Just as it would have been in the cold war talking about what we needed to do in the trenches of world war i. It is not a helpful framework for the cold war because it is not now. It is not particularly helpful now in 2020 to be reliving your own cold war trauma as guidance for the United States. Michael bloomberg is trying to prevent present the old american talking points they have two choices, people, we can either be a Goldman Sachs country or we can be read euros s venezuela. We have come to a point where our understanding of gender is more fluid than our understanding of capitalism, socialism, democracy. It is remarkable. We have made tremendous progress and understanding it is not like men, women, nothing in between, it is complicated. People fall in all categories. The reality is, for any person who has actually traveled or read a book, every country in the world is maybe with couple of exceptions, have some mix of capitalism and socialism. When youre on the highway, the thing beneath you, socialism. The things on the highway, capitalism. The cars and trucks carrying stuff. When youre on wall street, the banks, capitalism. The regulators that make sure that brokers are not stealing their money, socialism. Years atwork for 40 ibm, capitalism. When you retire and have Social Security and medicare take care of you, socialism. It is early in the morning. I have already in the course of this day by eating certain things come engaged in capitalism. By taking a car here, engaged in capitalism. Ive also benefited profoundly just by 8 00 a. M. From socialism, from the fact that the roads it is nice to have roads. It made it a much faster commute. All of the ways in which capitalism and socialism are part of every hour of our lives, lets end this ridiculous binary and have some understanding of economic fluidity. Amy anand giridharadas, thank you so much for being with us, Time Magazine editor at large. His new book winners take all the elite charade of changing the world. We will link to his piece for the New York Times is titled the billionaire election does the world belong to them or to us . When we come back, we go to charleston and columbia, South Carolina. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , im amy goodman. Tuesday nights democratic president ial debate comes just four days before South Carolinas firstinthesouth primary week before more than a , one dozen states vote on super tuesday. Billionaire tom steyer has poured money into outreach to African American voters who make up more than half of South Carolinas democratic electorate. A new reuters poll shows senator sanders has overtaken former Vice President joe biden in support among African Americans. For more, we go to South Carolina where were joined by three guests. In charleston were joined , byDemocratic State rep. Gilda cobbhunter, president of the National Black caucus of state legislators. Also a Senior National adviser for democratic president ial candidate tom steyer. Adolph reed jr. Is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the university of pennsylvania, a columnist with the new republic, and an organizer for im a medicare Voter Campaign in South Carolina. In columbia, Kevin Alexander gray is a longtime rights activist and Community Organizer, and author of waiting for lightning to strike the fundamentals of black politics. He was Jesse Jacksons South Carolina Campaign Manager in 1988 and is the past president of the aclu of South Carolina. We welcome all of you to democracy now responded to last nights debate. Cooks first of all, i would like to say hello to my two friends dr. Reed and gilda cobbhunter. Two people i respect. Adolph was on my dissertation committee, so i have something in common with everybody on your show today. But watching the debate last night, it wasnt the confederates firing on fort sumter, but it was fiery. I think senator sanders showed himself well. I think looking at the rates of South Carolina race with South Carolina thing is going to line up with South Carolina doing well. I think tom steyer is going to do well because he has done outreach in the black community and campaign the oldfashioned way in the way i see the vote breaking down, older voters boulder Democratic Party establishment voters are going to vote with biden. Younger voters are going to vote with sanders because of the institutional change in structural change he represents given College Education cost and the cost of health care. I think the folks that support steyer are the folks styers put money in the black community. Black consultants. He has done something that hasnt been done in a while and campaign were usually the money goes to white consultants and Advertising Companies and black folk are left out of the loop. Invited asen benefited. I think last night sanders did well. I think at times Vice President biden looked like admiral stockdale with the, where my what am i doing kind of approach here to campaigning in South Carolina. Amy i went to go to Democratic State representative gilda cobbhunter. I last saw you in orangeburg, South Carolina, the environment will justice hi, amy. Amy you are now supporting tom steyer. Why . Agreed to serve as the National Senior advisor to tom. Teyer one of the reasons is the point that, just made. Hasnt been engaged in politics, president ial politics here for the last 20 years. Tom steyer is the only democratic candidate i know who has made the time and invested in the black community in the manner that kevin outlined. In addition to that, you mention the Environmental Justice for in november. Tom steyer has specific plans tied to environment of justice. We have got to go in and not as cleanup communities, but we have got to have a plan to incentivize Economic Development for those marginalized and undeserved communities. Underserved communities. The other parties for his plan for hbc you, historically black colleges and universities. Steyer has committed if elected president to invest 150 billion in hbcus. Not just investing the money, he has a definite plan to spread this out over 10 years to create s infrastructure forhbcu that will impact buildings that have deteriorated because state governments across the south in particular have not funded them like they should. The other piece of that, but his plan that attracts me, is the sustainability part of it. He is calling creation of an hbcu board of regents which will help coordinate all of the federal funding that hbcus received. Right now it is a hodgepodge. All of the universities, lest they have a lobbyist who is going to help them navigate the process, that is not in place. The endowment leads to the point of sustainability because im a proud graduate of the florida a m university. And one of the things that all of our hbcus have to do is build endowments. A part of the steyer plan will allow that. Reparations, as far as im aware of, tom steyer is the only one on the campaign trail who has called for reparations. And tightened reparations is the whole conversation about race. He has consistently come in every audience, talked about race, the connections that race have with all of the systemic problems we have come and quite frankly, i believe when im looking at supporting a candidate, it is important that you not just talk talk, but you walk the walk will stop tom and his wife kat through her work have proven that they are committed to communitys of color and they have shown that through their work. Amy i want to go now to senator amy klobuchar, who i think echoes the views of some of the candidates, speaking last night about medicare for all. The math does not add up. Just on 60 minutes this weekend, he said he was not going to rattle through the nichols and the dimes. Let me tell you how many nickels and dimes we are talking about. Nearly 60 trillion. Do you know how much that is for all of his programs . That is three times the american economy. Not the federal government, the entire american economy. The medicare for all plan alone, page eight clearly says that it will kick 149 million americans off their current Health Insurance. Amy professor adolph reed, organizer for im a medicare Voter Campaign in South Carolina. Can you respond to what she said . It is actually im a medicare for all voter in South Carolina. That claim is one of the most frustrating, disingenuous comments that has come out of the debate, come out of the corporate media. The fact of the matter is, the not takefor all will coverage away from anyone. Ist medicare for all does takes the profitmaking middleman, the Insurance Companies, out of the health care system. And one of the things we found that is gone around in South Carolina and elsewhere, talking to working people of all sorts, thatople do understand nobody loves their insurance company. Experience ofin Insurance Companies in access to pardone is denial me, im getting over a bad cold. But the denial comes in many forms. , access to health care on the basis of ability to pay, is a form of denial. Deductibles. Pays, experience the Health Care Industry on the ground understand these things and much more clearly if Insurance Industry is not putting money in your political campaigns like amy let me ask. Cooks sure. Amy go ahead, adolph reed. The basic principle of a medicare for all is everyone has access to health care, period. Without regard to their ability to pay. Or without regard to age where or if you work. It is very simple proposition that the private profit making is taken out of the healthcare industry. Amy as you go around South Carolina, how much of that is understood . Arnie sanders sang last night misconception is the ideas im talking about are radical. They are not. He said, in one way or another, they existing countries all over the world. Well, yeah. That is absolutely the case. But we can say weve been working, like South Carolina, for the last few months and have had phenomenal response. I suggest people go to our dinstitute. Org. 10,000 had more than south carolinians sign pledges that december indicating they will vote only for candidates who support medicare for all. Is like, white across the board. Amy let me go back to Kevin Alexander gray. You were a critic of Bernie Sanders in 2016, but youve changed your view. You have 10 seconds. Well, i havent decided who im going to vote for, but if you look at the candidate who fall into the progressive camp or the progressive tradition going tradition of the 1988 campaign and Broad Coalition of people opposition to the death penalty, support for free public education, rights for palestinian people, support for freedom movements around the world, and then we look at the health care issue, look at Economic Development in the community and a structural way, the Bernie Sanders is obviously in that tradition. We have to talk about with the word progressive means and what being a progressive means and not let people who are using the word progressive as a substitute for liberal because liberal has become a dirty word. I soften on sanders but sanders did like Jesse Jackson did between 198419 88. He has been organizing around the country. A lot of the criticism i had in the beginning was you start out a campaign, start out with that coalition, start out around that table with black people and people of color and women, and you build from there. You dont to start out with a group of white folk around the table stop i think senator sanders has learned that lesson well. If you look at his campaign. That is not an endorsement, that is to say that is how he has conducted his campaign and his campaign is connected to a historic progressive movement, which is what frightens people. Going back on what dr. Reed said about medicare, ive been spending a lot of time with friends in Nursing Homes lately. I have been doing a lot of eulogies for friends. And looking at the people in those Nursing Homes who care for people, a lot of the people who are working in those Nursing Homes, people dont care for them. They dont care for them. Theyre not paying them a good wage, not having neighborhoods they can live in that are safe. But a lot of them have to go care for people. You have people who are caring for people who people dont care about. That you havedea to sign over anything that you would want to lead to your children to the government before you can get in a nursing home and get a medicare bed. Those issues are important to people. Health care, the affordability of health care, a livable wage, safe communities, ending gentrification and being pushed out of the cities. Those are the issues that progressives are taking on. And to some extent and im not, because guild is a very good friend of mine, i respect her alive, but she is right. Styers and some respect with his money is paying attention to those communities. It is not the structural institutional money that the government ought to be providing to people, but it is an outreach to people they have not seen in a while in an era where black folk and poor people are being pushed out of the cities, having pushed out of their homes, or if they live in poverty, only the only thing the government got for them is more and more police. Yes, ive soften on sanders. I am a progressive. I think he will do well in South Carolina. This idea that we have to nominate somebody that is electable like joe biden, welcome i keep telling everybody, everybody thought Hubert Humphrey was electable, thought walter mondo was electable, thought mike dukakis was electable, thought al gore was electable, thought john kerry was electable. They thought that Hillary Clinton was electable because they are moderates. Never anyone that wants to pin their hopes on joe biden, when you look at his race record is horrible, and the only race record he got being Barack Obamas Vice President and socalled vouching for him, i think the democrats nominate joe biden, theyre going to go down in defeat. Amy i want to thank you all for being with us. Kevin alexander gray, longtime rights activist and Community Organizer in columbia, South Carolina. Adolph reed jr. Is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the university of pennsylvania, columnist with the new republic and an organizer for im a medicare Voter Campaign in South Carolina. And Democratic State rep. Gilda cobb hunter of orangeburg South Carolina, president of the National Black caucus of state legislators. She is a Senior National adviser for president ial candidate tom steyer. We want to thank you all for being with us. Just a little fact, Something Like 6000 8000 black voters in nevada, course iowa and new hampshire, overwhelmingly white states, in South Carolina there are more than a quarter of a million africanamerican voters, 60 of the democratic already is africanamerican. When we come back, we will speak with reporter bob hennelly. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , im amy goodman. Our next guest says billioire Michael Bloomberg lied during last nights democratic president ial debate when he claimed he released his taxes while he was mayor of new york city. I got into this race only 10 or 12 weeks ago. We have been working on tax returns. I said they will be out, probably have another couple weeks ago. We have complied with every single requirement for disclosure. And when i was mayor of new york, we had tax returns out 12 years in a row and we will do that in the white house. Amy that was Michael Bloomberg speaking last night in charleston. He made this same claim during last weeks democratic debate in las vegas, saying he had put out his tax return every year for 12 years in city hall. Well, our next guest says he has the proverbial receipts to prove this is not true. Bob hennelly is an awardwinning reporter for the chiefleader. He covered billionaire Michael Bloomberg during his time as mayor. All three terms. At that time, bob hennelly was a reporter for wnyc, new yorks main public radio station. In 2012, he had this exchange with bloomberg after a press conference. Why will he disclose what you actually physically pay in terms of federal taxes . Theres no reason to. We have categories and i have a personal life. The accountants will tell you i pay 100 of my taxes. I dont have tax shelters in the context you would talk about it. I pay what im am supposed to pay. Thearn money all around world. Amy for more, were joined in new york by reporter bob hennelly. You heard in that clip. What is wrong here . It is absolutely not true. One thing as a reporter, n. Y. C. Have been municipally owned but became a nonprofit. Farcicalr there was a disclosure event that occurred co. Rd avenue at geller and and we would go into a hermetically sealed room, we could not actually make copies, we were handed the tablet which was like the equivalent of a midwestern phonebook for a small city. And on each entry was not numbers you would assume with your tax form or my tax form, but letters of the alphabet. G would symbolize more than 500,000. And everything was a g. Why democracy now so essential as this is the only place i can think of to come to actually play this tape. What is really scary, amy, we have known each other a long time. Other reporters were with me in the room. This ritual was something we all groused about New York Times of with the daily news and we all said there is no disclosure here. During the period of time he was mayor, i started focusing on the fact he had 5 billion and wasnt supposed to be active in bloomberg lp and strangely come automatically, over 20 million by the time he left. In the circumstance of occupy wall street, we needed to focus on how his vault was structured. When he came in, there were like like 40 offshore things, no, bloomberg came Cayman Islands llc. Not messerli tax evasion does not necessarily tax evasion. But i took these forms to Jeffrey Sachs and he said, bob, this is the Structure Great global well. It is beyond nationstates to hold accountable. And that was my ah ha moment that human beings have a real problem with borders. You can be put indicates, killed trying to cross one. Travels without a passport, having made any apology and now nations in the world are begging to draw that wealth and will do anything just to have it parked for a while in the country. That is part of this great building of wealth and equality and wealth concentration. Amy so what did mayor bloomberg say when you pressed him on his offshore investments . It was like, i have business all over the world. Like it was such a nonstarter. It was basically his attitude was, this is not taxable, this is in transfer pricing, which is a gimmick used, i do business around the world and it is required you have licenses in those places to do building. Without the receipts, without the tax return, it is impossible this is happening, by the way, when he was saying we needed to repeal the bush tax cuts and that everyone should pay more in taxes across the board in the sense of shared national sacrifice. It seemed fair to ask him, what are you paying . He refused to do it. He also said, particularly his aides would say, we cant release this because this would have a negative business consequence. This thing we have lived with donald trump where is that private business or presidency . He put the business of preserving his confidentiality and the value of his assets for competitive advantage over the important transcendent value of civic disclosure. Civic disclosure is really just about humbling yourself because you want to be a public servant. Amy bob hennelly, talk about how Michael Bloomberg made his billions. He did not inherit this. That is the most enduring part of the story. He is a selfmade individual, parked cars to get through college, came to new york city and got a great job with selma brothers, wall street firm, got laid off after several years and got a 10 million parachute which is nice, and out of that he created the bloomberg lp. What is that . These really smart machines, terminals that you have to have for realtime pricing for assets. If you want to move a bunch of foreclosed homes or mortgagebacked securities, whatever you want to move to the Cayman Islands, you have to have one of these terminals. These are all over the world. It provides realtime information for all of these transactions. Indeed the financial is asian of the planet, the proliferation of dead, all the things weve seen that her engines of the concentration of wealth, the Global Wealth machine, were facilitated by bloomberg terminals. I would askwe go, you stop and frisk. The operative word 5 million the number of stop and frisks estimated during the bloomberg it is not individual. Minutet we only have a and i want to ask you about this. Untold suffering of people, and they were not quiet. Thousands and thousands of people marched in the streets we were there. Amy we were covering it. What about the financial cost to the city . One thing that happened was the tort claims. Something happens that your assaulted, the police have some kind of incident or misconduct. The city of new york, taxpayers, paying 1 billion over those 12 policeo satisfy bad behavior. Amy you mean, lawsuits. These were ruined lives, too. These were lost scholarships, lost relationships. Lives totally destroyed by this process. Amy and 1 billion in settlements. Not spent on the people, but these claims. Amy bob hennelly, we will do part two and post it at democracynow. Org. Bob hennelly, awardwinning reporter who is now with the chiefleader. Tuesday, we have our live broadcast with the intercept from 7 00 eastern in the evening to midnight and democracy now as a number of job openings here in our new york city offices from our newsroom, producer, and fellow to our outreach and development teams. Go to democracynow. Org for information. [captioning made possible by democracy now ]