--- title: Democratic Debate: Bernie Sanders Ties Everything to Wall St description: For Bernie Sanders, almost every policy debate comes back to Wall Street and campaign finance reform. canonical: https://time.com/4184050/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-campaign-finance/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-18T04:41:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:42.526Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Bernie Sanders Blamed Wall Street for Almost Everything og:description: For Bernie Sanders, almost every policy debate comes back to Wall Street and campaign finance reform. og:url: https://time.com/4184050/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-campaign-finance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ecd6fa6033a7185/69887982cf40a81bc9c41852/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: CHARLESTON, SC - JANUARY 17: Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) participates in the Democratic Candidates Debate hosted by NBC News and YouTube on January 17, 2016 in Charleston, South Carolina. This is the final debate for og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Bernie Sanders Blamed Wall Street for Almost Everything twitter:description: For Bernie Sanders, almost every policy debate comes back to Wall Street and campaign finance reform. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ecd6fa6033a7185/69887982cf40a81bc9c41852/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Bernie Sanders Blamed Wall Street for Almost Everything > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 18, 2016 4:41 AM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders participates in the NBC - YouTube Democratic presidential debate at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, S.C. on Jan. 17, 2016. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders participates in the NBC - YouTube Democratic presidential debate at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, S.C. on Jan. 17, 2016. Andrew Burton—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 18, 2016 4:41 AM UTC For Bernie Sanders, almost every [policy debate](http://time.com/4183625/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/?xid=homepage) comes back to Wall Street and campaign finance reform. At the [fourth Democratic debate](http://time.com/4183952/democratic-debate-full-text-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/) in Charleston Sunday night, Sanders tied everything from criminal justice to global warming to Wall Street and the big money he sees infecting the political system. When asked how he would pay for many of his expensive plans, including his proposal to alleviate student debt, Sanders said, “I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well. How do I pay for it? I pay for it through a… tax on Wall Street speculation. This country and the middle class bailed out Wall Street. Now it is Wall Street’s time to help the middle class. ” On [criminal justice reform](http://time.com/4183979/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-criminal-justice-wall-street/?xid=tcoshare), the Vermont senator also invoked Wall Street boogeymen. “Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEOs of Wall Street companies who destroyed our country have no police records?” he said. When [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/4183753/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-poll-3/?xid=homepage) was speaking about who would advise her on economic policy, Sanders said, “If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain’t going to accomplish very much. So here’s a promise that I make—and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is—Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury. Here’s a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have—bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration.” **Read More:** [_Clinton and Sanders Clash at High-Stakes Democratic Debate_](http://time.com/4183625/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/?xid=homepage) And even on climate change, Sanders said one of the real issues is campaign finance reform: “It is amazing to me, and I think we’ll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party, that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don’t even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists,” he said. Sanders returned to his favorite issue in his closing statement, when the moderators asked what else the candidates wanted to mention that they didn’t get a chance to talk about. “Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy,” he said to end the debate. “We’ve got to get rid of Super PACs, we’ve got to get rid of Citizens’ United.” Sanders has surged in the race through his Brooklyn-accented denouncements of the “billionaire class” and the “rigged” campaign finance system in the U.S. From his performance in the fourth debate, it seems that’s a strategy he’s sticking with. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4184050/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-campaign-finance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4184050/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-campaign-finance/"},"headline":"How Bernie Sanders Blamed Wall Street for Almost Everything","datePublished":"2016-01-18T04:41:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:42.526Z","description":"Even climate change","url":"https://time.com/4184050/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-campaign-finance/","keywords":["Bernie Sanders","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ecd6fa6033a7185/69887982cf40a81bc9c41852/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ecd6fa6033a7185/69887982cf40a81bc9c41852/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CHARLESTON, SC - JANUARY 17: Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) participates in the Democratic Candidates Debate hosted by NBC News and YouTube on January 17, 2016 in Charleston, South Carolina. 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