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PAUL JAY All right. Well, let's get back to the politics of all of this. Joe Biden is in the race for 2020. And right now it's Biden versus Bernie. Maybe that will change. But in some ways it's a good thing, because you have two very distinct views, especially on health care. One will argueand I'm going to argue the Biden side, herethat to take on pharma, to take on private health care insurance companies, to move to Medicare for All and take on that war with Wall Street, in a very important profit center for them, is going to throw that sector behind Trump. And if you think the paramount issue, which a lot of people think, is defeating Trump, then you don't want to take on that sector, and you need to compromise with that section of finance and try to fix the ACA, to some extent, or you'll throw a massive amount of Wall Street behind Trump. And Wall Street already is kind of happy with Trump, between the tax cuts and deregulation of Wall Street. I mean, I actually don't know if it'll make that much difference anyway, because I think Wall Street kind of loves Trump. On the other hand, they might go for a Biden, because the Obama administration was not that unfriendly to Wall Street. I mean, yeah, Dodd-Frank was passed, and so on. But the truth is, Wall Street did very well under the Obama administration, and they might like a more rational Biden, Wall Street friendly, versus what a lot of people think is a pretty crazy Trump. So what do you make of that argument? Because I think that's what we're going to hear a lot of, that argument.
WENDELL POTTER We'll hear a lot about that, and I'm sure there's probably some truth to that. But I also know that a lot of the corporatethe big corporate Wall Street Democrats, or you know, they are concerned about this groundswell of support for candidates that are able to amass a lot of of campaign money through small donations. Their power is being challenged, and they don't like that. And so I thinkbut what Biden is doing is showing that at least the establishment Democrats are still very much beholden to Wall Street and to big corporate interests. And the other candidates are going to be trying to distinguish themselves from that. A number of them are already. It could be that there will be some money that goes to Trump that might otherwise go to some Democratic candidates. I'm not so certain that that's the case. We'll see. But I don't think that Wall Street necessarily has as much sway over Democratic voters as they once did, particularly with some of the candidates who are certainly shunning Wall Street, and would be Wall Street's worst nightmare. Certainly Bernie Sanders, probably even more so Elizabeth Warren, and some of the other Democrats that have said they will not take corporate donations.
PAUL JAY So what do you think is the significance of these elections?
WENDELL POTTER I think they're very significant. I think, as we've talked previously, there's not any chance that Medicare for All will get through this Congress and be signed into law by President Trump. That's just not going to happen. So the elections couldn't be more important if this is to advance. And I'm of the opinion that the current health care system is not sustainable. It's going to collapse at some point. If it doesn't collapse, it's going to be a system that is athat people only who are the wealthiest in this country are going to be able to afford care, and the rest of the population just simply will not be able to get the care that they need.
We already are the only developed country in the world that rations care on the ability to pay. And that's only going to get worse. And I think you're going to be seeing not only more and more individuals and families support Medicare for All, but you're going to see increasingly businesses, small businesses to mid-sized businesses in particular. One of the other things that I have done is agree to serve as president of this organization called the Business initiative for Health Policy. And it's an organization that makes the business case. Not just the social and moral case, but the business case for moving to Medicare for All, and representing businesses that can no longer afford to offer coverage to their workers. They're becoming increasingly uncompetitive in the global marketplace if they are having to experience year after year premiums they can't control.
The founder of the business initiative is a business executive who is calculating that it now costs him $14 an hour per year per employee to offer coverage to his workers, which is ridiculous. So there is no employer that can can do this indefinitely in this country and still be competitive in a global marketplace.
PAUL JAY All right. Thanks for joining us, Wendell. We'll talk again as the campaign develops. But for now that will be the end of this part of this segment of Reality Asserts Itself. And as I say, we'll talk many times as this unfolds.
WENDELL POTTER Thanks for the opportunity, Paul.
PAUL JAY And thank you for joining us on The Real News Network and Reality Asserts Itself.
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