During the 8 years of President Bush, the wealthiest 400 Americans—that is not a lot of people, 400 families—saw their income more than double while their income tax rates dropped almost in half. So you have 400 families—all of whom are already multi-multimillionaires—where during the 8 years of President Bush their income more than doubled while their income tax rates dropped almost in half.
I would say to my colleagues in the Senate, we do not have to worry about these guys. They are doing just fine. They do not need an extension of tax breaks. The wealthiest 400 Americans now earn, on average, $345 million a year, and they pay an effective tax rate of 16.6 percent. How is that? All right. The top 400 wealthiest people in this country earn $345 million a year, and they pay an effective tax rate of 16.6 percent. They do not need an extension of tax breaks.
By the way, for the United States of America, this effective tax rate of 16.6 percent, on average, is the lowest tax rate for the very rich in America that there has ever been. So we have already given the wealthiest people in this country the lowest effective tax rates in the history of our country, at least since they have been keeping records. That is what we have done. So the idea of giving these guys—who are doing phenomenally well, who already own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent—more tax breaks is totally absurd.
Under the 8 years of President Bush, the wealthiest 400 Americans—we talked about how they doubled their incomes; income is what happens in 1 year—under the 8 years of President Bush, the wealthiest 400 Americans increased their wealth by more than $380 billion. Four hundred families increased their wealth by $380 billion. That averages to almost $1 billion a family. Mr. President, $1 billion in 8 years. That is the average; some, obviously, more.
Collectively—I know this is not an issue we talk about too much—the 400 richest Americans have accumulated $1.27 trillion in wealth. If any of them die this year, their heirs can receive, right now, all of this money tax free because the inheritance tax has been eliminated in 2010 as part of the Bush estate tax repeal this year.
Last year, the top 25 hedge fund managers made a combined $25 billion in income—a combined $1 billion per person. OK. So if you are a hedge fund manager, you are doing pretty good. I mentioned a moment ago that we tried just the other day to get checks of $250 out for disabled vets and senior citizens on Social Security who have not had a COLA in 2 years. We could not get them that check. But last year the top 25 hedge fund managers made a combined $25 billion in income—$1 billion per person. And our Republican friends say: Oh, my word, my word, we have to lower their taxes. Last year, ExxonMobil, Bank of America, and other large profitable corporations paid no Federal income taxes.
So what you have is a tax system which is totally distorted in the sense that it allows large profitable corporations to pay, in some cases—in many cases—zero. In fact, last year—it would be funny if it really was not pathetic— as I understand it, ExxonMobil, which made $19 billion, paid nothing in taxes. Bank of America—Bank of America got a huge bailout from the American taxpayer, paying their executives all kinds of fancy, huge compensation packages—got a refund check from the IRS. That is how absurd the situation is. And people say: Oh, my word, in order to deal with our deficit, we are going to have to cut back on Medicare and Medicaid and education. We cannot afford it. I guess we can afford to allow ExxonMobil, the most profitable corporation in the history of the world, to make huge sums of money and pay nothing in taxes. We can afford to do that, but we cannot afford to protect working families and the middle class.
In the year 2005, one out of every four large corporations in the United States paid no Federal income tax on revenue of $1.1 trillion. Now, what do you think? Maybe before we start cutting Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and veterans programs, we would want to ask some of these very large and profitable corporations to pay at least something in taxes? From 1998 to 2005, two out of every three corporations in the United States paid no Federal income taxes, according to the GAO report.
Sadly, the economic pain millions of people are experiencing did not even begin as a result of the Wall Street bailout. The middle class was collapsing long before that. It is wrong to blame Bush for all the problems. He contributed a lot to it but not all of it. That trend has been going on for many years.
As the Washington Post reported last January—let me quote from an article because, again, I want to put the economic reality facing the middle class in contrast to the economic reality facing the very rich in the broad context of this agreement signed by the President and the Republican leadership. As the Washington Post reported last January:
The past decade—
The Bush 8 years plus 2 years—
was the worst for the U.S. economy in modern times. . . .
It was, according to a wide range of data, a lost decade for American workers.
"A lost decade for American workers." Do you know why people are furious? Do you know why they are angry at Washington and everybody else? The last decade was, according to the Washington Post, a lost decade for American workers.
There has been zero net job creation since December 1999.
Twelve years of zero job creation, which is why unemployment is so high, not only for the general population but even worse for our young people, kids getting out of high school, young people graduating college.
According to the Washington Post— this came from the Washington Post in January:
Middle-income households made less in 2008, when adjusted for inflation, than they did in 1999. . . .
In other words, the American economy has turned into a nightmare for tens of millions of families. Imagine that.
Middle-income households made less in 2008, when adjusted for inflation, than they did in 1999—and the number is sure to have declined further during a difficult 2009.
They did not have those numbers, but because of the Wall Street collapse, that certainly is the case.
So what are we talking about? We are talking about, as I have just demonstrated, the people on top seeing a doubling of their income, while their effective tax rates are going down. You are seeing the middle class collapsing.
What this agreement says is that we are going to provide huge tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. That is insane. Only within the beltway could an agreement such as that be negotiated.
As I mentioned earlier, in the last 3 days, we have received thousands and thousands and thousands of phone calls and e-mails to my office, and over 98 percent—I daresay 99 percent—say this is not a good agreement, do not support it.
Mr. President, I have been joined on the floor by the very distinguished Senator from the State of Louisiana. I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted to enter into a colloquy with Senator Landrieu.
The PRESIDING OFFICER.Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SANDERS.I thank Senator Landrieu very much for joining us here. I wondered if the Senator could give the American people her thoughts about this agreement and what has been going on.
Ms. LANDRIEU.Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Vermont for his eloquent and passionate presentation for hours this morning. He clearly has presented to this Chamber and to the American people some stark realities that are unpleasant. Some people might even find them hard to believe. But he has done his homework. He has documented what he said. In that backdrop, it does make this agreement, made between the Republican leadership and the President of the United States, even harder for some of us to understand.
I want to acknowledge, as the Senator said—I know there are pressures on all sides, and time is running out; we have to make a decision about tax cuts in a short period of time. We do not have the benefit of several months or even half a year. I understand the pressures of time. But as the Senator
