Senator Bernie Sanders.

Photo: AFP

In a recent article published in

the US senator from Vermont and chairman of the Senate budget committee, Bernie Sanders, expressed concern about the enormous social differences that exist in the United States today.

And, although the subject is not surprising in a society in which the one who has the most is worth more, the figures that Sanders himself handles in his text are really alarming.

In his article titled

(the US has a ruling class, and Americans must stand up to it), dated September 2, 2022, Sanders states that: “The The most important economic and political problems facing this country (USA) are the extraordinary levels of income and wealth inequality, the increasing concentration of property, the long-term decline of the American middle class, and the evolution of this country towards the oligarchy.

“We know how important these issues are because our ruling class works overtime to keep them from being seriously discussed.

They are barely mentioned in the halls of Congress, where most members rely on campaign contributions from the wealthy and their

 They are little discussed in the corporate media, in which a handful of conglomerates determine what we see, hear and discuss, ”says the politician.

According to Sanders,

“In the year 2022, three billionaires own more wealth than the bottom half of American society: 160 million people.

Today, 45% of all new hires go to the top 1%, and CEOs of major corporations make 350 times what their workers make.”

He adds that, meanwhile, as the very rich get much richer, working families continue to struggle, and despite huge increases in worker productivity, wages are lower today than they were nearly 50 years ago. years.

“When I was a child, most families could be supported by a breadwinner.

Now, an overwhelming majority of households need two paychecks to survive."

The senator says that today half of American citizens live paycheck to paycheck and millions are struggling on starvation wages.

“Despite a lifetime of work, half of older Americans have no savings and no idea how they will ever retire with dignity, while 55% of seniors try to survive on less than $25,000 a year. ”.

Sanders claims that since 1975, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth in the United States that has gone in the wrong direction

.

“Over the past 47 years, according to the

$50 billion in wealth has been redistributed from the bottom 90% of American society to the top 1%, primarily because

.

And the figures during the pandemic stage are even more alarming.

"When thousands of essential workers died doing their jobs, some 700 billionaires in America became nearly $2 billion richer."

“Today, as the working class falls further and further behind, billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson ride rockets into outer space, buy $500 million superyachts and live in mansions with 25 bathrooms.”

The US now has

on Earth and millions of children, primarily black and brown, face food insecurity, Sanders warns.

“Although psychologists tell us that the first four years are the most important for human development, our child care system is largely dysfunctional, with an inadequate number of capacities, shockingly high costs and pathetically low salaries for staff.

We remain the only major country without paid family and medical leave,” he laments. 

As for higher education, Sanders points out that 50 years ago tuition was free or virtually free at the nation's top public universities.

“But today higher education is unaffordable for millions of young people.

There are now some 45 million Americans struggling with student debt."

More than 70 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, and millions more are struggling to pay for the rising cost of health care and prescription drugs, which are more expensive in the US than anywhere else in the world. 

The cost of housing is also skyrocketing.

Not only are some 600,000 Americans homeless, but nearly 18 million households spend 50% or more of their limited income on housing, the senator says in his article.

"It's not just income and wealth inequality that plagues our nation. It's the misdistribution of economic and political power

," says Sanders, adding that "the US currently has more concentrated ownership than at any other time." of this country's modern history. In industry after industry, a handful of giant corporations control what is produced and how much we pay for it."

In this sense, he points out that only three

and

control assets of more than 20 billion dollars and are the main shareholders of 96% of the S&P 500 companies. 

In media terms,

According to Sanders, in terms of political power, the situation is the same.

"There are now an increasing number of campaigns where the Super Pacs spend more money on campaigns than the candidates, who become puppets for their big puppet masters. In the 2022 Democratic primary, billionaires spent tens of millions trying to defeat progressive candidates who championed working families.

Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., when he said: “We must recognize that we cannot solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power” in the United States, Sanders assures that “that statement is even more true today ”.

“Let us have the courage to come together and fight corporate greed.

Let's fight massive income and wealth inequality.

Let's fight against a corrupt political system.

," Sanders concludes.

Bernie Sander was a candidate in the primary elections of the Democratic Party for the 2016 presidential elections in the United States. Although he is a Democrat, since 2015, he holds the record as the longest-serving independent in the history of the United States Congress.

He has been the Leader of the Opposition on the Senate Budget Committee since January 2015.

(With information from