Summary of It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism by Bernie Sanders

By Willie M. Joseph

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This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.

Summary of It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism by Bernie Sanders

 

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It's OK to be angry about capitalism is a progressive takedown of the uber-capitalist status quo that has enriched millionaires and billionaires at the expense of the working class, and a blueprint for what transformational change would look like. Senator Bernie Sanders argues that unfettered capitalism is to blame for an unprecedented level of income and wealth inequality, is undermining our democracy, and is destroying our planet. He believes that the American people must ask tough questions about the systems that have failed them and demand fundamental economic and political change.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Willie M. Joseph
• Release date: Feb 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215457429

Willie M. Joseph

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CAPITALISM IS THE PROBLEM

The older I get, the angrier I become about the uber-capitalist system under which we live, and the more I want to see transformational change in our country. To do this, we need to confront the immorality of the system and mobilize people to bring about the transformational change we need. It is my belief that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, with exploding technological progress, we can end austerity economics and achieve the long-sought human dream of providing a decent standard of living for all. Oligarchs have spent billions of dollars to buy politicians and influence governmental decisions, resulting in public policy that benefits the very rich at the expense of everyone else. However, while the oligarchs are working to maintain the status quo, millions of Americans are beginning to look at the society in which they live from a new and different perspective.

In 2016, Bernie Sanders shocked the political establishment by winning twenty-two states and more than thirteen million votes in the Democratic primaries. We won the popular vote in 2020 by winning the support of young people under forty, who understood from their lived experience that America's uber-capitalist system was not working for them economically, socially, or environmentally. During our campaigns, millions of young people made it clear that they wanted change, real change. Polling shows that a majority of Americans still view capitalism favorably, but the support level has been sliding steadily in recent years. Among Americans aged 18-34, negative views about capitalism have surged from 38% in 2019 to 49% just two years later, and among Gen-Z adults, 54% have negative views.

The political reality of this moment in history is that we must fight for a more democratic, just, and humane society, while also opposing reactionary and neo-fascist forces that are undermining American democracy and moving us toward authoritarianism and violence. This is why, after losing the Democratic nomination in 2020, I worked with the progressive movement to defeat Trump and elect Joe Biden as president. I organized livestreams and rallies for Biden and Harris, and focused on voter registration and increasing voter turnout among young people, trade unionists, and nontraditional voters. This worked, as Biden won and Democrats did well in 2020. However, the insurrection of January 6, 2021, and later disclosures made it clear that much of the national Republican Party has descended into right-wing, anti-democratic extremism.

The most important details in this text are the reasons why people voted for Trump in the 2020 and 2024 elections, and the pain, desperation, and political alienation that millions of working-class Americans now experience and the degree to which the Democratic Party has abandoned them for wealthy campaign contributors and the beautiful people. These voters have seen their real wages stagnate and their good union jobs go to China and Mexico, and their communities are seeing a decline in life expectancy due to what doctors call diseases of despair. They worked hard, very hard, and did their best for their kids and their communities during the worst of the pandemic, putting their lives on the line at jobs in hospitals, factories, warehouses, public transportation, meatpacking plants, and grocery stores. Biden's inauguration in January 2021 gave Democrats an opportunity to finally stand up for working families, as the country faced an unprecedented public health and economic crisis. On March 6, 2021, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed the Senate by a party line vote of 50-49. The American Rescue Plan was one of the most comprehensive and consequential pieces of legislation in modern American history, providing much-needed assistance to working families and state and local institutions.

However, it was not enough to address the long-term structural crises that faced working people. The Budget Committee worked with the White House and members of Congress to put together a comprehensive reconciliation bill called Build Back Better, which would have done more for working families than any piece of legislation in the last eighty years. However, two conservative Democrats, West Virginia's Joe Manchin and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema, blocked the process, and momentum for change stalled. A year after the enactment of the American Rescue Plan, the Build Back Better bill died, and with it, much of the political support that President Biden and Democrats had won. The concept of human rights has gone through a radical evolution in the long history of our country.

Our Constitution and Bill of Rights guarantee us the right to vote, express our opinions, practice our religious beliefs, the right to assemble, and many other important political rights, but not the right to a decent job, health care, education, food and shelter. In 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke about this contradiction, stating that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. This principle remains true today, and the great tragedies of modern American history are that we have not been able to implement Roosevelt's vision. We live in a country where 60% of people live paycheck to paycheck, 85 million are uninsured or underinsured, and 60,000 die each year due to medical care. We have the highest childhood poverty rate of any major country, and our childcare system is a disaster.

We have more income and wealth inequality than ever before, with the top 1% owning more wealth than