'Their Religion Is Greed, Greed, And More Greed': Bernie Sanders Rails Against US 'Oligarchs'

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At a "Fight Oligarchy Tour' event in Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) accused 'oligarchs' in the United States of subscribing to a 'religion of greed.'

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00:00The power of the billionaire class exists not only in the economy.

00:09Today we have an economy with more concentration of ownership

00:15than we have ever had in the history of this country.

00:17You know what that means?

00:18It means that in sector after sector of our economy,

00:21a handful of large corporations control what's produced

00:25and how much you pay for those products.

00:30And that is why, in many instances, prices are so high.

00:35But they control not only the economy,

00:39they also control our corrupt campaign finance system.

00:47Now, I want you to think about it.

00:49I want you to think about it for a second, and you tell me.

00:52And I don't care if you are a conservative, Republican,

00:56a progressive, an independent, moderate, whatever you are.

00:59You tell me.

01:00Do you think it is appropriate in this, the longest standing democracy on earth,

01:06that one man, Mr. Musk, could donate $270 million to elect Trump as president,

01:18and then get rewarded by getting the most important and powerful position in government.

01:29But I have to tell you, I have to tell you, it's not just Musk and Republicans,

01:39that corruption exists in the Democratic Party as well.

01:50Billionaires in the Democratic side make huge contributions.

01:58And there is a reason why, for too many years, and for too many candidates,

02:03Democrats have not had the guts to take on powerful special interests.

02:08I want to say something else, and that is, yeah, I want to say a lot of things.

02:23You know, I am not somebody who is, you know, I am proud to be Jewish, but I am not into organized religion very much.

02:36But, but, but, but, but, I do believe in moral values.

02:46I believe in that a lot.

02:51And I do believe, you know, Christ's Sermon on the Mount, what did he say?

02:56He said, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

03:03And it turns out that that principle, do unto others as you would have them do unto you,

03:09exists in virtually every religion on earth.

03:13It exists in Judaism, it exists in Islam, it exists in every religion.

03:19Treat people in the way that you would want them to treat you.

03:25Be decent to other people, be kind to other people, so they will be kind to you.

03:37And I know that in Utah, and in Vermont, and all over the country,

03:42there are millions, tens of millions of people who believe that, who try to do the right thing.

03:46Try to be decent, try to be humble, try to respect the rights of other people, try not to be bullies.

03:52Millions and millions of people hold that ethos very, very strongly.

03:57But I do want to say that in terms of the oligarchs in this country, they are also very religious people.

04:07But they have a strange religion.

04:13Their religion is greed, greed, and more greed.

04:17All over this country, we have a very serious problem in Vermont, and all over this country, about addiction, right?

04:37People addicted to drugs, people are drinking too much, all types of addiction.

04:46These people, the oligarchs, are addicted to greed.

04:51Our job is to help them break that addiction.

04:54We cannot continue to live in a country where billionaires will step on people,

05:12take food away from hungry children in order to give tax breaks to people who don't need it.

05:25I happen to believe that we are more human.

05:30We live more fulfilled lives when we try to help other people, not step on other people.

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