Bernie's Millions

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

The real question is not what Bernie possesses but who his political program serves. The top 1 percent? In 2017, the very year of his peak royalties fortune, Sanders voted against the Trump tax cut giveaway, 85 percent of which went to the 1 percent.

Advocating economic justice despite possessing substantial wealth is not hypocrisy — the name for that is integrity. Hypocrisy is when a news outlet that routinely promotes the fiction that everyone can be a millionaire slams someone for becoming one.

Bernie’s financial balance sheet was determined by his politics — not the other way round. His financial windfall was an accidental side effect of movement-building, reaped by someone who has never shown any sign of being motivated primarily by individual gain. (Demagogues and fraudsters of that sort have been known to enter into politics.)

Accordingly, we should tally Bernie’s wealth in its moral and political dimensions, not by bank accounts and real estate. He does have many millions: the millions who would achieve health care under his Medicare for All policy, the millions whose Social Security he would protect, the millions of veterans whose benefits he has defended, the millions of students whose college education he would make free, the millions of supporters who have attended his rallies, knocked on doors, stood in caucuses, bought Our Revolution, talked to their relatives, made phone calls, and taken other small measures in their lives to use his message as a means to push for economic equality and democracy against the tendencies of contemporary capitalism that seem only to enrich the 1 percent at the expense of all others.

Those are Bernie’s millions.

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/05/bernie-politico-antisemitism-democratic-socialist-millionaire-net-worth

[left-of-center2012]

1. Jacobin (magazine)

‘Jacobin’ is a democratic socialist quarterly magazine based in New York offering American leftist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture.

Articles include pieces on wealth inequality, the power of mass protest, pieces on unions.

Its paid print circulation was 36,000.
Noam Chomsky has called the magazine "a bright light in dark times".

https://tinyurl.com/yxjh8epm

[Uncle Joe]

2. Thank you for the addition left of center.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. Jacobin's obsession with and defense of Sanders' wealth reminds me of anti-choicers who are okay

getting an abortion because they REALLY need one.

"His financial windfall was an accidental side effect of movement-building."

That's a hell of a side effect.

[George II]

4. Writing books, then having his campaign and speaking tour promoters buy them wasn't "accidental".

[Vidal]

5. I agree

you are so right

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. I'm saying.

[Autumn]

7. Side effect? What do you call Bill Clinton, one of our best being broke when he left the White House

Last edited Mon May 27, 2019, 11:07 AM - Edit history (1)

and now being worth around 80 million and his wife is worth around 45 mil? What about Obama being worth around 40 mil ? Pelosi around 16mil ? Di Fi a cool 58 mil? The Bidens are worth about 2 mil and have a deal for 8 mil for 3 books yet to be written.

There's your one hell of a side effect.

The ones that are obsessed with Sanders' paltry 2 mil are fine with all of our other Dems wealth. But... BERNIE!!!!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. So the acceptable level of wealth that doesn't get slammed by Sanders supporters is exactly what

Sanders has and no higher. Got it.

The ones that are obsessed with Sanders' paltry 2 mil are fine with all of our other Dems wealth.

Jacobin is definitely not fine with other (sic) Democrats' wealth, but they sure do a lot of work reminding us that Sanders' is somehow DIFFERENT. Maybe because he's not a Democrat? IDEK.

[Autumn]

11. Your idea of slamming is much different than mine. I have no problem with the Clinton's, Biden's,

Obama's or the Sander's wealth. They all earned their money. But I laugh at people who trash Bernie for his while giving a pass to the others. I also find the accusation that Sanders supporters only think that Bernie's 2 mill is acceptable to be laughable along with the HE'S NOT A DEMOCRAT!!!! to be the highest order of hypocrisy.

[murielm99]

9. I guess if Bernie only has two million,

then he is not as good a writer as the others.

Nancy Pelosi was wealthy before she took office.

I mean, as long as we are making dollar comparisons.

[Autumn]

12. Yeah we are making dollar comparisons. Don't like it? Ignore me. nt

[murielm99]

15. What a great way to encourage discussion

on a discussion board.

If we don't like what you say, we have to shut up and ignore it.

[Autumn]

18. You are encouraging discussion? Funny, this doesn't seem like a "discussion" about all our other

Dems in office becoming wealthy. By the way, not all of their wealth is from their book sales.

I guess if Bernie only has two million,

then he is not as good a writer as the others.

[murielm99]

19. Don't turn around and blame me when

you were the one who told me not to contribute to this thread.

And you were the one who brought other Democrats into it. This thread was about Bernie, and it was not necessarily critical of him to start out.

[George II]

10. Why do the Clintons get dragged into every discussion? What do they have to do with this topic?

Still fighting the 2016 primary?

But remember, the Clintons weren't "millionaires" while in office and didn't become so until they were private citizens. Plus, the Clintons didn't devote their political careers decrying the rich and "1%".

[Autumn]

14. if you think my post is refighting the 16 primary for the mere mention of the names

Clinton and Sanders in a response having nothing to do with politics but their personal wealth then you know what to do George. Botton left-hand corner. One and done.

7. Autumn (34,592 posts)

7. Side effect? What do you call Bill Clinton, one of our best being broke when he left the White House

and now being worth around 80 million and his wife is worth around 45 mil? What about Obama being worth around 40 mil ? Pelosi around 16mil ? Di Fi a cool 58 mil? The Bidens are worth about 2 mil and have a deal for 8 mil for 3 books yet to be written.

There's your one hell of a side effect.

The ones that are obsessed with Sanders' paltry 2 mil are fine with all of our other Dems wealth. But... BERNIE!!!!

[George II]

17. You still haven't told us what the Clintons have to do with this topic. Plus....

....the Clintons, Pelosi, Feinstein, and the Bidens are a "side effect" of, as the article put it, Sanders' "financial windfall" which was "an accidental side effect".

[Me.]

22. It's The Look Over There Strategy

for inconvenient questions

[lapucelle]

26. So WJC didn't earn his millions while in office and BS did?

Interesting.

[Autumn]

27. Fact, the Clinton's were in debt when they left the White House. They had enormous legal bills

due to White Water. I imagine some of their book money went to pay those legal bills. You always have the most "interesting innuendos". As you are well aware Sanders wrote a few books while in office too so yeah, he made money.

[lapucelle]

28. Yes, I know dear. I was making sure you knew. BS made millions while in office. Bill Clinton didn't.

Most people are well aware that millionaire BS spent August 2016 maximizing his wealth when he could have been doing other things.

Democrats will never forget that BS prioritized building his bank account in August 2016.

Nor will history forget.

[George II]

29. In 2008, just days after the end of the Democratic National Convention, Obama's chief rival....

....was out on the campaign trail, campaigning for Obama.

In 2016 Sanders was conspicuously absent for six weeks after the Convention. As you point out, he had other priorities other than helping the Democrats retain the Presidency.

[lapucelle]

33. What better way to take a break than relaxing at the new lake house,

writing a few pages here and there so you can bank the book advance and maximize pre-sales and profits on Amazon with a November 2016 release date.

Don't forget to schedule the advance ticket sales for the lucrative book tour! Those books won't sell themselves!

"I wrote a best-selling book. If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too."

Not ME...US, indeed.

[BannonsLiver]

32. I call it whataboutism.

[stonecutter357]

13. millionaires and billionaires !

[Uncle Joe]

16. And Bernie is still most willing to raise taxes on the them and on himself.

[LakeArenal]

20. It's so NOT about what Bernie has...

It’s about what I don’t have.

I see Sanders supporters taking the bait about “Sanders’ Millions”.

If you don’t care that Sanders has millions or million then don’t care about it.

I don’t care about it and I don’t even like Sanders anymore.

[Me.]

21. Of Course It Is

And is for every politician and why we want to see tax returns.

[George II]

30. COMPLETE and unaltered tax returns!

[lapucelle]

23. "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others purely as an accidental

side effect" sounds reasonable to me.

And as for the moral dimensions of BS's wealth, Politico notes that the accidental side effect of his wealth is due to

...his 2016 presidential run, the most lucrative thing he’s ever done...

and it is a comfort to know that not every American got screwed as a result of 2016. We should all be happy for BS!

[Hortensis]

24. Sure, he can't help being in the 1% the tax

heist was designed to reward, i.e., those of accidentally increased equality.

I do wish, though, that his nearly 30 years in the house and senate had somehow managed to reduce that increasing inequality, even a tiny bit. I'm quite sure his talk never increased my net income by a penny a year or allowed even one to stay in my pocket. Some benefit, accidental or on purpose doesn't matter, would have been very welcome.

But maybe as president he'd finally dig deep and find the real Bernie Sanders he knows is in there.

[lapucelle]

25. ...

[George II]

31. He's been in DC for close to 30 years. Let's look at Jacobin's bullet points, during that time:

"The millions who would achieve health care under his Medicare for All policy" - how many have healthcare insurance under his policy?

"The millions whose Social Security he would protect" - how many have had their social security protected any more than previously?

"The millions of veterans whose benefits he has defended" - how many have not lost their benefits because of him?

"The millions of students whose college education he would make free" - how many college students have received free education?

If he hasn't been able to achieve any of these as a Congressman or Senator, what makes anyone think he'll be able to achieve them as president who can't even vote on any of them?