Bernie-nomics: How Sanders Wants to Handle the Economy

Does Bernie Sanders have a proposed economic platform for his presidential campaign? Sanders's economic platform is his presidential campaign.

The Vermont senator, a self-described socialist and political independent who announced Wednesday that he'll seek the Democratic nomination for president, is making economic inequality the central focus of his political agenda. "I'm not running against Hillary Clinton," he told reporters earlier this week. "I'm running for a declining middle class." Another top priority: Campaign finance reform, which Sanders sees central to his campaign against the corporate elite. No one explains Sanders' economic theories more emphatically than he does, so here they are in his own words:

On the wealth gap

This has been one of Sanders's core themes in recent years—the one many of his other policies are aimed at fixing. "In the last two years, according to Forbes, the 14 wealthiest people in this country... saw $157 billion increase in their wealth," he told Bloomberg April 15. "That is more wealth than is owned by the bottom 40 percent of the American people. I mean, I don’t know how you describe that other than obscene and extremely dangerous."

On campaign finance

Sanders has also focused reining in the influence of money in politics, saying that the U.S. is headed towards becoming an "oligarchy."

"Billionaire families are now able to spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase the candidates of their choice," he told the Brookings Institution in February. "The billionaire class now owns the economy, and they are working day and night to make certain that they own the United States government." He has proposed a constitutional amendment limiting corporate donations. He told Bloomberg there's a question of whether he "can raise enough money to run a credible campaign," which might involve sums like Clinton's $100 million. "Most of my money comes from small, individual contributors. I get some money—PAC money from unions and environmental groups and senior groups—but mostly individuals averaging, I think, $45 apiece."

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http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-04-30/bernie-nomics-how-senator-sanders-wants-to-handle-the-economy