Bloomberg/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n O\u2019Leary\u2019s compound-interest math holds up on paper, but the salary assumptions that drive the critique paint a different picture for young workers.<\/p>\n Median household income for Americans age 15 to 24 falls below $50,000 in more than half of all U.S. cities, SmartAsset reported.<\/p>\n That means setting aside $28 every single day, roughly $10,200 a year, would eat up a significant share of a young worker\u2019s after-tax income.<\/p>\n Bank of America’s 2026 Better Money Habits study found that 42% of Generation Z workers described themselves as living paycheck to paycheck.<\/p>\n Nearly seven in 10 reported cutting back to cope with a worsening emergency savings crisis and rising costs, the report noted.<\/p>\n “They’re cutting back on dining out, picking up side hustles and starting budgets, so clearly the discipline is there,” said Bank of America head of specialized consumer client solutions Matt Gellene.<\/p>\n …When nearly half of Gen Z still points to the high cost of living as their biggest barrier while wages aren’t keeping pace, you have to see that the math just isn’t working in their favor.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The O\u2019Leary exchange fits into a much broader campaign that Sanders has waged since Donald Trump\u2019s second inauguration in January 2025. <\/p>\n At that ceremony, billionaire executives Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, were seated in prominent positions that drew widespread public attention.<\/p>\n Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour across roughly 40 stops through the end of 2025, drawing more than 261,000 total attendees.<\/p>\n Sanders has also pushed for legislative action alongside Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), introducing the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act, which would impose a 5% annual wealth tax on billionaires.<\/p>\n More Federal Reserve:<\/strong><\/p>\n The proposal would raise approximately $4.4 trillion over a decade, targeting 938 billionaires currently residing in the United States.<\/p>\n “Liberal democracies around the world are now among the most unequal societies ever to have existed in human history,” Northwestern University Political Science Professor Jeffrey Winters told Democracy Now.<\/p>\n Sanders also drew a sharp distinction during the interview, entirely rejecting the label of \u201cbusinesspeople\u201d for ultra-wealthy figures like O\u2019Leary.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe guy down the shop who owns a mom and pop is a business guy,\u201d Sanders said, separating small business owners from billionaires. \u201cThese people are not businesspeople, they are oligarchs,\u201d he added, framing the wealth divide as a direct threat to American democracy.<\/p>\n Sanders closed the interview by linking the wealth gap to what he called a growing imbalance in media and public discourse. He argued that the ultra-wealthy not only shape the economy but also influence which conversations the public can have.<\/p>\n The senator told Cocchiarella that major corporate television networks almost never provide meaningful coverage of the economic concerns of tens of millions of Americans.\u00a0<\/p>\n He pointed to Elon Musk’s $250 million political spending and his use of X (the former Twitter) to endorse political candidates as one example of how billionaire ownership narrows the scope of public conversation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s our world, not Mr. Musk\u2019s and not Mr. Bezos\u2019,\u201d he said on the program, asking viewers to decide what kind of future they want.<\/p>\n Related: Kevin O’Leary says this is the highest-paying job right now<\/strong><\/p>\n #Bernie #Sanders #slams #Kevin #OLeary #stinging #rebuke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), long known for challenging America\u2019s wealthiest public figures, has renewed his criticism, targeting a familiar television investor. The confrontation centers on remarks made by investor and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[246],"tags":[8009,1658,8426,8428,8010,8425,8427],"class_list":["post-5952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-popular","tag-bernie","tag-kevin","tag-oleary","tag-rebuke","tag-sanders","tag-slams","tag-stinging"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.thestreet.com\/.image\/NDA6MDAwMDAwMDAzMDY1ODIz\/kevin-oleary.jpg?profile=rss\")
O\u2019Leary\u2019s compound interest math adds up, but the salary doesn\u2019t<\/h2>\n
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Sanders connects O’Leary’s clash to his broader anti-oligarchy crusade<\/h2>\n
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Sanders warns concentrated wealth is reshaping public debate<\/h2>\n