Courtesy of Pam Martens
Presidential Candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders, Delivers a Major Policy Speech on Reforming Wall Street on January 5, 2016
On Tuesday, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont declared his candidacy to seek the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
Wall Street On Parade endorsed Senator Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016 because Clinton was effectively running as Wall Street’s candidate and as Obama’s third term. Unfortunately, eight years of Obama had produced zero criminal prosecutions of the executives of the largest Wall Street banks who had brought the country to its knees as they grew obscenely rich from corrupt, cartel behavior at their banks. Obama also seriously misinformed the American people about how little had changed in terms of reining in the risks on Wall Street. Obama also refused to provide a bully pulpit for breaking up the dangerous Wall Street banks by restoring the Glass-Steagall Act.
Senator Bernie Sanders has, on the other hand, been an unrelenting critic of the dangerous threat that Wall Street banks pose to America since the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, stating repeatedly, and correctly, through his last presidential campaign that “the business model of Wall Street is fraud.” Sanders was right then and he remains right today that these banks must be broken up as a safeguard to the U.S. financial system, the U.S. economy and as a means of preserving democracy in America.
Senator Sanders is a Democratic Socialist. Wall Street On Parade does not support socialism over capitalism. We do, however, believe that unchecked, corrupt crony capitalism in the U.S. has now morphed into an oligarchy that is dangerously threatening the economy and the very future of democracy in the U.S. Thus far, Senator Sanders seems to be the only candidate who is willing to confront this threat head on. For those who are making wild assertions that Senator Sanders could turn the U.S. into a socialist state, it would be well to remember that there are 535 members in Congress with a vote.
On January 31 of this year, Senator Sanders introduced Senate Bill S.309 to expand estate taxes on the super wealthy. In his printed Congressional Record remarks on the legislation (see full text below), he said this:
…
