BENNINGTON -- Senator Bernie Sanders stopped in Bennington Saturday for the first of six town meetings across southern Vermont over the weekend.

"One of the components of democracy," Sanders said, "that I think has served our state more than any other state for the past couple hundred years, is that we believe in town meetings. We believe intelligent people can sit down and talk through this stuff, the burning issues of the day."

Sanders invited six local community leaders to speak before him, covering issues which Sanders tied into the overarching theme of the town meeting, which was the state of the economy.

Sanders began the meeting by talking about the effects of the recession and the policies of the previous White House administration. "In Vermont and all over the country," he said, "people are working longer hours for lower wages."

The federal stimulus package

"But here is a sliver of good news," said Sanders. "Instead of losing private sector jobs, we are beginning to start to create them."

Sanders credited the federal stimulus package for saving or creating 2.5 million jobs nationwide, 7,000 in the state of Vermont. "Some of you might get a little bit frustrated because you drive down Route 7 and there’s construction going on," he said. "But I’ll tell you something Š We are putting more money into road construction and improvements today than I believe in the history of the state of Vermont.
Advertisement
And you know what, this state needs that work."

"We are repairing, through the stimulus package alone, 20 bridges in the state of Vermont. Do we need to do a lot more? We sure do."

The stimulus package, said Sanders, did not solve all of our problems. But he called it a significant step forward, funding VA healthcare, childcare and Head Start programs, transforming the energy system, and rebuilding a national infrastructure Sanders called "crumbling."

On the federal healthcare bill, Sanders said that it doubled funding for federally qualified health centers (FQHC), a federal program that provides walk-in primary, dental, and mental health care, regardless of income.

"We now have 41 [FQHC] locations all over the state where people walk in the door and receive quality primary and dental care, serving 108,000 Vermonters," said Sanders. "Two counties don’t have them," he said, Bennington and Addison Counties.

"We are right now working with people in your county to bring that about. We have a free clinic here that does a great job, but we need more. We need a facility there five, six days a week."

Medicare for all

"I am a strong believer," Sanders said, "that at the end of the day, if we are serious in providing healthcare to every man, woman, and child in a cost-effective way -- a way that we don’t end up spending more than twice that of any other country on Earth -- the only way is a Medicare for all, single-payer program."

Sanders said that the bill allowed for states to move in that direction starting in 2017, and he was working in the Senate to get that changed to 2014. "My hope is that some state, and it might well be the state of Vermont, will lead the country into a Medicare for all, single-payer system. And when we do that, the rest of the country will not be far behind."

"Now some of you may say that a single-payer system is a very radical idea," said Sanders. "I’m going to get people nervous. Medicare is a single-payer system for seniors."

Sanders said that parents were very positive about Vermont’s Dr. Dinosaur SCHIP program, and that veterans across the country were proud of their national VA system, both examples of what Sanders called "socialized healthcare."

"Bottom line is, we’re making progress in Vermont in terms of primary healthcare. We will work toward bringing a community health center to Bennington County and Addison County. We are going to expand primary care for veterans Š National healthcare reform is a step forward."

On the Wall Street financial crisis and bailout, Sanders listed four major financial institutions that issue two-thirds of the nation’s credit cards and half of the mortgages.

"My view is that if you want to end ‘too big to fail,’ you don’t want another bailout of Wall Street Š there’s only one thing to do. What is it?"

"You break these babies up, that’s what you do."

Sanders said the process to begin breaking up large financial institutions fell short in the Senate with only 32 votes.

On high credit card rates of 25 to 30 percent, Sanders called it usury. "And usury, interestingly enough, has been condemned for thousands of years by every major religion Š every religion in the world says it is immoral to get blood from a stone."

Citing a success, Sanders told the audience to check the Federal Reserve’s Website starting Dec.1, due to an audit of the Federal Reserve through the financial crisis. "You will see published for the first time every nickle that went to a financial institution in zero interest loans, TARP as well."

Sanders called jobs the number one issue facing Washington. He said by investing in infrastructure, energy independence and weatherization, there were opportunities to create good quality local jobs.

"Now, some of you may be thinking, ‘Oh, that sounds great, but you know what Bernie, you’re talking about spending all our money, and we got a large deficit out there, what are we going to do?’"

Sanders addressed the national deficit and debt, calling it a serious problem, compounded by the Iraq war, "tax breaks for millionaires," and the Wall Street bailout.

Cutting education as some contend was one way to save money, Sanders said. But, he continued, "let me give you some more positive ways to save money."

"Every year in this country the wealthiest people and the biggest corporations save a $100 billion a year by putting their money in tax shelters in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, how’s that? I say we end that practice today and have these guys pay their fair share."

Sanders said that one in four large corporations paid no federal income tax in 2005, on five trillion dollars of revenue. "You have Exxon-Mobil a couple years ago, the most profitable company in the history of the world. Last year they had a bad year. It was the recession, and they only made $19 billion. Bad year. Now, I hope people don’t get too upset. Š Guess how much they paid in taxes last year?"

"No, they didn’t pay zero," Bernie said. "You’ll be happy to know they got a tax refund from the IRS of $156 million dollars."

"Now when you’re dealing with a deficit and a national debt, I think that is being a little bit absurd." Sanders also pointed to $20 billion spent by the Pentagon each year on unneeded spare parts.

Sanders said the problem of Social Security solvency "vanished" if you lifted the cap on what individuals pay into the system. Currently, Sanders said, billionaires pay the same as someone making $106,000 a year.