Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders returned to Carroll for a town hall meeting yesterday (Tuesday), only a few weeks after attending the opening of his Carroll campaign office. Much of what he told the standing-room-only crowd at Santa Maria Winery was an iteration of the points he made in his previous appearance. He did, however, elaborate on some of the questions he believes the people of America should be asking; one of the most important of which revolves around the income inequality gap he says he will narrow during his presidency.
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Citing that the top one-tenth of one percent of Americans now own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, Sanders said this grotesque and immoral level of income inequality and wealth in America needs a whole lot of work. The gap has grown so much in the past 30 years, he said, there is now one family that owns more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of the people in the nation, and this family, the Waltons of Walmart, are amassing their fortunes on the sweat of their workers.
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The Waltons are paying their workers wages so low and benefits so minimal that many have to go on food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing; programs the American taxpayers are picking up the tab on. Sanders said this one example alone illuminates why he is supportive of an economy that ensures no person working forty hours a week should live in poverty.
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In this hour long meeting, Sanders discussed his positions and plans for public education and combating climate change as well as addressing questions from the audience on renewable fuels and immigration. We will bring you more on these topics in upcoming broadcasts.