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| The Koch Brothers and other billionaires are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into negative campaigns. Corporate campaign cash, once outlawed in America, is tilting the playing field. In California, Chevron shelled out at least $3 million to buy friends at city hall in Richmond, a Bay Area city that’s home to a giant petroleum refinery. Untraceable “dark money” is being spent elsewhere. Voter ID laws are keeping people away from polling places. Are we going to let them get away with it? Experts say 60 percent of Americans will not vote on Nov. 4. Eighty percent of low-income workers won’t vote. “That's not democracy. That's oligarchy,” said Bernie. “We must educate, organize, overturn Citizens United and move toward public funding of elections.” |
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| SAVE THE POSTAL SERVICE | |
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| The Postal Service in January plans to shut down as many as 82 mail processing plants, eliminate up to 15,000 decent-paying jobs and end overnight delivery for first-class mail. Bernie and a bipartisan majority in the Senate want a one-year moratorium on the cuts to give Congress time to enact a comprehensive postal reform bill. | |
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| INCOME INEQUALITY IN AMERICA | |
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| Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen sounded the alarm on economic inequality. While the central bank leader recognized the problem, she didn’t say what the Fed should do about it. Bernie had a suggestion. “The Fed must act as boldly to rescue the disappearing middle class as it did when it bailed out too-big-to-fail banks. The Fed has got to demand that big banks significantly increase affordable loans to small businesses to create jobs,” he said. | |
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| GENERIC DRUG PRICES | |
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| Continuing their campaign to expose steep spikes in generic drug prices, Bernie and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings called on the Obama administration to act “immediately and aggressively.” They wrote to HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell about “alarming” price increases for the once-affordable generic drugs. The two lawmakers had earlier demanded that top executives at 14 pharmaceutical companies explain price increases. Their answers are due later this month. | |
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| WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST | |
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| The self-styled Islamic State in Iraq and Syria will not be defeated unless countries in the region with the most at stake become deeply involved in the effort - including the use of combat troops. Saudi Arabia, for example, has the fourth largest military budget in the world. It’s army is at least seven times greater that the ISIS forces. The U.S. and our allies must support the fight against ISIS, but Bernie voiced concern about the U.S. being dragged into a “perpetual war” in the Mideast that would divert resources from priorities for working families in America. | |
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The TRUTH will set you FREE.
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