Sanders: We have not dealt with our disastrous trade policies which have encouraged large corporations to send jobs abroad. Just under Bush we went from 17 million manufacturing jobs to 12 million in 8 years. How do we survive as a strong industrial power? Today there are fewer manufacturing jobs than in April 1941.
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While taxpayers bailed out Wall Street banks because they were too big to fail, 3 out of 4 financial institutions that were bailed out are now larger than before. Wells Fargo is 43% bigger, JP Morgan Chase 51% bigger, and Bank of America is 138% bigger. If we are serious about preventing a future collapse worse than the current one we have to break these banks up, says Sanders.
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During 8 years of Pres. Bush the wealthiest 400 families saw their income double while tax rates dropped almost in half. They now earn on average $345 million a year and pay an effective tax rate of 16.6% – that is the lowest tax rate ever.
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Sanders reports on the “jaw dropping” $3.3 trillion in emergency loans and more than $9 trillion in over 21,000 short-term loans and other financial arrangements the Federal Reserve handed out without input or supervision, dwarfing the $700 billion Treasury Department bank bailout during the Wall Street meltdown.
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Who were the Luddites? Machine smashers of the 19th century or members of a fascinating social movement with visionary insights into the unfolding drama of industrialization?
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The impact of today’s technologies on social relations and the planet itself is becoming an intriguing field of inquiry. However so far the discussion of nuclear power, biotechnology, deforestation, automobiles or computers is pretty much dominated by industry and government who want us to take all this for granted.
In this context it is inspiring to remember the Luddites who questioned industrial civilization at its very beginning in England during the introduction of mechanized textile mills. They knew that the power-looms that they selectively destroyed were not just a technology but would create a whole new [ . . . ]
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On Sunday, April 20, 1997, the huge synagogue Emanu-El in San Francisco was filled with fellow poets and friends remembering the life of the Beat/Buddhist/Rebel poet Allen Ginsberg. Among the speakers were Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joanne Kyger, Anne Waldman, Robert Haas, and Gary Snyder.
code: A 116 To order a cassette copy click here: $8.00
