Elizabeth Warren 2020

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

TrumpTV keeping their eye on Warren

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

2012 Elizabeth Warren DNC Speech

“Thank you! I'm Elizabeth Warren, and this is my first Democratic Convention. Never thought I'd run for senate. And I sure never dreamed that I'd get to be the warm-up act for President Bill Clinton—an amazing man, who had the good sense to marry one of the coolest women on the planet. I want to give a special shout out to the Massachusetts delegation. I'm counting on you to help me win and to help President Obama win.

I'm here tonight to talk about hard-working people: people who get up early, stay up late, cook dinner and help out with homework; people who can be counted on to help their kids, their parents, their neighbors, and the lady down the street whose car broke down; people who work their hearts out but are up against a hard truth—the game is rigged against them.

It wasn't always this way. Like a lot of you, I grew up in a family on the ragged edge of the middle class. My daddy sold carpeting and ended up as a maintenance man. After he had a heart attack, my mom worked the phones at Sears so we could hang on to our house. My three brothers all served in the military. One was career. The second worked a good union job in construction. The third started a small business.

Me, I was waiting tables at 13 and married at 19. I graduated from public schools and taught elementary school. I have a wonderful husband, two great children, and three beautiful grandchildren. And I'm grateful, down to my toes, for every opportunity that America gave me. This is a great country. I grew up in an America that invested in its kids and built a strong middle class; that allowed millions of children to rise from poverty and establish secure lives. An America that created Social Security and Medicare so that seniors could live with dignity; an America in which each generation built something solid so that the next generation could build something better.

But for many years now, our middle class has been chipped, squeezed, and hammered. Talk to the construction worker I met from Malden, Massachusetts, who went nine months without finding work. Talk to the head of a manufacturing company in Franklin trying to protect jobs but worried about rising costs. Talk to the student in Worcester who worked hard to finish his college degree, and now he's drowning in debt. Their fight is my fight, and it's Barack Obama's fight too.

People feel like the system is rigged against them. And here's the painful part: they're right. The system is rigged. Look around. Oil companies guzzle down billions in subsidies. Billionaires pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. Wall Street CEOs—the same ones who wrecked our economy and destroyed millions of jobs—still strut around Congress, no shame, demanding favors, and acting like we should thank them.

Anyone here have a problem with that? Well I do. I talk to small business owners all across Massachusetts. Not one of them—not one—made big bucks from the risky Wall Street bets that brought down our economy. I talk to nurses and programmers, salespeople and firefighters—people who bust their tails every day. Not one of them—not one—stashes their money in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

These folks don't resent that someone else makes more money. We're Americans. We celebrate success. We just don't want the game to be rigged. We've fought to level the playing field before. About a century ago, when corrosive greed threatened our economy and our way of life, the American people came together under the leadership of Teddy Roosevelt and other progressives, to bring our nation back from the brink.

We started to take children out of factories and put them in schools. We began to give meaning to the words "consumer protection" by making our food and medicine safe. And we gave the little guys a better chance to compete by preventing the big guys from rigging the markets. We turned adversity into progress because that's what we do.

Americans are fighters. We are tough, resourceful and creative. If we have the chance to fight on a level playing field—where everyone pays a fair share and everyone has a real shot—then no one can stop us. President Obama gets it because he's spent his life fighting for the middle class. And now he's fighting to level that playing field—because we know that the economy doesn't grow from the top down, but from the middle class out and the bottom up. That's how we create jobs and reduce the debt.

And Mitt Romney? He wants to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires. But for middle-class families who are hanging on by their fingernails? His plans will hammer them with a new tax hike of up to 2,000 dollars. Mitt Romney wants to give billions in breaks to big corporations—but he and Paul Ryan would pulverize financial reform, voucher-ize Medicare, and vaporize Obamacare.

The Republican vision is clear: "I've got mine, the rest of you are on your own." Republicans say they don't believe in government. Sure they do. They believe in government to help themselves and their powerful friends. After all, Mitt Romney's the guy who said corporations are people.

No, Governor Romney, corporations are not people. People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love, and they die. And that matters. That matters because we don't run this country for corporations, we run it for people. And that's why we need Barack Obama.

After the financial crisis, President Obama knew that we had to clean up Wall Street. For years, families had been tricked by credit cards, fooled by student loans and cheated on mortgages. I had an idea for a consumer financial protection agency to stop the rip-offs. The big banks sure didn't like it, and they marshaled one of the biggest lobbying forces on earth to destroy the agency before it ever saw the light of day. American families didn't have an army of lobbyists on our side, but what we had was a president—President Obama leading the way. And when the lobbyists were closing in for the kill, Barack Obama squared his shoulders, planted his feet, and stood firm. And that's how we won.

By the way, just a few weeks ago, that little agency caught one of the biggest credit card companies cheating its customers and made it give people back every penny it took, plus millions of dollars in fines. That's what happens when you have a president on the side of the middle class.

President Obama believes in a level playing field. He believes in a country where nobody gets a free ride or a golden parachute. A country where anyone who has a great idea and rolls up their sleeves has a chance to build a business, and anyone who works hard can build some security and raise a family. President Obama believes in a country where billionaires pay their taxes just like their secretaries do, and—I can't believe I have to say this in 2012—a country where women get equal pay for equal work.

He believes in a country where everyone is held accountable. Where no one can steal your purse on Main Street or your pension on Wall Street. President Obama believes in a country where we invest in education, in roads and bridges, in science, and in the future, so we can create new opportunities, so the next kid can make it big, and the kid after that, and the kid after that. That's what president Obama believes. And that's how we build the economy of the future. An economy with more jobs and less debt. We root it in fairness. We grow it with opportunity. And we build it together.

I grew up in the Methodist Church and taught Sunday school. One of my favorite passages of scripture is: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40. The passage teaches about God in each of us, that we are bound to each other and called to act. Not to sit, not to wait, but to act—all of us together.

Senator Kennedy understood that call. Four years ago, he addressed our convention for the last time. He said, "We have never lost our belief that we are all called to a better country and a newer world." Generation after generation, Americans have answered that call. And now we are called again. We are called to restore opportunity for every American. We are called to give America's working families a fighting chance. We are called to build something solid so the next generation can build something better.

So let me ask you—let me ask you, America: are you ready to answer this call? Are you ready to fight for good jobs and a strong middle class? Are you ready to work for a level playing field? Are you ready to prove to another generation of Americans that we can build a better country and a newer world?

Joe Biden is ready. Barack Obama is ready. I'm ready. You're ready. America's ready. Thank you! And God bless America!”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/OTUS/transcript-elizabeth-warrens-democratic-convention-speech/story%3fid=17164726

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

She nails it on Trump in this speech. 

 

2016 Elizabeth Warren DNC Speech

“We are here tonight because America faces a choice, the choice of a new president.On one side is a man who inherited a fortune from his father and kept it going by cheating people and skipping out on debts. A man who has never sacrificed anything for anyone. A man who cares only for himself — every minute of every day.On the other side is one of the smartest, toughest, most tenacious people on the planet — a woman who fights for children, for women, for health care, for human rights, a woman who fights for all of us, and who is strong enough to win those fights.We're here today because our choice is Hillary Clinton! I'm with Hillary!For me, this choice is personal. It's about who we are as a people. It's about what kind of country we want to be.

I grew up in Oklahoma. My daddy ended up as a maintenance man, and my mom worked for minimum wage at Sears. My three brothers served in the military. The oldest was career, 288 combat missions in Vietnam. The second worked construction. The third started his own business. Me? I got married at 19 and graduated from a commuter college in Texas that cost $50 a semester. The way I see it, I'm a janitor's daughter who became a public school teacher, a professor, and a United States Senator. America is truly a country of opportunity!I'm deeply grateful to that America. I believe in that America.

But I'm worried. Worried that my story is locked in the past. Worried that opportunity is slipping away for people who work hard and play by the rules.Look around. Americans bust their tails, some working two or three jobs, but wages stay flat. Meanwhile, the basic costs of making it from month to month keep going up. Housing, health care, child care — costs are out of sight. Young people are getting crushed by student loans. Working people are in debt. Seniors can't stretch a Social Security check to cover the basics.And even families who are OK today worry that it could all fall apart tomorrow. This. Is. Not. Right!

Here's the thing: America isn't going broke. The stock market is breaking records. Corporate profits are at all-time highs. CEOs make tens of millions of dollars. There's lots of wealth in America, but it isn't trickling down to hard-working families like yours.Does anyone here have a problem with that? Well, I do too. People get it: the system is rigged. So-called experts claim America is in trouble because both political parties in Washington refuse to compromise. Gridlock! That is just flat wrong.

Washington works great for those at the top. When giant companies wanted more tax loopholes, Washington got it done. When huge energy companies wanted to tear up our environment, Washington got it done. When enormous Wall Street banks wanted new regulatory loopholes, Washington got it done. No gridlock there! But try to do something, anything, for working people, and you'll have a fight on your hands. Democrats have taken on those fights. Democrats fought to get health insurance for more Americans. Democrats fought for a strong consumer agency so big banks can't cheat people. We fought, we won, and we improved the lives of millions of people — thank you, President Obama! Yes, we won, but Republicans and lobbyists battled us every step of the way. Five years later, that consumer agency has returned $11 billion to families who were cheated. And Republicans? They're still trying to kill it.

I'm not someone who thinks Republicans are always wrong and Democrats are always right. There's enough blame to go around. But there is a huge difference between the people fighting for a level playing field, and the people keeping the system rigged. Look at Congress since the Republicans took over. Democrats proposed refinancing student loans. And Republicans? They said no! Democrats proposed ending tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas. And Republicans? They said no! Democrats proposed raising the minimum wage. And Republicans? They said no! To every Republican in Congress who said no: this November, the American people are coming for you!

And where was Donald Trump? In all these fights, not once did he lift a finger to help working people. Why would he? His whole life has been about taking advantage of that rigged system. Time after time he preyed on working people, people in debt, people who had fallen on hard times. He's conned them, he's defrauded them, and he's ripped them off. Look at his history. Donald Trump said he was "excited" for the 2008 housing crash that devastated millions of American families because he thought it would help him scoop up more real estate on the cheap.

Donald Trump set up a fake university to make money while cheating people and taking their life savings. Donald Trump goes on, and on, and on, about being a successful businessman, but he filed business bankruptcies six times, always to protect his own money and stick his investors and contractors with the bill. Donald Trump hired plumbers and painters and construction workers to do hard labor for his businesses, then told them to take only a fraction of what he owed or fight his lawyers in court for years.What kind of a man acts like this? What kind of a man roots for the economic crash that cost millions of people their jobs? Their homes? Their life savings? What kind of a man cheats students, cheats investors, cheats workers?

I'll tell you what kind of man. A man who must NEVER be President of the United States! And we've got the leaders to make it happen: Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine! Donald Trump knows that the American people are angry — a fact so obvious he can see it from the top of Trump Tower. So now he's insisting that he, and he alone, can fix the rigged system.Last week Donald Trump spoke for more than an hour on the biggest stage he's ever had. But other than talking about building a stupid wall, which will NEVER get built, really, did you hear any actual ideas? Did you hear even one solid proposal from Trump for increasing incomes, or improving your kids' education, or creating even one single good-paying job? Donald Trump has no real plans for jobs or for college kids or for seniors, no plans to make ANYTHING great for ANYONE except rich guys like Donald Trump.

Just look at his ideas. Donald Trump wants to get rid of the federal minimum wage. Donald Trump wants to roll back financial regulations and turn Wall Street loose to wreck our economy again.And Donald Trump has a tax plan to give multi-millionaires and billionaires like himself an average tax cut of $1.3 million — a year. You're struggling to put your kids through college, and Donald Trump thinks HE needs a million-dollar tax break!

Trump's entire campaign is just one more late-night Trump infomercial.

Hand over your money, your jobs, your children's future, and The Great Trump Hot Air Machine will reveal all the answers. And, for one low, low price, he'll even throw in a goofy hat.

And here's the really ugly underside to his pitch. Trump thinks he can win votes by fanning the flames of fear and hatred. By turning neighbor against neighbor. By persuading you that the real problem in America is your fellow Americans — people who don't look like you, or don't talk like you, or don't worship like you. He even picked a vice president famous for trying to make it legal to openly discriminate against gays and lesbians.That's Donald Trump's America. An America of fear and hate. An America where we all break apart. Whites against blacks and Latinos. Christians against Muslims and Jews. Straight against gay. Everyone against immigrants. Race, religion, heritage, gender, the more factions the better.

But ask yourself this. When white workers in Ohio are pitted against black workers in North Carolina, or Latino workers in Florida, who really benefits? "Divide and Conquer" is an old story in America.

Dr. Martin Luther King knew it. After his march from Selma to Montgomery, he spoke of how segregation was created to keep people divided. Instead of higher wages for workers, Dr. King described how poor whites in the South were fed Jim Crow, which told a poor white worker that, "No matter how bad off he was, at least he was a white man, better than the black man." Racial hatred was part of keeping the powerful on top. And now Trump and his campaign have embraced it all. Racial hatred. Religious bigotry. Attacks on immigrants, on women, on gays. A deceitful and ugly blame game that says, whatever worries you, the answer is to blame that other group, and don't put any energy into making real change.

When we turn on each other, bankers can run our economy for Wall Street, oil companies can fight off clean energy, and giant corporations can ship the last good jobs overseas. When we turn on each other, rich guys like Trump can push through more tax breaks for themselves and then we'll never have enough money to support our schools, or rebuild our highways, or invest in our kids' future. When we turn on each other, we can't unite to fight back against a rigged system. Well, I've got news for Donald Trump. The American people are not falling for it! We've seen this ugliness before, and we're not going to be Donald Trump's hate-filled America. Not now, not ever!

I come to you as the daughter of a janitor, a daughter who believes in an America of opportunity. The hand of history is on our shoulders. We know how to build a future, a future that works not just for some of our children, but for all of our children. We know, and we must have the courage to make it happen.This is about our values, our shared values with our candidates Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine!We believe that no matter who you are, no matter where you're from, no matter who you love, equal means equal. Hillary will fight to make sure discrimination has no place in America. And we're with her!We believe that no one, no one, who works full time should live in poverty. Hillary will fight for raising the minimum wage, fair scheduling, paid family and medical leave! And we're with her!We believe every kid in America should have a chance for a great education without getting crushed by debt. Hillary will fight for refinancing student loans and debt-free college. And we're with her!We believe that after a lifetime of hard work, seniors should be able to retire with dignity. Hillary will fight to expand Social Security, strengthen Medicare, and protect retirement accounts. And we're with her!We believe that oil companies shouldn't call the shots in Washington, that science matters, that climate change is real. Hillary will fight to preserve this earth for our children and grandchildren. And we're with her!We believe – and I can't believe I have to say this in 2016 – in equal pay for equal work and a woman's right to control over her own body! Hillary will fight for women. And we're with her!We believe we don't need WEAKER rules on Wall Street, we need stronger rules, and when big banks get too risky, break 'em up. Hillary will fight to hold big banks accountable. And we're with her!We believe that the United States should never, never, sign trade deals that help giant corporations but leave working people in the dirt!

Hillary will fight for American workers. And we're with her!And just one more. We believe we must get big money out of politics and root out corruption. Hillary will fight to overturn Citizens United and return this government to the people! And we're with her!

If you believe that America must work for all of us, not just the rich and powerful, if you believe we must reject the politics of fear and division, if you believe we are stronger together, then let's work our hearts out to make Hillary Clinton the next President of the United States!”

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.timeinc.net/time/4421731/democratic-convention-elizabeth-warren-transcript-speech

Edited August 6, 2018 by Hugo Stiglitz

[RPM 26185]

You had me at

9 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

a man who inherited a fortune from his father and kept it going by cheating people and skipping out on debts. A man who has never sacrificed anything for anyone. A man who cares only for himself — every minute of every day.

 

[bad_teammate 13125]

Oh HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL yes

 

[bad_teammate 13125]

Comrade Stalin is not a fan of Warren's proposal,

Owing to pressure from below, the pressure of the masses, the bourgeoisie may sometimes concede certain partial reforms while remaining on the basis of the existing social-economic system. Acting in this way, it calculates that these concessions are necessary in order to preserve its class rule. This is the essence of reform. Revolution, however, means the transference of power from one class to another. That is why it is impossible to describe any reform as revolution.

[Jiggy-Z 3428]

On 8/18/2018 at 9:38 AM, bad_teammate said:

Comrade Stalin is not a fan of Warren's proposal,

Owing to pressure from below, the pressure of the masses, the bourgeoisie may sometimes concede certain partial reforms while remaining on the basis of the existing social-economic system. Acting in this way, it calculates that these concessions are necessary in order to preserve its class rule. This is the essence of reform. Revolution, however, means the transference of power from one class to another. That is why it is impossible to describe any reform as revolution.

Chris Hedges mentioned something similar with his research on FDR's New Deal.  FDR sold the idea to his rich buddies with the pitch of "you better pay a little bit now or you are going to have a revolution on your hands and pay a lot more latter on."  FDR had a better argument with 25% unemployment, stronger unions, and socialist and communist parties with a pulse.

Frankly, I think Warren needs to take a more tax policy oriented approach to equity to start. Prior to the last tax bill, I think the rates were fine +/-.  The problem is/was loopholes rules etc. that chip away at the effective rate of the wealthy and big corps while there are just as many doing the opposite to the middle class.

There are even regulations that are not taxes but behave as such, like environmental deregulation which will put money in the pockets of the offenders in the short term and take money away from the public in the long term through clean up and lost common assets.

One particular example is the case of Warren Buffet who in the sampled year had a net worth of $64 billion and paid taxes on ~$64 million. One the face of it it looks like he pays quite a bit in taxes but that is just a return of .01%, which is just ridiculous.

However, there is quite a bit of ground to make up, so revolution might be the best course of action...and campaign finance reform/revolt.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

 

[Jiggy-Z 3428]

1 hour ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

 

What is her relation to Wall Street?

I really don't know.  

[RPM 26185]

1 hour ago, Jiggy-Z said:

What is her relation to Wall Street?

She specialized in bankruptcy and commercial law, was chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, which was created to oversee the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). She later served as Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Obama. She serves on the Senate Special Committee on Aging; the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee; and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

She's been after Wall Street greed since the meltdown and bailout.

[Jiggy-Z 3428]

29 minutes ago, RPM said:

She specialized in bankruptcy and commercial law, was chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, which was created to oversee the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). She later served as Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Obama. She serves on the Senate Special Committee on Aging; the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee; and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

She's been after Wall Street greed since the meltdown and bailout.

I know the bio stuff, thanks.  Was hoping for some inside scoop.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

1 hour ago, RPM said:

She's been after Wall Street greed since the meltdown and bailout.

I like that concept.

[David Dennison 18608]

Yeah, she's running for president.

Sweet.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

 

[WhatTheBuck 28700]

2 hours ago, Jiggy-Z said:

I know the bio stuff, thanks.  Was hoping for some inside scoop.

That will cost you $9.95. 

[Jiggy-Z 3428]

27 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

That will cost you $9.95. 

How about just some hard hitting analysis?

[WhatTheBuck 28700]

21 minutes ago, Jiggy-Z said:

How about just some hard hitting analysis?

$3.50

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

26 minutes ago, Jiggy-Z said:

How about just some hard hitting analysis?

She wants to make too-big-to-fail never happen again.

No corporate bailouts.

 She wants Wall Street criminals to go directly to jail. 

She want to annihilate the four horsemen of the apocalypse known as Chase, Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

Wall Street is no fan of Elizabeth Warren.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Hugo Stiglitz

[Jiggy-Z 3428]

20 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

She wants to make too-big-to-fail never happen again.

No corporate bailouts.

 She wants Wall Street criminals to go directly to jail. 

She want to annihilate the four horsemen of the apocalypse known as Chase, Citi, Capital One, and Wells Fargo.

Wall Street is no fan of Elizabeth Warren.

But what about the everyday garden variety corporate socialism?...and what about Goldman Sachs?

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

14 hours ago, Jiggy-Z said:

But what about the everyday garden variety corporate socialism?...and what about Goldman Sachs?

 

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

16 hours ago, Jiggy-Z said:

I know the bio stuff, thanks.  Was hoping for some inside scoop.

That'll cost you a string of beads or two.

[Doc Sam Beckett 5781]

She's fucking awesome. Hope she's on the 2020 ticket in one of the spots. 

[Js1 85056]

Legit question - do you live under a rock or are you like, socially retarded?

"I don't know much about Ted Cruz"

"I don't get the Pocahontas thing"

"Who is Gorka?"

"I don't get the big deal on Thanos"

[Jiggy-Z 3428]

3 minutes ago, OatmealRaisinCookie said:

I don't understand the "Pocohontas" controversy. Did she falsely claim to be a native american or something a la Rachel Dolezel or is she like 1/18th native american like everyone else but tried to play it up and Donald Trump didn't take too kind to that? 

Either way, Trump looks horrible for harping on calling her Pocohontas, don't get me wrong.

The best article I read on this was from The Atlantic from back during her 2012 senate race, although she has made comments since and DJT has chimed in to draw attention.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/is-elizabeth-warren-native-american-or-what/257415/

TLDR:

No DNA test and she does not plan to take one. Relatives to not a appear on the official registry compiled in 1803ish.  

Her only known evidence of being Cherokee is from family stories and lore-says DNA test if negative would strip away her believed heritage(paraphrasing)

Based on interviews and public records with various law schools where she has worked, no evidence exists that she profited from claiming to be native american.

She did publish a recipe in a Cherokee cookbook. 

Answer is more complicated than I am making it, but even with + DNA it would be difficult for her to join any Cherokee Nation officially. Ancestry if valid is on the 1/16 to 1/32 amount.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

Live feed

Edited August 21, 2018 by Hugo Stiglitz

[Chrispy 132]

She’s leaving a trail of tears in her wake. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

2 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Live feed

From Warren’s Twitter feed on this:

Our government systematically favors the rich over the poor, the donor class over the working class, the well-connected over the disconnected.  This is deliberate, and we need to call it for what it is – corruption, plain and simple. 

Today, I’m introducing the most ambitious anti-corruption legislation proposed in Congress since Watergate. This is an aggressive set of reforms that would fundamentally change the way Washington does business. 

These reforms have one simple aim: to take power in Washington away from  the wealthy, the powerful, and the well-connected who have corrupted our  government and put power back in the hands of the American people. 

There’s no real question that the @realDonaldTrump era has given us the most nakedly corrupt leadership this nation has seen in our lifetimes. But they are not the cause of the rot – they’re just the biggest, stinkiest example of it. 

The problem is enormous – but we’ve dealt with enormous problems before. We just need some big reform ideas and a willingness to fight for real change. 

First Big Change – Padlock the revolving door between big business and government. 

Ban elected and appointed officials from becoming lobbyists after they leave office. Not for 1 year.  Not for 2 years. For the rest of their lives. No special deals for millions and millions of dollars to the policymakers who will be in a position to pay back their old employers.

Second Big Change – Stop self-dealing by public officials. If a person works for the government, then that person should serve the public. No making policy decisions to help yourself instead of taxpayers.

Presidents should not be able to own companies on the side. And we shouldn’t have to beg candidates to let the American people see their financial interests. That should be the law – not just for presidential candidates, but for every candidate for every federal office.

Third Big Change – End lobbying as we know it. 

Start by fixing the Swiss cheese definition of a “lobbyist.”  Require everyone who gets paid to influence government to register. And bring that lobbying out into the sunlight. Make every single meeting between a lobbyist and a public official a matter of public record.

We should ban Americans from getting paid to lobby for foreign governments – period. If foreign governments want to express their views, they can use their diplomats. 

Fourth Big Change – End corporate capture of rulemaking. 

Prosecute companies that knowingly mislead government agencies. And stop the practice of companies paying for sham “studies” designed to derail the rulemaking process. 

Fifth Big Change – Restore faith that ordinary people can get a fair shake in our courts. 

Strengthen the code of conduct for all federal judges – no stock trading, no payments from corporations for attending events, no honoraria for giving speeches, no lavish getaways & fancy hunting trips funded by billionaires. & I mean all federal judges, including SCOTUS justices.

Big Change Number Six – Hire a new independent sheriff to police corruption. There are dedicated public servants that enforce our ethics laws – but they have less authority than security guards at the mall. 

Build a new anticorruption agency to make sure that all key federal officials – even powerful Senators and Presidents – file disclosures and get rid of conflicts. 

Inside Washington, some of these proposals will be very unpopular, even with my friends. Outside Washington, I expect that most people will see these ideas as no-brainers and be shocked they’re not already law. 

I plan to fight to pass as many of these reforms as possible. I believe we can break the stranglehold that the wealthy and well-connected hold over our government. I believe we can get democracy working again. /end

[David Dennison 18608]

This needs to happen.

Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act.

[Biff Tannen 45477]

4 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

This needs to happen.

Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act.

Yes it does.  Which means it won't.  And we will all do nothing about it.

[High Plains Drifter 10970]

Sounds good.

I would like to see the death penalty for public corruption.

[David Dennison 18608]

2 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Yes it does.  Which means it won't.  And we will all do nothing about it.

If it doesn't happen she should run on it and make it her number one issue.

It resonates with voters. Hell, Donald Trump is president in part because people believed his BS about draining the swamp.

She's positioning herself as a reform candidate and actually has a bill to back up her words.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

She has two bills in two weeks to run on now.

Both are straight out of the Theodore Roosevelt playbook.

[atomheartbevo 89362]

5 hours ago, Jiggy-Z said:

No DNA test and she does not plan to take one. Relatives to not a appear on the official registry compiled in 1803ish.  

Her only known evidence of being Cherokee is from family stories and lore-says DNA test if negative would strip away her believed heritage(paraphrasing)

Based on interviews and public records with various law schools where she has worked, no evidence exists that she profited from claiming to be native american.

She did publish a recipe in a Cherokee cookbook. 

Answer is more complicated than I am making it, but even with + DNA it would be difficult for her to join any Cherokee Nation officially. Ancestry if valid is on the 1/16 to 1/32 amount.

I've mentioned this before, but:

DNA won't get you a CDIB - Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood in the Cherokee Nation, which is basically your membership, because it can't break out what tribe's blood is present.  

It also doesn't help you much since you can have a NA ancestor, but not have it show up in your DNA.  Hell, on some DNA tests, I show no Native American blood, while others it's under 5% (trace amounts).  I had the proper documentation through the Dawes Rolls (1890s) through a couple of sets of great-great-grandparents, and two sets of great-grandparents (who were also on the Rolls), and then through my maternal grandparents to be enrolled.

Warren's relatives confirmed that they were raised with these stories (as was at least half of Oklahoma), and based on the stories her relatives mentioned, even if she was descended from Cherokees or Delawares, DNA tests would most likely not show it, because she's too far down (same situation as me).

Oklahoma, Cherokee blood, etc. is extremely complicated.  Me thinks somebody told Trump that Warren probably wouldn't have any DNA traces, even if she was descended, and that's why he kept pressing the issue.

It's a dumb thing though because, as I said, a huge chunk of Oklahoma is raised with these stories, and given that she grew up poor as shit, well the amount of really poor whites in Oklahoma being told there's a Cherokee in the woodpile is very high.  Being told something from the time you were a little kid tends to make you believe it, especially when coming from family members you adore/respect.

It's especially dumb when Trump as an adult actively (and openly) breaks his wedding vows and his followers say nothing.  On the scale of things, believing a story your parents/grandparents told you falls well below that.

[RPM 26185]

How could anyone that isn't milking the government teat not support her on this? What say we swap the War on Drugs to the War on Corruption? Keep the same mandatory minimums, property seizures, no knock warrants, ect. That would keep cops happy with a new group to focus that energy on and the American people could sleep a little sounder at night knowing they are there to protect them. Side effect, no crooks would be encouraged to run for office, thus no 18 person debates.

[Monster 219]

I watched a PBS(Or was it Nova?) documentary about the banking bailouts, several years ago (2009 maybe?)   She was explaining how executives of banks/corporations would bounce back and forth between running their companies and being appointed to the committee tasked to police their industry.     And how impossibly fucked up that was.  (RE: Trump cabinet).   Nine years ago, this was very eye opening to me, since I really didn't follow politics at that time.   

She was still at Harvard teaching, when I watched it, so didn't know her or anything about her.  Except she was saying things that sounded true and appeared to be on the side of the human beings, in the 'war between human beings and greedy, corporate shills'.      I was pleasantly surprised to see her years later, in the senate, or house, or wherever, chewing out the bankers who got bailed out.     

Honestly, I don't care if she's a democrat or republican or a man or a woman or a native american or an alien from another planet.   I need to believe somebody, somewhere is willing to resist the corporate buyout of our government leaders.   If she's willing to do that, I'm 100% in.   

My cynical, conspiratorial mind thinks her anti-corporate corruption position will get her blackballed or assassinated, and we'll end up with yet another paid actor/mouthpiece.   But, I really hope I'm wrong and she gets the chance.  

 

[Monster 219]

23 minutes ago, RPM said:

How could anyone that isn't milking the government teat not support her on this? What say we swap the War on Drugs to the War on Corruption? Keep the same mandatory minimums, property seizures, no knock warrants, ect. That would keep cops happy with a new group to focus that energy on and the American people could sleep a little sounder at night knowing they are there to protect them. Side effect, no crooks would be encouraged to run for office, thus no 18 person debates.

 

Just look at how much easier those guys are to tackle during street take-downs.  

I can't remember another national candidate that made corruption a priority talking point.  I vaguely remember getting excited when Obama talked about reforming campaign finance,..then halfway through his campaign, he recanted and said maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought, wink wink, nod nod.

If you can't get behind a candidate focused on fixing corporate corruption, regardless of red/blue/man/woman status, then you're the problem.

Edited August 21, 2018 by Monster

[staboner 4955]

19 minutes ago, RPM said:

How could anyone that isn't milking the government teat not support her on this? What say we swap the War on Drugs to the War on Corruption? Keep the same mandatory minimums, property seizures, no knock warrants, ect. That would keep cops happy with a new group to focus that energy on and the American people could sleep a little sounder at night knowing they are there to protect them. Side effect, no crooks would be encouraged to run for office, thus no 18 person debates.

yeah exactly. what is being proposed is sensible and logical, and should already be there. anyone opposing it is full of shit and the problem.

Hope Warren can get her messaging narrow and pointed, and not fall for too many stupid distractions that her opponents will throw at her.

I love hearing the talk of reform. I love it. Its all we need. Everything else is hot air from monsters who don't care about you or this country. 

[atomheartbevo 89362]

Just now, OatmealRaisinCookie said:

Makes perfect sense, thanks for the explanation, and far be it for me to tell anyone how or what they should identify as, I don't want to judge or anything like that.

It's a very hazy area, and because of that, it's why Trump hammers her on it.

I've seen people with 1/256 on their cards.

[WhatTheBuck 28700]

18 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

It's a very hazy area, and because of that, it's why Trump hammers her on it.

I've seen people with 1/256 on their cards.

It also means they can't challenge her on any policy issues. The Pocahontas thing is all they've got. If they had any other weapon in their arsenal, they'd use it. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has posted 10 years of her tax returns online.

The decision to release the federal and state returns on Wednesday came a day after the Massachusetts Democrat called for sweeping anti-corruption laws in Washington. It's also another possible signal that Warren may be laying the groundwork for a run for president in 2020.

A bill crafted by Warren would require the IRS to release tax returns for congressional candidates from the previous two years and during each year in office. It also would create a lifetime ban on presidents, members of Congress and other officeholders from working as lobbyists.

Warren's 2017 federal returns show the former Harvard University law professor and her husband Bruce Mann, who still works as a Harvard Law School professor, reported an adjusted gross income of $913,000. The returns listed their total tax as $268,484 and their total payments as $302,227. The couple was eligible for a refund of almost $34,000.

Although she's frequently mentioned as a possible White House contender, Warren has said she's focused on her Senate re-election campaign this year. She first won election in 2012 by defeating then incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown.

Warren has burnished her credentials among the liberal wing of the Democratic party by frequently sparring with Republican President Donald Trump, who has refused to release his tax returns.

In addition to her salary as a senator, Warren reported $430,370 in income from her writing in 2017. Warren has written or co-written several books, most focused on financial issues. Her latest "This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America's Middle Class" was published last year.

The salary for a U.S. senator is $174,000.

The returns from 2017 show that the couple also reported contributing nearly $82,000 to charity.

The couple's income has fluctuated from year to year, in part linked to Warren's outside pay.

In 2016 the couple reported an adjusted gross income of $717,000. During that year, Warren reported income of $224,000 from "consulting, lecturing, writing, investing."

In 2014, Warren and her husband reported a far higher adjusted gross income of more than $1.5 million.

That year, Warren reported a net profit of more than $1 million from consulting, lecturing, writing and investing. That was the same year Warren published the book "A Fighting Chance" which in part detailed her decision to run for the Senate at age 62.

Their lowest reported adjusted gross income in the 10-year period was $409,000 in 2012.

The couple has lost considerable amounts on investments: $217,217 in 2008 when they sold holdings in Sentinel Investments and $91,270 the next year on the sale of Dreyfus Third Century fund. However, their tax returns list very little wealth overall in stocks, with IBM dividends growing to $3,621 by 2012 but divested by 2013.

An aide to Warren said she and her husband had an investment that they lost money on and disposed of around the financial crisis. The aide said Warren also owned one stock and sold it after she was elected to the Senate in 2012.

Warren is unopposed in the Democratic primary in Massachusetts. Three Republicans are competing in the Sept. 4 contest for the chance to challenge Warren in November.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/08/23/us-sen-warren-posts-10-years-of-her-tax-returns-online.html

[TwiceHorn 31184]

I need to start writing books.

[Biff Tannen 45477]

Well that's refreshing if nothing else.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

Elizabeth Warren’s Theory of Capitalism

A conversation with the Democratic senator about why she’s doubling down on market competition at a moment when her party is flirting with socialism

FRANKLIN FOER

AUG 28, 2018

Franklin Foer: All the investment bankers who have voodoo dolls of you might be a bit surprised that you recently described yourself as “capitalist to the bone.” What did you mean?

Elizabeth Warren: I believe in markets and the benefits they can produce when they work. Markets with rules can produce enormous value. So much of the work I have done—the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, my hearing-aid bill—are about making markets work for people, not making markets work for a handful of companies that scrape all the value off to themselves. I believe in competition.

Foer: To what end?

Warren: Markets create wealth. Okay, so I used to teach contract law, and if you really want to go back to first principles: On the first day, I used to take my watch off and I would sell it to someone in class. We’d agree on a price, $20. Then the question I always asked the students was: What did the buyer value the watch at? Much of the class would say $20.

That’s not the right answer. All we know is that the person would rather have the watch than have the $20 bill. What did you know about the value I placed on it? Exactly the inverse. I’d rather have the $20 bill than have the watch. Now, most people think the benefit of markets is: I walked away with a $20 bill, great, which I valued more highly than the watch, and you walked away with the watch that you valued more highly than the $20, but look at all the excess value there.

Maybe you wanted that watch because it completed your fabulous watch collection or you desperately needed a watch or it was so attractive to you that the value you placed on it would be in the hundreds of dollars. You got all that surplus value, and me, I really needed that $20. I had an investment opportunity over here for that $20 that has yielded a manyfold return for me. That’s how markets create additional value.

Foer: But markets right now are doing a good job of producing wealth. Yes?

Warren: Right.

Foer: In your description, that’s markets working.

Warren: The problem is that when the rules are not enforced, when the markets are not level playing fields, all that wealth is scraped in one direction. For example, leading up to the financial crash, there were a lot of mortgage brokers out there selling mortgages. Wow, did they get rich doing it. Families thought they were buying a product they could afford, whose payments they understood. Many of them lost everything. That’s a market that clearly was not working. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, after it passed, the first thing we did there at the bureau was to put new rules in place about mortgages. Not so that you could control the mortgage market, but so that the market would work.

I don’t know if you’ve ever looked at the rules, but the rules were basically to say you can compete, but you’ve got to be real clear about the things you're competing on. Things like: Information has to be put in the same place on each of the forms, so people can lay the forms down next to each other and see what’s there and you don’t get to put it back on page 32 in fine print.

Foer: Oftentimes, it seems that you’re not really criticizing the behavior of markets—you’re describing  outright theft and deception.

Warren: Exactly. Theft is not capitalism. Right?

Foer:  Was there a moment when capitalism in America worked?

Warren: There are times that parts of the markets worked better. Look at it this way: 1935 to 1980, a time when there’s much more emphasis on worker power. Union membership is going up. There’s more aggressive regulation of markets, more enforcement of antitrust laws. The Securities and Exchange Commission had just been created and was a strong cop on the beat. Glass-Steagall was strictly enforced, FDIC insurance had gone into place. And you watch: GDP goes up 1935 to 1980 and the 90 percent of America—everybody outside the top 10 percent—gets 70 percent of all new income growth.

Foer: Policing, rules—these are really core concepts for you.

Warren: Yes.

Foer: What does it say about human nature? We have this almost innate inclination to trade with one another. And yet, the market also brings out an innate human tendency toward avarice and greed.

Warren: I would describe it differently. There’s always somebody who will see if they can run the light. The question is whether we maintain good rules and an effective cop to enforce those rules. This is where the wheels came off starting in the ’80s.

This is a political issue. It’s not a markets issue. There were years of not perfect but fairly well-enforced rules that were pretty firmly hit and held. Then you hit the ’80s and the lobbying by the wealthy and the well-connected steps up and the rules start shifting. The rules tilt just a little more toward the rich and the powerful. Just a little more, just a little more. Enforcement gets weaker and weaker. Remember the whole description that started in the ’80s about deregulation and the beauties that deregulation would bring America? I understand no one wants to have to abide by dumb regulations. I get that, but deregulation became a code word for “fire the cops.” Not the cops on Main Street, the cops on Wall Street.

Foer: The 1980s seem to be the moment of your own personal political transformation. Right? [Warren  says that around that time she went from identifying as a Republican to becoming a consumer activist.]

Warren:   Yes.

Foer: That's when you—

Warren: —I never want to overstate this, because the truth is I was never very politically active. I was active in economic ideas and what was happening to working families. That’s been the animating feature for me since the first time I got to do research.

Foer: But it changed your analysis of capitalism?

Warren: Absolutely.

Foer: On this question of regulation and capture, you have your own wariness.

Warren:   I do.

Foer: When you think about erecting new structures, like in your Accountable Capitalism Act, creating a new federal structure for the licensing of corporations—why isn’t a structure like that ripe for capture?

Warren: This is about taking the current structure and making it work better. Every corporation in America is chartered somewhere. The big banks in the country are already federally chartered. Chartering is just where the rules reside. For decades there have been restrictions in the charters on what it is the corporations can do and instructions on what they must do. Quarterly shareholder, annual shareholder meetings ... What I propose is to amend those rules for billion-dollar-plus corporations. The reason is because the rules are not working now. We were talking about how when GDP goes up, productivity goes up and workers' wages go up. In the ’80s, that just flattens out. GDP continues to go up, productivity continues to go up, but workers fall behind and the gap has now become enormous. Eighty-four percent of the wealth in the stock market goes to 10 percent of the population.

Half of all America owns not one share of stock. Not one. Not even in a 401(k) or an employer retirement plan, and yet a huge portion of the worth of the corporation is being directly diverted to the shareholders. That was not always true. There was a time in America when that wealth was shared among those who helped produce it. The workers and the investors. That’s just not true today.

Foer: There are all these hints of Louis Brandeis in what you do. Brandeis had a vision of how the economy could be structured differently when the rules that he wanted were applied. He  favored the small shopkeeper. In your vision, who gets favored? Are there forces in the market that you feel like are being unfairly shackled that you want to see unleashed?

Warren: Yes. Perfect. Competition. I love competition. I want to see every start-up business, everybody who’s got a good idea, have a chance to get in the market and try. This is what's so interesting to me. There are so many people right now who argue against these reforms and other reforms, who claim they are pro-business. They’re not. They’re pro-monopoly. They’re pro–concentration of power, which crushes competition.

This is where the political and the economic interact. Once a corporation climbs up the ladder so that it’s got hundreds of millions—no, so that it’s got billions of dollars in resources—today too many of them turn around and use those resources to influence government to cut off that ladder, so nobody else climbs it. To cut off that ladder so that the big guys don’t have to compete with the little guys anymore.

I was just going to say, you were asking me, what excites me about markets? I was telling you that gains-from-trade argument, but really what excites me about markets is competition. I want to make sure we’ve got a set of rules that lets everybody who’s got a good, competitive idea get in the game.

Foer: I’ve heard your latest proposals described as an attempt to save capitalism, which implies that it’s in pretty dire straits. How dire do you think the state of American capitalism is?

Warren:  I worry both for capitalism and for democracy. People across this country once believed that folks who work hard and play by the rules have a chance to be able to build real security and that their kids will do better than they did. Today, that dream runs into a very hard reality that this is now a world that works better and better for a smaller and smaller number of people. That's a problem for capitalism and for democracy at the same time.

Foer: There’s so much talk right now on the left about socialism, which seems somewhat misguided given everything you say capitalism has to recommend itself.

Warren:  I love the competition that comes with a market that has decent rules. I love the structure that encourages anyone with a good idea to try their hand in business.

Foer: When Franklin Roosevelt talked about the crisis in capitalism, he looked and he saw the left and alternatives to capitalism emerging, and that was one of the things that he was able to argue to the country—to say, “Look, we need these reforms in order to save this system, in order to prevent something dangerous from happening in another direction.”

Warren: Okay. You’re taking it to a hundred thousand feet, which is great, but my argument is far more personal. We need to make capitalism work for your family and we need to make democracy work for your family ... It’s not that you’re wrong, I’m just saying this is where I land it, right with how families experience this economy. A rising stock market is not helpful to the half of all America who own not one single share of stock. Rising productivity that doesn’t translate into rising wages for the people who actually do the work is not building a better future for them. Costs that are skyrocketing for education and health care and housing put a squeeze on families that are struggling with flat wages, so every one of those is about the lived experience, and that’s what colors our view of both capitalism and democracy in 2018.

Foer: I find it interesting that you have frequently used the word liberty in connection with all of this.

Warren: That’s what it’s really about. You’ve got an idea and you want to get into the market, or you’re an employee and you want to be able to negotiate, you want to have some bargaining power in getting a share of the value that you produce. That’s participation, but it’s participation in democracy as well.

When Big Pharma rolls into Washington and gets a law passed that says that the federal government cannot negotiate down the prices of drugs, then democracy is not working for families. When the big [coal] companies can get a new rule out of the EPA that will increase particulates in the air and trigger over 100,000 premature deaths, then democracy is not working for the American people. So you are exactly right. Everything I’m working on is about giving individuals the opportunity, the liberty to participate in this economy and in the governance of this country. I love this stuff. Isn’t this stuff fun?

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/elizabeth-warrens-theory-of-capitalism/568573/?utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_term=2018-08-28T12%3A00%3A51&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

[Buzzrock 14867]

Dude, just link it. Don’t make me start long catting these threads with inane Libertarian blog posts.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

Quit your bitching. Lots of people don’t like clicking links. I spoilered it.

[Js1 85056]

Sooooo stfu she didn’t pretend to be injun to get hired or was it why she was hired. Real journalism. 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2018/09/01/did-claiming-native-american-heritage-actually-help-elizabeth-warren-get-ahead-but-complicated/wUZZcrKKEOUv5Spnb7IO0K/story.html

[Incredulity 11532]

: There are times that parts of the markets worked better. Look at it this way: 1935 to 1980, a time when there’s much more emphasis on worker power. Union membership is going up. There’s more aggressive regulation of markets, more enforcement of antitrust laws. The Securities and Exchange Commission had just been created and was a strong cop on the beat. Glass-Steagall was strictly enforced, FDIC insurance had gone into place. And you watch: GDP goes up 1935 to 1980 and the 90 percent of America—everybody outside the top 10 percent—gets 70 percent of all new income growth.

 

Callng out the 70’s as a time when capitalism works is fucking ridiculous.

Maybe we are far enough away from stagflation that we want to repeat it. 

Edited September 2, 2018 by Incredulity

[WhatTheBuck 28700]

25 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Sooooo stfu she didn’t pretend to be injun to get hired or was it why she was hired. Real journalism. 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2018/09/01/did-claiming-native-american-heritage-actually-help-elizabeth-warren-get-ahead-but-complicated/wUZZcrKKEOUv5Spnb7IO0K/story.html

I really couldn't possibly care less about this subject. Let's hear any Republican debate her on policy. 

[bad_teammate 13125]

Elizabeth Warren has smart brains

[atomheartbevo 89362]

4 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I really couldn't possibly care less about this subject. Let's hear any Republican debate her on policy. 

Let’s hear any Republican call out Trump for pretending to be a Christian.