ECONOMY

Senator Sanders believes that the time is long overdue for Congress to begin addressing the needs of working families, rather than just wealthy campaign contributors. 

Since President Bush has been in office, 5.4 million Americans have slipped out of the middle class and into poverty; 3 million workers have lost their pensions; and median household income has declined by nearly $1,300.  Today, even college graduates are struggling.  According to the Census Bureau, real earnings for college graduates are down more than five percent between 2000 and 2004. 

If the middle class in America is going to succeed, Sanders believes we need fundamental changes in our economic policies.  Instead of tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, Sanders believes we need to make certain that our country has the best public education system in the world and that every student, regardless of family income, can afford a college education.  Instead of making it easier for corporations to move to China, throwing American workers out on the streets, Sanders believes we need to develop a trade policy that creates good paying jobs here and works for the middle class of this country.  Instead of providing billions of dollars in corporate welfare, Sanders believes we need to put Americans to work rebuilding our decaying infrastructure and creating affordable housing.    

It is easy to point to the problems that our nation is facing.  It is much more difficult to draft fair and equitable solutions.  Senator Sanders, however, has done just that by introducing S.818, the National Priorities Act [link].  This important legislation would expand the middle class, reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, and lower the poverty rate by repealing the Bush tax breaks for the top one percent and eliminating unnecessary Cold War era defense spending.

The true greatness of a country is not measured by the sum of its millionaires and billionaires.  Rather, a great nation is one in which justice, equality and dignity prevail for all.

Learn more about Senator Sanders’ efforts to improve the current economic situation: