The Week in Review
"Quite unbelievable" and "incomprehensible" was Sen. Bernie Sanders' reaction to the disclosure that American Olympic athletes will be wearing uniforms that were made in China. The same things could be said about high gas prices. Concerned about workers who drive long distances to and from jobs, Sanders in the past has focused on wasteful tax subsidies for Big Oil. He's also complained about federal commodity market regulators doing little to stop speculators. Now he's shining a spotlight on prices at gas stations in Burlington, Vt. He released figures on Friday showing that stations in his hometown have the highest profit margins of any city east of the Rocky Mountains.
Gas Prices
Gasoline profit margins in the Burlington, Vt., area at the end of June were double the national average, according to detailed data that Sanders made public on Friday. Nationwide, Burlington was the fifth most profitable gas market in the United States at the end of June, according to the fuel price research firm. (The other most profitable markets were Bellingham Wash., Seattle, Wash., Portland, Ore., and Yuma, Ariz.)
U.S. Olympic Uniforms Made in China
The uniforms to be worn by U.S. athletes during the opening ceremony for the Olympics in London later this month are red, white and blue. But they were made in China. In Sanders' view, "This action on the part of the US Olympic Committee is symbolic of a disastrous trade policy which has cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and must be changed." The Nation agreed with Sanders that this should inspire "a serious re-examination of trade policies gone horribly awry," as John Nichols put it.
Are Interest Rates Rigged?
"Suppose the bankers are manipulating the interest rate so they can place bets with the money you lend or repay them - bets that will pay off big for them because they have inside information on what the market is really predicting, which they're not sharing with you. That would be a mammoth violation of public trust," The University of California's Robert Reich wrote. His column about the emerging banking scandal and what to do about it caught the senator's eye. One of Reich's conclusions is something Sanders has advocated since the 2008 financial collapse: break up the too-big-to-fail banks before taxpayers have to bail them out again.
Middle-Class Tax Cuts
President Obama on Monday proposed a one-year extension of tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000 a year. The president would let Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans expire. "That makes sense," Sanders said Friday on The Thom Hartmann Program. "Those people who talk about deficits but at the same time want to keep tax breaks for the wealthy are being hypocrites."
Small Business Tax Credit
Yet another filibuster by Senate Republicans blocked consideration of a proposed tax credit intended to encourage employers to hire new workers. Sanders was in the 53-44 majority on Thursday, but backers still fell seven votes short of the 60 needed under Senate rules to advance the bill.
