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Bernie Sanders β€” Lex Fridman Podcast

5 min read

Corruption in Politics & Healthcare

  • Bernie’s ideas aren’t radical, as often described. Minimum wage, healthcare for all, equal taxesβ€”all popular ideas. It’s just that the establishment doesn’t like them.
  • Bernie, AOC, and other similar political candidates run outsider campaigns, where, despite being socialist/left, they take on the Democratic establish and win through grassroots movements. They focus on ideas supporting the working class people
  • America is moving to an oligarchic form of society, where the economy has a larger concentration of economy than ever before: agriculture, transportation, healthcareβ€”there are a few massive corporations that control everything.
  • Even looking at the political system, billionaires spend huge amounts of money to simply buy the election. Trump’s campaign had just three multi-billionaires spend over $200 million dollars
    • This is largely enabled by lobbyists. The US has the highest prescription drug prices in the world. Why? Because over 1800 lobbyists represent drug companies for the 535 members of Congress.
    • Same with the military: people go from military into Lockheed into the Pentagon into other large companies. Over a trillion dollars is spent on the Pentagon each year.
    • Why does this happen? Running for election costs $50-60 million. Politicians have to surround themselves with money. Billionaires are the political base.
  • This isn’t prevalent in other countries. Most countries have caps on how much people can donate to elections. Why does this happen in the States?
    • The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allows billionaires to spend any amount of money in elections.
    • For potential oligarchy to be stopped, elections need to be funded by the public. The government should also fund elections if they have public support.

β€œBut if you go walk down the street here and you say, β€œDo you think billionaires should be able to spend as much money as they want to buy politicians?” I would say nine out of 10 people will say, β€œThat’s crazy. That’s not what America’s supposed to be about.” So in that sense, it’s certainly not radical. Let’s talk about healthcare. Go out on the street, do it, or do a poll, and I’ve done the polling, is healthcare a human right? Should every American be able to go to a doctor when they need, regardless of their income? Do you know what people say? I would say about 85, 90% of the people say, β€œOf course.” The idea that healthcare is a human right available to all exists, Lex, in every major country on earth except the United States.”

  • How about healthcare? Health insurance is largely funded by employers and private companies, and directly comes out of the wages of citizens. Public funding of healthcare, similar to how it is in Canada, is the solution. Yes, taxes will increase, but you get a better deal through the tax system.

Capitalism

  • There has been a massive increase in worker productivity because of technology. A worker today is producing a lot more than a worker 50 years ago was producing. You would think that since workers are producing a lot more, that they would be better off, working less hours, etcetra. However, accounting for inflation, the same worker is earning less or around the same as 50 years ago.

  • There has been a 50 trillion redistribution of wealth in the bottom 90% and the top 1%. CEOs today make 300x what their workers do, and 3 people in the top own more wealth than the bottom half of American society.

  • A great society does two things: encourages innovation, and ensures that all people have a decent standard of living

    • The government needs to create a social safety net. Regardless of income, healthcare is a human right, housing must be affordable, kids need education, etc.
    • At the same time, you want innovation. People to start businesses, produce products, make money, etc. At the same time, should you end up with a $100 billion? Probably not
    • β€œDo you think that there are scientists out there who working day and night trying to develop drugs to deal with Alzheimer’s or cancer that they motivate? Boy, if I come up with this drug, I’m going to become a billionaire?”
    • Yes, we need to reward success. But maybe not a billion dollars. People should get satisfaction for what they accomplish, the work they’re doing, whether it’s cleaning a street or developing a new drug. But a billion dollars is a little far. Hypercapitalism.
    • β€œWell, I think that in the richest country in the history of the world, if you work 40 hours a week, you should not be living in poverty. And that means we should have a federal minimum wage, not absurdly seven and a quarter an hour, but in my view, $17 an hour. Will that solve all the economic problems for working-class people? No, it won’t. It’ll help.”

Can money buy happiness?

  • Maybe, maybe not. But it gets rid of that tensionβ€”not worry about healthcare, to have insurance, to be able to afford a visit to the emergency room, to not look at all the prices when grocery shopping. That gives peace of mind.

β€œThe real difference between democracy and oligarchy is poverty and wealth. Wherever men rule by reason of their wealth, whether they be few or many, that is an oligarchy. And where the poor rule, that is democracy.” β€” Aristotle

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