At a "Fight Oligarchy Tour' event in Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke about the two 'worlds' that exist in the United States.
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00:00Let's take a moment to do something that is not often done in the media, in the corporate media, or in the halls of Congress.
00:19And that is to tell the truth about what goes on in America today.
00:28And here it is, in a nutshell.
00:32On one hand, you have the people on top who have never, ever had it so good in the history of America.
00:43Mr. Bezos, Mr. Musk himself, listen to this, one man owns five times more wealth than the bottom 50% of American households.
01:01He is worth $340 billion, while the bottom 50% of households are worth $63 billion.
01:15The top 1% in America now owns more wealth than the bottom 90%.
01:27And CEOs of major corporations now earn 300 times what their workers make.
01:43Now that is one America.
01:45And it's an America where these guys really are separated from the reality of American life.
01:51They fly around in their own jets.
01:53They own their own islands.
01:55They send their kids to exclusive schools.
01:57They have nannies.
01:59They live in their very separate world.
02:01That's one world.
02:02And then there is another world.
02:04And in that other world, in the richest country in the history of the world, 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck.
02:18Does everybody here know what living paycheck to paycheck is about?
02:23Are some of you living paycheck to paycheck?
02:28Well, I know a little bit about it because I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck and grew up in a rent-controlled apartment.
02:40And let me tell you what living paycheck to paycheck is about.
02:45It is wondering what happens when your landlord raises your rent.
02:51It is wondering what happens when your kid gets sick and you can't take her to a doctor.
02:58It is wondering what happens to you when you can't afford the outrageous cost of prescription drugs.
03:06It is wondering what happens to you if your car breaks down.
03:19Think about this.
03:20If your car breaks down and the mechanic says it's a thousand bucks to fix the car, you don't have a thousand bucks.
03:27What do you do if you don't have that thousand bucks?
03:32You're going to lose your job.
03:33You lose your job, your whole life is shattered.
03:37That's living paycheck to paycheck.
03:40And you know what the reality of all of that is?
03:43And I want you to hear this.
03:44As a nation, despite spending so much on health care, we live about four years shorter lives than the people in other countries.
03:52But here's something that is very rarely discussed.
03:57If you are working class in America, you will live a seven-year shorter life on average than the rich.
04:10Why is that?
04:15Primarily stress.
04:19It's trying to figure out every single day, 365 days a year, how you're going to survive, how you're going to pay the bills, how you're going to take care of the basic necessities of life.
04:32And you do that day after day, week after week, year after year.
04:36It takes years from your life.
04:39So you've got an American economy today.
04:49People on top never had it so good.
04:52Working class people, 60% of whom live paycheck to paycheck.
04:57Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people living, working on for starvation wages.
05:04In America today, the richest country in the history of the world, we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major nation.
05:16In America, the wealthiest nation on earth, 22% of seniors are trying to get by on $15,000 a year or less.
05:27Half of older workers have nothing in the bank as they face retirement.