Sanders: if it is too big to fail, then it is too big to exist

While Democrats and Republicans spar over whether the $700 billion taxpayer bailout of Wall Street should include a few guarantees for the hundreds of thousands of people losing their homes, Independent Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) has taken the welcome step of proposing that we actually address the out of control financial markets that caused this problem in the first place.

Sanders proposes doing the following:

- a "surtax on the very wealthy to pay for bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and American International Group."

- "stronger oversight of financial institutions, 'This Congress needs to put an end to the radical deregulation that we have seen under President Bush and even before him. We need to put the safety walls back up in the financial services sector. We need to regulate the electronic energy markets to end speculation in oil futures.'"

- "giant businesses like Bank of America should be broken up so no company in the future could bring the American economy down with it. Said Sanders, 'This country can no longer afford companies that are ‘too big to fail.’ If a company is so large that its failure would cause systemic harm to our economy, if it is too big to fail, then it is too big to exist.'"

- "an immediate economic stimulus package which would put people back to rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and moving us to energy efficiency and sustainable energy."

And Vermont Public Radio had an interesting segment, too.