Because he constantly offers up poignant critique to the 'establishment'.
Sanders vs. GreenspanSANDERS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And nice to see you again, Mr. Greenspan.
I'm not going to waste a whole lot of time talking about the so- called crisis in Social Security, because there is not a crisis. Depending on the studies that you look at, Social Security is solvent for either 37 years or 47 years, with minor modifications, like doing away with the cap for wealthy people so they could contribute more into the system, it'll be good for 50 or 60 years. So I don't think we have to waste a lot of time on that particular crisis.
Let's talk about some real crises facing the American people today.
The health care system is clearly disintegrating. We're the only country in the industrialized world without a national health care program. We pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.
We have children sleeping out on the streets of America today.
We don't give our veterans the benefits that we promise them.
Our middle class in general is in a state of collapse, with millions of workers working longer hours for lower wages. There's been an increase in poverty. The gap between the rich and the poor is growing wider, and the richest 1 percent own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent.
Now, Mr. Greenspan, representing the CEOs of America and the wealthiest people of America, you consistently come in here every year and you tell us how great the economy is doing, and you tell us how great unfettered free trade is. So that's the crisis I want to talk about. Talk about unfettered free trade that you have been supporting for years.
We now have a record-breaking trade deficit of $618 billion. We have a trade deficit with China alone of $160 billion, which has gone up by 30 percent in the last year. There are economists who tell us that trade deficit is going to go up and up and up. People who go Christmas shopping understand that when they walk into a store virtually everything on their shelves is made in China now.
You have the heads of large information technology companies in America who basically are telling us, "Hey, we ain't going to have information technology in America, no long white collar jobs, because in 10 or 20 years China is going to be the information technology center of the world."
Economists tell us we have lost millions of decent-paying jobs. We have lost 16 percent of our manufacturing sector in the last four years alone, and we're going to lose more and more white collar jobs to China. And yet year after year people like you come here, "Oh, unfettered free trade, it's just great."
Question, Mr. Greenspan: After record-breaking trade deficits, the loss of blue collar jobs, the beginning hemorrhaging of white collar information technology jobs, the understanding that if we don't change things China is going to be the economic superpower of this world in the next 15 or so years, have you rethought your views on unfettered free trade?
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