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Posted by Joshua Scheer

California’s 2026 election isn’t just another policy fight — it’s a stress test for whether democracy can still regulate concentrated wealth. As Silicon Valley’s billionaire class pours unprecedented money into the governor’s race, ballot initiatives, and down‑ballot contests, the state has become the proving ground for what Politico calls “the big tech flex.” The Guardian reports that tech donors are executing a full-spectrum political strategy: saturate campaigns, shape narratives, and ensure that any challenge to concentrated wealth is met with overwhelming financial force.

Into this storm steps Sen. Bernie Sanders, who arrived in Los Angeles to back a billionaire tax that has triggered open revolt among the state’s wealthiest residents. “Our nation will not thrive when so few own so much,” Sanders wrote — a line that lands even harder as The New York Times documents billionaires scrambling to restructure assets, shift residency, and even consider divorce to avoid paying more.

This is the collision at the heart of the fight: a state trying to tax extreme wealth, and a billionaire class signaling it may simply opt out. Newsom warns of capital flight. Economists warn of unpredictable shocks. Tech donors are already flooding the political system to shape the outcome.

We laid out the stakes yesterday — and today, we’re publishing the full Bernie Sanders speech that drives the point home.

Key Highlights from Bernie Sanders’ “Billionaire Tax Now” Speech (Los Angeles)

The Central Message

• Sanders frames the fight over a billionaire tax as the defining moral and economic struggle of our time, arguing that the U.S. is facing “the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality” unseen in its history.
• He insists the billionaire class has become an oligarchy, detached from society and convinced they have a “divine right to rule.”

Economic Inequality

• Over 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, struggling with rent, food, healthcare, childcare, and retirement.
• Meanwhile, “never before have so few had so much wealth and power.”
• The top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 93%.
• One man—Elon Musk—is worth $850 billion, more than 53% of American households combined.
• CEOs now make 350× the average worker.
• U.S. billionaires became $1.5 trillion richer in a single year after receiving the largest tax break in history.
• Over 50 years, $79 trillion has shifted from the bottom 90% to the top 1%.

Corporate Power & Ownership

• Four Wall Street firms—BlackRock, Vanguard, Fidelity, State Street—are major shareholders in 95% of U.S. corporations.
• Billionaires increasingly control the media:
  • Musk: Twitter/X
  • Bezos: Washington Post
  • Zuckerberg: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads
  • Ellison: CBS, Paramount, MTV
  • Murdoch: Fox News, WSJ, NY Post

Political Power & Citizens United

• Sanders calls the political system “corrupt” due to unlimited billionaire spending.
• Musk spent $290 million to elect Donald Trump.
• The top 100 richest Americans spent $2.6 billion on the 2024 election.
• Silicon Valley billionaires are preparing a $200 million AI/robotics super PAC, which Sanders warns will accelerate worker displacement.

AI, Robotics & Worker Threat

• Sanders warns that billionaire‑driven AI and robotics could throw millions out of work.
• He calls this “extraordinarily dangerous to the future of the working class.”

The California Fight

• Sanders says the billionaire tax referendum is not just about revenue—it’s about whether democracy can restrain oligarchic power.
• He predicts billionaires will run ads threatening job losses and business flight, calling it the same intimidation workers face during union drives.
• He warns oligarchs: “You are treading on very, very thin ice.”

Calling Out Individual Billionaires

• Sergey Brin (worth $245B) is spending $20M to defeat the tax.
• Mark Zuckerberg (worth $226B) owns three yachts and 11 Palo Alto homes.
• Larry Ellison (worth $213B) owns five private jets and fighter jets.
• Sanders argues they can easily afford to pay more so Californians can access healthcare.

Healthcare & Tax Priorities

• Sanders blasts the Trump-era tax cuts that removed 15 million people from Medicaid and ACA coverage to fund $1 trillion in tax breaks for the wealthy.

Historical Parallel & Movement Building

• He compares today’s billionaires to 18th–19th century monarchs, claiming they no longer see themselves as part of American society.
• He praises Minnesota workers who resisted ICE, saying organized people can defeat authoritarianism.
• He frames California as the next frontline: “The people of California can show the world that when we stand together, we can take on the oligarchs.”

Closing Message

• Sanders ends with a rallying cry: “Enough is enough. The billionaire class cannot have it all. This nation belongs to all of us.”

Below is the text of Sanders’ full speech — His remarks lay bare the stakes: whether California governs its billionaires, or its billionaires govern California.

FULL SPEECH: Bernie Sanders Holds ‘Billionaire Tax Now’ Event In Los Angeles, California

Power to the people. >> Thank you, LA. >> Wow. Thank you. Thank you all for coming out. Love you, too. And let me thank let me thank the SCIU and United Healthc Care for inviting me to be with you this evening. It is a pleasure. And let me thank the unions here in California for bringing to the forefront the most important economic and moral issue of our time. And that is the need for our country to finally confront the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are currently experiencing. And here is the simple truth. You’re not going to see it much on TV. And there are reasons for that and you’re not going to hear it discussed too much in Congress. But today in America, our great country, while over 60% of our people are living paycheck to paycheck, you all know what that’s about. >> Yeah. I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck. Many of you are living paycheck to paycheck. And all over this country, tens of millions of people are struggling to put food on the table, to pay the rents, to deal with the outrageous cost of health care and prescription drugs, to send their kids to child care, and maybe, just maybe, put aside a few bucks for retirement. That’s what ordinary Americans are experiencing. But while the average American struggles, we are looking at a moment in history where never before have so few people had so much wealth and so much power. Never before in American history have we seen the outrageous level of income and wealth inequality we see today. Never before in American history have we seen the kind of greed and arrogance and moral turpitude on the part of the ruling class that we see today. Let us be clear for these oligarchs. 10 billion dollar pocket change not enough. 50 billion not enough. A hundred billion not enough. These people suffer from an addiction problem. You know, we all know people sadly we all know people addicted to drugs, addicted to alcohol, addicted to tobacco, face many serious addiction problems. But do you know what the most significant addiction crisis in America is today? It is the greed of the billionaire class. For these people, enough is never enough. They are dedicated to accumulating more and more wealth and power. And they do that no matter what harm they bring to working families, to our children, and to our parents. No matter how many lowincome and workingclass people will die because they no longer have health insurance. That is not what these guys care a bit about. All they care about is more and more wealth and more and more power for themselves. >> It is a shame. You know, as human beings, what we kind of think that we should be is concerned about our neighbors and our friends, right? Human empathy. >> But in America today, and I want you to hear this because you’re not going to see it much in the media or her hear it in Congress. Today in America, the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 93%. Got that? >> Today in America, one man, Mr. Musk, >> he is now worth $850 billion. One man. While 800,000 Americans are homeless and children go hungry, one man one man owns more wealth than the bottom 53% of American households. Uh let me repeat that because you may may have thought that you misheard what I said. One man owns more wealth than the bottom 53% majority of American households. Today, the CEOs of large profitable corporations now make 350 times more than the average worker. You got that? And last year alone, just in one year, after receiving the largest tax break in history, the 938 billionaires in America became $1.5 trillion richer. I I heard that there was a march here in California somewhere worrying about the plight of the billionaires. Well, I don’t think our hearts have got to go out too far to a group of people who in one year have seen a $1.5 trillion increase in their wealth. In fact, over the past six years, billionaires in America have more than doubled their wealth. Got it? And have become over 4.5 trillion dollars richer. And I want to tell you something else because it’s not just a new phenomenon. under Trump over the last couple of years. Over the last 50 years, there has been a $79 trillion transfer of wealth, redistribution of wealth from the bottom 90% to the top 1%. Meanwhile, and many of you know this because you are experiencing it daily. Despite massive increases in worker productivity, every worker in this room is far more productive than somebody 50 years ago because you have the equipment and the technology to be more productive. But despite all of that, despite an explosion in technology, the average American worker today is making almost $20 a week less than he or she did over 53 years ago after adjusting for inflation. In other words, bottom line, the richest people in this country are doing unbelievably well the working class in America is going nowhere in a hurry. And we worry that our kids will have a lower standard of living than we do. But it is not just I want to spend a moment on this. When we look at what’s going on in this country, it’s not just the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality. Today, we have more concentration of ownership. You know what I mean by that? Fewer and fewer entities own more and more of our economy. Unbelievably, today four Wall Street firms, BlackRock, Vanguard, Fidelity, and State Street These four firms combined are the major stockholders in 95% of our corporations. Got it? But but it is not just income and wealth inequality or concentration of ownership. Today, the billionaire class to an unprecedented degree determines what the American people see, hear, and reread through their ownership of media. So, if you wonder why issues like income and wealth inequality, issues like corporate greed are not talked about too much in the media. It has a lot to do with who owns that media. Just to mention, just to give you a few examples, who owns Twitter? You all know who owns Twitter? >> That’s right. Elon Musk. You know who owns the Washington Post and Twitch? Smart Group. Jeff Bezos. Mark Zuckerberg owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads. Larry Ellison owns CBS. And you can see with his new ownership of CBS, that network is undergoing profound changes. He owns Tik Tok, has a lot of stake in Tik Tok, Paramont Pictures, Sky Dance, and MTV. Rbert Murdoch, our good friend, owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post. Okay, so it is massive income and wealth inequality, unprecedented. It is massive concentration of ownership, unprecedented. It is corporate and billionaire control over the media in a way that we have never seen. But that is not all. What we are also seeing is that the billionaire class is not content to own the economy, to own the media. They want more. And now increasingly they are owning our corrupt political system. As a result of the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, billionaires are able to spend as much money as they want on political campaigns through their super PACs. So, just to give you an example of what power is about, in the last president elect presidential election, Mr. Musk, the wealthiest man on earth, spent at least $290 million to elect Donald Trump. >> But it’s not just Mr. Musk. The hundred richest people in our country, Republicans and Democrats, spent 2.6 billion on the 2024 election. And from what we can see, that kind of campaign contribution is only becoming bigger and bigger. Big tech oligarchs in Silicon Valley, your state, have already pledged to spend at least 200 million on a super PAC sympathetic to the AI and robotics industries. And you know why they’re doing that? because they know that AI and robotics can throw millions of workers out on the street and make their corporate friends and themselves even richer. And by the way, I’m going to be in PaloAlto in a few days talking about this issue. But understand that this AI and robotic stuff being pushed by these very same billionaires is extraordinarily dangerous to the future of the working class of this country. Brothers and sisters, at a time when the wealth and power of the billionaire class has never been greater, we are here today to send a very clear and profound message to them and that is enough is enough. The billionaire class cannot have it all. This nation belongs to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. But let me be honest with you and telling you that what we are dealing with today that this rally and the whole concept of attacks on billionaires is more than economics and it is more than tax policy. You know, I’m sure these guys don’t want to pay a few billion dollars more in taxes, but for them, in many ways, that is pocket change. What is the real issue here? The real issue gets to the very heart of what American society is becoming. And that is what you are dealing with right here. And why I am so proud to be with you in California tonight. And what this what this whole issue is about is that in many respects and this is not rhetoric. This is in fact what I think most people now understand. The billionaire class no longer sees itself as part of American society. Do you understand what I’m saying? They see themselves as something separate and apart like the oligarchs. Remember the history we learned in school. Like the oligarchs of the 18th and 19th centuries, you know, the kings and the queens and the zars. These guys literally believe that they have the divine right to rule and are no longer subject to democratic governance. These are people, billionaires, who have created huge businesses with revolutionary technologies like AI and robotics that are literally transforming the face of the earth. and everyone on it and they are saying to you and to everybody in America, who the hell do you think you are telling us what we, the ruling elite, the millionaires, the billionaires, the richest people on earth? Who do you think you are telling us what we can do or not do? We the billionaire class have the wealth and we have the power. We run the show and they are saying there is nothing you can do about it. >> Well, we’ve got some bad news for them. Starting right here in California, these billionaires are going to learn that we are still living in a democratic society where the people have some power. Now, I have read a little bit about what the billionaires intend to do in this particular campaign. They’re raising a lot of money from uh their very rich friends and they’re going to be spending a lot of money on TV ads and so forth and so on. Now, mark my words. When you watch the TV and you see their ads, their ads will not be saying, “We are billionaires and we don’t give a damn about anybody else. We want it all. Vote down this referendum.” Probably will not be a 30-cond ad. what they will do and those of you who are active in the trade union movement will be very familiar with this what they essentially are saying which I think is fairly disgusting what they are saying if you stand up for us you stand up to us and if you think it’s more important that children get health care then we get massive tax breaks we are going to punish you and the trade union movement is familiar with that. When you go and organize a shop, what do the bosses say to the workers? You want a union? Well, I’ll tell you what. You’re going to form a union. We’re moving to China, right? We’re moving to Mexico. You’re a union organizer. You’re proud. You’re fired. Out of here. You were late 3 weeks ago. You’re out of here. We have the power. You’re not going to form a union. We’re not going to give you decent wages or decent benefits. And that’s what their campaign is about. It’s not a debate on the issues. Do you think they’re going to argue whether the richest people on earth who are becoming much richer should pay a little bit more in taxes so their children can have healthcare? You think that’s going to be the debate? It will not be. The debate will be if you do the right thing and the moral thing, we’re going to punish you. We’re going to move. We’re going to shut down businesses here. Now, whether they do it or not, I don’t know. I think they lie a lot. And by the way, when Mani was running in New York City, that’s what the oligarch says. Oh, Matti wins were all fleeing New York. They didn’t. And I doubt that they will flee the great state of California. But I would say to these oligarchs, be careful because you are treading on very, very thin ice. And I can tell you this, having been all over this country with the Fighting oligarchy tour, which has brought out over 300,000 people throughout America. And what I can tell the oligarchs is that the American people are sick and tired of their greed. They are sick and tired of billionaires paying a lower tax rate than the average American worker. They are sick and tired of large corporations like Tesla and SpaceX and many other large corporations making billions of dollars in profit a year and paying nothing, zero zilch in federal income taxes. They are sick and tired of people like Sergy Brin, the co-founder of Google, who is spending $20 million to defeat this tax on billionaires. Mr. Bin, you are worth $245 billion. Since Trump was elected, you have become over $100 billion dollar richer. >> Listen to the needs of working people. Stop threatening the people of California. start paying your fair share of taxes. But it’s not just Mr. Brin. Mark Zuckerberg is the wealthiest man in California and the fourth wealthiest person in the world, worth 226 billion. And for Mr. Zuckerberg is apparently not good enough to own one yacht. He had to buy three yachts worth 530 million. He had to buy 11 homes in Palo Alto to make a family compound. Mr. Zuckerberg, you can afford to pay your fair share of taxes so that people have healthcare. Larry Ellison is the second wealthiest person in California. He is worth $213 billion. For Mr. Ellison, one private jet is just not good enough. So he bought five private jets along with several jet fighter jets he uses for recreational purposes and on and on it goes. The richest people are doing phenomenally well and in many cases they are paying very little in taxes. And once again, 15 million people thrown off of health care, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act in order to provide a trillion dollars in tax breaks for these very same billionaires. So all that the folks in California are saying is that a time when the very rich are becoming phenomenally richer, when the very rich have been given a massive tax break by Donald Trump, when millions of people in this state are struggling to be able to afford health care, maybe billionaires should start paying their fair share of taxes. All of you, all of you are aware of the heroic efforts of our brothers and sisters in Minnesota who stood up to ICE. They put their lives on the line and some lost their lives in order to defeat and push back against Trump’s domestic army of federal agents wearing masks. What Minnesota showed is that when people get organized and have courage and stand together, they can win struggles. And now that was Minnesota standing up to authoritarianism and now the ball is in California’s court. The people of California can show the people of America and in fact people throughout the world >> that when we stand together, we can take on the oligarchs and the billionaires. The brothers and sisters, I am honored to be here with you. Let’s go forward together. Let’s win this thing. Thank you all very much.

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