Saving Capitalism Page #6

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want a law passed,

there's nearly a 60% chance

it will be passed.

And if they don't want a certain law,

it doesn't pass.

Then they looked at everyday voters.

Issues that almost no one supports

having 30% chance of becoming law.

Issues that almost everyone supports

also have a 30% chance of becoming law.

They concluded, in their own words...

"The preferences of the average American

appear to have only a miniscule -

near zero -

statistically non-significant impact

upon public policy."

I'm always struck by

how close you can come,

as just an average American,

to the White House.

But,

your voice can't really reach

the decision-makers in the White House.

Over the last 50 years,

Washington has become an Emerald City.

It's capital money.

Money that is there for only one purpose,

and that is to influence outcomes.

It's apparent to me

that certain judges are alleging

that somehow corporations

have the same rights as citizens.

I don't accept that premise.

The US Supreme Court today

overturned laws on the books

for nearly a century,

and ruled that corporations

can spend freely now

on political campaigns.

What's the point in individual people

trying to influence politics

with their donations

if Exxon or some other company

can quite literally match,

and therefore, cancel out,

the combined donations of every single

individual donor in the nation?

The cacophony now...

of special interests...

with...

with...

megaphones larger

than you've ever seen in your life,

will drown out...

the voice of the people.

The bottom line is this.

The Supreme Court

has just predetermined the winners

of next November's elections.

It won't be Republicans.

It won't be Democrats.

It will be corporate America.

Whose streets? Our streets!

Whose streets? Our streets!

Whose streets? Our streets!

Whose streets? Our streets!

There was a giant show of support

for the "Occupy Wall Street" movement

on Wednesday.

Approximately 10,000 people

marched through lower Manhattan.

We got sold out!

The truth is,

many of the reasons

they're hitting the streets

are similar to the reasons

the Tea Partiers began their protest:

crony capitalism,

bailouts to big business.

Washington should listen

to their message because it is similar

to the Tea Party's message.

That is crony capitalism needs to stop.

We have a voice!

We have a voice!

They're spending our children's money,

our grandchildren's money.

They're just going to continue

to push the country into debt.

They're gonna destroy

the economy of America.

This country is upside down.

It's not working for 99%

of our society anymore.

The 1% keep getting richer

and everyone else

is getting poorer and poorer.

It seems to me that the blame

has to be placed on both parties.

And it's time

we sent a clear message to them.

You either stop railroading our people

and our country,

or we're gonna throw all you bums out.

It is 9:
00 p.m. on the East Coast.

And the moment of truth has arrived.

Welcome to the first debate night

of the 2016 presidential campaign

live from Quicken Loans Arena.

Mr. Trump, you have also

donated to several Democratic candidates.

You explained away those donations,

saying you did that

to get business-related favors.

You said recently, quote,

"When you give, they do

whatever the hell you want them to do."

You'd better believe it.

-It's true.

- What did they do?

I will tell you that our system is broken.

I gave to many people.

Before this, two months ago,

I was a businessman.

I give to everybody.

When they call, I give.

And you know what?

When I need something from them

two, three years later, I call them.

They are there for me.

-What did you get?

-That's a broken system.

I've never heard a candidate, never,

who's received huge amounts of money

from oil,

from coal, from Wall Street,

from the military industrial complex...

Not one candidate.

"All these campaign contributions

will not influence me.

I'm gonna be independent."

But why do they make millions of dollars

of campaign contributions?

They expect something.

Everybody knows that.

You've received millions of dollars

in contributions and speaking fees

from Wall Street companies.

How do you convince voters

that you're gonna level the playing field

when you're indebted

to its biggest players?

Well, I think it's pretty clear

that they know that I will.

You've got two billionaire

hedge fund managers...

They want to hear

your thoughts on Donald.

Oh, yeah.

Trump.

Brutally honest?

Go for it. Yeah!

I think he's a great businessman.

Oh.

I think this country needs

a businessman's standpoint.

Yeah?

-Do you know, he's against the union?

-A lot of people...

Yeah, I do. I do.

A lot of people don't like...

like to hear it, but I think

that's what this country needs.

A businessman.

-Not a politician.

-There you go.

I'm totally thinking that

we're being led too much by politics.

-"Politics"...

-Yes.

...instead of running this country

like a business.

But Donald Trump... Just...

It's a joke. He makes it into a joke.

-I agree but-

-We're a joke in other countries.

-He addresses a lot of the issues...

- The anger.

-...that are on...

- The anger.

Anger or issues.

It's anger. It's anger. He's...

He's using the people's anger

over the way government is operated.

And why do you think he's getting

the reaction that he's getting?

It's because he's saying stuff

that people are thinking.

- Oh, yeah.

-He's getting the reaction of the people.

That's the same thing with Bernie.

-Bernie's saying...

- Exactly.

That's why I like Bernie.

-And I like Trump. I'm torn.

- I know.

Bernie is a smart, intelligent man.

Bernie is my man.

So it's not Republican - Democrat.

- No!

- No, it's both.

-It is. So...

- Both of them.

If it was up to me, I would say,

"Hey, let's get a fresh stack of...

people that we can put in office."

I don't like any of them now.

- Re-elect nobody.

-Huh?

- Re-elect nobody.

- There you go!

Elect Willie Nelson.

Populism is a reaction

against those in power

in favor of the broad public.

But populism, let me hasten to say,

has two very different faces...

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

But to be more general about it,

when people are angry

and frustrated and afraid,

and they feel economically insecure,

they tend to either move toward

authoritarian populism

which is, "Give me the strong man

who's going to fix everything

on behalf of the people."

But it's anti-Democratic

and often uses scapegoating

as a way to generate

greater and greater support.

Or, alternatively,

populism can take the form of reform.

That is "We're gonna rebuild the system.

We're going to create

a very, very different system

that is much more reflective

of the people's needs."

So populism is not necessarily good.

It depends...

on what form it takes.

Faith in our major institutions

has plummeted over the last 30 years.

And this is dangerous.

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