Senator Sanders Unfiltered Video: It’s Still a Recession, Stupid

by Senator Bernie Sanders | September 18th, 2009

Just the other day, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said “it is very likely that the recession has ended.”

Well, let me just suggest to Mr. Bernanke that today we have about 17 percent of our workforce – 26 million Americans – who are either unemployed, have given up looking for work because they no longer think a job is possible, or they are working part time when they want to work full time. That’s 17 percent of our population.

For those folks, I don’t think they believe this recession is over.

In fact, what they believe is that they are mired in the worst economic mess since the Great Depression.

One of the really disturbing statistics out there is that it is taking unemployed people a lot longer to find a job than used to be the case. On average, it’s taking about six months.

But it’s not just losing your job or working part time. People are losing health insurance, losing their homes, losing their pensions. What it’s about is slipping out of the middle class and into poverty and not having the capability of sending your kids to college. That’s what the economy is about today.

So to my mind, most importantly, we have got to stay focused on the reality that because of the greed, the irresponsibility, and the illegal behavior of people on Wall Street, we are plunged into a real economic mess, and we’re going to have to work together and we’re going to have to think real hard about how we get out of that mess.

I’ve talked before about some of the ideas we’re working on, but let me just reiterate what some of them are.

We need to get a handle on Wall Street so that they do not go back to the horrendous ways of the past. They are spending millions of dollars right now on lobbying and campaign contributions to make that happen. What we must demand – and this is enormously important – is a new Wall Street, not designed to make hundreds of millions of dollars for their CEOs, but a Wall Street designed to help increase manufacturing in the U.S., create decent jobs, help small businesses, do something for the productive economy.

Another area that we need to return to is our disastrous trade policies which allow corporate America to throw American workers on the street, move to China, pay people 50 cents an hour, and then bring those products back into the country.

So there is a lot of work ahead of us in terms of the economy. Let’s stay focused on this issue, and don’t believe anybody who’s telling you “the recession is over.”

Debbie

Thank you Senator Sanders! We 99ers (all the long term unemployed) and newly unemployed appreciate your understanding of the situation! Why doesn't the President go talk to people in the unemployment lines or the job fair lines, instead of talking to people in factories that HAVE a job?!?

roscoe82

Utopia versus freedom

By Thomas Sowell

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom." We have heard that many times. What is also the price of freedom is the toleration of imperfections. If everything that is wrong with the world becomes a reason to turn more power over to some political savior, then freedom is going to erode away, while we are mindlessly repeating the catchwords of the hour, whether "change," "universal health care" or "social justice."

If we can be so easily stampeded by rhetoric that neither the public nor the Congress can be bothered to read, much less analyze, bills making massive changes in medical care, then do not be surprised when life and death decisions about you or your family are taken out of your hands — and out of the hands of your doctor — and transferred to bureaucrats in Washington.

Let's go back to square one. The universe was not made to our specifications. Nor were human beings. So there is nothing surprising in the fact that we are dissatisfied with many things at many times. The big question is whether we are prepared to follow any politician who claims to be able to "solve" our "problem."

If we are, then there will be a never ending series of "solutions," each causing new problems calling for still more "solutions." That way lies a never-ending quest, costing ever increasing amounts of the taxpayers' money and — more important — ever greater losses of your freedom to live your own life as you see fit, rather than as presumptuous elites dictate.

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Ultimately, our choice is to give up Utopian quests or give up our freedom. This has been recognized for centuries by some, but many others have not yet faced that reality, even today. If you think government should "do something" about anything that ticks you off, or anything you want and don't have, then you have made your choice between Utopia and freedom.

Back in the 18th century, Edmund Burke said, "It is no inconsiderable part of wisdom, to know much of an evil ought to be tolerated" and "I must bear with infirmities until they fester into crimes."

But today's crusading zealots are not about to tolerate evils or infirmities. If insurance companies are not behaving the way some people think they should, then their answer is to set up a government bureaucracy to either control insurance companies or replace them.

If doctors, hospitals or pharmaceutical companies charge more than some people feel like paying, then the answer is price control. The actual track record of politicians, government bureaucracies, or price control is of no interest to those who think this way.

Politicians are already one of the main reasons why medical insurance is so expensive. Insurance is designed to cover risks but politicians are in the business of distributing largesse. Nothing is easier for politicians than to mandate things that insurance companies must cover, without the slightest regard for how such additional coverage will raise the cost of insurance.

If insurance covered only those things that most people are most concerned about — the high cost of a major medical expense — the price would be much lower than it is today, with politicians piling on mandate after mandate.

Since insurance covers risks, there is no reason for it to cover annual checkups, because it is known in advance that annual checkups occur once a year. Automobile insurance does not cover oil changes, much less the purchase of gasoline, since these are regular recurrences, not risks.

But politicians in the business of distributing largesse — especially with somebody else's money — cannot resist the temptation to pass laws adding things to insurance coverage. Many of those who are pushing for more government involvement in medical care are already talking about extending insurance coverage to "mental health" — which is to say, giving shrinks and hypochondriacs a blank check drawn on the federal treasury.

There are still some voices of sanity today, echoing what Edmund Burke said long ago. "The study of human institutions is always a search for the most tolerable imperfections," according to Prof. Richard Epstein of the University of Chicago. If you cannot tolerate imperfections, be prepared to kiss your freedom goodbye.

BK

WHY ARE THERE 50 TO 75 MEXICANS OUTSIDE EVERY HOMEDEPO,NOT 1 AMERICAN OR HIGH SCHOOL KID LOOKING TO WORK A HARD DAYS WORK FOR PAY.AMERICA WE HAVE BECOME LAZYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Tacoma3L

Um. NO the recession is not "over." I just got married last year on May 31, 2008. My husband was just out of college and looking for work. I was a student with a $4,000 summer grant. That, plus a little money in the form of wedding gifts was all we had to live off of. It took him 6 months to find a job. He ended up getting a non-profit job. Just last month he was laid off because their funding fell through. So now we're back trying to apply for foodstamps. The only reason Mr. Bernake suggests things might be getting better is to try and quell the public anger. I've never been quick to anger, but I'm starting to get fed up. This healthcare bit is the worst. What good does regulation do if we don't have access to care when we need it? We need health care NOT insurance!

Louis Horvath

The fact that people have full time or part time jobs does not mean they have qualitative, sufficiently paying jobs. People like Bernake is in the business of milking the cow util we just say NO.
What we need, both in the US and Canada is a simple "let's stop the economy for one day" plan. Have our so-called leaders have a change of underwear for a change. Whose country is this anyways? If it makes no difference than at lease we'll know what we are up against.

Mexican-American

The worst is probably behind us but, we could be experiencing a slow recovery, w/ companies and business trying save a buck by cutting people and giving their employees more hours (and other examples). Credicards, Adjustable Home Loans, and greedy CEOs are the ones who got us into this mess.

Name

Sorry for the grammar folks.

Miranda Carvalho

Is it just me, or has Mr. Bernanke layered his attitude and comments with complete apathy and ambiguity? Hearing the words "the recession is over," doesn't make up for the fact that people are still losing their homes, insurance, pensions, and yes dignity. The only people who believe the recession is over are those too far removed from the ashes of the fire.