MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Well, I think the only thing that"s going to do that, Ed, is if Democrats hold firm and we say very clearly that at a time when the middle class is collapsing and poverty is increasing and millions of our brothers and sisters are unemployed. Long-term unemployment, holiday seasons. Common people don"t know how to take care of their kids. What we have got say is, no. We"re not going to give huge tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and ignore the needs of working families. So, the priorities have got to be not increasing our national debt by $700 billion by giving tax breaks to people who don"t need it. Our attention has got to be on the middle class working families, creating jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure and as you have indicated, making sure that people who are long-term unemployed get the help they need.

SCHULTZ: Senator, the Republicans continually make the case through the media that we can"t raise taxes on anybody right now and go back to the old rates or it will absolutely butcher any kind of economic growth that we have had in the last year. Do you agree with that?

SANDERS: Look, the Republicans say that when times are bad. You have to give tax breaks to billionaires. When times are good, you have to give tax breaks to billionaires. That is their DNA. That"s all they believe in. In my view the evidence is pretty clear. We pass these tax rates against my vote in 2001. That"s what the Bush tax plan was about.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

SANDERS: During the Bush era Ed, we lost, lost 500,000 private sector jobs, 48,000 factories shutdown. We lost millions of manufacturing jobs. I don"t think that these tax breaks have stimulated the economy.

SCHULTZ: It"s really a culture of manipulation. I mean, when you look at the Fed and the way they"re disclosing what happened during the financial crisis, what"s your response to that?

SANDERS: Well, Ed, I fought very hard in financial reform to get that disclosure and it makes you sick and it just--you know, emphasizes, re-emphasizes the point that you"ve been making all evening. You have every single without exception, major financial institution on the DOLE getting huge amounts of bailout. Huge American Corporations, General Electric, McDonald"s, Verizon, Verizon on the take. They"re getting bailed out. And guess what? We"re looking at billions and billions of dollars going too foreign banks, the develop fund of Korea, the banks in Bahrain are getting financial support. Foreign corporations are getting financial support and yet when it comes to the middle class of this country, I guess we"re not prepared to help those people.

SCHULTZ: Senator Sanders, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks for keeping up the fight. Good to have you with us.

SANDERS: Thank you.

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