this notion of >> bernie sanders. [applause] >> thank you. let me begin by thanking all of you here in d.c. for coming out this evening, much appreciated. let me thank c-span for covering this event. and let me also thank everyone who is watching via livestream. as we enter the new year, this congress begins its legislative session next week. we have just finished celebrating the birthday of dr. martin luther king jr., one of the great fighters for justice in our nation's history. and it is appropriate, it seems to me, that we ask ourselves to very simple questions. questions which are not asked very often. question one. what is everyday life like today for the vast majority of our people? that is, the working class of the country, the middle class of this country, and lower income americans. what are the pains, the struggles and the hopes that these millions and millions of people are striving for? that's question one. question two. what is congress going to do to improve life for the working family? in the year 2023, amidst an explosion of technology, massive wealth creation, and transformational economic change, how can we make certain that all americans have the decent standard of living to which they are entitled? it is not a utopian question. it is not pie in the sky. it is in fact something that we can actually accomplish if we put our mind to it, and i think we can. [applause] now, you might think that these very basic and simple questions are discussed often on the pool -- floor of the senate or the house of representatives or the corporate medium. well, if you thought that, you would be wrong. for a wide variety of reasons. significantly having to do with money and politics, and corporate ownership of the media, these are topics that are far too rarely discussed. we almost never hear serious discussion about them. that is the purpose of my remarks tonight. and the kind of discussion that i hope that these remarks stimulate. members of congress, and americans can disagree politically and philosophically as to where we may want to -- go in the years to come, but it is imperative that we acknowledge the reality of today. where we are as a country today, and not run away from that reality. and to my mind, the most important economic and political realities now facing this country are the following. first, the long-term decline of the american middle class. this decline is not a new occurrence, it did not start in president biden's administration, or in the years of donald trump. this decline has been going on for 50 years. and we have got to ask why, and we have to and that decline. [applause] second point that week not discuss enough, is the unprecedented and obscene level of income and wealth inequality that currently exists. and here is the sad reality: that never before in our history have we seen so few own so much as we see today. we have to put that issue on the table and end that reality. third point that we don't discuss, and that is the rapidly growing concentration of ownership within our economy. in sector after sector, a handful of giant corporations control what is produced, and how much we pay for their products. and by the way, would you talk about inflation, that has a lot to do with this concentration of ownership. fourth point. that is the incredible, and dangerous power that billionaires have over our political system. we can, we can hardly be called a vibrant democracy when a handful of the wealthiest people in this country can spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to elect the candidates they like. that is not democracy. [applause] and, fifth point. putting it all together. something we certainly don't discuss in congress, and certainly not in the corporate media. and that is that what we are witnessing now in this country is the rapid evolution of our society into an oligarchy in which the billionaire class has enormous and growing control over the economic and political life of this country. that is the reality, and that is the reality we must confront. [applause] now, it is very easy for politicians to look at vladimir putin's russia and talk about the oligarchy over there. it is certainly true. but the time is long overdue for us to start paying attention to the oligarchy in the united states of america. [applause] when we talk about what is going on in our country, let us start off by taking a hard look at the state of our economy. and what you will find is that the economy is doing extraordinarily well, it is doing fantastically. for the people on top, for the billionaire class. unfortunately, the economy is not doing so well for the working class of our country, when we have tens of millions of families falling further and further behind. as they struggle to pay the bills, take care of their kids, and put food on the table. the growth unfairness, and the ugliness and the crudeness of our current economy can be seen in stark terms when we look at how the working class and the billionaire class have made out during the horrible pandemic we have experienced. on one hand, tens of thousands of american workers died. they died going to their jobs during the worst public health crisis in modern american history. these extraordinarily brave people got up and they went to work, they did their jobs. and they were nurses, we lost thousands and thousands of nurses treating us during the pandemic. bus drivers, meatpacking workers, pmt staff. cops, firemen, teachers, grocery store workers, and many many others who went out and did what they had to do and many of them lost their lives and others became seriously ill. that is what happened to working families. on the other hand, getting home safely in their offices and in their homes, the billionaire class during this. became $2 trillion richer. they were jacking up prices during the pandemic for the prices that we needed. desperate workers were forced to go to work in unhealthy and unsafe environments, and thousands of them died because they did their essential jobs, and because they had to feed their families. meanwhile, billionaires like elon musk and jeff bezos and richard branson were out taking joy rides to outer space, buying $500 million yachts, and living in huge man sins -- mansions with dozens of bathrooms. today, while more and more working class americans are unable to afford the health care that they need, three people, one-to-three people, they own more wealth than the bottom half of american society. 100 and 65 billion. let me repeat that, you won't hear that very often. we are living in a moment where three people now own more wealth than the bottom 100 and 65 million americans. -- 16 5 million americans. we have more wealth and income inequality than any other. in american history. -- per in american history. iod people are spending far more their limited incomes on housing, and a nearly 600,000 americans are homeless. our top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 90% of the american people. today, while millions of ordinary workers are working longer hours for low wages, the ceos of the largest corporations in our country make almost 400 times as much as the average worker. the highest ceo worker differential in american history. in the 1950's, ceos made about 20 times more than the average worker, in the 1980's they made 59 times more than the average worker. in 2000 and nine, they made 80 times. and according to the latest figures, ceos now make 300 and 99 times what the average worker makes. this long-term trend of growing inequality in america is more than the outrageous compensation gap between ceos and workers. it is much much more than that. since 1975, almost 50 years ago, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth in our country. the problem is, that redistribution has gone in precisely the wrong direction. over the past 48 years, according to a study done by the grand corporation, more than 50 trillion dollars in wealth has been de--- redistributed from the bottom 90% to the top 1%. $50 trillion. that took place because of a growing percentage of corporate profits that have been flowing into stock portfolios for the very wealthy. $50 trillion going from the bottom to the top, and it is not just income and wealth inequality. it is the maldistribution of economic and political power. today, we have more concentration of ownership than at any time in the modern history of this country, in sector actor sector, whether financial services, energy, food, transportation, a handful of giant corporations control what is produced, and what we pay for those products. unbelievably, and this truly is unbelievable, just 3 wall st firms, blackrock, vanguard and sage street, control assets of nearly 20 trillion dollars and are the major shareholders in 96% of s&p 500 corporations. 3 wall st firms. if you wonder why you do not hear these issues discussed very much in the corporate media, maybe just maybe, it has something to do with the fact that some six multinational media conglomerates own and control 90% of what the american people see, hear, and read. you cannot turn on tv without hearing a whole lot of talk about everything under the sun, but somehow or another, these major issues having to do with wealth, and power, somehow, they don't quite make it to our tv screens. some of you may recall that in franklin delano roosevelt, in fdr's second inaugural address in 9037, after he had won a second term in office, he famously said ic one third of a nation ill housed, ill clad, and ill nourished. i am not here this evening to tell you that the state of the american economy today is as bad as it was during the great depression. it certainly is not. thank god. as the incoming chair of the house education labor and pensions committee, when i look out across this country in their 2023, let me tell you what i see. i see a nation where 63% of workers live paycheck-to-paycheck. paycheck-to-paycheck, and i know something about that because i grew up in a family that grew up that way. what does that mean? living paycheck-to-paycheck? it means that every day you are living under incredible stress. you are a mom, you are a dad. you're scared that if your car breaks down, if you can't get sick, if your landlord raises the right, if you get divorced or separated, if you become pregnant, if for whatever reason you measure job, when you are living paycheck-to-paycheck, you will find that if any of these things happen, you will find yourself in the midst of a financial catastrophe. we do not talk about that kind of stress, and what it means to millions of people. living paycheck-to-paycheck leaves you with no sense of security. you cannot breathe or relax. there is no cushion to fall back on. and no quality time to spend with your family in a relaxed environment. that, in my view, is one of the reasons why the life expectancy of working people in this country is much lower than those who are upper income. stress kills. and having to work to survive, and worry about your day-to-day existence for yourself and your kids, that kind of stress makes people sick and eventually kills them. today, i see a nation where nearly one third of our workforce, one third of our workforce, almost 52 million workers, earn less than $15 an hour. let us do the economic math on that. if you are a full-time worker, making $15 an hour, you will receive an income of about $31,000 before federal, state, and local taxes. well, today, and this is what people aching 15 box an hour, and there are people making 12, 11 box an hour, some people making 7.25 dollars an hour. it happens that the average landlord in america is asking new tenants to pay on average $1900 a month for rent. 20 2000, 800 dollars a year. the average household in america spends over $5,200 a year on groceries. and then, of course, childcare, education, health care, benefits, transportation,'s cell phones, computer, all things that you need. you tell me, my friends. tell me how is anyone able to survive when you and your basic needs cost more than your income? and that is the reality that millions of working class americans experience every single day. these are people who go out, who work, they work hard and they work in dangerous environments, and yet they fall further and further behind while the people on top get richer and richer. so, let us also be very clear that what we are seeing today is not so -- some kind of radical transformation that suddenly hit our country. that is not the case. the shrinking of the american middle class has been going on for decades. in america today, i see a nation where the average worker makes $54 a week less than he or she did 50 years ago after adjusting for inflation. you got that? think about that for a moment. think about it and understand why people working people all of this country, white, black latino, everybody, think about all the incredible investments in technology that have been made over the past 50 years. you will know what they are. computers, robotics, artificial intelligence, you name it. and as a result of that exposure technology, we have seen a huge increase in worker productivity that is unparalleled in history. and yet, when all is said and done, rail, weekly wages for the average american worker are lower today than they were in 1973 it's really extraordinary. how is that possible? the answer is that virtually all of the economic gains created by modern technology have not benefited ordinary working people, and almost all of those gains have gone to the people who own the society, the people on top. now, is it any wonder given all of that, that today it takes to breadwinners in most households to pay the bills went, 50 years ago, in most american homes, it took one breadwinner to do that? when we talk about the conditions facing the american working class, it is not just wages and income. that is obvious the important, but it is also about whether people can access the basic necessities of life. there is nothing more basic than health care. [applause] in terms of health care, which the health care education and labor committee will be dealing with, i see a nation where over 85 million of our people are either uninsured or underinsured. we are the only major conflict -- country on earth not to guarantee health care care to all people. i see a nation where, unbelievably, over 500,000 people go bankrupt each year, because of medical debt. if you had a cancer operation, you go bankrupt as a result. does that make any sense to anybody echo --? i see a nation where we do not talk about this. nobody talks about this. over 68,000 people die each year because they cannot afford the health care. i have talked to doctor after doctor around the country telling me about patients who walked in the door terribly ill, and the doctor said why didn't you come when you first set your symptoms. they said they didn't have insurance and -- and cannot afford it. thousands of people's -- people call into the doctor's office and it is too late, and they die. i see a nation that set -- spends over twice as much per capita health care. we don't talk about it very much, we are spending twice a much health care than other major nations, all of whom, by the way, guarantee health care to all people. but we see today is unbelievable. $13,000 for every man woman and child. $52,000 for a family of four, and despite that expenditure, our country has worth health care outcomes then most other countries, and our life expectancy is shorter. that is the bad news. but the good news is that the insurance companies make aliens up dollars every single year, and that dynamic, brothers and sisters, has got to change. [applause] this broken and dysfunctional health care system cannot even, despite all the money that we spend, reduce the number of doctors, nurses, dentists and mental health specialists that we desperately need. if you believe that? we spent $15,000 a person, insurance companies make billions of dollars in profits, and we cannot even get the doctors and other medical personnel that we need. i see a nation that pays by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. while the pharmaceutical industry makes record-breaking profits and more than a few drug executives become billionaires, it is not uncommon. these guys become billionaires. meanwhile, despite billions in government investing, we are spending tens of billions of dollars to try to develop life-saving drugs despite that huge expenditure, nearly one out of four americans are unable to afford the medicine their doctors prescribed. it is time for the pharmaceutical industry to pay attention to the needs of the people of this country, not just their stockholders. [applause] and in this country, the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, medicare does not cover dental care, hearing, or vision. there are millions of lower income seniors, who do not have teeth in their mouths, they cannot chew their food properly, because of the cost of dental care. and many other seniors cannot talk to their grandkids because they're hearing is gone and they cannot afford hearing aids, and they cannot afford eyeglasses to watch tv. that is what we're doing on health care. it is time to have a serious discussion about a dysfunctional health care system, and start doing what every other major country on earth does, and that is move towards a system which guarantees health care to all as a human right, not a privilege. [applause] [indiscernible] now, we made some progress, as you recall, by bringing forth a child tax credit that expired, we gotta bring that child tax credit back again. [applause] the terms of education, i see a nation where somehow we can afford to provide over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the top 1% and large corporations, but our teachers and our children, they get broken chairs and flooded classrooms, and inadequate staff support. and where many thousands, many many thousands of our teachers and teaching staff are inadequately paid. it is not too much to ask in the wealthiest country on earth that we have the best public educational system in the world. [applause] today, i see a nation where hundreds, and this is just unbelievable, given the work shortages and the people -- the number of our needs in the global economy, i see a nation where hundreds of thousands of bright young people will have the desire and the ability to get a higher education, and they are unable to do so because their families lack the money, and at the same time i see a nation in which 45 million americans are drowning in student debt, and you shouldn't have to go broke because you got an education. [applause] but it is not just higher education. psychologists have told us for years that the first four years of human life are the most important in terms of intellectual and emotional development. the first four years. and yet, despite that, i see a nation which has a totally dysfunctional child care system, which costs on average, over $15,000 a year per child. you tell me, if you are a working-class person, aching 40, 5060 thousand dollars a year, how do afford that for your child? and on top of that, there are not enough slots in many parts of the country, people cannot find slots to put their kids in and above and beyond all of that, despite the important work that child workers do, they are paid abysmally low wages, averaging about $13 and $.30 an hour. that is less than a parking attendant. this is how we treat the workers who take care of the most vulnerable people in our country, little kids. meanwhile, on top of that, we remained the only major country on earth not to guarantee paid family and medical leave. so, yes. we must work towards creating the best educated workforce in the world, one that prepares our children to succeed in a highly competitive global economy. one that recognizes that a high-quality public education from childhood to adulthood, is the right of all, not just the privilege of a few. [applause] and now, let me say a few words about labor, because, health, education and labor committee is going to do with labor big time. in terms of labor, not only do i see a nation with a weak economy and an unprecedented disparity in income. i see workers from vermont to california, in starbucks and amazon, icy workers in factories and college campuses, fighting back against corporate greed, and organizing unions to receive better wages, benefits, and working conditions. [applause] that is what we're seeing all over this country, a rebirth of labor activism. but at the same time, unfortunately, and unacceptably, i see major corporations engaging in vicious and illegal union busting activities they attempt to deny workers there constitutional right to form unions. and we have news for those large corporations. you are going to stop breaking the law. [applause] why do we want to grow the union movement? and support workers who are trying to organize the echo answer is obvious. unions provide better wages, better benefits, and better working conditions for their members. in fact, union workers make, on average, wages that are 20% higher than their nonunion counterparts. they also have much better health care, and far better pension plans than nonunion employees. and by the way, a lot of people don't recognize this, when unions went, -- when he said contract for their members, they drive up wages for all workers in the country. [applause] and when we talk about low wage jobs in america, you must talk about finally raising the minimum wage to a living wage. [applause] unbelievably, and it really is quite unbelievable, the federal minimum wage today is seven dollars and $.25. and it has not been raised since 2000 and nine, and tips minimum wage workers have been stuck at a miserable two dollars and $.13 minimum wage for over 30 years. it hasn't been raised to 30 years. so, yes. we must follow the lead of some states around the country, and raise the minimum wage to a living wage. [applause] we must stand up to the extraordinary great and power of corporate america, and make it possible for their workers to exercise their constitutional rights, that is all workers are asking for, to organize unions. we must hand the international embarrassment of the united states of america being the only major country on earth that does not guarantee paid family and medical leave. [applause] in terms of tensions, i see a nation, and again, this an issue with very little discussion, and nation where half of older americans have no retirement savings, and no idea how they will ever be able to retire with any shred of dignity. imagine being 60 years old, you work your whole life, you have nothing of the bank and you are facing retirement. millions of people are in that boat. i see a nation where 55% of senior citizens are trying to survive on an income of less than 25 thousand dollars a year. can you imagine that? trying to get by on 25,000 a year. to my mind, we need to expand the benefit pension plans in america, which sadly are an endangered species in our country. further, we must expand social security benefits, not cut them. [applause] my fellow americans, there is a lot of discussion in the media about how divided our nation is. and on many issues there is no question that that is absolutely true. we are very divided. but what we do not appreciate enough is that on some of the most important issues facing our country, the american people, whether democrats, republicans, independence or conservatives, are often quite united. the american people know that we are being ripped off by the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, and they want us to substantially lower prescription drug prices. i saw a poll recently, uphold of just republicans. you know what issue was at the top of the lip -- list? lowering prescription drug costs. you know no matter what party you are in, we should not be paying 10 times more for drugs sold in canada or elsewhere. the american people, no matter what their political views may be, know that our health care system is outrageously expensive, bureaucratic and wasteful. and the american people, regardless of their politics, want universal and lower-cost health care. the american people, again, regardless of their politics, know that education is essential to our lives, and the future of this country, and they want high-quality and affordable public education from childcare to graduate school. the american people, again, regardless of party affiliation, know that no one can survive on seven dollars and $.25 an hour minimum wage. the american people want to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. the american people know that workers have a constitutional right to form unions, and corporations that engage in illegal union busting activities must be held accountable. and these are just a few of the issues within the jurisdiction of the health education and labor committee, that a strong majority of the american people want us to address. my point is that despite political to -- differences in this country, we agree on many economic issues, especially working people, whether progressive or conservative, understanding corporate greed is destroying this company -- country and they want as to act on their behalf. so, if you were to ask me today, what is the state of a struggling working class, i would tell you that the working class of this country is united around an agenda that meets the needs of ordinary americans, and not just billionaire campaign contributors. [applause] and our job is to bring those people together. now, at a time when too many, far too many americans are giving up on democracy, it's a sad reality. now is the time for all of us, democrats, republicans, independence, to attempt to restore faith in our government. if government ignores your life, and your paint, and the needs of your kids, it is understandable that you would say, who cares about democracy? who cares what congress is doing? they do not care about me. our job is now, now, for congress to have the courage to take on the powerful corporate interests and their lobbyists and the campaign contributors who fight and capitol hill, and show the american people the government can work for them and not just the 1%. let me add, it is imperative that we take the discussion of all of these important issues and more, that we take this discussion outside of the beltway here in washington, into communities all across this nation. [applause] i intend to see that our committee, that is around this country to hear directly from workers about the struggles that they face on their jobs. i look forward to hearing from seniors who cannot afford the outrageously high health care costs which they face every day. i look forward to hearing from young people around the country who want the opportunity to get a decent education but do not want to leave school in debt. and i look forward to hearing from parents who want high-quality and affordable childcare for the kids. in this difficult moment in american history, and it is a very difficult moment, let us have the courage to stand together and fight back against corporate greed. let us fight back against the massive income and wealth inequality, which is taking place right now, let us fight back against a corrupt political system dominated by lee merritt campaign contributors -- billionaire campaign contributors. let us listen to the needs of working families, and not just corporate ceos. finally, let us stand together and create an economy and a government that works for all, not just the 1%. thank you all very much. [applause] >> base for joining us. make sure you had to the north security gates immediately following the event. thank you and have
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