“The obscene and increasing level of wealth and income inequality in this country is immoral, un-American and unsustainable. At a time when the middle class is disappearing and more people are living in poverty than ever before, Forbes magazine this week found that the world’s 1,645 billionaires had an aggregate net worth of $6.4 trillion, up $1 trillion from a year ago,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Friday. 

“This number included Charles and David Koch, major funders of the Tea Party, whose combined fortune went from $68 billion to $80 billion.  Sheldon Adelson, another major Republican donor, saw his wealth go from $26.5 billion to $38 billion – an increase of $11.5 billion.  Unbelievably, these three individuals, who are major donors to right-wing Republicans, saw their wealth piles grow last year by more than the total median earnings of 425,000 public school teachers.

“Meanwhile, the Labor Department announced on Friday that real unemployment in the United States last month stood at 12.6 percent. In other words, the very, very, very rich are getting much richer while ordinary Americans are struggling to survive. When so few have so much, and so many have so little, our democracy and economy are under fierce assault.  This is not what America is supposed to be about.  This must change,” Sanders said.