E524 Sen. Bernie Sanders

25:12Yeah, half the Philippines is people just doing medical billing over the phone. You know? Well, there are countries where you show your card, and that's the end of the discussion. But we waste hundreds of billions of dollars just on billing people. And there's another issue I want to discuss. Life expectancy. What do we know about life expectancy? We're getting pretty long in the tooth. Nope. We're not living long. Nope. Compared to whom? Compared to probably Vietnam. I'm sure maybe. All right, but we are the richest country on earth. Do we live longer lives than other people? No, we don't. We do not.

25:55In fact, we're pretty far down the list. Why is that? Well, I mean, I think it could be that we're not taking as good care of ourselves. And I think it could be that we don't have as good a health care. That's right. All right. I think that's two out of three. All right. Now, there are two facts.

26:17We, country, Japan, other countries, will live four or five years, six years longer than we do. That's a lot. You know what I mean? Yeah. So they'll live, I forgot what it is. Like 8 % or something. Yeah. Right. It's a lot. but here's another fact that is really unbelievable it's not just that we live shorter lives despite spending so much on health care the gap between the one percent and the working class is 10 years if you're rich you'll live as long as people in other countries long life the 80s or whatever it is working class you're going to live 10 years younger how does that happen do you think wow because just stress burnout you man all right I'm going to sign you up there.

27:01You got it. Look, I think I like a lot of the things that you think about. Let's deal with the issue of stress. Okay. Yes, you're right. It is twofold, it seems to me. Number one is if you're rich, you go to any doctor you want. When you want it, get paid for all the drugs you need, right? Yeah. All right, that's a real advantage. But above and beyond that, working class people live under enormous stress, right? And that takes a toll on you. It takes a toll on you physically and mentally. and that is we have parts of this country where life expectancy is actually in decline got it people are living shorter lives because of the stress because of the stress and with that stress and the hopelessness they turn to drugs they turn to alcohol they turn to suicide yeah all right bad stuff oh yeah i think those are things that um yeah they don't even take those factors into consideration when they're making all of these you know you call to get your medical bill it's a nightmare it's like it's it's a fight you almost want to this is crazy there's been times when i've been like i would rather take my own life than sit here and make another fucking call and i'm not even sick you know i'm just somebody trying to get to the bottom of the all right and what why does that happen what's because it's loopholes they want you they don't want you to get paid you got it not that hard look you pay me money through insurance right So you're sick.

28:21I'm supposed to pay your bills, right? If I drive you crazy, you're going to say, screw it. I'll hold with it. I'll pay the goddamn thing myself. It's not worth it. Good. I'm the insurance company. Right on, man. That's exactly what I wanted. Today, we're here to celebrate the perfect summer grooming companion that will keep you looking cool even when it's sizzling outside i'm excited to introduce you to the lawnmower 5.0 ultra in the new colorway white hot from manscaped that's right step up your grooming game this summer with the lawnmower 5.0 ultra in white hot experience precision like never before with the next gen dual skin safe blade heads an updated trimmer blade, and an interchangeable foil blade for peak performance.

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30:58That's right, go to shopify.com slash T-H-E-O now to grow your business, no matter what stage you're in, shopify.com slash Theo. So then how do we change that as a system? What do we do? Because it feels like we're electing people that have this in our best interest. If that's the number one cause of bankruptcy is medical billing, how do our politicians not see that this is extremely important and that things need to be different? What are they lobbying so powerful with? I know it's money, but it's like, I just can't imagine that people wouldn't see the good, the value, and what is right. Well, you know, it's all that I can tell you is money talks to a larger gain.

31:47It's not to suggest that, you know, members of Congress are evil or terrible people that want people to suffer. They don't. But you have a system which almost says, oh, you can't even think about guaranteeing health care to all people. Oh, my God. what kind of you're you're a far leftist yeah well you're a communist man what what are you all right you don't want to take on the insurance companies hard-working people that you know so it almost you're not even allowed to talk about those issues and and meanwhile we're the only country that doesn't guarantee health care yeah i mean my one caveat i don't know exactly what caveat means but i think my one you know left turn on it would be yeah how much responsibility then do people, are people going to just have totally less responsibility and just be taking pills?

32:33You know, I don't know. Maybe that's just a crazy thought, but if it's not happening in other countries, then maybe that's a good example that wouldn't happen here. It is an issue in other countries. For example, all right, you're a lonely older person. Maybe you're living by yourself. Hmm. I'm feeling lonely. Maybe I'll go to the doctor, right? When I'm not really sick. Oh yeah, for sure. Will people abuse it? Yeah. So what? I mean, it happens and you try to discourage that so no system is perfect right but the bottom line as americans we have to answer a very simple question is health care a right of all people whether you're rich poor medium whatever you are i think the answer is yes well i think especially when you start to look at other places that we spend our money it would be very hard not to say this we should certainly spend it there first it's just fucking unbelievable that we're this powerful of a country and we don't have a um an emo like it's like we lost our emotional that's a good point and i'll tell you something else let me get off of health care for a second okay well before we get off i want to so i know that um you guys have a bill uh because i have a a group that i've worked with done volunteer stuff with called power to the patients right and it's it's notating the prices of like say you get an mri like the hospital now has to let you know that the mri is 700 so you can call the hospital down the street and see that there it's$550.

33:56So you can make a choice. So you know up front. That's good. So you're not getting a$10 ,000 bill later on. You got it. It's called the transparency bill. Transparency bill. And is it passed yet or no? No, it has not. I'm working with it with a guy named Senator Braun from Indiana. He was a Republican. Good guy. And look, it's exactly the issue. People walk into an emergency room. They walk into a hospital. You have any idea? You know, here, Theo, this is what we're going to do for you. blah, blah, blah, blah. And you come out and you drop dead because you see a bill of tens of thousands of dollars, right?

34:28I mean, people go in and surgery, they come out hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. It's insane. All right. And the point is, look, I should have the right to know. You want to hear, you think it's crazy? Let me tell you how crazy, it's even crazier than you think it is. Okay. You have Blue Cross insurance. I have another insurance company, same hospital. you go and get an MRI, your insurance company will pay$500. My insurance company pays$700. So even in the same hospital for the same treatment, the price is different, not to mention different hospitals. Yeah. Well, it's just wild that they can do that.

35:09It's almost like, I'm going to go to the grocery store. I'm going to get an apple, right? I'm going to eat it. And then after I eat it, you're going to tell me how much it costs. And they're like, it's$400. You're Like, is it from the Garden of Eden? You know, like, where is this? But it's even worse. You're exactly right. But it's even worse because you had to go to the hospital. Right. Right. Yes, it wasn't a choice that you made. I know you guys had launched an investigation, even because this is kind of current, about Ozempic, right, and the cost of Ozempic in different countries. Because I was dating a girl.

35:40We're not dating, but we met, you know, we met up a couple times at night or whatever. And it's like she was leaving one morning to drive to Mexico to get Ozempic. And I'm like, what are you, you're just driving in the middle of the, you know, at 5 AM to go to, what's going on? And she's like, well, it's just way cheaper there. And I'm like, but is it as regulated? You know, I don't know. But I know that in some countries, the prices on it are so different. Like in Canada, it's 150 something dollars. Got it. And in America, it's 700 and something. Close to a thousand. It's close to a thousand dollars for a diabetes medication.

36:12I know some people use it for, you know, kind of. Weight loss. Yeah, weight loss or look the way they want. spring break or whatever, but that's crazy. Why isn't it just the same? Is it because they know they can charge us more because we have more money? That's half of it, but only half of it. That's a great question. Thanks for asking it. All right. That's what my committee deals with every day. We've had, by the way, some success in the last few years and the Biden people have done a good job on this. All right. Why is it that, I want to make sure I'm right here. Well, certainly in Canada, it's about 150 bucks for a Zempic.

36:49Here it's 900, close to a thousand. Why is that? What the Canadians do and what countries around the world do, what makes common sense, they purchase a lot of the drug, right? All right. So they sit down with the drug companies. They said, look, you know, we have hundreds of thousands of people are going to use your drug. We're going to sit down and we're going to negotiate a price, right? Right. Of course, certainly after a few months, you should be able to see the averages and make a good business choice. Right. I mean, if you're a businessman and you're buying something from me, you're buying thousands of items, I'm going to have to give you a discount if I want your business, right?

37:27Certainly. That's the way the business works. So that's what every country on earth does. They sit down with the drug companies. Some do it more stringently than others. Up until very, very recently, there have been no requirements, zero, for the drug companies to negotiate anything. So they come in and they say they have the board. What do you think we can get, Harry? Sitting around their board of directors. Well, gee, I think you can get$10 ,000 a year. No, I think you can go high. They can get$20 ,000. Look, we get what the market will bear. The government has no power. Charge them anything you want.

38:01That's what they do. So you got now, it's not just Ozempic, in which we pay in some cases 15 times more than European countries. It's all kinds of drugs. So the answer is, the answer to your question is, up until recently, and the Biden administration has done a good job of this, there have been no capabilities of the government, Medicare, anybody else, to negotiate prices. They charge anything they want and as much as they possibly can. What we did is part of a bill called the Inflation Reduction Act, stupid title to the bill, but that's what it was. Finally have that the drug companies are going to have to sit down with Medicare and negotiate prices.

38:40They're going to be announcing some interesting results pretty soon. So for the first time, there is the beginning of negotiating prices, and it will lower prices. Second of all, what we've done on my committee, a lot of people have asthma, and they use inhalers. I don't know if you know anybody who uses an asthma inhaler. Yeah. All right. 10 times more expensive than the United States. Well, we kind of shamed some of the big companies. They lowered it down to, some of them, to$35. So making some progress on lowering the cost of prescription drugs. But to answer your question, up until a couple of years ago, drug companies could charge any price they wanted for any reason.

39:18And now, and that could be changing with the Inflation Act? Yeah, Inflation Reduction Act. What it basically says is the 10 top selling drugs. They're going to have to come then and sit down and negotiate with Medicare price. That is, by the way, what the Veterans Administration does. The VA in America does a good job. They don't pay outrageous prices. They negotiate, and that's what Medicare is beginning to do. Yeah, if you can't breathe, I mean, yeah, you're almost a fish if you can't breathe, you know. Let's talk about some policy. Oh, wait, and so, and the price transparency, that's happening now?

39:52Like, people have to show their prices or they don't? No, they don't. We still haven't passed that bill. Okay. Do you think it's going to happen? It's a popular bill. I think we have a good shot to get it done. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, man, it makes me just sick because somebody's already sick. And you know they're sick. Like if it were your family, you want them to just sit there and just be angry. They're on the phone every day. Then they don't have any energy for their own family. It's just - You're absolutely right. I just can't imagine choosing, especially when you're already making a ton of money, choosing to make a little more money.

40:24What do you need? Well, now you're raising even another issue. What do you need? You're talking about corporate greed here, but that's another issue. Yeah, I know you hate it. We all hate it. I think America's at the point where the screw has been turned so fucking tight that I think, yeah, it starts to create radicalization, starts to create a lot of stuff. Let's talk about the election coming up right now, or just the current candidacy. I wanted, in 2020, I believe that's when you ran, I wanted you and Donald Trump to be on the same ticket, right? That was a thought that I had because in my mind, I'm just a regular guy.

41:04I don't know a ton about politics, right? I felt both y 'all were outliers, right? That's how it seemed to me. These guys are both outliers. They're both different, but seem to be doing their own thing. You've been outspoken against Trump, right? Do you think he's not, is he doing his own thing or is he? Yes, he is. Look, I will give Trump credit. Okay. He does his own thing. Okay. He's a very different type of politician and that's clear. But this is what I do think, Theo. While I respect somebody who has the guts to do their own thing and be very much a non-traditional politician, which is what he is.

41:46Here's the facts. He lies all the time. And, you know, I got four kids and I got seven grandchildren. And we really have to ask ourselves whether the guy who is the leader of the country, whether that's the kind of example that we want. So I have a lot of friends in politics who differ with me, more conservative people. They're not liars. We disagree. So you and I disagree on something. So what? It's called American democracy. Yeah, it used to be fine. That's right. All right. But Trump really is, I use the word pathological. He lies. When you see him, I tell him every, not everything, but a lot of lies.

42:22Okay. And I think that's, we can't have that. You know, when he was in the private sector, before he became involved in politics, he was sued, his companies were sued 4 ,000 times. And I just, above and beyond his political views, which I disagree with. But then those of you can discuss, I don't think you want somebody leading this country who is shady. So you're saying he doesn't set the best example of - Exactly. Look, you've got kids. Do you have any kids? I don't have any yet. All right. All right. Well, I hope you do. And you want kids to be honest, right? Yeah. You don't want them to be bullies and picking on the weak.

43:01And so that from a character point of view, I don't like. But also, let me give another example. I happen to believe, I don't know what your views are, that women have a right to control their own bodies. I don't want, as a man, somebody saying, oh, Bernie, you can't have a vasectomy. You can't do this. My business, not the government's. And Trump does not hold that view. I happen to believe strongly that climate change is real. We got to, you know, just a week or two ago - Yeah, I saw your podcast with Bill Bilenkov. Bill McKibben, of course. Bill McKibben, yeah. Yeah, and Bill is - Yeah, I want to get to speak to him.

43:37He seems really interesting. Smart guy. Is he? I've known him for years. Yeah, because I want to learn more about, you know, you just always hear about climate change, and so yeah, I want to learn more about it. Good, and I hope you do, and I'm sure Bill would be happy to go on the show with you. That'd be cool. If you wanted, I'd give him a call. Awesome.

43:55All of the scientists agree, when you put carbon into the atmosphere, it creates a ceiling there, the earth warms up, and then because of the earth warming up, You have extreme weather disturbances. Like, you know, you come from Louisiana, do you? Oh, yeah. We're sinking. You've seen the terrible floods there. We've had them here in Vermont. Yeah, they have in Savannah right now going on. Right. That's right. You know, floods the likes of which we've never seen. You've seen drought. You know, in Saudi Arabia, temperature reached 125 degrees, which people are dying by the hundreds. So Trump does not believe that climate change is real.

44:33and if he becomes president that means not only will the united states the whole world will give up and i don't know what this planet is going to look like in you know 10 15 years and do you say that because america is really the leader of the forefront of uh looking out for climate change we're the largest economy in the world right china is a bigger polluter than we are right now oh yeah dude they all smoke too a lot of chinese people yeah that kid that smokes on that bicycle or whenever you smoke like 11 cigarettes. But if we say, hey, to hell with it, then other countries are going to, because it's a global problem.

45:08Right, then everybody's going to be like, oh, screw it. You got everybody backs off. And then I don't know what this planet, you talk about floods, it's going to get worse and worse. Heat waves worse, drought worse, migrations. There are millions, hundreds of millions of people, little farmers in poor countries. They can't farm anymore. Yeah. Okay, so I disagree with Trump on that. So those are some of the reasons why I'm strongly against him. Those are important issues. Certainly, yeah. And I don't think everybody, yeah. It's like everybody can have their own thoughts on different issues. And do you see why people like him?

45:38I do. You know, because he's very disarming. He gets up there and he says whatever the hell he wants. Yeah. He is not. Yeah, he doesn't seem like he's by the book. That was a thing. He is not by the book. Right. And so that's something, the same as you. It's like he's speaking for, it feels like they're speaking for themselves, right? Whether you agree with maybe what they believe, they believe what they're saying and that i think comes through i think you're right clearly to people i think you know he's certainly unusual gets up there and he rants and he does his thing and he's not necessarily i'm sure his advisors go crazy but he's not reading off you know he doesn't have kid rock is one of his advisors you know and look i love kid rock but you know i don't know if every advice you know every advice of his is the best but now some of it is that's for sure, but some of it may not.

46:26You're right. And a lot of these politicians have 18 different consultants. You can't use that word. You can't say that. And that makes it miserable. He's not like that. Right. And people find that appealing. I get it. But again, I don't think you could have a pathological liar if somebody doesn't believe in women, have the right, women have right to control their bodies, who doesn't believe in climate change. I think that's bad. And by the way, I'm not quite so sure, but she believes in democracy as well. Yeah. Well, and look, yeah, those are that's exactly that's how you feel and it's important um and you've always had your own feelings and i appreciate you always having them and sharing what they are did you feel like whenever the people tried to assassinate did you think it was deeper than that do you think it was just some reddit jockey just first of all it was horrible i mean i disagree with trump on everything but the idea of people assassinating from or anybody else yeah it's crazy it's crazy it is horrible and it's i mean i can't give you the words it's just terrible we cannot have that in american politics my own guess and i'm not an expert i'm sure there are a lot of you know conspiratorial theories that are out there you know i think you have you know we've seen it before you've seen seemingly normal people walking into schools with guns doing horrible things right yeah you know and i think you had whatever reason i don't want to even speculate why this young man did what he did.

47:46You just think it was a young man who just, that was it. That's what the evidence seems to suggest so far. But you didn't hear anything else. You guys don't hear anything else as Congress people. You don't hear anything deeper than that. I don't know any great secrets that you don't know. Yeah. Do you think that Kamala Harris is the best person to run against Donald Trump right now? Well, she is the person and that's... And that won't change probably, huh? No. She'll be the Democratic candidate. And I've known Kamala for a number of years. not best friends, but I've known her. She was in the Senate for a short period.

48:16She's very smart, and she's determined. I mean, above and beyond her views on the issues, which I support most of them, not all. You've got to give credit to somebody, a black woman to move up the ladder. That ain't easy stuff. There's a lot of resistance to that. And she's persistent, she's strong, and I respect that. And I think she'll be a good candidate. it. I was interested that Trump apparently backed out of a debate with her on ABC. I wouldn't, you know, I have debated her as a matter of fact. She's tough. She's tough. Was there a chance that you were going to get that nominee or as an independent?

48:57Can you get then plotted with the Democratic Party and put in? Was there even a call about it or anything? No. You know, I ran in 16. I ran against Hillary Clinton and I ran in 20. yeah i remember and i felt like you i felt like you didn't get treated fairly to be honest and that's what happens when you take on the establishments what happened is we won the first three primaries and then um uh the establishment got very very nervous and they got a whole lot of candidates in the democratic primary and they said hey be a good idea if you all dropped out let joe biden be the one candidate people rallied around them and do they call is there a call that you get and it's like you're that you're not going to move forward is it just like news articles?

49:35How does the establishment kind of work? Well, what happens is I won the popular vote in Iowa. I won the New Hampshire primary. I won the Nevada primary, and those were the first three. And then, front pages of the New York Times, Democratic establishment, very nervous. Bernice Sanders could win the whole thing. We were doing very well in the polls. And, you know, I think behind the scenes, people thought, you know, there were like 15 different candidates, and they were splitting up the vote. And that's how I was not necessarily getting over 50%. I was getting more than other people. So I was on the way to victory.

50:06And they said, look, Bernie shouldn't be the candidate for a variety of reasons. We don't want him the candidate. Drop out. And then on one day, a lot of people, one or two days, a lot of people dropped out. It was Joe Biden and me. And Joe had a lot of support. And all these people came behind him. And that's what happened. Let me also say, you know, having said that, Biden is a friend of mine. I think he has done a very good job over the last three and a half years. And I'm working very hard to see that Kamala is elected our next president. The heat of summer is here. God, it's hot. My shadows are not even, I saw it having a lemonade yesterday and wearing ice pack on its neck like God.

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51:45Indulge in hydration this summer with Liquid IV. Get 20 % off your first order of Liquid IV when you go to liquidiv.com. and use code theo at checkout that's 20 off your first order when you shop better hydration today using promo code theo at liquidiv.com did you feel like um did it see it started to seem like people were losing faith in uh the media right and i feel like that that's had a huge effect on society it's created a lot of opportunities for what are often labeled as conspiracy theories but but then often end up being truth just because, not often, but yeah, often end up being truths or having realness to them because the news media isn't even, you know, it's like they all just go down these same similar paths and it's not, it doesn't even feel real anymore.

52:41I mean, the fact that you and I are talking is wild. You know, it's like, I fucking wouldn't talk to me, you know, but, you know, but the fact, but. Look, the bad news is bad news and good news. The good news is you've got a program. And by millions of people, tune into it. Yeah. And part of that is that people not necessarily believe CBS, NBC, ABC, or even Fox or anybody else. And so let me tell you what I think about that. I think you're touching on an important issue. We talk about healthcare. We talk about media. You have about eight large media conglomerates, Comcast and all these guys. They're huge.

53:20Serious. Exactly. They own, you know, people turn on their - Clear channel. You got it. You got it. They're huge. They own, they don't own one station. They own radio stations. They own TV stations. They own movies, you know, producers. So these are owned by very large billionaires. You know, big companies owned by billionaires. And they will discuss issues from here to here. I gave you an example about Medicare for all. We should be having a tremendous discussion why we're the only country on earth not to guarantee health care. It doesn't take place on television. We should be talking about massive income and wealth inequality.

53:57There are three people in America who want more wealth than the bottom half of American society. Think that's appropriate? No, sir. Okay. I think there should be a limit on how much a person can earn. Okay. To be honest with you, it may be some millions, but I don't think it should be billions. I agree with you. I agree with you, actually. And I think most Americans would. When's the last time you've seen that discussion on NBC? It ain't going to take place. right we have but that's what the people want though yes that is exactly that's why you're a success and why other people you know with very limited resources if you like because you don't see that type of discussion i just did a poll my campaign did a poll just on these issues uh you know talking about issues that working class people want and need that are almost never discussed in politics or in the corporate media and the answer is people are hurting they want change no one's talking about it.

54:49Yeah. Yeah. It's heartbreaking. It's like, I don't know, the people don't even get thought of anymore. It feels like a lot of times. And here's the toughest part. I think Bernie is as a person who, you know, has felt like in their life, maybe their father died in a war, their grandfather died in a war and they've been tried to pay their taxes and be a, you know, considerate person in their town or their country. Um, after a while, those good people start, it starts to erode a little because they don't feel like, and they lose their sense of purpose, man. When you're, you lose the fabric of your society.

55:23A lot of people, that's how they, they didn't even realize it. A lot of us don't even realize that's, we identify as an American. And when you realize, well, America, it's nothing, but it's a, it's a shell LLC for fucking big corporations. Then what am I? I'm just a, I'm just a idiot. You know, and you almost feel ashamed of yourself, you know, or you can, you know, anyway, just, I don't know. A lot of that stuff just, I just don't see how people think that that's good or how you're going to still be able to get people to buy in. Theo, I think you said it better than I did. I mean, I agree with you.

55:55I think a lot of people are ashamed. They're given up. They're hurting. And many of these people have fought and died of their families, have fought and died in wars and they're good people. And maybe they're, you know, nurses and they're business people. Yeah, anything, crossing guard, mailman. Right, exactly. They believe in their community. Yeah. And meanwhile, they're getting ripped off by people on top politically and economically. Well, even the radio, like you're saying, it's like you used to have like a newspaper and it meant something, your community meant something. It used to be that your grandpa worked at the factory and they made the table that you have in your home.

56:30And so everything had a story to it. There's some connection. And now it's like we're buying stuff from countries that they're making it, they don't care. We're using it, we don't care. There's no story. Nobody has any like, there's no thread. You know, the thread just gets thin. That's a very profound point you just made. And so how do we get it back, you know? It ain't easy. But I think you hit the nail on the head. People, you know, right now you're in Vermont, which is one of the smallest states in the country. It's a very rural state. Beautiful. Burlington is the largest city with 40 ,000.

57:08I used to be mayor here. But you go into small towns, everybody knew everybody. Often they were dairy farmers. We had a lot of dairy farmers. People worked really hard being a dairy farmer. Oh, yeah. I used to work at Cold Stone Kramers for a while. So not the same, but I get it. But milking cows, five o 'clock in the morning on a cold winter day, ain't easy work. But everybody knew each other. Nobody cheated each other. It was a sense of, then you have town meetings once a year and people argue about the school budget and all that stuff. and we are losing that big time for a lot maybe next time we'll talk about that but we're losing losing that as you indicated for a lot of reasons and if we don't get it back i i worry about the future of this country yeah we can that is kind of a bigger topic i've heard you talk about the 32-hour work week man it's intriguing when anybody second i heard that i'm like i'm in you know it i tell you it got a lot of response yeah i think there was a poll i don't know if it was was that, yeah, the 32-hour work week.

58:09And one of the reasons behind it is why. Okay, here's why. All right, let me back it up a little bit. Okay. I'm going to ask you a question. Are you ready for a tough question? Let's do it. All right. Over the last 50 years, five zero years, massive changes in technology, right? 50 years ago, they didn't have this stuff. Worker productivity has gone way up, right? So you're working out playing with technology, machinery, whether it's a computer, whether it's factory technology, you're producing a lot more, correct? In terms of real - You're producing more because you have machines that can help you.

58:43Exactly. Got it. Okay. Much more, by the way. Right. So a machine can do the work of 30 men in a day. You got it. Whatever it may be. Despite all of that, increased worker productivity, is the worker of today in real inflation accounted for dollars, making more or less money than that worker was doing, or a worker, a similar type worker, 50 years ago? What's the answer? I would say less. So less based on inflation and everything. The workers are making less now than they were then. In real dollars. Yeah, we're called real dollars, inflation accounted for dollars. Real dollars. How insane is that if that worker is now producing so much more than you should do.

59:28Oh, I see what you're saying. So now if a worker is operating a machine, and that machine is doing the work of 20 workers, then why isn't there some benefit to the worker? You would think that the guy's making, well, he's making more money, right? Hey, you're reducing a lot more. Yeah. Or widgets or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, got it? Okay. Make a mess. Where did we all have money come? Well, who benefited from that? Oh, the dingo, Alex Prime. Oh, that same tree to tongue. There was a study that there was a 50 trillion, untypical, redistribution of wealth to the bottom 90 % to the top 1%.

1:00:05So, getting back to the 32-hour work. It's a simple idea. If you are a worker producing a hell of a lot more than was the case 30 years ago, you should benefit from an increased technology. And one of the breakout people is you mentioned the moment of living under a lot of stress, right? if you can lower that work week without loss of pay. Right, so you're saying that there needs to be some keep back to them because if everybody's earning more, if the company's earning more. Yeah. Yeah, some of the greed, it's just scary, man. I don't know. Yeah, it's just scary. I want to get into, oh wait, but what about, would you have to raise the pay of people then?

1:00:43Oh, I guess you would because they're. Yeah, you know, but if you reduce, what we're doing here is reducing the work week. which is from 40 to 32, which, by the way, has stopped being changed since like 44. Yeah, and that's when people had to do crops and everything. Yeah. Yeah, people were just, yeah, people were snitting by lightning bugging. So we are a much wealthier nation now, but I want that wealth to be distributed a little bit. Yeah. By the way, come on, Ellis. We're almost done, yep. Okay, just one more issue I want to ask, and it'll be quick. Last question. If you were to look at, if there's somebody out there today who's like a guy who you were who wanted to see change who you know started protesting on campuses and and um and got involved and became a mayor and wants to get into politics and really thinks that they can make a difference what path do they need to try for themselves now with so much lobbying and stuff going on like what would you tell them all right first of all what you're involved in is some politics would change and being elected official is one way of bringing up the chance but that's not the only way.

1:01:50You know, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was never elected anything, right? He had a profound impact on this country. Never raped anything, all right? And you're seeing young people who are concerned about climate change on campuses and little bit more. So go with your passions. You know, your passion may be different than mine. What's your issue? I don't know this. So work on that issue. Read people. Educate. Organize. Read people. And if you then decide, hey, you may get a lawyer up for the state legislature. Never a lawyer up for pounds. I want to get my hands dirty in politics. Do it. But first of all, don't do it just because I want to get elected.

1:02:28That's bad, right? Do it because you believe in it. And getting elected will help you do it fine. If not, you can do it in other ways. Yeah. Bernie Sanders, thank you so much for your time, man. Thank you very much. Let me just say this. Congratulations on your program. And what programs like this do, I'm on TV a lot. You know, I get seven seconds to make a point. Can't make it seven seconds. So, we argue you can have a serious discussion about serious issues is really great. I thank you for the opportunity, and thank you for what you do. Thank you. I've always been a proponent, and thank you for just being an outspoken person who believes in things and moves forward with those beliefs.

1:03:07Now, I'm just floating on the breeze, and I feel I'm falling like these leaves I'm moving. For 50 years now, hip-hop has been a reflection of culture and society. That includes stories of struggle and pain, social injustice, racial inequality, the marginalization of communities. Today, we confront a health care system that has been rigged against all of us. Hospitals force patients to sign contracts for services without ever showing us actual prices. Stifling competition, overcharging without accountability. And if we can't pay, these same contracts allow them to take everything we own. Creating so much fear that millions and millions of Americans refuse to enter a hospital.

1:03:49Putting our health and our lives at stake. This is an American humanitarian crisis. We love our nurses. And we need our doctors. But hospitals and insurers. Rigging a system to make profits off of people that says struggle is unforgivable. We demand prices and transparency in healthcare. Power to the patients.