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The Middle Class Needs More Than Talking Points
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Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been talking a lot about the middle class. But, that talk is cheap as long as their in bed with Wall Street.
 
Six years ago, our economic system came crashing down thanks to those degenerate gamblers and their bankster buddies. That crash left 23 million Americans without jobs and got one million families kicked out of their homes, but our legislators are actually helping Wall Street set up this same house of cards all over again.
 
According to a recent article by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, "the middle class can't be saved unless Wall Street is tamed." As Secretary Reich explains, the banks that brought down our economy have only gotten bigger since the financial crash.
 
Back in 2000, the five largest banks in our country held 25 percent of all America's banking assets, and today they hold almost half. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve continues to keep interest rates near zero, which means that Wall Street can borrow money cheaper than ever, and use it to gamble on high-risk bets.
 
Too-big-to-jail banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan worked hard to keep financial regulations like Dodd-Frank from having any real bite, and now they've managed to wipe out what little protection that regulation provided to the American people.
 
Members of Congress and 2016 presidential hopefuls have been swept up in a wave of talking points about saving the middle class, but they're not doing anything to stop the monster that destroyed it in the first place. And, they're unlikely to do anything that might weaken the stream of corporate cash that flows in to their campaigns.
 
Until our legislators put Main Street ahead of Wall Street, they won't risk upsetting the banksters, and all their claims about saving the middle class will be nothing but talk. It's up to us to remind them that talk is cheap, and we want to see some action when it comes to regulating Wall Street.
 
-Thom
 
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Hour One: If it's Friday, it's "Brunch With Bernie"... the honorable Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joins Thom with all the news from our nation's capitol and as always he'll be spending the hour taking your calls and answering your questions too...
Follow Bernie: Bernie Sanders Web Site Bernie Sanders Facebook Bernie Sanders Twitter Bernie Sanders YouTube campaign site.
Article: "Rebuild America" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Article: "Sanders Votes No on Keystone XL Pipeline" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Article: "Senate Approves Pipeline Bill" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Article: "Sanders' Solar Bill Blocked by Senate Republicans" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Article: "Senate votes that climate change is real" by Laura Barron-Lopez.
Article: "Senate Republicans Ignore Science on Global Warming" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Article: "This is Not Democracy" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Article: "The Week in Review Friday, January 30, 2015" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Quote: "They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution." - The Danger of American Fascism" by Henry A. Wallace.
Article: "How Dark Money Flows Through the Koch Network" by Al Shaw, Theodoric Meyer, Kim Barker.
Speech: "Madison Square Garden Speech", President Franklin D. Roosevelt, October 31, 1936. "I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master."
Article: "Fast track (trade)" by Wikipedia.
Article: "Trans-Pacific Partnership" (TPP) by Wikipedia.
Speech: "Madison Square Garden Speech", President Franklin D. Roosevelt, October 31, 1936. "We have not come this far without a struggle and I assure you we cannot go further without a struggle."
Speech: "Madison Square Garden Speech", President Franklin D. Roosevelt, October 31, 1936. "They are unanimous in their hate for me-and I welcome their hatred"
Article: "Everything you need to know about the Fair Elections Act" by Josh Wingrove and Chris Hannay (Canada).
Article: "Disability Benefit Cuts Loom" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Hour Two: Honduras, failed libertarian economics
Speech: "Fireside Chat", President Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 14, 1938. "The first duty of government is to protect the economic welfare of all the people in all sections and in all groups."
 
Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.
Video: Trickle Down - Bernie Sanders.
Article: "2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure" by American Society of Civil Engineers.
 
Talk Radio News Segment:
- Ellen Ratner, Bureau Chief  Twitter
Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.
Article: "TRNS News Notes- 1/29" by Victoria Jones.
Article: "TRNS News Notes- 1/28" by Victoria Jones.
Article: "Romney Will Not Run In 2016" by TRNS.

Speech: "Fireside Chat", President Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 14, 1938. " I repeated to the Congress today that neither it nor the Chief Executive can afford to weaken or destroy great reforms which, during the past five years, have been effected on behalf of the American people."
Article: "The Jefferson Bible" by Thomas Jefferson.
Article: "The FBI Deputizes Business" by Matthew Rothschild, March 03, 2008.
Book: "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.
Article: "Keystone Senate Yea Votes: Seven Times More Oil & Gas Money" by Center for Responsive Politics.
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