Las Vegas, NV – Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders didn’t paint a pretty picture of America for delegates attending the IAM Transportation Conference here. “For one in three American seniors who receive Social Security, it’s their only source of income, they have no pension, they live on $13,500 or less a year,” he told delegates. “As President, we’re going to expand benefits for those on Social Security.” He called Trade Unions the last line of defense for working families stating Unionized workers earn on average 22 per cent more than non-union workers. He brought the delegates to their feet when he said, “when a worker is promised a pension, it’s a promise that can’t be broken. How can we find money to bail out Wall Street and not pay a promised pension?”
Sanders told delegates real change doesn’t come from the top down it comes from the bottom up and we’re going to make a political revolution. “The American people are tired of the greed of Corporate America and we’re going to change that,” he said. “We’re going to fully fund Amtrak and invest in high speed rail, we’re going to end the Right to Work laws in 28 states by repealing section 14D of the Taft-Hartley Act, we will introduce a $15.00 an hour minimum living wage and we will enforce equal Pay for equal work.”
“My critics always ask how we are going to pay for that,” Sanders said with a smile and answered with a question of his own. “How much income tax do think Amazon, IBM, Federal Express or General Motors paid last year? Not one nickel, we’re going to rescind Trump’s tax breaks.” Sanders ran for the democratic presidential nomination in 2016 losing out to Hilary Clinton and he is one of 18 candidates vying for the nomination in 2020.
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