In October of 2011, Senator Bernie Sanders stood on the Senate floor to speak out against a trade agreement with Panama which would enable the gross tax havens of the country to expand out of control. The agreement was being pushed aggressively by President Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Now, in the wake of the release of the Panama papers, the warning that Senator Sanders gave nearly five years ago serves as yet another instance of the senator’s finger being on the pulse of American economic policy, holding strong against the popular stance for the benefit of the middle and low class of this nation.
“Well, it turns out that Panama is a world leader when it comes to allowing wealthy Americans and large corporations to evade U.S. taxes by stashing their cash in off-shore tax havens. And, the Panama Free Trade Agreement would make this bad situation much worse. Each and every year, the wealthy and large corporations evade $100 billion in U.S. taxes through abusive and illegal offshore tax havens in Panama and other countries.”
Despite Sanders’ warnings, the US-Panama trade agreement went into effect in 2012. This is yet another instance like the Iraq war, NAFTA, and so many others where Sanders has earned the right to wag his finger and tell the rest of America’s bought-and-paid-for politicians, “I told you so,” while his Democratic opponent stands firmly on the wrong side of history once again.
Watch.
