"He said that first of all, the richest country in the world can and should abolish poverty, it just needed the will to do so. We’re in the same situation now. The argument is always, we can’t abolish poverty because it’s too expensive. And he said, well, is the Vietnam War too expensive? Abolishing poverty would have been a lot cheaper than pursuing this foolish adventure in Vietnam, which he said was morally wrong and shortsighted. And what about now? The six trillion dollars spent on the Iraq invasion and the subsequent destruction of stability in the Middle East could have ended poverty and provided jobs. Unionization could have created middle-class incomes for working-class people. But the people currently in power continue to drain society’s resources with tax cuts, funneling money to the already rich and powerful, while ignoring our needs for education, housing, health care, and jobs."