Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders gathered a panel of economists in Washington DC to discuss the Greek debt fiasco. As part of his opening remarks, Sanders discussed the parallels between the situation in Greece and the United States, and how the 1 percent have rigged the economic system in the favor of the wealthy elite.
Sanders: Over 70 years ago, the major economic leaders of 44 countries gathered at a hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to establish international economic and financial rules. As a result of that conference, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were established. I think it is clear to anyone who has taken a look at this situation that the rules regarding our international financial system are totally rigged in favor of the wealthy and the powerful at the expense of everyone else. Today, 85 of the wealthiest people in this world own more wealth than the bottom half of the world’s population, over 3 billion people. By next year, Oxfam has estimated that the top 1 percent of the world’s population will own more wealth than the bottom 99 percent of the world’s population. In my view, we have got to begin – and I hope this forum today is a start in that process – a serious discussion about how we change our international financial rules to expand – expand economic opportunity and reduce income and wealth inequality, not only in Greece and in Puerto Rico, but throughout the world. The global economy is simply unsustainable when so few have so much and so many have so little [emphasis added].
Watch Amy Goodman discuss on Democracy Now! below.
