[tsac]

Some of the stuff he touts is what a lot of people are thinking but some is from a guy who does not have any filters. The media changes the story to suit who knows who. Yes Bernie is honest but if you look at the real numbers
2013 40% pay no tax
2014 45% pay no tax

2014 1% pay 49% of the taxes

projected 2015 numbers per WSJ and others
53% pay no tax
top 1% pay 52%

the scary part is 46 % pay the rest. If the numbers keep going up of people who pay nothing there wont be enough people to pay for the free everything Bernie wants to give. A lot of people don't realize the issues and only see the one thing they want.

I really like the referral for those getting Social Security / Medicare as receiving something for nothing.
Ever look at the deductions for SSI and Medicare on your pay?. Free? nope, you pay in advance.

Lawmakers do pay 8 percent of their salaries into their pension system, although this only compensates for about 1/5 of the typical lifetime benefit. We cover the rest as taxpayers.



Ok the fun continues

Member of Congress began to pay into Social Security in 1983, as part of a government-wide pension overhaul.

In addition, Members of Congress DO NOT draw the “same pension” as their pay in the last year of office as suggested in a rumor circulating on the Internet; only federal judges do that under the term “retirement pay.” Still, the formula is quite generous, and, with 20-25 years, a Member of Congress could retire with up to 80 percent of his or her salary replaced. Of course, the only cap on how fast their benefits rise is the rate of increase in CPI. For this reason, Congressional pensions can and frequently do exceed a Member’s final salary, but only after a few years in retirement, when COLAS begin to kick in.

In the final analysis, Congressional pension benefits are 2-3 times more generous than what a similarly-salaried executive could expect to receive upon retiring from the private sector. That ought to be enough to concern any taxpayer or voter.