Bernie Sanders Running for US President

[dust1n]

Despite the haters.

Attendees are asked to RSVP before the July 29 event, which will go from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Beer and appetizers will be served at the event. The event's Facebook page said, "We got hundreds of excited supporters coming. We have a great location, merchandise, and hype!

"Please brings your friends and family. This is when our movement begins."

According to Sanders' website, BernieSanders.com, the event reached its maximum capacity of 550 attendees Tuesday morning.

Bernie Sanders campaign event in Cincinnati

21-year-ld Bernie:

It began with a 2,000-word, ALL-CAPS-laced manifesto in the Maroon, the daily student newspaper, outlining the intellectual case for sexual freedom. Titled "Sex and the Single Girl—Part Two" (a nod to Helen Gurley Brown's feministtreatise), Sanders attacked the university's strict student housing guidelines—which prohibited women from living off-campus and restricted visiting access for persons of the opposite sex—with the kind of fire he'd later reserve for capitalists and war hawks.

"s the Administration's decision in favor of forced chastity, and the right to punish violators of it, based on scientific and rational opinion (the only kind of opinion which students should accept), or is it simply based on a combination of the Bible and Ann Landers?" he asked.

"In my opinion, the administrators of this university are as qualified to legislate on sex as they are to mend broken bones. One can best use an old saying to describe their actions; that their ignorance of the matter is only matched by their presumptuousness. If they dislike sex, or if they think that it is 'dirty,' or 'evil,' or 'sinful' that is their misfortune. It is incredible, however, that they should be allowed to pass their attitudes, or neuroses, on to the student body."

"Not only must the administrators not be allowed to forbid students who desire sexual intercourse from being able to have it, but they must also not be allowed to prevent a man and a woman from spending a night in conversation, or from simply studying together, alone," he wrote.

"Who is to measure the value that a group of people, or two people, can receive as a result of a night's conversation? How are the administrators so knowledgeable that they can say that on long and intimate conversation, which might extend beyond one o'clock in the morning, is not worth more to the people who participated in it than a year of academic education? What do the administrators know about education or about life?"

Read 21-Year-Old Bernie Sanders' Manifesto on Sexual Freedom | Mother Jones

When the Louisiana Democratic Party last week announced presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was appearing at their annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, Sanders supporter Anne Williamson was in a bit of a quandary.

Williamson, of Baton Rouge, had been running the Louisiana for Bernie Facebook group, and when the event was announced her smartphone lit up with notifications. People she knew through the Facebook group wanted to see Sanders speak, but few were willing to pay for the $175-per-plate price Democrats were charging for their biggest fundraiser.

But now Sanders' supporters are breathing a little easier after Sanders' campaign announced the Vermont senator will hold a town hall meeting in New Orleans on July 26. It'll be a rare chance to see a Democratic presidential candidate so early in the primary process, and an opportunity for some of the state's most liberal Democrats to gather and talk about political views they often aren't comfortable discussing in a Red State political environment like Louisiana.

Bernie Sanders' Louisiana supporters may be few, but they're organizing quickly | NOLA.com

Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders will hold a town hall meeting in West Des Moines on Friday. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Valley High School, 3650 Woodland Ave.

Sanders, an independent U.S. senator from Vermont, is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

Sanders was last in Iowa on July 17, when he and the four other Democratic presidential contenders shared the spotlight at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Hall of Fame Celebration.

The Sanders campaign will hold a myriad of small organizing events on July 29, in which the candidate and campaign staff will address supporters through live broadcasts.

Bernie Sanders to hold West Des Moines town hall meeting

Vice President Joe Biden declared last week that the “one single thing” that would make it possible to turn liberal priorities into law would be to “get private money out of the political process.” Democratic candidates, he said, should “start in our own party” by only taking limited amounts of money during primaries from “millionaires and billionaires.”

Noticeably, Biden did not then add: “… And that’s exactly what I’ll be doing as I run for the Democratic presidential nomination, starting today!”

So while these were nice words on Biden’s part, it was a little like LeBron James holding the ball with 30 seconds left in game seven of the finals, saying, “I think one of our good players should really take a shot!” (Of course, that may be too flattering to Biden. He’s more like the Democrats’ Karl Malone: two finals, no championships.)

If anyone is living up to Biden’s words, it’s Bernie Sanders, who has committedto not accepting Super PAC support. By contrast, Super PACs affiliated with Hillary Clinton have so far raised $24 million, including million-dollar-plus donations from billionaires Haim Saban and George Soros. Of the $47.5 million Clinton’s campaign itself has raised to date in donations capped at $2,700, just one-fifth came from donors giving $200 or less, compared to four-fifths of Sanders’ $15 million.

Biden was speaking to Generation Progress, the youth arm of the think tankCenter for American Progress, which is closely linked to the Democratic Party. Biden told his young audience that “no matter how much you love me or somebody else, you have to demand” of Democratic candidates that they take limited money from the one percent — at least during primaries. For general elections, Biden said, in which even candidates who dislike the current system can’t be expected to unilaterally disarm, “it’s going to require a constitutional amendment” nullifying Citizens United and related Supreme Court decisions.

However, just as Biden did not announce he’s running for president using his own proposed rules, he also did not say, “When I leave office I’ll be perfectly positioned as an elder party statesman to devote the rest of my life to making these things happen!” So while these were are all great-sounding words from Biden, and it’s better that he say them than not, top Democrats have been talking for 40 years about how they want to get money out of politics, with the present-day system to show for it.

Moreover, money influences politics in many more ways than simply funding political candidates — and one subtle but important mechanism is via the funding of think tanks like the Center for American Progress.

After complaints about CAP’s prior lack of transparency, it recently released a list of its 2014 donors. Of the seven donors giving more than $1,000,000, three are anonymous. (The other four are predictable funders for a liberal institution: the Ford Foundation, Hutchins Family Foundation, Sandler Foundation and TomKat Charitable Trust.) CAP also received somewhere between $500,000 and $999,000 from the United Arab Emirates, and between between $100,000 and $499,000 from Japan, Walmart, Citigroup, Apple, Microsoft and the private equity firm Blackstone.

Joe Biden: Some Democrat Who's Not Him Should "Get Private Money Out of Politics"

 

[dust1n]

Some more unusual endorsements for Sanders:

"Jesse Ventura has been turning some heads lately. This time, he’s making waves by saying that Bernie Sanders is his “hero” right now. It’s a shock coming from the former Minnesota governor who once said he considered himself a “moderate Libertarian.”

On his show, Off the Grid, Ventura discussed the problems he has with how wealth and income are distributed in this country and took time to give Bernie Sanders a nod."

Jesse Ventura Says Bernie Sanders is His Hero

WASHINGTON -- The longtime leader of one of the country’s most powerful labor unions is joining the Democratic presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and he says presumed frontrunner Hillary Clinton made it an easy call.

Larry Cohen, outgoing president of the Communications Workers of America, told The Huffington Post he will serve as an unpaid volunteer stumping for Sanders as the Vermont senator seeks the Democratic nomination. One of the main factors in his decision, Cohen said, was Clinton’s equivocation on granting President Barack Obama so-called fast-track authority on his mammoth trade deal.

“I did everything I knew how to do to get Clinton to speak out on fast track, and she wouldn’t,” said Cohen, whose 10 years leading CWA came to an end in June. "We begged her to speak out.

Labor Leader Joins Bernie Sanders' Campaign, Citing Clinton's 'Silence' On Fast Track

"Democrat Hillary Clinton is trailing some potential Republican opponents in three key swing states,according to a new poll from Quinnipiac, and doing about as well against the GOP as one of her rivals for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders.

The poll of likely voters in Colorado, Iowa, and Virginia—all states Barack Obama and George W. Bush won at least once—finds Clinton trailing Republicans Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Scott Walker. In Colorado, Clinton is losing to Rubio by 8 points, Bush by 5 points, and Walker by 9 points; in Iowa, Clinton trails Rubio by 8 points, Bush by 6 points, and Walker by 8 points; and in Virginia, Clinton is behind Rubio by 2 points, Bush by 3 points, and Walker by 3 points.

Sanders, an independent socialist senator from Vermont, is performing about the same as Clinton against those three Republicans. In Colorado, Sanders trails Rubio by 11 points, Bush by 6 points, and Walker by 8 points; in Iowa, Sanders is losing to Rubio by 7 points, Bush by 4 points, and Walker by 8 points; and in Virginia, Sanders is behind Rubio by 7 points, Bush by 10 points, and Walker by 8 points."

Swing State Polls: Bernie Just As Strong As Hillary | The Weekly Standard

 

[ShivaFan]

I think, in part, the reason Bernie is getting the support he does, is because he seems to represent the "old value" wing of the "workers party", viz union labour, and the value of the blue collar worker. When I was a kid, we used to sing a song, it has been so long I may flub up the lyrics, something like, "I salute the worker, because the worker is the work, I salute the farmer, because the farmer is the food, I salute the soldier, because the soldier is the blood". Something like that. The failure of the Democratic Party is, it no longer represents those "old school" values. Yes, I know in his younger days he was sort of a hippie. But a lot of folks were. To many, however, he represents the worker, the values of the workers and the working class. He is NOT a liberal (to many). And Republicans, even they admire him in the sense that he has these values which really are very popular among the farming, working class, and he is honest and says openly he is a Socialist. I totally distrust "Socialism" as represented by a bunch of far leftists today - but I do not think this is the Socialism of Bernie. I hate Hillary, and actually hope Bernie gets the nomination. Of course, I will support the Republican candidate over Bernie, except if it is Bush then I won't, nor Perry, nor McCain, nor Graham, but nevertheless, many Republicans also sort of admire Bernie. Best of luck in his endeavor.

 

[sun rise]

Now Bernie Sanders is being called a Nazi without using that word itself by the right. I'm having trouble controlling my rage at this pile of utter excrement. That pile of wormy excrement staining the universe also implies he's a communist which is bizarre upon insane.

Though careful not to call Bernie Sanders "a Nazi" outright because of his Jewish heritage and past, Kevin Williamson, writing in the politically conservative National Review, more than implies that Sanders' brand of protectionism favoring U.S.-American workers' rights and jobs, when linked to this self-described socialist political philosophy amounts to his "strange brew of nationalism and socialism...leading a national-socialist movement," which is a clear and obvious reference to the Nazi party.

Attacks Against Bernie Sanders Have Reached New Depths | Warren J. Blumenfeld

And if you want to wade in poo, put on your gas mask and head over to
Bernie Sanders's Politics of National Socialism | National Review Online

 

[ShivaFan]

Well, Sunrise, I didn't read the NR article you linked in the post (no time) but from the few one liners you shared, it does strike me as an interesting view from NR. You do understand, that when the National Socialist German Workers Party first started, it was a "beer hall" type movement full of advocates for the workers, and for labour (albeit German labour), members were many unemployed soldiers of WWI thrown in the streets of those cold German winters as victims of excessive demands for "reparations" and victims of inflation, yes the racialist elements of the movement often played upon the "dirty capitalist Jew" and the "Jewish bankers" socialist propaganda, this took the movement down the path to destruction and mass murder - but nevertheless, there were strong laborist and glorification of the simple German working family in thoae early days before Hitler purged the Brownshirts and the Freebooters including many in the upper ranks who were homos, so it is not entirely this big deal element of insult to Bernie and perhaps you should take a chill pill. I don't think NR (this author) is saying Bernie is Hitler, just some (now that I think of it), repeat, SOME aspects of the early NSDAP that has the same "attractions" of the masses that we see Bernie is getting, No harm here, calm down.

NR is a great magazine by the way. Not as good as it was in the 1970s and while under WFB Jr., but still great. Intellectual. Many geniuses there. You could learn a lot with a subscription.

I remember when WFB Jr. ran for Mayor of N.Y. on the Conservative Party of N.Y. ticket then wrote a book about it. It is a great read!

 

[sun rise]

Based on that dung-heap of an article, there's no way I'm going to give them any money nor spend time looking for any gems amongst the poop.

 

[dust1n]

Some great Bernie Bumps this weekend...

Seems the impossible leans more and more plausible, too likely, day after day.

"A just released CNN poll finds Sanders out-polling all of the GOP's major candidates, though pretty much tied with Jeb Bush. Here's how Sanders stacks up:

SANDERS: 48%
BUSH: 47%

SANDERS: 48%
WALKER: 42%

SANDERS: 59%
TRUMP: 38%

If you limit the poll sample to just registered voters, Bush defeats Sanders by a single point.

Either way, this credible poll suggests that Sanders is not just some pie in the sky general election candidate. His more uphill battle may be the primary. But even there, he has some strengths. Polling out last week shows he's the only candidate from either side who has a net favorability rating."

http://www.alternet.org/election-20...rs-beating-scott-walker-donald-trump-jeb-bush

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders drew a crowd of about 4,500 people to a rally in Kenner,Louisiana, on Sunday, his campaign estimated, continuing his pattern of gathering enthusiastic audiences across the country.

While the audience at the Pontchartrain Center wasn’t the biggest the Vermont senator had seen, it was noteworthy in another way: A month earlier, Republican Governor Bobby Jindal drew a crowd of about 1,000 people to the same venue for his presidential campaign announcement, according to theTimes-Picayune.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/a...s-finds-warm-welcome-in-louisiana-a-red-state

Totally unrelated SuperPAC info...

The most significant upcoming event in the GOP presidential nomination process is not the first debate August 6, or the litany of muppet stunts from marginal figures building up to it. It is not the Iowa state fair or whatever other day-dinner, cattle call, state party fundraiser thing that’s on the calendar. It is not any given Trump rally.

It is instead this Southern California “retreat,” wherein the biggest Republican millionayuhs and billionayuhs, as Bernie Sanders would put it, will convene the leading presidential candidates and order them to sing in their underpants, walk across hot coals, make out with wild animals and whatever other humiliating stunts they can come up with in exchange for large checks. The post-Citizens United, super PAC era has unrestrained the wealthy from fully purchasing our political system, and that’s terrible, but at least we can take some pleasure in the debasement as it happens.

David and Charles Koch will host their annual summer gathering this weekend under the banner of the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, “the umbrella group in the Kochs’ increasingly influential network of political and public policy outfits.” As Politico’s Ken Vogel reports, the event “is expected to draw 450 of the biggest financiers of the right for sessions about the fiscally conservative policies and politics that animate the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch and many of the donors in their network.” Aside from Dave and Chaz, other billionaires famous for purchasing elections who will be in attendance include Sheldon Adelson, whose main concern is the nuclear obliteration of Iran, and the “vulture fund” billionaire Paul Singer.

The fat cats will audition each of the “big four” candidates (Bush, Walker, Rubio and Cruz) as well as Carly Fiorina, another human who is running for president. Rand Paul claims to have been invited but won’t attend. He memorably bombed at the last Koch retreat in January: the young man was dressed informally and said to be slouching in his chair, like some lousy liberal Democrat would. Paul has since fared poorly in the solicitation of large billionaire checks and considers his time better spent elsewhere. (His allies, meanwhile, have just launched a third pro-Rand super PAC to serve as a receptacle for all of that big money he is not getting.)

http://www.salon.com/2015/07/28/bil...son_and_others_host_high_stakes_donor_summit/

So where’d the money go?

Unlike many political action committees, very little of the $753,000 it spent from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2015, went directly to political candidates and committees. Instead, SarahPAC’s top expenditures largely helped fortify its own existence—or helped Palin personally.

Federal rules governing spending by “leadership PACs”—committees run by current or former elected officials—are notoriously permissive, with both Democrats and Republicans regularly using the cash to fund lavish travel, pricy gifts, or just about any other self-indulgent expense.

Some of the top recent SarahPAC expenditures have included:

• $230,250 on consultants, including $80,500 to longtime aide and PAC treasurer Timothy Crawford
• $139,932 on direct mail, produced by conservative fundraising firm HSP Direct
• $128,482 on postage, printing, and related supplies
• $82,213 on travel and accommodations, including airfare, hotels, car and SUV rentals, travel agents, and taxis. The Waldorf Astoria in New York City ($4,562) and Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas ($797) were two particularly pricy line items. The $3,854 SarahPAC paid a New York–based limousine company came on Feb. 19, right after Palin appeared at the staging of Saturday Night Live’s 40th anniversary special, where she sat in the audience next to musician Taylor Swift.
• $48,000 on speech writing, mostly to Aries Petra Consulting, a small limited liability company registered in Virginia and based in Los Angeles
• $37,354 on Internet fundraising through Austin, Texas–based Harris Media LLC, which works for numerous conservative politicians

Yet, during the first half of 2015, SarahPAC only spent $25,000 oncandidate contributions—less than 4 percent of its overall expenditures.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...hotels_and_travel_than_on_gop_candidates.html

 

[Kapalika]

I really hope the Dem's choose him, give the GOP a run for their money! Literally LOL

 

[The Hammer]

Sander's has actually got me wanting to vote. 28 years old, and I have not voted once in the last decade, but I will vote for Sander's and I want to vote for Sanders. So I hope he get's pic as a Nominee!

 

[dust1n]

Been a bit:

"Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will address a convocation next month at Liberty University, the evangelical school where the firebrand Senator Ted Cruz kicked off his own presidential campaign.

Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Va., was founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell and has been a requisite stop for many Republican presidential candidates over the years, and for some Democratic gubernatorial candidates in the state. But it is not typically a place that Democratic primary candidates have sought to visit.

“Liberty University was kind enough to invite me to address a convocation and I decided to accept,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement his spokesman provided. “It goes without saying that my views on many issues — women’s rights, gay rights, education and many other issues — are very different from the opinions of some in the Liberty University community. I think it is important, however, to see if we can reach consensus regarding the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality in our country, about the collapse of the middle class, about the high level of childhood poverty, about climate change and other issues.”

He added: “It is very easy for a candidate to speak to people who hold the same views. It’s harder but important to reach out to others who look at the world differently. I look forward to meeting with the students and faculty of Liberty University.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/fir...-a-rare-venue-for-a-democratic-campaign/?_r=0

Bernie Sanders is closing in on Hillary Clinton, according to new polling from New Hampshire.

In a WMUR/University of New Hampshire poll released Tuesday, the Vermont senator is in a statistical tie with the Democratic presidential frontrunner, trailing her by six percentage points, which is just within the poll’s margin of error.

Among Democratic voters surveyed, 36 percent responded that they would vote for Sanders, while 42 percent said Clinton. Sanders leads Clinton in likeability and whether or not the candidate “best represents Democrats like themselves.”

Sanders and Clinton are virtually tied in terms of net electability, polling at 30 percent and 32 percent, respectively. Net electability measures the difference between the percentage of people who would vote for the candidate and the percentage of people who would not vote for him/her.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-new-hampshire_55c15303e4b0f7f0bebae9cb

Pretty soon, millions of American workers will know exactly how much less money they earn than their corporate bosses, as the Securities and Exchanges Commission voted in favor of a new rule today that requires every publicly traded company to regularly disclose the pay ratio between top company executives and their employees.

Although CEO pay is already revealed in a company’s annual proxy statement, this new rule will force corporations to assess and disclose the ratio of a chief executive’s compensation to the median compensation of their employees, starkly illuminating income inequality company-by-company.

As the New York Times reports, the vote passed by a 3-2 vote, with the Commission’s two Republicans voting against the measure, and will take effect in 2017 (although pay figures likely won’t be disclosed until 2018). Mary Jo White, the chairwoman of the SEC who has faced mounting pressure to act on executive compensation — including a searing letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren — voted in support of the rule.

A study by the Economic Policy Institute earlier this year found that in 2014, chief executive pay was 303 times higher than the average worker’s pay. EPI president Lawerence Mishel applaud the new rule, noting that the compensation of top CEOs grew nearly 1,000 percent from 1978 to 2014 and accounted for the “doubling of the income shares of the top 1.0 percent and top 0.1 percent of U.S. households from 1979 to 2007.”

The wealth gap has been a central theme of the Democratic presidential candidacy of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who hailed the new rule in a statement Wednesday.

“The decision to require companies to disclose how much more CEOs are paid than workers is an important step in the fight against income inequality,” Sanders said. “The average chief executive in America now makes nearly 300 times more than the average worker – and the gap between the people at the top and working families is growing wider and wider. I hope that shining a spotlight on the disparity will help working families.”

http://www.salon.com/2015/08/05/ber..._why_the_new_ceo_pay_rule_is_a_such_big_deal/

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is maintaining her commanding lead but most of her supporters would be comfortable if Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders got the nomination, a new poll has found.

According to a Monmouth University poll conducted July 30-Aug. 2 of 1,203 adults, Clinton has 52 percent support among Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters. Sanders trails her with just 16 percent support.

Among the party's other possible candidates:

• Vice President Joe Biden would get 12 percent;
• Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb each have 2 percent support;
• Former Rhode Island Gov. and Sen. Lincoln Chafee registers no support.

Assuming Biden does not enter the race, most Democrats say they would not mind if Sanders got the nomination, including 17 percent who would be enthusiastic about the prospect and 39 percent who would be satisfied.

Just 16 percent would be dissatisfied and 7 percent would be upset with a Sanders victory.

Twenty-two percent have no opinion, the poll reports.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/bernie-sanders-hillary-poll-democrats/2015/08/05/id/665501/

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I think I'll be happy if Hillary finds herself in another position of sure victory, and then an out-of-nowhere from behind victory she is bumped off the ballot again.

 

[Iti oj]

Sander's has actually got me wanting to vote. 28 years old, and I have not voted once in the last decade, but I will vote for Sander's and I want to vote for Sanders. So I hope he get's pic as a Nominee!

Register as a dem so you can vote in the primary ,

 

[The Hammer]

Register as a dem so you can vote in the primary ,

I plan on it. Just need to set it up as I don't live in my state so I need an absentee ballot.

 

[columbus]

Just 16 percent would be dissatisfied and 7 percent would be upset with a Sanders victory.

Do the polls say why people would be unhappy?
There is a big difference between not liking his policies and considering him likely to lose the general election.
Tom

 

[sun rise]

Been a bit:

"Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will address a convocation next month at Liberty University, the evangelical school where the firebrand Senator Ted Cruz kicked off his own presidential campaign.

Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Va., was founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell and has been a requisite stop for many Republican presidential candidates over the years, and for some Democratic gubernatorial candidates in the state. But it is not typically a place that Democratic primary candidates have sought to visit.

“Liberty University was kind enough to invite me to address a convocation and I decided to accept,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement his spokesman provided. “It goes without saying that my views on many issues — women’s rights, gay rights, education and many other issues — are very different from the opinions of some in the Liberty University community. I think it is important, however, to see if we can reach consensus regarding the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality in our country, about the collapse of the middle class, about the high level of childhood poverty, about climate change and other issues.”

He added: “It is very easy for a candidate to speak to people who hold the same views. It’s harder but important to reach out to others who look at the world differently. I look forward to meeting with the students and faculty of Liberty University.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/fir...-a-rare-venue-for-a-democratic-campaign/?_r=0

Bernie Sanders is closing in on Hillary Clinton, according to new polling from New Hampshire.

In a WMUR/University of New Hampshire poll released Tuesday, the Vermont senator is in a statistical tie with the Democratic presidential frontrunner, trailing her by six percentage points, which is just within the poll’s margin of error.

Among Democratic voters surveyed, 36 percent responded that they would vote for Sanders, while 42 percent said Clinton. Sanders leads Clinton in likeability and whether or not the candidate “best represents Democrats like themselves.”

Sanders and Clinton are virtually tied in terms of net electability, polling at 30 percent and 32 percent, respectively. Net electability measures the difference between the percentage of people who would vote for the candidate and the percentage of people who would not vote for him/her.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-new-hampshire_55c15303e4b0f7f0bebae9cb

Pretty soon, millions of American workers will know exactly how much less money they earn than their corporate bosses, as the Securities and Exchanges Commission voted in favor of a new rule today that requires every publicly traded company to regularly disclose the pay ratio between top company executives and their employees.

Although CEO pay is already revealed in a company’s annual proxy statement, this new rule will force corporations to assess and disclose the ratio of a chief executive’s compensation to the median compensation of their employees, starkly illuminating income inequality company-by-company.

As the New York Times reports, the vote passed by a 3-2 vote, with the Commission’s two Republicans voting against the measure, and will take effect in 2017 (although pay figures likely won’t be disclosed until 2018). Mary Jo White, the chairwoman of the SEC who has faced mounting pressure to act on executive compensation — including a searing letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren — voted in support of the rule.

A study by the Economic Policy Institute earlier this year found that in 2014, chief executive pay was 303 times higher than the average worker’s pay. EPI president Lawerence Mishel applaud the new rule, noting that the compensation of top CEOs grew nearly 1,000 percent from 1978 to 2014 and accounted for the “doubling of the income shares of the top 1.0 percent and top 0.1 percent of U.S. households from 1979 to 2007.”

The wealth gap has been a central theme of the Democratic presidential candidacy of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who hailed the new rule in a statement Wednesday.

“The decision to require companies to disclose how much more CEOs are paid than workers is an important step in the fight against income inequality,” Sanders said. “The average chief executive in America now makes nearly 300 times more than the average worker – and the gap between the people at the top and working families is growing wider and wider. I hope that shining a spotlight on the disparity will help working families.”

http://www.salon.com/2015/08/05/ber..._why_the_new_ceo_pay_rule_is_a_such_big_deal/

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is maintaining her commanding lead but most of her supporters would be comfortable if Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders got the nomination, a new poll has found.

According to a Monmouth University poll conducted July 30-Aug. 2 of 1,203 adults, Clinton has 52 percent support among Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters. Sanders trails her with just 16 percent support.

Among the party's other possible candidates:

• Vice President Joe Biden would get 12 percent;
• Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb each have 2 percent support;
• Former Rhode Island Gov. and Sen. Lincoln Chafee registers no support.

Assuming Biden does not enter the race, most Democrats say they would not mind if Sanders got the nomination, including 17 percent who would be enthusiastic about the prospect and 39 percent who would be satisfied.

Just 16 percent would be dissatisfied and 7 percent would be upset with a Sanders victory.

Twenty-two percent have no opinion, the poll reports.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/bernie-sanders-hillary-poll-democrats/2015/08/05/id/665501/

I'm really happy he's going to Liberty University. I think many on the left and right share an understanding about how crony capitalism is a real problem in the US today. Of course the solutions are wildly different but if there was at least public agreement about the problem, it would be a start.

 

[Politesse]

I really like Sanders, but have no idea what to make of his campaign. Like all of the Republican candidates, I have trouble imagining him in a general election, with the full support of his party. Then again, I said the same thing about Obama when people first started mentioning his name (back during the Kerry campaign!) and I was dead wrong about that. He'll certainly have my vote in the primary. But then, so did Biden. Clearly, I should stop using my inclinations as a weather vane for the nation's.

 

[dust1n]

Do the polls say why people would be unhappy?
There is a big difference between not liking his policies and considering him likely to lose the general election.
Tom

That's a good question. 23% either unsatisfied or upset. I wonder how much is from people who specifically don't want him president or as incredibly concerned that his nomination would mean a loss.

From the poll itself:

"Even those who currently support Clinton would befine with a Sanders-topped ticket. Half of
Clinton voters would be enthusiastic (7%) or satisfied (43%), while just 3-in-10 would be dissatisfied (18%) or upset (12%)."

http://www.monmouth.edu/assets/0/32...1087/b22fd0c3-5562-4e9d-99ae-680cd35121bb.pdf

So 30% of Hillary supporters dissatisfied, and 23% of Democrats in general would be dissatisfied.

 

[Politesse]

That's a good question. 23% either unsatisfied or upset. I wonder how much is from people who specifically don't want him president or as incredibly concerned that his nomination would mean a loss.

From the poll itself:

"Even those who currently support Clinton would befine with a Sanders-topped ticket. Half of
Clinton voters would be enthusiastic (7%) or satisfied (43%), while just 3-in-10 would be dissatisfied (18%) or upset (12%)."

http://www.monmouth.edu/assets/0/32...1087/b22fd0c3-5562-4e9d-99ae-680cd35121bb.pdf

So 30% of Hillary supporters dissatisfied, and 23% of Democrats in general would be dissatisfied.

IIRC, better than things looked when Obama and Clinton were at the height of their primary rivalry. On the other hand, even that animus died quickly once the primaries were over,.

 

[dust1n]

IIRC, better than things looked when Obama and Clinton were at the height of their primary rivalry. On the other hand, even that animus died quickly once the primaries were over,.

Once the primaries are over, no one actually remembers the pre-primary stages. But I'm sure it's still a great advantage to have your name more out there, earlier, and while polling better.

 

[Revoltingest]

Sanders silenced.....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...t-disrupted-by-black-lives-matter-protesters/