U.S. Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders and Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi have built part of their reputations on pushing for reform in the financial sector.  Having just introduced a bill April 9 aimed to break up some of Wall Street’s biggest banks, both Sanders and Taibbi will be bringing their voices to UVM tomorrow for a town meeting. In preparation for the event, the Cynic held a phone interview with Sen. Sanders to discuss Wall Street, legislation, fossil fuel divestment and where students fit in. Cynic: Why Matt Taibbi?         Sen. Sanders: He is actually one of the very best writers in America in terms of financial issues and Wall Street. I think students that are interested in economics or interested in the role that Wall Street plays in our society, a very negative role, can learn a whole lot by coming to hear Matt speak. There are not many writers who have the courage to deal into the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street. Matt Taibbi is one of the very few and does a very good job at it. Wall Street is the most powerful entity in the United States of America economically and politically. They are incredibly powerful, and a lot of magazines and newspapers chose not to really take them on. But Matt Taibbi and Rolling Stone have, and a lot of people will appreciate what Matt has to say. Cynic: In March of this year, Attorney General Eric Holder declared HSBC as ‘too big to jail’, are we losing our freedoms to the finance industry? W hat can students do to stop this? Sen. Sanders: What the Attorney General of the United States said is that if institutions are so big and their economic tentacles reach into so many areas of our life that if you prosecute the leadership of a bank you will have a destabilizing impact on the bank, which can have a destabilizing impact on the U.S. economy, and in fact the world economy. That is just one more reasons why banks that are so huge beyond belief, [they] have to be broken up. Today, you have the six largest financial institutions in America have assets of about $9.5 trillion. That is equivalent to two-thirds of the Gross Domestic Product of America. That is six financial institutions.           The six financial institutions produce two-thirds of the credit cards in this country. They also write half of the mortgages in America. In my view, it is terribly important that we break them up. Students that come to this meeting will learn a whole lot from one of the best writers in America.” Cynic: Can you explain a little bit about the legislation that you introduced to break-up big banks? Has President Obama have an opinion on it yet? Is he expected to support it? Sen. Sanders: I don’t think the President is going to be terribly supportive of this. Taking on Wall Street is very, very difficult. They control a lot of money. They make a lot of campaign contributions. Not a lot of people are prepared to do that. Cynic: What are your views on the divestment movements occurring at UVM and throughout colleges? Sen. Sanders: It is a very good idea. We just had a town meeting last month will Bill McKibben, and it is clear to everybody that global warming is a serious problem. It is a major planetary crisis that we face. We have to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions and students can play a good role at trying to get the universities to divest. Cynic: Is student activism part of the answer to help break up big banks? Sen. Sanders: Yes. But more importantly it is not an issue that gets a lot of media coverage. You don’t see much about it on television or the newspaper. I am very happy that we have coming to Burlington one of the leading experts in these issues and students will enjoy it very much. The town meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday afternoon at the Marsh Life Sciences building. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates and highlights from the event.