Sanders tells Iowans to take a deeper look at economy

MASON CITY, Ia. — It’s not enough that the economy is performing better than it was when Barack Obama first took office, Sen. Bernie Sanders told Iowa crowds over the weekend.

Capping off a wide-ranging day of campaign events with a raucous Sunday evening rally at North Iowa Area Community College, Sanders told the crowd to think bigger than just the past few years of an improving economy.

"Yes, the economy today is much better than when Bush left office. But — and this is a big but — nobody here should be satisfied with that," Sanders said. "Because the truth is that while we are better off today than we were seven years ago, the truth is that over the last 40 years, under Republican presidents and Democratic presidents, the great middle class of America, once the envy of the entire world, has in fact been disappearing. And that's a reality we have to address."

Sanders said Republican politicians get nervous when people talk about redistributing wealth. But he said that's already happened in recent decades.

“Problem is, it’s gone in the wrong direction,” he said.

Through what he calls his “political revolution,” Sanders said he plans to build an American economy that works for the middle class, children, the elderly and the poor — a stark comparison to what he calls the current “rigged economy.”

“Heads they win, tails you lose,” he said. “That is the economy that together we are going to change.”

As she introduced Sanders to the stage Sunday evening, Laura Hubka said her college-age daughter first got her interested in the Vermont senator. Now she plans to caucus for him.

“My Republican friends are paying attention, too,” said Hubka, chairwoman of the Howard County Democrats. “And they like what Bernie has to say. And that makes me smile.”

Earlier in the day, Sanders addressed a Jewish crowd in suburban Des Moines, talked dense policy issues with high school and college-age students in inner-city Des Moines and addressed Democrats at a pork chop dinner in Fort Dodge.

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