![]() Date: 2025-06-16 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00016775 | |||||||||
US Politics | |||||||||
Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess | |||||||||
![]() ------------------------------------------------------------ College for All Today, we say to our young people that we want you to get the best education that you can, regardless of the income of your family. Good jobs require a good education. That is why we are going to make public colleges and universities tuition free, and substantially lower the outrageous level of student debt that currently exists. We need to have the best-educated workforce in the world. It is counter-productive to the best interests of our country that hundreds of thousands of bright young people cannot afford to go to college, and that millions of others leave school with a mountain of debt that burdens them for decades—preventing them from buying homes and starting families. Every young person, regardless of their family income, should have the opportunity to attend college. It is unacceptable, for example, that 28% of African American students are forced to drop out of college after one year due to costs. The federal government shouldn’t make billions of dollars in profit off of student loans while students are drowning in debt. We should invest in young Americans—not leverage their futures. That’s why we must: Make public colleges, universities, and trade schools tuition-free. Fully fund Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Substantially lower student debt. Significantly lower interest rates on student loans. ------------------------------------------------------------ Fight for Working Families We will no longer accept 46 percent of all new income going to the top 1 percent, while millions of Americans are forced to work 2 or 3 jobs just to survive and over half of our people live paycheck to paycheck. We will no longer accept a situation in which, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, our younger generation will have a lower standard of living than their parents. We need leaders who will fight for the interests of workers, not just the 1%. In the richest country in the world, there is no state in which working 40 hours at the state minimum wage generates enough income to afford a one-bedroom apartment. It is unacceptable that workers rely on employers for life-saving health care. Working for a living should mean earning a living wage, and health care should be a human right—not a bargaining chip that keeps employees in coercive, exploitative environments. And families should have the security of knowing they can take care of sick loved ones and secure an education for their children. We must: Raise the minimum wage to a living wage of at least $15 an hour. Enact a universal childcare and pre-kindergarten program. Make sure women and men are paid the same wage for the same job through the Paycheck Fairness Act. Guarantee all workers paid family and medical leave, paid sick leave and paid vacation. Make it easier for workers to join unions through the Workplace Democracy Act. Make quality education a right. Implement a green jobs program. ------------------------------------------------------------ Jobs for All When we are in the White House, we will enact a federal jobs guarantee, to ensure that everyone is guaranteed a stable job. There is more than enough work to be done in this country. Let’s do it. In the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, everyone who can work in America should have the right to a decent-paying job. We can and should have a full-employment economy. In 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt talked about the right of every American to have a job. That was true then. It is true today. A job guarantee will lower the crime rate, improve mental health, and create a stronger sense of community. It will create a much healthier and happier America. A full-employment economy is not a radical idea. That means: As part of the Green New Deal, we need millions of workers to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure—roads, bridges, drinking water systems, wastewater plants, rail, schools, affordable housing—and build our 100% sustainable energy system. This infrastructure is critical to a thriving, green economy. At a time when our early childhood education system is totally inadequate, we need hundreds of thousands of workers to provide quality care to the young children of our country. As the nation ages, we will need many more workers to provide supportive services for seniors to help them age in their homes and communities, which is where they want to be. ------------------------------------------------------------ Expand Social Security Today, we say to our senior citizens, that we understand that you cannot live in dignity when you are trying to survive on $13,000 or $14,000 a year in Social Security benefits. My Republican colleagues want to cut Social Security but we have some bad news for them. We’re not going to cut Social Security benefits. We’re going to expand them. Social Security is the most successful government program in our nation’s history. At a time when about half of Americans over the age of 55 have no retirement savings and 20 percent of seniors are trying to make it on less than $13,500 a year, our job is to expand Social Security to make sure that everyone in this country can retire with the dignity they have earned and everyone with a disability can live with the security they need. We will: Expand and extend Social Security for the next 52 years by making sure that all income over $250,000 a year is subject to the Social Security payroll tax, with the Social Security Expansion Act. ------------------------------------------------------------ Combat Climate Change and Pass a Green New Deal We say to Donald Trump and the fossil fuel industry that climate change is not a hoax but is an existential threat to our country and the entire planet – and we intend to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy and, in the process, create millions of good paying jobs. All of us have a moral responsibility to make certain that the planet we leave to our children and grandchildren is healthy and habitable. Climate change is the single greatest threat facing our planet. Yet the giant, multi-national fossil fuel corporations have spent hundreds of millions of dollars furthering their greed and protecting their profits at the expense of our climate and our future. The recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has made it clear that if we fail to substantially cut the amount of carbon in our atmosphere in under 11 years, the human, environmental, and economic costs will be severe and irreversible. Climate change is not a problem we will have to worry about 50 years from now. Overwhelming scientific consensus indicates that climate change is already exacerbating extreme weather events like heat waves, wildfires, droughts, floods, and hurricanes. Climate change is already negatively impacting real estate values due to sea level rise and global agriculture and food security through changing water availability, flooding, and drought. These trends will only continue as global temperatures and sea levels continue to rise. We need a president—Bernie Sanders—who understands that climate change is real and an existential threat to our country and the entire planet. When we are in the White House, we will: Pass a Green New Deal to save American families money and generate millions of jobs by transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels to 100% energy efficiency and sustainable energy. A Green New Deal will protect workers and the communities in which they live to ensure a transition to family-sustaining wage, union jobs. Invest in infrastructure and programs to protect the frontline communities most vulnerable to extreme climate impacts like wildfires, sea level rise, drought, floods, and extreme weather like hurricanes. Reduce carbon pollution emissions from our transportation system by building out high-speed passenger rail, electric vehicles, and public transit. Ban fracking and new fossil fuel infrastructure and keep oil, gas, and coal in the ground by banning fossil fuel leases on public lands. End exports of coal, natural gas, and crude oil. ------------------------------------------------------------ Meet Our Commitment To Our Veterans If you can’t afford to take care of your veterans, then don’t go to war. These people are bearing the brunt of what war is about. We have a moral obligation to support them. While serious people can disagree in good faith about when our country should go to war, there should never be a debate over whether we fulfill the promises made to the men and women who have served this country in our military. As a nation, we have a moral obligation to provide the best quality care to those who have put their lives on the line to defend us. Just as planes and tanks and guns are a cost of war, so is taking care of the men and women who we sent off to fight the war. That includes caring for the spouses and children who have to rebuild their lives after the loss of a loved one. That includes caring for the hundreds of thousands of veterans with multiple amputations or loss of eyesight, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. That includes veterans who are struggling to keep the jobs they rely on to pay their bills, and it includes the terrible tragedy of veterans committing suicide. We must:
------------------------------------------------------------ Enact A Responsible, Comprehensive Foreign Policy Together, as the forces of militarism have kept us engaged in unending wars, we have stood arm-in-arm to fight back. We’re not going to invest in never-ending wars. The U.S. must lead the world in improving international cooperation in the fight against climate change, militarism, authoritarianism, and global inequality. When we are in the White House, we will: Implement a foreign policy which focuses on democracy, human rights, diplomacy and peace, and economic fairness. Allow Congress to reassert its Constitutional role in warmaking, so that no president can wage unauthorized and unconstitutional interventions overseas. Follow the American people, who do not want endless war. American troops have been in Afghanistan for nearly 18 years, the longest war in American history. Our troops have been in Iraq since 2003, and in Syria since 2015, and many other places. It is long past time for Congress to reassert its Constitutional authority over the use of force to responsibly end these interventions and bring our troops home. End U.S. support for the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, which has created the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe. Rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement and talk to Iran on a range of other issues. Work with pro-democracy forces around the world to build societies that work for and protect all people. In the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, democracy is under threat by forces of intolerance, corruption, and authoritarianism. ------------------------------------------------------------ Fight for Women’s Rights When we are in the White House, we are going to protect a woman’s right to control her own body. That is her decision, not the government’s. Despite major advances in civil and political rights, our country still has a long way to go in addressing the issues of gender inequality and reproductive freedom. Right now, extreme forces on the right are launching political attacks and passing draconian laws at both the state and national level with the goal of ending a woman’s right to choose. We must fight back together, and defend a woman’s right to control her own body and economic future. When we are in the White House, we will:
------------------------------------------------------------ Fight for Disability Rights We as a nation have a moral responsibility to ensure that all Americans have access to the programs and the support needed to contribute to society, live with dignity, and achieve a high quality of life. We need a president who will champion expanding the rights of people with disabilities. One in four adults in this country has a disability. Despite the progress that has been made over the past two decades, we unfortunately still live in a world where people with disabilities have fewer work opportunities and where the civil rights of people with disabilities are not always protected and respected. People with disabilities experience much higher poverty rates than people without disabilities. As a nation, we have a moral responsibility to ensure that all Americans have the support they need to live with dignity. We must:
------------------------------------------------------------ Fight for LGBTQ Equality People have the right to love who they want to love and get married regardless of their sexual orientation. Incredibly, today in many states, it is still legal to fire someone for being gay. That is unacceptable and must change. The United States has made remarkable progress on gay rights in a relatively short amount of time. But there is still much work to be done. In many states, it is still legal to fire someone for being gay. Incredibly, it is still legal to deny someone housing or service in the military for being transgender. That is unacceptable and must change. We must end discrimination in all forms. We must:
------------------------------------------------------------ Empower the People of Puerto Rico Now is the time to rebuild Puerto Rico. I want the people of Puerto Rico to know that they are not forgotten, that they are not alone, and that we will do everything we possibly can to rebuild the island. For too long, the people of Puerto Rico have faced inadequate assistance and colonial exploitation in the wake of natural disasters, a decade-long crippling economic crisis, and unjust human suffering. At a time of unprecedented challenges for Puerto Rico, the next president must work to empower Puerto Rican leaders, communities, and advocates. When we are in the White House, we will:
------------------------------------------------------------ Demand that the Wealthy, Large Corporations and Wall Street Pay their Fair Share in Taxes The wealthy and multinational corporations in this country will start paying their fair share of taxes. We are going to end austerity for working families, and provide some austerity for large, multinational corporations. At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, we need a progressive tax system in this country that is based on the ability to pay. It is unacceptable that major corporations have paid nothing in federal income taxes, and that corporate CEOs in this country often enjoy an effective tax rate that is lower than their secretaries. If we are serious about reforming the tax code and rebuilding the middle class, we have got to demand that the wealthiest Americans, large corporations, and Wall Street pay their fair share in taxes. When we are in the White House, we will:
------------------------------------------------------------ Gun Safety When we are in the White House, we will move aggressively to end the epidemic of gun violence in this country and pass the common sense gun safety legislation that the overwhelming majority of Americans want. We face an epidemic of gun violence in this country. A significant majority of Americans want commonsense gun reform. But the NRA, now a full-fledged, right-wing political organization, spends millions on TV and internet ads attacking candidates who dare to stand up for what voters want. We must:
------------------------------------------------------------ Criminal Justice Reform Today, we say to the prison-industrial-complex that we are going to bring about real criminal justice reform. We are going to end the international embarrassment of having more people in jail than any other country on earth. Instead of spending $80 billion a year on jails and incarceration, we are going to invest in jobs and education for our young people. No more private prisons and detention centers. No more profiteering from locking people up. No more “war on drugs.” No more keeping people in jail because they’re too poor to afford cash bail. We are spending $80 billion a year to lock up 2.2 million people, hundreds of thousands of whom have not been convicted of a crime and are solely in jail because they can’t afford their bail. We are criminalizing poverty. And because of the historical legacy of racism in this country, we are disproportionately criminalizing African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. With increased detention of immigrants under the Trump administration, private prisons are becoming more widespread and more profitable. We need real, comprehensive criminal justice reform now. We must:
------------------------------------------------------------ Racial Justice When we are in the White House, we are going to address not only the disparities of wealth and income that exist overall in our nation, but we will address the racial disparities of wealth and income. We are going to root out institutional racism wherever it exists. “Equal justice for all” can’t just be an aspirational ideal. Those words were written in our Constitution 242 years ago. And our nation’s founding promise is 242 years overdue. It’s time to treat structural racism with the exigency it deserves. In order to transform this country into a nation that affirms the value of its people of color, we must address the five central types of violence waged against black, brown and indigenous Americans: physical, political, legal, economic and environmental. Whether it is a broken criminal justice system, or massive disparities in the availability of financial services, or health disparities, or environmental disparities, or educational disparities, our job is to—and we will—create a nation in which all people are treated equally. That is what we must do, and that is what we will do. Voting Rights and Enfranchisement In the last decade, more than 30 states have considered voter suppression laws whose clear intent is to disenfranchise people of color. How pathetic and how cowardly is that. Together we will end voter suppression in this country and move to automatic voter registration. We are going to make voting easier, not harder. To protect our democracy, we must: Restore the Voting Rights Act. Re-enfranchise the right to vote to the 1 in 13 African-Americans who have had their vote taken away by a felony conviction, paid their debt to society, and deserve to have their rights restored. Secure automatic voter registration for every American over 18. End voter suppression and gerrymandering. Abolish burdensome voter ID laws. Make Election Day a national holiday. Criminal Justice Over the last number of years, we have seen a terrible level of police violence against unarmed people in the minority community: Laquan McDonald, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Rekia Boyd, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Jessica Hernandez, Tamir Rice, Jonathan Ferrell, Oscar Grant, Antonio Zambrano-Montes and others. People of color, killed by the police, who should be alive today. We know that African-Americans are twice as likely to be arrested, and almost four times as likely to experience physical force in an encounter with the police. Today, black men are sentenced to 19% more jail time for committing the exact same crime as white men, and African Americans are jailed at more than five times the rate of whites. All of this and more is why we are finally going to bring about real criminal justice reform in this country. We are going to end the international embarrassment of having more people in jail than any other country on earth. Instead of spending $80 billion a year on jails and incarceration, we are going to invest in jobs and education for our young people. No more private prisons and detention centers. No more profiteering from locking people up. No more “war on drugs.” No more keeping people in jail because they’re too poor to afford cash bail. Real police department reform. When we are in the White House, we will: End, once and for all, the destructive “war on drugs,” including legalizing marijuana. Eliminate private prisons and detention centers. End cash bail. Abolish the death penalty. End all mandatory minimums and reinstate the federal system of parole. Seriously reform civil asset forfeitures. Bring about major police department reform. Environmental Justice The ills of pollution and climate change touch everyone, but tragically, they touch those in poverty more than others. Trump’s own EPA has shown that people living in poverty are exposed to more harmful particulate matter in the air, and that people of color are more likely to live near pollution and be exposed to pollutants. According to the EPA report, “results at national, state, and county scales all indicate that non-Whites tend to be burdened disproportionately to Whites.” This, too, is unacceptable. Today, Flint, Michigan, is still without new pipes for clean water, and there are 3,000 other Flint, Michigans, across the country—neighborhoods with lead rates that were double those of Flint during the height of its crisis. Together, we must: Enact a Green New Deal not just to save the planet, but to protect our most vulnerable communities. We must end the scourge of environmental racism, and at the same time create green jobs to support and rebuild the local economies of affected communities. Protect low-income and minority communities, who are hit first and worst by the causes and impacts of climate change, while also protecting existing energy-sector workers as they transition into clean energy and other jobs. Address the inadequate environmental cleanup efforts of Superfund hazardous waste sites in communities of color. Stop the exposure of people of color to harmful chemicals, pesticides and other toxins in homes, schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces and challenge faulty assumptions in calculating, assessing, and managing risks, discriminatory zoning and land-use practices and exclusionary policies. Enact a Green New Deal to mitigate climate change and focus on building resilience in low-income and minority communities. Address Healthcare Disparities Today, the infant mortality rate in black communities is more than double the rate for white communities, and the death rates from cancer and almost every other disease is far higher for blacks. Black women are three and a half times more likely to die from pregnancy than white women. We must: End the racial disparities in our health care system—31% of African Americans and 32% of Hispanics struggle paying medical bills compared to 24% of white Americans. We must guarantee health care to all people of color as a right, not a privilege, through a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program and end this inequity. Economic Justice Black Americans currently have ten cents for every dollar white Americans have. Latinx Americans currently have thirteen cents for every dollar white Americans have. This is unacceptable: It’s time for America to treat the lives of people of color like they’re worth more than change on the dollar. More than 22% of black Americans and more than 21% of Hispanic Americans are living in poverty compared to 12% of white Americans. Today redlining prevents businesses owned by people of color from getting loans, and predatory lending results in higher interest rates in low-income communities of color. More than 47% of African Americans are unbanked or underbanked and some 43% of Hispanic families are unbanked or underbanked, whereas 18% of whites are unbanked or underbanked. The massive disparities and discrimination in the availability of financial services must end. Our campaign is fundamentally dedicated to ending the disparity of wealth, income and power in this country. It’s time to bring a systemic approach to systemic racism. Structural problems require structural solutions, and together we can meet that challenge. Systemic inequities have created innumerable disparities across racial groups from health outcomes, to health insurance rates, education outcomes, college debt rates, and police violence. Bernie is running for president because he believes we’re obligated to do more than just acknowledge the problem. He believes in implementing policies that aim to achieve substantive equality now—while the generations alive today can benefit. In a country that is genuinely free, neither one’s zip code nor the color of their skin would determine a child’s life outcome. Bernie believes our country is morally bound to close the racial wealth divide. In order to do that, we must ensure that people: Start treating the racial wealth divide like the crisis it is. We must end the especially pernicious racial wealth divide that exists today in America within the gap between millionaires and the poor, working, and middle classes of all races. Guarantee a job to every American. A job guarantee will create good-paying jobs and will create work building much needed infrastructure and providing critical services to communities across the country. End redlining practices and other forms of housing discrimination that still exist. Make sure every kid, regardless of race or class, receives a quality education. End the affordable housing crisis and create a path to wealth building through homeownership. Make sure resources are focused on the Americans who need it most — often as a result of structural disadvantage. Bernie supports the 10-20-30 approach to federal investments which focuses substantial federal resources on distressed communities that have high levels of poverty. Support public colleges and HBCUs. It is unacceptable that 28% of African American students are forced to drop out of college after one year due to costs, and 40% of all students fail to graduate in four years largely due to inability to pay tuition. We must make public colleges, universities and trade schools, tuition-free—including for the 76% of HBCU students who attend public colleges—and increase public funding for all HBCUs. Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Black and Latinx workers disproportionately work minimum wage jobs. Raising the minimum wage will increase the wages of 38% of African-American workers and 33% of Latinx workers. End the discriminatory practices in our financial services. We must allow every post office to offer basic and affordable banking services and end lending discrimination once and for all. ------------------------------------------------------------ Immigration Reform Today, we say to the American people that instead of demonizing the undocumented immigrants in this country, we’re going to pass comprehensive immigration reform and provide a path toward citizenship. We’re going to provide legal status to the 1.8 million young people eligible for the DACA program, and develop a humane border policy for those who seek asylum. No more snatching babies from the arms of their mothers. We are a nation of immigrants. Bernie is proud to be the son of an immigrant. His father came to this country from Poland without a nickel in his pocket. Their story, his story, and our story is a story of America: hard-working families coming to the United States to create a brighter future for their children. We need to:
------------------------------------------------------------ Empower Tribal Nations Time and time again, our Native American brothers and sisters have seen the federal government break solemn promises, and huge corporations put profits ahead of the sovereign rights of Native communities. I will stand with Native Americans in the struggle to protect their treaty and sovereign rights, advance traditional ways of life, and improve the quality of life for Native communities. Native Americans are the first Americans, yet they have for far too long been treated as third class citizens. It is unconscionable that today, in 2019, Native Americans still do not always have the right to decide on important issues that affect their communities. We must:
------------------------------------------------------------ Real Wall Street Reform I want to welcome you to a campaign which tells the powerful special interests who control so much of our economic and political life that we will no longer tolerate the greed of Wall Street, corporate America and the billionaire class – greed which has resulted in this country having more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on earth. The six largest banks in America have more than $10 trillion in assets, more than 50 percent of our nation’s GDP. Today the four largest financial institutions— JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup—are on average 77% bigger than they were before we bailed them out. No single financial institution should be so large that its failure would cause catastrophic risk to millions of Americans or to our nation’s economic well-being. Further, we should not just be concerned about the danger these institutions pose to taxpayers. The enormous concentration of ownership within the financial sector is hurting the middle class and damaging the economy by limiting choices and raising prices for consumers and small businesses. We must:
------------------------------------------------------------ Invest In Rural America The crisis in America’s small towns and rural communities is the result of deliberate policy choices by a political class that neglects rural America, rather than investing in it. The time is long overdue for the U.S. government to stand with rural America, and that is exactly what I will do. For too long, Washington has ignored the many crises facing rural America, and the work we must do to unlock its potential. We have seen more and more young people leave the small towns they grew up in and love, not because they don’t want to stay, but because there are fewer and fewer jobs that pay a living wage. We have seen big agribusinesses consolidate, offering lower and lower prices to farmers until smaller farms are forced to close. As family farms disappear, so do the jobs and communities they support. We have seen schools, churches and community centers shut down, and once vibrant Main Streets become boarded up and deserted. As populations decline, essential services like hospitals and nursing homes shutter their doors, forcing rural Americans to drive for sometimes hours to receive adequate health care. In addition to raising the minimum wage, making public college tuition-free, investing in infrastructure, and guaranteeing health care, we must do the following to protect and support our rural communities:
------------------------------------------------------------ Fight For Fair Trade and Workers We need a trade policy that benefits American workers and creates living-wage jobs, not unfair trade agreements written by multi-national corporations. We need a new trade policy that creates decent-paying jobs in America and ends the race to the bottom. Corporate America cannot continue to throw American workers out on the street while they outsource our jobs and enjoy record-breaking profits. Despite the president’s tough rhetoric and haphazard tariffs, under Trump, we now have a record-breaking $890 billion annual trade deficit in goods. And since Trump was elected, multinational corporations have shipped 185,000 American jobs overseas. That is unacceptable. As part of a new trade policy, we must:
------------------------------------------------------------ Reinvest in Public Education and Teachers Today, we say to our young people that we want you to get the best education that you can, regardless of the income of your family. Together, as billionaires and large corporations have attacked unions and destroyed pensions, we have supported teachers who successfully stood up for their kids in strike after strike after strike. Today, more than 60 years after the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision ending legal segregation in our public schools, and 50 years after President Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act into law, poor and minority students are still not afforded the same education as their wealthier, and often whiter counterparts. This is not only unjust and immoral, it endangers our democracy. I’m running for president to restore the promise that every child, regardless of his or her background, has a right to a high-quality public education. Growing inequality is both the cause and the effect of our nation’s desperately underfunded public school system. Many public schools are severely racially segregated—in some parts of the country, worse than before the Brown decision. With funding for public schools in steep decline, students in low-income areas are forced to learn in decrepit buildings and endure high rates of teacher turnover. Public school teachers are severely underpaid and lack critical resources, and their professional experience is being undermined by high stakes testing requirements that drain resources and destroy the joy of learning. Meanwhile, resource-rich private schools spend tens of thousands of dollars more per child than public schools do. They are predominantly white or intentionally diversified, and enjoy the best that money can buy—from state of the art facilities to well-paid, highly skilled teachers. With the vast challenges facing our education system, billionaire philanthropists, Wall Street bankers and hedge fund managers are attempting to privatize our education system under the banner of “school choice.” We must act to transform our education system into a high-quality public good.
------------------------------------------------------------ Get Big Money Out of Politics and Restore Democracy Together, we are going to create a political system which is based on the democratic principles of one person – one vote – and end a corrupt system which allows billionaires to buy elections. Yes. We are going to overturn Citizens United, move to public funding of elections. We have seen what happens when corporations and billionaires control our system of government to protect their own profit and greed. The era of Wall Street billionaires controlling our government and elections must come to an end, and we must take back our democracy for the American people. Every American, regardless of income and race, must have the freedom to exercise their constitutional right to vote. To make sure every voter counts, we must:
------------------------------------------------------------ Fair Banking for All Last year alone, Americans paid $113 billion in interest on credit cards. That’s 50 percent more than just five years ago. With a total of more than $1 trillion in outstanding revolving credit card debt and an average balance of more than $6,000, millions of Americans are feeling the squeeze of higher interest rates and excessive fees. Meanwhile, the banks that needed taxpayer bailouts after tanking the global economy during the financial crisis are reaping the profits. Banks made a record $236.7 billion in profits last year, boosted by nearly $30 billion in giveaways from the Trump tax cuts. The median APR on a credit card stands at a record 21.36 percent. Department stores and retail companies charge consumers upwards of 27 percent on their store-branded credit card offerings. For some stores, credit card fees make up more than one-third of their total revenue. And for those who don’t have access to traditional lines of credit, unscrupulous lenders are waiting to take advantage. Cap Interest Rates at 15 Percent In Texas, the average annual interest rate on a payday loan is 661 percent. But in Vermont, the payday loan industry doesn’t exist. That’s because interest rates on small dollar loans are capped at 18 percent. State laws prohibiting usury and excessive interest rates are as old as the founding of the country. In many states, reasonable limits on interest rates are still on the books. But a 1978 Supreme Court case, Marquette National Bank of Minneapolis v. First of Omaha Service Corp, ruled that national banks chartered in other states didn’t have to abide by these laws. Banks can charter in Delaware or South Dakota, where rate caps don’t exist, and charge whatever they want on credit cards to the rest of the country. Congress limited interest rates that credit unions can charge to 15 percent in 1980. When we are in the White House, interest rates on consumer loans and credit cards will be capped at 15 percent across all financial institutions. And states will be empowered to cap rates even lower than 15 percent. We will send a clear message to the modern day loan sharks that we will not allow them to make billions off of keeping working Americans in a state of perpetual debt. We must stop the exploitative lending practices suppressing economically distressed communities. We must ensure every American has the opportunity to grow financially. Large financial institutions leave millions behind 63 million adults in this country are unbanked or underbanked, meaning they lack access to basic financial services like checking and savings accounts. Nearly half of African-American households were unbanked or underbanked in 2017, along with more than 40 percent of Latino households. On top of this, people of color often face discrimination in lending— everything from mortgages to credit cards to auto loans. In 2012, Wells Fargo settled with the Justice Department for over $175 million for mortgage lending discrimination against people of color. That same year, the CEO took home $19.3 million in compensation. In 2017, JPMorgan Chase paid more than $55 million in penalties for discriminatory lending practices, while the bank’s CEO made $29.5 million. Without access to basic banking services or traditional credit options, nearly 12 million people turn to payday loans to make ends meet. Payday loans are short-term, high-interest, high-fee, small dollar loans. The typical payday loan term is two weeks, and the annual percentage rates on them average nearly 400 percent and can reach into the thousands. Most borrowers resort to payday loans to bridge a gap in income. They use the loans to pay off bills or emergency expenses. But payday lenders don’t make their money off of borrowers who pay their loans back on time. Payday and auto title lenders collect their nearly $8 billion in annual fees by trapping consumers in a vicious cycle of debt. African-Americans are twice as likely to take out a payday loan than other racial and ethnic groups. In 2017, Latinos were four times as likely to use a check casher to access funds than whites. According to the FDIC, “36.0 percent of black households and 31.5 percent of Hispanic households had no mainstream credit, compared with 14.4 percent of white households.” The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau under President Obama found that 75 percent of the industry’s revenue came from borrowers who took out ten loans per year. More than 60 percent of payday loans result in borrowers paying more than interest and fees than the initial amount that they borrowed. And 80 percent of payday loans end with the borrower unable to pay or needing to take out another loan to pay off the first, kicking off a spiral of debt. That’s why the CFPB issued rules in 2017 to protect consumers from exploitative practices. But President Trump’s CFPB rolled these rules back. And President Trump is awfully close with the payday loan industry. Payday lenders contributed more than $1 million to his inaugural committee, which is now under criminal investigation. His former acting CFPB Administrator dropped lawsuits against a payday lender who had donated to his Congressional campaign. And the largest payday lending lobbying group moved their annual meeting to a Trump golf club. When we are in the White House, we aren’t going to invite payday lenders to a country club, we are going to end their predatory lending. Allow every post office to offer basic and affordable banking services and end lending discrimination We must ensure all Americans have access to basic financial services and end the exploitative practices of these modern day loan sharks. We will utilize the 31,000 post offices across the country to provide basic banking services. This isn’t radical, or even unusual. More than 1.5 billion people across the world have access to some form of banking at their local post offices. In fact, we used to do it here. From 1911 to 1967, you could bank at your local post office in the United States. In the middle of the 20th century, our postal banks serviced 4 million customers. The Postal Board of Governors and Postmaster General must work with the postal unions to provide banking services. Together, we can create a fair banking system for all. Post offices would offer basic checking and savings accounts, debit cards, direct deposit, online banking services, and low-interest, small dollar loans. It would end the racial disparities in access to banking and access to credit, while also stopping financial institutions from reaping massive fees off the poor and underserved. USPS must act now to use existing authority to implement pilot postal banks. The post office guarantees to deliver your mail in snow and rain, in heat and in gloom of night. It delivers your mail whether you live in a city skyscraper or down a long country road. It can do the same for banking. ------------------------------------------------------------ Revitalizing Rural America https://berniesanders.com/issues/revitalizing-rural-america/ ![]() ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ Bernie 2020 PO Box 391 Burlington, VT 05402 PAID FOR BY BERNIE 2020 (not the billionaires) © Bernie 2020 | Privacy Policy | Jobs | Podcast | Taxes | Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Press |