TOM STEYER GREENVILLE SC TOWN HALL ABC UNI 2020
TVU 28 TOM STEYER GREENVILLE SC TOWN HALL ABC UNI 021720 2020
FROM GREENVILLE ONLINE:
With the South Carolina Democratic Primary next Saturday, Tom Steyer made a stop in Greenville Monday evening to discuss climate change, the importance of diversity in South Carolina and beating President Donald Trump.
Steyer said he understands the importance of South Carolina's early primary and that the results will make a "statement about what kind of person can lead this party and lead this country."
The West End Community Development Center was filled with about 500 according to Tiffany Vaughn Jones who works for Steyer's campaign. Some were Steyer supporters and some were still undecided.
Greenville resident of 76 years Rhunnetta Young said she came to the event because she's still not sure who she's voting for - but Steyer has stood out to her so far.
"I just wanted to hear what he's saying 'cause I've been looking at him on TV and I just wanted to know."
Steyer has invested millions into South Carolina in billboards, mailers, video and television ads - and that's how Upstate voters like Simpsonville resident Nicholas Neil discovered him.
"I'm kind of feeling it out... I'm not very political," Neil said. "I've heard a lot of ads about him. I feel like I don't know a lot about him. I came over here to see what his forte is."
The billionaire former hedge fund investor from New York has become one of the most visible candidates in the state because of his investment in advertisements.
"I know that people talk about me as being a rich person," Steyer said. "And I don't think about myself that way at all."
Steyer said voters criticizing him for having an unfair funding advantage should look at what he's done, rather than his bank account.
"I started the Need to Impeach movement because there was something dramatically wrong in Washington, D.C.," Steyer said. "Someone had to do it and I went after it, heart, soul and money. There's something really wrong here and I'm doing every single thing I can to right it. So if that's the worst thing they have to say about me, I can deal with it."
Steyer began the evening with a 15-minute introduction on himself and his policies, focusing on the importance of getting Trump out of office
"This is why South Carolina matters so much in 2020," Steyer said. "Whoever is the Democratic nominee has to be able to talk to the glorious diversity that is America and that is South Carolina and that is the Democratic party. If we do not have that, we are not gonna win."
To many in South Carolina, like attendee Karine Debaty, getting Trump out of office is their priority going into the Democratic Primary.
"I really hate Trump," the Greenville resident said. "I really like many of the Democratic candidates, but Steyer maybe will be more able to talk against Trump and fight and win over Trump."
After his introduction, he spent the majority of time answering questions from those in attendance about many topics, including climate change and education.
Steyer is known for his focus on climate change - the topic of many of his ads - and has pledged to declare climate change as a state of emergency if he becomes president.
He's also pledged to dedicate over $100 million to historically black colleges and universities, raise the collective third-grade reading level nationwide and address the student loan crisis partly by forgiving debt after 10 years in a job that services the community.
TVU 28 TOM STEYER GREENVILLE SC TOWN HALL ABC UNI 021720 2020
[18:25:18] So you guys, Doctors Field and Shondra Dillard. Wow. Wow.
[18:25:27] Really? Let me say how great it is to be here with you tonight. It is so great to be here in South Carolina. Let me just say, I'm not sure what's going on with this state that my wife has moved here.
[18:25:45] Is there something I don't know about South Carolina?
[18:25:53] So let me say this, I am going to take as many questions tonight as I can. That's what I really want to do is hear from you what's on your mind and whatever it is. I will try and answer as honestly as possible. I want to do very quick statement for those of you who don't know me well, a little bit about who I am and a little bit about why I'm running for president and how I can kick Donald Trump's ass.
[18:26:27] So let me say this. I know people talk about me as being a rich person and I don't think about myself that way at all. Just so you know. Look, my mom was a teacher in New York public schools. And when she retired from him being a teacher in the public schools, she taught prisoners at the Brooklyn House of Detention. You know, I grew up in the middle of the civil rights movement, and that was my mom's way of participating in civil rights with my going into the public schools and teaching kids and then teaching prisoners.
[18:26:58] My dad was a he's the first generation in his family to go to college. My grad my father graduated from college at 18. He graduated to law school at 21. My my grandfather was a plumber and my father left the law after after Pearl Harbor to go to the Navy in World War 2 because he felt like when the meet when the United States needs you, then you have to show up. My my parents were Depression era World War 2 babies who felt like you have to show up when the chips are down.
[18:27:30] And after the war, because he already had a law degree, they made him the assistant to the chief prosecutor of the Nazi war criminals. I did not ever trust. So my parents. My parents were both people who had incredibly strong moral compasses. My father, when I was growing up, he told my two big brothers and me, when you see something really wrong in the world, then it's your job to make sure that you fight against him, that you go early and you go hard because the Germans didn't do that.
[18:28:05] And it ended up in a place that was almost beyond imagining. And I was growing up. I was born in 1957. I was growing up during civil rights. And there were people going very hard at what was wrong without knowing how I would turn out.
[18:28:20] And that's why I didn't need to impeach. I said that was. There was something wrong.
[18:28:27] At the heart of American society. And when you see something really wrong, then you organize and go against it as hard as you can. And somebody asked me, 8 1/2 million people signed that petition. And they also called their Congress people. They wrote their Congress people. They e-mail their congresspeople and said, do the right thing. This is right and wrong.
[18:28:47] This is the United States of America. And they drag the Congress into impeachment. And people asked me, do you feel bad that the president has been exonerated?
[18:28:58] He hasn't been exonerated. There was no trial. There was a cover up, a deliberate cover up by Republicans.
[18:29:09] Why?
[18:29:10] That Republicans broke their oath of office, said, we don't need to see evidence, we don't care about evidence, is it? Is it? And we will not let the American people see the truth.
[18:29:21] No, I don't feel bad that they did something wrong. As far as I'm concerned, that's the reason we did it in the first place, is to try and stand up for what's right. And here we are.
[18:29:32] Look, now we know where we are for 2020. We get one more shot to get rid of this incompetent criminal president.
[18:29:44] That's a pretty important factor, isn't it? I started the business. I started. I never inherited literally a dime for my parents. I started a business. I built a business over 27 years. Turned out to be a multi-billion dollar international business. I walked away from it. I took a pledge to give the bulk of my money to good charities while I'm alive. And then for the last 10 years, I've been organizing people exactly like you guys, American citizens, to fight back against the corporations who fought our government and control our country.
[18:30:25] And let me say that we have never lost.
[18:30:30] I have never lost to those corporations. You know, the first fight I had was in my home state of California, where two oil companies were trying to repeal the most progressive energy laws in the world. And no, the way I got the job of fighting them was it was like a reverse IQ test. If you're stupid enough to take the job, it's yours out of 40 million people. There was only one person stupid enough to take that job.
[18:30:57] But let me say that we got 70 percent of the vote. And before it was over, the presidents of one of those oil companies at lunch said to a friend of mine, I had no idea that Tom Steyer was sent me like home run. Look, I've taken on tobacco companies and made them pay three to four billion dollars a year to the health care system for the lowest income Californians. I closed a billion dollar tax corporate tax loophole in our state and gave the money to the public schools. We have never lost.
[18:31:34] I've also filled one of the biggest grass roots organizations in the country called NexGen America, which did the largest youth voter mobilization in American history in twenty eighteen. We went into thirty eight Republican districts. We more than doubled the turnout of young people. We focus on people 18 to 35. More than doubled the turnout of young people. Thirty three of the 38 districts flipped to Democratic.
[18:32:04] That's when we are not going to win by convincing Republican voters that we are Republicans with a slightly nicer heart.
[18:32:16] It's not going to happen anyway. We're Democrats. I don't want to pretend I'm a republic. Slightly nicer Republican. There are tens of millions of Americans who don't vote and they don't vote because they think both parties lie. Nobody cares about them. The system is broken. Why would I vote? They tend to be young. They tend to be black people. They tend to be Latinos. And they're all Democrats. We don't have to convince them about what's right and wrong. They know what's right and wrong just the way we do. We have to convince them that their vote really matters.
[18:32:59] And when they show up, we're going to wave everything that was twenty eighteen. And let me say this.
[18:33:06] This is why South Carolina matters so much in 2020. Because if we're going to beat Donald Trump and beat his whole gang, then we have to show up.
[18:33:21] And that means all of us.
[18:33:25] However, would it be the Democratic nominee has to be able to talk to the glorious diversity that is America and that is South Carolina. And it is the Democratic Party. We don't have that. We are not going to win.
[18:33:43] You know, the old saying we must all hang together or we will surely all hang separately. Yeah.
[18:33:51] So we're going to have to have a candidate who can get everybody going. And that means we're gonna have to talk explicitly about race. We're gonna have to talk explicitly about ethnicity. We're going to actually have to talk to people about what's going on in this society and tell the truth and promise. We're going to deal with those issues directly on the first day.
[18:34:16] We are also going to have to take down Mr. Trump on the economy.
[18:34:21] You know, he's running on the economy. He says it every day.
[18:34:24] He literally said to a group of Americans in December, he said, You don't like me and I don't like you, but you all are going to vote for me, because if Democrats get control of this economy, they're going to destroy it in 15 minutes. That's his campaign. You're nice. He literally that is literally what he said.
[18:34:48] Let me explain what I think he really meant, what he really was saying. No kidding. Is I'm a criminal. You guys know I'm a criminal and I despise 80 percent of you and you despise me. If I came to Greenville, South Carolina, you wouldn't let me in the front door of your house and you wouldn't let me have dinner with your family.
[18:35:10] But you're going to vote for me because the Democrats are a bunch of socialists who don't know anything about job creation, growth and prosperity. You hate me and you're gonna vote for me. And here's the truth.
[18:35:23] He's a big liar about that. As as he is about everything else, he stinks on the economy for the American people. And we've got to make that case.
[18:35:34] Look what I did build a business. That business could never have succeeded if I didn't understand growth, job creation and prosperity. So when he says the country's growing, I can legitimately say, no, it is. And all of the money is going to your friends at the Mar a Lago Country Club.
[18:35:54] Well, these days, unemployment is low, which it is.
[18:35:59] I think it is low, and you can't live on the jobs that this economy creates. $7 and 25 cent minimum wage is an insult to working people.
[18:36:09] It doesn't work for a.
[18:36:14] And when he says he loves to talk about the stock market, when he says the stock market is up, it is up. It's up in large part because he gave the biggest tax break in history to rich people and the corporations that trade on the stock market. But you know something? The stock market is a really big deal at the Mar a Lago Country Club, but it's not a really big deal for most Americans because most Americans don't own stocks.
[18:36:40] So really, what we have is an economy that works for his friends at Mar a Lago and rich people. And does it work and has it worked for 40 years for working Americans? There has been a war against working Americans by the Republican Party for 40 years. And if they have been winning that war and this election is in large part about turning that around and standing up for working Americans against the corporations that have been crushing us for 40 years. So when you look at what we're fighting for re affordable healthcare, that is a right, a constitutional right for every American.
[18:37:20] And the 1 percent, that's not a conversation.
[18:37:26] Look, these people despise education. They view education as an expense for corporations. Education is an investment in the future of American prosperity.
[18:37:38] It's also investing in the future of American justice.
[18:37:43] You can't have a just society unless everybody gets a chance to get ahead. And that means investing in low income communities, black communities, brown communities to make sure those kids specifically get a chance to get ahead. And you get them really early and you support them all the way so that they get a chance to move off for mobility, injustice in our society.
[18:38:05] That education, a child will never get anywhere in America. People have a right to breathe air without getting sick and drink water without getting sick and dying.
[18:38:21] And they think that poison is just the cost of doing business.
[18:38:26] And Americans should just get over the idea that they have a right to clean air and clean water. That's ridiculous. If you think about it from a justice standpoint, someone honestly wants to make money by poisoning your family and yourself. And they think they can get away with it and they can get away with it.
[18:38:43] So we're gonna be huge, vibrant people and we're going to have to beat them. And whoever is the nominee has to be able every time Mr. Trump opens his mouth to say your line. Donnie, it's another lie. So I'm ready to take questions, I do want to say this, you guys. South Carolina is going to have it met. You guys matter.
[18:39:11] Just because American votes matter, you're one of the four early primary states. But it is actually much more significant than that this year. This state is going to be making a statement about what kind of person can lead this party and lead this country.
[18:39:28] There is a gigantic burden on you all to participate and be wise. And I am really asking you to support me in this.
[18:39:38] I really want to go and take this guy down because what he's been doing, he's incompetent. I'm going to make the case that he's an incompetent guy, terrible at his job. But it's worse than that. He's he's a he's a bad man.
[18:39:55] And they've done bad things. And they've been hurting Americans for a long time. And it is time to turn the page and tell a different story about what America stands for and who we are. And we need to sweep these guys into the dustbin of history where they belong. So I see a question right there in the front row. We have some mike runners and what I would ask you to do right there. Yes. And please state your name. So every no.
[18:40:44] No. Who's asking the question? Hi, my name is Amelia. And the question on my house. Sounds like a joke, but it's very.
[18:40:56] You win. How do we know that he will actually lead? Right.
[18:41:05] I am really not. And here's let me answer that again. It's a serious. I know. So let me say this.
[18:41:13] Over a year ago, I did, too, need to impeach town halls in South Carolina. I don't sit my way. South Carolina participated way over the north in the need to impeach me. You should know there are some people here who are not scared of Donald Trump and we're more than ready.
[18:41:37] I've always wondered if Hillary was.
[18:41:40] But at one of those town halls in South Carolina in January, I think of twenty nineteen in the question part of the town hall, a gentleman stood up and said, I'm a 22 year Marine veteran. And you should know that if Mr. Trump refuses to if he loses the election, but refuses to leave the White House, that everybody in the armed services took an oath to the country, not to the president.
[18:42:12] And we will stand by this country under all circumstances. And let me say this was I glad that a 22 year Marine veteran stood up and said a wholly patriotic thing in front of him. Sure I was.
[18:42:29] But was I saddened that he felt he had to say that?
[18:42:34] Yes. And that's a statement about where we are politically. We have a president who we think would not obey the will of the American people who would try and break the law because he's scared about what will happen to him after he it to the White House.
[18:43:02] Oh, hey, I want to start with you. Let me go ahead.
[18:43:07] I wanted to talk about that actual number of unemployment. So when we say that it's less than 1 percent. The reality is that in the workforce, many have already left. And if they are on unemployment, that is the number that they are using to base that on. So when someone is not eligible for benefits or someone loses benefits or their benefits run out, they don't count anymore. So that number is not a true number.
[18:43:40] So when I look at this and we look at the economy, you see poverty today, many that are not working and they are they are lucky if they can get a job. I think knows. So I'm asking, what are we going to do? First of all, to make that a real number. And secondly, how are we going to get people back to work in a real job with real income?
[18:44:03] So let me say this. I completely agree with the idea that we have a terribly skewed sharing of economic prosperity in this country.
[18:44:15] And I'll just give you one statistic to drive home. In 1980, 40 years ago, the CEO of a big company could expect to make 40 times as much as the average worker in a company in his company. It was mostly his. To be fair. Today, that number is 400 times. The disparity has grown ten times in the last 40 years. So the question is, how are we going to get it? Let me say this $7 and 25 set minimum wage. I said it's an insult to working people.
[18:44:50] If you took the 1980 minimum wage and inflation adjusted it, so it's the same amount of money. But in our dollars 20, 20 dollars, it would be eleven dollars, not seven or twenty five. And if you included the increase in productivity that American workers have achieved over the last 40 years, could we get a lot more work done in that hour than people did 40 years ago? And you split it the way it's traditionally split between employers and working people.
[18:45:17] The minimum wage will be 22 bucks. That's what's happened over the last 40 years. So what can we do about it, really? I have a tax plan that basically goes back to a progressive tax rates. Richer people pay higher percentage of their income. Right now, it's the other way rich people pay a lower percentage of their income than working people. I have a wealth tax. I take away big tax giveaways to rich people and corporations.
[18:45:45] And I would treat investment income the way I treat earned income. Why should I pay a lower rate on investment than someone who goes to work at 8:00 in the morning and works? And then I would give a 10 percent tax cut to every American who makes less than two hundred and fifty thousand bucks. Easy to do. We'd have a ton of money left over. If we go back to a progressive tax system. Part of it should be a 10 percent tax cut for everybody with less who makes less than 250 grand.
[18:46:16] So let me say another thing. I'm a climate, but we have to deal with our climate problem on one. But people act like act like this is going to be an economic cost to America. No. We are going to create the biggest job program and we have to rebuild America. Think about it. We have to rebuild the roads. We have to rebuild the electrical system. We have to rebuild the buildings. We have to build public transportation. Big is union job program in American history. How are we going to get jobs? These are millions of jobs every single year for as far as the eye can see. How are we gonna do it?
[18:46:59] We're way overdue on this. I don't mean to be rude, but the roads and bridges in this country are way overdue. There's a. We have spent trillions of dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't feel that's actual money. That is money we did not spend rebuilding the United States of America. We are going to have to have different parties.
[18:47:28] So that's the second thing is there are three things are if we move the minimum wage to at least fifteen bucks, tens of millions of Americans get a dramatic raise in their income.
[18:47:40] If we change the tax system so that it's regressive again and give a tax cut to 95 percent of Americans, people who make less than 250 grand, get to take more home, more money, and we have a lot more money to pay for health care, education and every kind of support we can talk about, including specifically Social Security.
[18:48:05] Let me say this is the last thing I'll say. People, you know, there, Trump said. He said, I'm going to cut these taxes for rich people and corporations and he's going to meet me, get more tax money and gives me such a big boom in the economy that the actual tax dollars are going to go up even though the tax rate goes down. That was a lie.
[18:48:26] We have a huge deficit and he has said that after the election he is going to cure the deficit by cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. That's not it's terrible. It's not even. I don't disagree. That isn't a moral thing to do. And people ask me, under what circumstances would you allow a cut to Social Security? And just so you know, set over 70 percent of the people who get Social Security. It's their number one source of income.
[18:49:03] And for over 40 percent, it's their only source of income.
[18:49:08] So here's my answer. I would allow Social Security to be cut. Over my dead body.
[18:49:23] In a tax cut to rich people and corporations and then cut people's health care and social, that is wrong.
[18:49:30] That's who we're talking about. So in answer your question, we are going to go back to an economy that we shared, the wealth that we move up together.
[18:49:39] What we have is a banana republic. It's never worked. It never will work. And we're going to stop it as fast as possible.
[18:50:03] All right. Let's do it. We said we do this. You.
[18:50:08] Sorry, sir. No, don't be sorry. Just go it. I agree with everything you say. The place, your nature, George born. I'm a 28 year Air Force veteran. I love my country. I'm not sure how much how many questions you get about about the military.
[18:50:35] But while I agree with everything you said, I think we need to be able to do it all and absolutely trump this guy to be the most dishonorable commander in chief. I hesitate to use the commander in chief, right quote. But we have to still be engaged in the world with all of our instruments and power. The last resort of which military. My question to you, sir, is where do you stand on funding the military? I'm not talking about veterans like me, V.A., etc, etc.. Are you necessarily personnel? I'm talking about strategy, modernization, et cetera.
[18:51:19] So, George, let me say this. I don't want to not talk about veterans, the V.A., etc. because to me, if someone has risked everything for this country, we have to be all in for that.
[18:51:34] Not my wife, and I believe I believe we've been reckless with the lives of military personnel. Now, I think there's been a sense that people come home in one piece. Physically, they're fine and we all know that's not true. And then there hasn't been the kind of support that's necessary. And a lot of people have come home and are suffering really dramatically.
[18:51:58] And it's been true for either one of my best friends as a Vietnam vet who was diagnosed with PTSD. And yet you're 65. So people have been suffering for a long time and we have a responsibility to deal with that and to spend the money on mental health and care so that those people are taken care of.
[18:52:17] So what?
[18:52:18] Let's talk for a second about obviously the first job of the president is to care for the safety of the American people. Number one job. You can not miss it. You cannot compromise on it. It's absolutely critical. But when I think about how we're safest, I honestly believe that Mr. Trump's way of going about it is completely wrong, because my experience of when we've been safe, this is when we've stood up for what's right, along with our traditional freedom and democracy loving allies.
[18:52:54] You know, we have allies around the world with whom who have stood with us and who we've stood by for generations. And America is a value driven country. Freedom, justice, equality around the world. That's what we stand for. And we have done that. You know, our NATO allies. That is a serious bond around the world for what we stand for. And the idea that we would go to America first. You know, no allies, no values. You can't trust us.
[18:53:28] We can take advantage of you. We will. But it's not us. I mean, think about what we've stood for in the Second World War, in the Marshall Plan. What President Obama did, putting together a coalition to push the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear ambitions, to make us all safe, to stay, but also to show what America stands for.
[18:53:51] I believe. Look, we have to fund our military. We have to be safe. But it's a last resort. And I think we you know, if you look at the last 20 years, I think we've been reckless with the lives of our service people. And we've jumped into wars that have not worked and we've jumped in on false pretenses.
[18:54:14] And then we've stayed when we know it's not working. And that means we're sacrificing the lives of our service people. We're sacrificing the lives of people in those countries. And we're telling people that we're not the country we want to be. And so do I honor the people doing the service? Yes. Do I know we have to have the ability to protect ourselves 100 percent, but we're gutting the State Department. We're gutting diplomacy.
[18:54:41] We have no strategy. We have no partners in that. You know, Mr. Trump does not understand that doing the right thing and standing for what's right has ramifications that go on and on and on and on. General, good. And being a bully and breaking the law and being untrustworthy and lying has ramifications are bad to go on and on and on and on. And that's not true. So.
[18:55:14] I really would. I enjoy it. I really have to separate.
[18:55:18] The biggest thing we have to separate is the skill, professionalism and dedication of the service people in all of the branches of service.
[18:55:30] And then the need both to protect them and to be aware that as a country, military action is our last resort. The very last thing we should go to after we've done everything we can to work through diplomacy, our allies, building cooperative things. We should not be the trigger happy policemen of the world having.
[18:56:02] Go ahead.
[18:56:04] Well, we have completed this. If she goes in, then you're OK.
[18:56:07] Go ahead. Hi, my name is Kay. And I'm curious how you would go about persuading some friends on the other side of the aisle to make your plans real ones here.
[18:56:22] So, OK. People ask me that question a lot. And I think everyone in this country is sick to death of the kind of possible partisanship that we've seen for the last 20 years. I know that. And the problem is everyone ask Democrats what they're going to do to get along with Mitch McConnell.
[18:56:44] But nobody ever asked Mitch McConnell what he's going to do to get along them.
[18:56:52] I try look. I am the world's softest doctor. If you tell the truth and put the country first, we can disagree on everything. Literally everything. I'm cool. If you just tell the truth and you think there's a better way to get just serve the American people. I'm fine. Disagree. Big government. Small government. Let's have the conversation. But if you don't tell the truth and you put yourself ahead of the American people, my temper goes off like that. And that's what I've been seeing. Obviously.
[18:57:26] I don't really have a card. It literally just said we don't care about the evidence. He's innocent and we're going to cover up the evidence so no one else can find it. We haven't.
[18:57:37] Look, Mr. Trump has been a racist from the get go.
[18:57:43] What do you do in the middle of that? They are literally denying science. What do we do? Agree with half of science?
[18:57:53] We honestly were in a place of extreme partisanship, but not equal partisanship. If you look eight years, the Republicans never did a single compromise with President Obama. He went to work in good faith over and over. He never got a single compromise. Not one time. If you look, the Democrats have compromised already with Mr. Trump on the crime bill, on the Mexico, Canada, USMC. Democrats have been willing to do what's right for the country, even though it's good for Mr. Trump.
[18:58:34] Prevented him from appointing judges to the federal bench. He's more than enough to make a Supreme Court judge. There's something wrong here, so that's why I keep saying I'm not a meat in the middle guy. I have made tens of millions of Americans need to show up who haven't shown up before. And we have to be telling the truth and we have to say, look, we're doing this or dying, trying because there's something wrong here and we all need to show up because there is no meeting in the middle with these guys.
[18:59:10] And everyone wants to believe there is. But look, honestly. It is really we're at a pretty pass when we have a party that has gone to where they've gone. And so from my standpoint, you can look they go into rooms and conspire how to take away voting rights from African-Americans. Where do you meet? There is. That is really wrong, you know. And so we're going to have to actually win. That's the one thing these guys will understand is winning. And so I look at 20/20 as we have to tell the truth. Organize like heck at the grass roots, show up and win in places that they don't even think we're going to be competitive.
[19:00:02] That's actually the.
[19:00:11] Meninges Quadrio Fairborn was the chairman of the Democratic Black Caucus Economic Development, you called for heavy investment in job training in certain communities. How are you going to make sure that communities that are traditionally.
[19:01:18] To talk about the history of the last 400 plus years of African-Americans in the United States, because I believe that policy falls out of narrative and we have to tell the truth about what's happened over the last 400 plus years so that we can come to the right policy solutions. And so I want to talk about not just legalized institutional discrimination, racism and cruelty. I also want to talk about the contributions of the African-American community to America in terms of building the country, but also the moral leadership.
[19:02:00] I think people don't know. Long before Dr. King and after Dr. King, the African-American community had been providing the moral leadership in this country consistently.
[19:02:11] It's got to be said because it's going to bring us to a different place.
[19:02:15] I don't know if you know this, but my wife and I did start a community bank specifically to deal with some of these issues, specifically to support economic justice, environmental sustainability. And businesses owned by black people, Latinos and women, because the financial industry is still discriminatory where they were going to red line. We wanted to go. And in fact, part of that, we've supported over 80, 500 affordable housing units in the last three years that are getting.
[19:02:48] Every single question is this big? It's fifteen years old. It's about over a billion one. We'll never get it. The idea is it's a nonprofit. Banks will never get the money back. It's just mission driven. But we also know we're a billion dollar bank from nothing. Their trillion dollar banks out there, we have to change the system. So let's talk to one second about housing. We are 7 million affordable housing units short in this country.
[19:03:19] We have a dramatic affordable housing shortage and crisis. And why is that true? It's true because America under Ronald Reagan decided that the market would provide that the market is just fair and will provide affordable housing. And 40 years later, we know for a fact that won't. So part of my climate plan involves hundreds of billions of dollars to renovate existing affordable housing. I've been to and which definitely needs a dramatic upgrade, but also to build millions of new units because the market is not going to provide.
[19:03:56] And we're seeing not just a shortage. We're seeing gentrification. People forced out of their communities by rising rents and by people building expensive condos that people can't afford. So what is that going to look like? It is going to look like the government stepping in and building those units. That's part of the millions of jobs that we're going to create is we're going to have to build millions of units. And that is the government's job. Look, I worked in the private sector for 30 years. I know whether markets are just efficient and fair. They're not. That's a myth. And housing is a result of that.
[19:04:36] We are going to have to have, you know, see stands for the Community Reinvestment Act. It's a way of trying to force banks to invest in low income neighborhoods. I just use you use the terms. I just want everyone to know it's. It's really banks try and jimmy it so they can make their numbers without actually doing the real work. The reason our bank.
[19:04:59] We had to develop actual metrics for every loan to see the community impact because no one has done that. It is an incredible bang for the buck. If the government will support the kind of credit unions and banks that we're talking about that we will do because, you know, I would say money in a low income community is like water in a desert.
[19:05:26] I don't know if you guys have ever worked on a farm, but I have. And if you ever really dry field and you have an irrigation ditch and you let the water just go over that field and you come back the next day, the fields green, it is like magic.
[19:05:40] And that's what happens in low income areas. You need money for people to build businesses. People need, you know, mortgages so they can buy houses and build their family wealth. People need support with financial systems. And there has been discrimination in this for decades and generations.
[19:05:59] And part of reparations is figuring out how to undo that. Because black wealth is much less than white wealth, largely due to extremely straightforward discrimination and prevention from not having success.
[19:06:19] Hi, my name is Sandra. I'm a transplant here from Iowa and I've been your South Carolina public schools for 20 years.
[19:06:28] I want to know everybody talks about preschool education and getting much better grades in college. There's still twelve years, is it? Yes. And I want to know what you mean for those two years. Kids, especially in space, South Carolina, I mean, Brown versus Board of Education past. And it's been a long or how many years have you lost? So it. Yes, but it has not solved the problem. I mean, I taught 20 years in classes for 94 percent.
[19:08:04] And so that I really there is so many things that we need to do with really young kids to put them on the right path.
[19:08:14] And.
[19:08:18] I said my mom was a teacher. My uncle was a teacher. My grandfather was a teacher. And my brother Jim has spent his life being an advocate for at risk kids. And he's told me for 35 years that if you don't get home by 3:00, you're probably too late. If you don't get it by 5:00, you're definitely too late. So when I think about what we're doing in this society, you know, the old saying from the Bible, where by treasurer is there is die heart also over not spending nearly enough money on education and kids. And so what does it look like?
[19:08:55] One of the things the federal government does is called Title 1. I'm sure you've heard of it. And Title One is basically to try and equalize the amount of money spent for low income kids. As for rich kids in the public schools, I would triple title one. Look, you can't have a just society if kids don't have a chance to move up in society, if they can't get the educational support that they need to live up to all of their ambitions and dreams. So when you talk about what I would do, I am a huge believer in paying teachers a lot more money. For starters, is dramatically underpaid.
[19:09:39] But I'm also somebody who really believes in supporting teachers completely differently in terms of having mental health people in schools, nurses and schools, librarians in school, giving them continuing education. Teachers get paid dramatically less than other professionals with similar educational backgrounds trip. And there's an obvious reason why our district is traditional teachers were women and so automatically they get paid less. So when I think about this, I mean, in every single level of education, this is the engine of American prosperity.
[19:10:15] This is the engine of American mobility. And this is if we don't use it as the engine of American justice, that means we are legislating inequality for another generation. And you can't think about it without talking about race. So in all of this, just so you know, we spent over 700 million bucks a year on defense.
[19:10:38] We spent 70 billion dollars a year on education with a ten x.
[19:10:45] Trump's budget has increased the defense budget by over $100 billion since he's been there. That's more than we spend on the kids in this school, at the federal level, in this country, at the federal level. So in answer to your question, I would really, really change our priorities. And do I care about K-12? I care like heck about K-12. Every single level of the educational process is incredibly important.
[19:11:11] But to be fair, I think that early education, getting kids on that right path is almost infinitely valuable because when you're on the wrong path, that's life. And it's, you know, having a kid on the right path and third grade is so great for him or her and their family and their community and everybody else in the United States of America.
[19:11:49] Yola Robert Robinson Simpson right here. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming. Does everybody know it?
[19:12:06] Good question, doctor. Jonathan wants me to keep down the questions. We'll try.
[19:12:21] Hi, my name is Millions. And I'm just wondering. I've been watching a commercial for two years and believe me, you have my vote. But I'm have to educate all of the people that I know in Louisiana and Texas. We really have not heard a lot from you and hear a lot from your opposers.
[19:12:38] . But they're saying, well, we don't we don't have to lie in these commercials here. Me say so. Could you share some insight on that? And another thing to add, you haven't thought about going on with maybe grow Mark with somebody who has a huge following.
[19:12:53] Right. I've been on with Roland Martin. I love Roland Martin.
[19:13:00] I have. You know how we are starting to move in, Chief. We are in the Super Tuesday states. The real goal is to build up a really good Nevada, have a really good South Carolina, and have people realize, wow, this is how we're going to beat Trump. This is the coalition that's going to beat Trump. These are the people that are going to be Trump.
[19:13:20] . And this is the candidate who's gonna beat Trump. So it really has got to be you've got to have momentum coming out of Nevada. Huge momentum coming out of South Carolina and basically be making a statement to everybody on Super Tuesday. Here we come. We are there. We are on the ground and we are advertising. But that's the plan. So.
[19:13:43] OK. Go ahead. This is the last question. That's the last question.
[19:13:51] Jonathan Metcalf is top of my head. No pressure there. Last question, right? I was. I don't want this to sound like a silly joke to you. And most of Washington, you guys know what the price of milk is in a loaf of bread. Groceries. You know how much you want to go shopping? Yes, I do.
[19:14:16] So what about Pinterest? Listen. One of the things that is true about the last 10 years for me is I have been on the road doing town halls, registering voters, going on to campuses, talking to people and talking to activists all over this country full time. So when people I can understand how people think that I'm a rich person would be removed.
[19:14:47] But actually, I have spent all of my time listening and talking to people from around this country about what really matters. And so am I in touch with the cost of things? I really am. And in fact, you should I also raise cattle, chickens and pigs.
[19:15:08] So I really know the cost of not only the cost of the supermarket, I know the cost of a bushel of corn and what you get for selling heifer. So there. But the question is a real question. And the question is this are you in touch with the reality of people's lives? That is the real question. And I believe I mean, let me say one more thing.
[19:15:34] We're talking about food. So someone asked me in a town hall if I believe in God and I do believe in God.
[19:15:47] And I actually put a cross on my hand in the morning every day to remind myself about doing the right thing no matter what. But my wife and I also started a program in California. It's farm to table in the public schools because we could see of kids school. The food they get in school is the food they get. And they were eating some of the worst food. You know, they're eating a lot of packaged food.
[19:16:19] They're leaving a lot of junk food. It's very bad for their health. It's also very bad for their attention at school, because as any parent knows, Cheetos and Coke does not prepare you to study in the afternoon. So we started doing it near our farm. We said we'll take over the public school food system and we'll do farm to table. You don't have to subsidize it. We'll do it. We can do it for the same price. We are now those schools that serve 300 million meals a year.
[19:16:47] I started by saying, do I believe in God?
[19:16:52] And I said to the person, the closest I've ever been to God is watching an 8 year old little boy in San Isidro, California. Eat a fish taco farm to table in his public school on a sunny day. A really poor kid with a really big spark.
[19:17:11] And that is the actual value to me.
[19:17:15] That program of letting a really poor kid eat really healthy food and enjoy it on a sunny day. That is about as close as we all will ever get to go.
[19:17:34] So, guys, I don't know what Jonathan Metcalf Jonathan is reminding me. We need your vote. We do. Listen, you guys. I have a very straightforward attitude about this.
[19:17:48] I played sports my whole life. I played team sports my whole life. And I have an attitude about people on my team. If you're my teammate, you're my friend, you're my equal. You're my partner. I love you. And nobody runs down the field and kicks my teammate in. The face cannot happen. Can't happen. And I view you and I viewed the American people as my team. And I've been watching people run down the field and kick you in the face.
[19:18:16] And whether that's trying to take away your Social Security or deny you health care or not, letting you afford the drugs or saying we're not going to have adequate education for kids. I do. That is we're rich enough.
[19:18:29] That's completely unnecessary. We're the richest country in the history of the world. We can take care of each other and a completely different level. We can share the wealth in a completely different level. That's how we'll actually be prosperous and grow together. And so I am willing to do anything to stand up for my teammates, literally.
[19:18:54] And I want you to stand up for me because we're going to take these guys down and there's no two ways around it. So let's win. Let's go win. Let's show them what we're going to do with.