'That's Ridiculous,' Says Billionaire After Sanders Campaign Returns Her $470 Donation

[Uncle Joe]

Sen. Bernie Sanders has made principled opposition to billionaire campaign donations a centerpiece of his 2020 presidential bid. So when the Vermont senator's campaign learned recently that it received a $470 contribution from Marta Thoma Hall, it immediately vowed to return every dollar.

Hall, wife of billionaire inventor David Hall and head of business development at Velodyne, was not happy with Sanders' refusal to accept her money.

"I think it's disappointing," Hall told Forbes on Monday. "I don't understand why they would do that. That's ridiculous."

(snip)

"I don't think that billionaires should exist," Sanders told the New York Times in September. "Enough is enough. We are going to take on the billionaire class, substantially reduce wealth inequality in America, and stop our democracy from turning into a corrupt oligarchy."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/12/thats-ridiculous-says-billionaire-after-sanders-campaign-returns-her-470-donation

[JoeOtterbein]

1. If we cannot afford Healthcare for All, we surely cannot afford to have...

...Billionaires.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Three of them own as much wealth as the bottom half of the nation, well over a 150 million Americans

That stat always blows my mind when I think about it and the incredible power to shape our political and social lives that comes with it!

[JoeOtterbein]

4. I'll never understand the people who defend any greedy billionaire.

And then whine that the pittance some billionaires give us, earns their protection from criticism of their deadly greed.

Why do they care about them? To me it's super weird.

These parasites can keep their little precious 30-pieces-of-silver. I'm holding out for Medicare for All.

[Uncle Joe]

6. I believe our culture purposefully conditions us to accept low expectations.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016241939

[JoeOtterbein]

8. Good point!

We need to hope higher.

[George II]

16. "Sen. Bernie Sanders has made principled opposition...."

I guess his next step will be making a principled opposition to billionaires by withdrawing the sale of his books from Walmart (Walton family are billionaires) and Amazon (Bezos is a billionaire)?

[OilemFirchen]

19. ... and returning donations from Alphabet, Inc. (Google).

He didn't have any problem last election cycle, but perhaps he's had an epiphany.

[NYMinute]

88. Or not buying his campaign supplies from Amazon as well?

There are many mom-n-pop stationary/office supply stores.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. That was kind of dumb.

It was a donation of an amount many non-billionaires would make. Do they screen every donation, regardless of the amount, to be sure they didn't get a single dime from some evil billionaire who shouldn't even exist? He probably lost a voter as well as her donation.

[retcon]

67. It's a matter of principle...

It is part of his platform that is spelled out much clearer than the other contenders... what's more he has raised more in donations with the largest amount of donors and lowest average per than any of the others last i checked... This way he can continue to say that he does not accept money from the "elites" but only the working class... You know folks like most of us i'm sure...

[George II]

68. Yes, it's the lowest average when one gets a single person to make more than 800 contributions....

...of $3.00 over the course of three months. Yeah, that'll get the average down. But reality is that person who made all of those $3.00 contributions wind up maxing out*, just like any billionaire could.

Average contribution? $3.00. Total contribution? The MAXIMUM of $2800.

*she actually exceeded the maximum, the Sanders campaign will have to refund $21.00. How ironic!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

77. It's a kind of a dumb principle, as applied.

I am wondering if being a billionaire automatically makes one evil just by virtue of being a billionaire, without ever committing any other significant sins. Are you not at all evil if you are just a multi-millionaire, or only less evil than a billionaire? Is it a sliding scale? At what point does the evil kick in, at one million? Less? More? Can Bernie accept donations from multi-millionaires? How about moderately affluent non-millionaires? Does one have to be poor in order to be sufficiently virtuous to donate to Bernie? If so, how poor?

[brooklynite]

85. Around here, it clearly does....

[Act_of_Reparation]

87. Aw.

Fun fact: while you were complaining about your hurt fee fee's, some uninsured kid died of a preventable disease.

Optics, bruh.

[brooklynite]

89. I have no objection to paying more taxes for universal health care...

...if you can get someone elected who supports it. But that doesn't mean that every "Millionaire and Billionaire" is greedy and evil.

I tend to believe in working in the real world, rather than a bubble of my own biases. I find the results tend to work out better.

[LongtimeAZDem]

91. Hear, hear

[Act_of_Reparation]

93. You really don't get it.

Perception is reality. And what people see are rich white guys complaining about being called names on the internet like it's a big fucking deal.

But it isn't. Because it doesn't really affect their lives in any meaningful way. A billionaire whining about what people on DU are saying about him is like stepping off a plane in famine-ridden South Sudan and saying you're starving because you haven't had lunch yet. No one is going to feel sorry for you, and no one really should.

But yeah, technically you're right. Not every billionaire is the devil. And yes, people make broad generalizations when talking about them. But almost everyone on this planet is dealing with something more serious than their hurt feelings. So, instead of losing sight of all relativity and whining about it like mannerless, ungrateful blubbering man-babbies, maybe they should just cowboy the fuck up.

[George II]

98. Unfortunately we can't check, more than 70% of his contributions are "unitemized".

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

5. Good for Bernie!!

Bernie/Elizabeth or Elizabeth/Bernie 2020!!
Either way, they're stronger together!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[betsuni]

7. I guess Ms. Hall forgot she's supposed to be scared and terrified of Bernie.

"The billionaire class is scared and they should be scared."

Now she is just disappointed.

But Bernie's not demonizing billionaires. Okay then.

[The Valley Below]

9. How much money does one need to accrue before BS claims you have no right to exist?

Sounds ominous.

[sheshe2]

11. Good question.

I was going to ask that myself.

[FiveGoodMen]

94. Bye

[OilemFirchen]

10. Good.

Now, rather than wasting her pittance on an unelectable snob, she can donate it to a candidate with a real chance of winning and exacting progressive change. One, BTW, who will undoubtedly appreciate the support.

Lesson learned.

[Cha]

26. ..

Touche'

[msongs]

12. muti-millionaire turns down billionaire money on principle lol nt

[George II]

14. Bazinga! Succinct observation....

Interesting that he became a millionaire by selling books on the sites owned by billionaires - Walmart and Amazon.

[sheshe2]

22. +1

[George II]

13. "I don't think that billionaires should exist," Sanders told the New York Times in September....

Sounds rather ominous to me - when have we heard something like that before? What do we do with them?

[tonedevil]

15. Reduce their wealth. /nt

[George II]

17. They'll still exist, even if they no longer have billions of dollars.

[tonedevil]

18. The only element I can think of...

that distinguishes a billionaire are from a not billionaire is having billions of dollars. Do you know of another distinction?

[George II]

20. It just sends a chill up my spine that anyone would say he doesn't want a certain class of people...

...to exist.

[Uncle Joe]

25. This is what sends a chill up my spine.

A new study from the Harvard School of Medicine says that 45,000 people die every year due to a lack of health insurance, and therefore a lack of access to ongoing medical care for a wide variety of treatable conditions. This seems so obvious as to not need documenting, but studies like this are still very important.

Nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance, according to a new study published online today by the American Journal of Public Health. That figure is about two and a half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2002.

The study, conducted at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts, up from a 25 percent excess death rate found in 1993.

“The uninsured have a higher risk of death when compared to the privately insured, even after taking into account socioeconomics, health behaviors, and baseline health,” said lead author Andrew Wilper, M.D., who currently teaches at the University of Washington School of Medicine. “We doctors have many new ways to prevent deaths from hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease — but only if patients can get into our offices and afford their medications.”

(snip)

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2018/10/15/study-45000-deaths-per-year-due-to-lack-of-health-insurance/

Billionaires being turned into hundred millionaires is more a like a cool breeze.

[George II]

27. That's not the thought that comes to mind when I read Sanders' statement to the NY Times.

It is a very insensitive choice of words.

[Uncle Joe]

29. Never for one second did I believe it would be George,

our priorities are totally opposite.

[George II]

32. Throughout my life I've never said that any group of people should not exist....

....for any reason.

A very poor choice of words (but perhaps Freudian?) especially considering Senator Sanders' family history that he speaks of.

Having grown up in Brooklyn and Queens in the late '40s through the early '70s with friends and neighbors whose parents had numbers tatooed on their arms, a comment like that strikes home.

[Uncle Joe]

37. LITERALLY existing as is reality under the current, cruel and dysfunctional "health" care system;

that we have today killing 40,000+ Americans every year and you have nothing to say about that.

But stating bluntly that billionaire oligarchs shouldn't be allowed to financially exist in America, that's a major concern with you.

As I stated, you and I have totally opposite priorities.

[George II]

40. How long before we see tumbrils rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue loaded with billionaires?

[Uncle Joe]

42. I suppose it depends on what kind of acid one is taking.

[George II]

47. Again, I don't advocate for the elimination of ANY class or group of people, whoever they are....

....but I do notice the animus toward millionaires over the last two or three years has been dramatically reduced.

btw, THIS "one" has never taken acid, thank you.

[Uncle Joe]

49. I still don't see you advocating against the elimination taking place on a daily basis

as exhibited in post# 25 by our current, cruel and dysfunctional "health" care system.

What class do you believe most of these elimination victims be?

[George II]

50. Deflection. So I guess you're okay with BS advocating for the elimination of a class of people.

That's depressing.

[Uncle Joe]

51. Not even a "thoughts and prayers" in favor of the tens of thousands of eliminated Americans that die

every year from lack of having "health" insurance.

You're right about one thing George, it's most depressing.

[George II]

56. That has absolutely no correlation to the your OP, which is about BS refunding a contribution...

....from the wife of a billionaire.

In the course of your OP you point out a quote where he calls for the eradication of a group of Americans, ""I don't think that billionaires should exist"

On the other hand what is depressing is that, despite the refund of a $470 contribution from the wife of a billionaire:

- We have a candidate that rails against Wall Street, yet he has about half his net worth invested in Wall Street in the form of mutual funds.
- We have a candidate that rails against the homeless, yet he has three homes, at least two of which he can't sleep in each night.
- We have a candidate that rails against the current state of health care insurance, yet he eagerly accepts his government supplied coverage.

I think you get the point, or at least I hope you get the point.

[Uncle Joe]

58. I got the point and I made it on my previous posts. n/t

[George II]

70. No you didn't, but whatever.

[tonedevil]

28. I think it is more about...

large privately held concentrations of wealth shouldn't exist, but don't let me int erupt your perfect hyperbole storm.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

43. Yep.

Performance art.

[OilemFirchen]

23. David Hall has an estimated worth of about $1 billion.

If his actual worth is $999,999,999.99 does that make him a human?

[tonedevil]

24. I have never equated being human...

with having an amount of money large or small so I think your question is being addressed to the wrong person.

[fleur-de-lisa]

21. Yay, Bernie!

[BKDem]

30. Coming from a billionaire...

$470 must have been meant as an insult.

Or maybe it was just enough to move her into a lower tax bracket? (Do billionaires even have tax brackets?)

[Uncle Joe]

31. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a deliberate plant in the hopes of the media

tripping up Bernie.

[TexasTowelie]

57. So you are suggesting a conspiracy theory?

[betsuni]

59. Well, Ms. Hall sounds like quite the billionaire monster.

Born in Nebraska, attended Berkeley and active in anti-Vietnam War protests, is now working on artwork described as "female identity and the environment." The billionaire monster says this:

"The problem is that there is corruption in some of the big companies. And we run an honest business, and that can be done. That's what democracy and good capitalism is all about. It's running good businesses in a fair and honest way."

[mcar]

90. She sounds horrible!

[Uncle Joe]

60. Are you eliminating it entirely from realm of all possibility?

[LongtimeAZDem]

61. Is that your standard of proof? That explains a lot.

[Uncle Joe]

63. I said I wouldn't be surprised, that's neither a yes or no.

[TexasTowelie]

69. No, I'm not

just like I haven't eliminated it from the realm of all possibility that I will win the lottery and become a billionaire myself. If I become so fortunate during the next year and prior to the election, then I'll accept the fact that Bernie doesn't want my money because I had a stroke of good luck.

[LongtimeAZDem]

71. Well put; all of the hypotheticals that occurred to me would have gotten me in trouble

[sheshe2]

62. If you thought that it was the evil media.

Uncle Joe
31. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a deliberate plant in the hopes of the media

tripping up Bernie.

If you thought that it was the evil media just trying to trip up Bernie with a deliberate plant, then why did you post this? Why did you not point all that out in your OP?

[Uncle Joe]

64. I stated that "I wouldn't be surprised," that's neither a yes or no. n/t

[sheshe2]

65. Ummhmmm.

[Loki Liesmith]

35. The maximum individual contribution

To a candidate’s committee is ~ 2800 dollars. This is only 1/6 of that. People frequently stagger their contributions.

[Loki Liesmith]

33. God that's stupid

I’m fine with billionaires existing. Just tax them more.

[madaboutharry]

34. Really Bernie?

There may be people who think Bernie has too much money. There may be some who think that having a couple of million dollars and a few houses is too much. Maybe there was a time when Bernie would have thought that, until he had that much himself.

There are many billionaires who give great amounts of money away for wonderful causes and provide great amounts of help to many people who would go without that help if it were not for a billionaire.

[George II]

38. VERY well stated.

[Kurt V.]

45. Billionaires shouldn't have to be doing that. Therein is the problem.

[Blue_true]

80. How is that?

Some of those people voluntarily give away far more money than Bernie or Liz will tax from them.

Ask yourself. Is it wise to create a special class of people that get treatment that no one else gets? I firmly believe that billionaires should be taxed more, the way to do that is with a truly progressive tax code that takes away tax shelters and other abuses. But, if we say that billionaires should face special penalties simply for being billionaires, when will it come that special penalties get applied to any other select group of people?

[Blue_true]

79. Some here will accuse you of being a billionaire apologist.

Some billionaires made their money doing corrupt stuff. Some billionaires were just people that had a good idea that they executed on, they payoff was seeing the idea succeed. To just wantonly reject money from a billionaire is senseless, as is saying that billionaires should not exist, it's all wrong, look at the person and how he or she lives his or her life relative to the rest of society.

[PatrickforO]

36. You're darned right. A country where the infrastructure is failing, 41 million Americans face hunger

every month, where 40 million people don't have health care, where inner city schools have lower graduation rates than affluent suburban schools - CANNOT AFFORD TO SUPPORT BILLIONAIRES.

[Uncle Joe]

53. It's really quite common in third world nations, extreme poverty

and a handful of opulent livers.

The U.S. had a vibrant middle class but the underpinnings have been removed or eroded over the past half century or so, much of it is illusion supported by increased levels of debt.

[Demsrule86]

39. I find it ridiculous too...this is why I don't support Sanders in the primary...

I don't like M4A either but this sort of thing seems a bit mean to me.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

44. Mean?

[Demsrule86]

75. Yeah mean as in unkind. I prefer Biden's warmth and kindness myself.

[retcon]

72. JFK who i am old enough to remember proposed proposed M4A some 67 years ago...

At Madison Square Garden, there are video clips on Youtube and he was giving the resistance hell stating that we were 30 years behind the British at the time as well as many other countries... We need to get back to our roots... FDR and others up to Bill Clinton who basically went centrist after Regan... It's not been the same party of the working class since, this is why Trump is in as he told the working class and those who hadn't voted in years or decades what they longed to hear...

[Demsrule86]

74. And? It doesn't matter how old it is ...never caught on...and had Clinton not won in 92, the GOP

would have help the presidency for 16 years...the country had moved right...Clinton was smart enough to see it...Clinton care went down in flames as M4A would and we would lose the ACA in the attempt...which people depend on. The country has moved right again so we run on left policies at our peril. Trump must go. It makes no sense to drag the country though the hell of passing and implementing M4A when we have a plan that we can build on...as another poster said it is like inviting folks for dinner and when extra people show up instead of making more food. They throw out all the food and start from scratch...madness. We can get to universal care via the ACA.

[W_HAMILTON]

41. Did he return it and ask that she re-donate it in $27 increments instead?

[George II]

48. Bazinga! You win the thread!!!!!!!

[NurseJackie]

46. Completely absurd. OTT Showboating.

This is why he won't be our party's nominee.

[maximusveritas]

52. This is the kind of divisive class politics that turns people off

Sure, ask them to pay more of their fair share of taxes, but these kind of petty acts just show he's more about appearances than reality.

[betsuni]

54. Yes, there has to be class consciousness for class warfare and Americans don't have much of it.

But Bernie is doing revolution.

[Uncle Joe]

55. "Americans don't have class consciousness"?

Our national ethos is money, power and status.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016241939

We're literally shaped by our culture and the water we swim in is literally loaded with class consciousness.

[betsuni]

84. Not compared to some other countries.

This is why America is seen as the country of opportunity.

In the country I live there's a family registry system. Potential spouses' families and employers can get this information. A princess got engaged to a young man and it was called off because he had foreign ancestry in his family. When anyone moves they have to register their new address with the local authorities. One cannot escape your school record. You are trapped. There's a record of who you are and where you come from. The U.S. is different. You can change the way you talk and look and move somewhere and nobody knows your class.

"What's great about this country is America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you can know that the president drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are good and all the Cokes are the same." Andy Warhol

Donald Trump eats junk food. Democrats are called coastal elites. Class warfare is not an American thing.

[YOHABLO]

66. He gave her measly $470 back. He doesn't want her money.

I women's clutch from Hermes can run as much as $9,000 bucks, the cheaper ones run around $1,300. Just an idea of how much $470 dollars is to a billionaire. I would suggest that her campaign contribution was more of joke.

[betsuni]

73. "The problem is that there is corruption in some of the big companies. And we run an honest

business, and that can be done. That's what democracy and good capitalism is all about. It's running good businesses in a fair and honest way." She was born in Nebraska, attended Berkeley and was active in anti-Vietnam War protests, is now working on art described as "female identity and the environment." She's donated to Harris and O'Rourke, likes Yang, Booker, Warren and Klobuchar.

[sheshe2]

76. Thank you for some facts Betsuni.

A pretty large brush is being applied here by some. I think we need to look at the broader picture and the accomplishments of each. Are all billionaires evil? I doubt that very much. Do we need to do something about income inequality, yes. We need affordable healthcare. Education. Infrastructure. Clean Water and Air.

Lest we forget a few short years ago both millionaires and billionaires were vilified. Now millionaires are seen with love and affection for some strange reason.

If people want these things they not only have to get off their collective asses and vote, our elected official's need to talk less and actually act. Don't just talk the talk, ad nauseum, walk the walk.

[Blue_true]

81. Millionaires are no longer vilified by Bernie because he is now multi one.

It is just all so transparent to anyone that pays attention. I can bet that if Bernie invested in the next great clean energy invention and became a multi-billionaire, he would likely start swinging away at just trillionaires (and we ARE going to have one eventually).

[sheshe2]

82. I know, Blue_true.

Ya can't rail at yourself, now can you.

[Blue_true]

95. I rail at myself in the mirror all the time, but my mom also called me strange. nt

[betsuni]

83. I do not care for dehumanization of groups.

All that needs to be done is elect enough Democrats to have a majority. No need for cartoon enemies when Republicans are obviously the ones making laws that are destroying America.

[sheshe2]

97. Yes.

Elect Democrats.

[Blue_true]

78. Form over substance.

The correct thing to do would have been to write that lady a nice letter reinterating policy on wealth inequality and asking her to talk to as many of her friends about the importance of reducing wealth inequality as possible.

[TidalWave46]

86. Sanders campaign has become a parody of Larry David.

A parody of a parody. Really sad to watch as he heads into retirement.

[Dem4Life1102]

92. I don't understand

Is there something illegal, immoral or unethical to how her husband acquired his fortune?

[LongtimeAZDem]

96. No, Sanders is just being holier-than-thou