Synopsis
The book "The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class" by Bernie Sanders is essentially the full transcript of the senator's marathon eight-and-a-half-hour address delivered on the U.S. Senate floor on December 10, 2010. In it, Sanders vigorously opposed a bipartisan tax deal brokered by President Obama and Republicans that extended the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, reduced estate taxes for the ultra-rich, and included a payroll tax holiday that he argued threatened the long-term solvency of Social Security.
Far beyond critiquing that specific legislation, the speech serves as a detailed, statistic-laden examination of the broader erosion of America's middle class over preceding decades. Sanders highlights growing income inequality, corporate greed, offshoring of jobs, the decline of manufacturing, deregulation of banks, and policies that favor the wealthy while neglecting working families, infrastructure, education, and social safety nets. He contrasts the explosion in the number of millionaires and billionaires with persistently high rates of childhood poverty in the United States compared to other industrialized nations, painting a picture of misplaced national priorities that benefit the powerful and their lobbyists at the expense of ordinary citizens.
Throughout the extended remarks, Sanders draws on economic data, historical context, and personal anecdotes to argue for a fundamental shift in government policy—one that prioritizes the needs of working people, protects Social Security and veterans, invests in public goods, and reins in corporate influence. The book, which includes a new introduction by Sanders in its editions, ultimately functions as both a passionate protest against the tax agreement and a broader call to action for Americans to demand policies that strengthen the middle class and promote economic fairness. It became a bestseller and helped elevate Sanders' national profile as a voice for progressive causes.