Bernie Sanders (Entrepreneurship and Innovation)
From FeelTheBern
Supporting Small Businesses: The backbone of a healthy economy is made up of small businesses on the “Main Streets” of America, not giant corporations on Wall Street. Bernie wants to make sure that small businesses have access to low-interest loans and other forms of support, so that they can thrive. He has a record of supporting legislation to help small businesses succeed. [1]
Entrepreneurship & Innovation: The United States has long been a world leader in entrepreneurship and innovation, which in turn are the engines that drive our economy. To continue this tradition of leadership and growth, Bernie has supported increasing access to education and training, and opposing intellectual property regimes [2]
Bernie also has some fascinating material on patents here: http://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-small-business-and-entrepreneurship/#entrepreneurship-and-innovation
Supporting Small Businesses
Patent System Reform
- The way the patent system is currently structured has the effect of stifling innovation (BSWEI)
- For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, much of research spending by private companies goes toward attempting to make drugs similar to those already patented rather than discovering new medicines and treatments
- Introduced the Medical Innovation Act in 2005 and 2007 to allow generic versions of new medications to be manufactured immediately in order to affordably satisfy demand, while introducing a prize fund to reward pharmaceutical innovations (Congress)
Quotes from the Democratic Debates
- "I think everybody is in agreement that we are a great entrepreneurial nation. We have got to encourage that. Of course, we have to support small and medium-sized businesses. But you can have all of the growth that you want and it doesn’t mean anything if all of the new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent." (DD1)
- “You would all be amazed… about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment. And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow ISIS to transmit information...” (DD4)
