Elizabeth Warren Actually Wants to Fix Capitalism.

[elleng]

She has big ideas for repairing the American economy. The other Democratic candidates should too.

'Bill Clinton had a consequential presidency when it came to the economy. He brought down the Reagan-era deficits, helping spark the strongest economic boom in decades, and he made the tax code more progressive.

Barack Obama had an even more consequential presidency. He halted the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. He did so in part by signing a stimulus bill full of spending on education, wind energy and other programs with lasting benefits. He also put in place new regulations for Wall Street and extended health insurance to almost 20 million people.

Yet for all that both men accomplished, neither changed the fundamental direction of the American economy.

By the end of Obama’s eight years, G.D.P. growth was still disappointing. Middle-class and poor families were still receiving less than their fair share of that growth. Median household wealth was lower than it had been two decades earlier. In the most shocking sign of struggle, average life expectancy has declined in recent years. Rich Americans, on the other hand, continue to thrive, amassing Gilded Age-level concentrations of wealth. The resulting frustration helped make possible the rise of Donald Trump.

This history suggests that the Democratic Party’s economic agenda needs to become more ambitious. Modest changes in the top marginal tax rate or in middle-class tax credits aren’t enough. The country needs an economic policy that measures up to the scale of our challenges.

So far, only one candidate among the 2020 contenders has an agenda with this level of ambition: Elizabeth Warren. Her platform aims to reform American capitalism so that it once again works well for most American families. The recent tradition in Democratic politics has been different. It has been largely to accept that big companies are going to get bigger and do everything they can to hold down workers’ pay. The government will then try to improve things through income taxes and benefit programs.

Warren is trying to treat not just the symptoms but the underlying disease. She has proposed a universal child-care and pre-K program that echoes the universal high school movement of the early 20th century. She favors not only a tougher approach to future mergers, as many Democrats do, but also a breakup of Facebook and other tech companies that have come to resemble monopolies. She wants to require corporations to include worker representatives on their boards — to end the era of “shareholder-value maximization,” in which companies care almost exclusively about the interests of their shareholders, often at the expense of their workers, their communities and their country.

Warren was also the first high-profile politician to call for an annual wealth tax, on fortunes greater than $50 million. This tax is the logical extension of research by the economist Thomas Piketty and others, which has shown how extreme wealth perpetuates itself. Historically, such concentration has often led to the decline of powerful societies. Warren, unlike some Democrats, comfortably explains that she is not socialist. She is a capitalist and, like Franklin D. Roosevelt, is trying to save American capitalism from its own excesses.

“Sometimes, bigger ideas are more possible to accomplish,” Warren told me during a recent conversation about the economy at her Washington apartment. “Because you can inspire people.”

Before I go further, I want to offer two caveats. One, Warren’s grasp of the country’s problems does not necessarily mean that she should be the Democratic nominee for president. Politics is not an expertise competition. The nominee should be, and most likely will be, the candidate who best inspires voters. Maybe that will be Warren, or maybe it will be someone else.

Two, I don’t agree with all of Warren’s proposals. Her plan to break up the big technology companies seems too uniform, for example. Her plan to put workers on corporate boards may not be as practical as, say, a big federal push to increase workers’ bargaining power.

But whatever my — or your — specific objections, Warren is identifying the right problems and offering a coherent vision for a post-Obama Democratic agenda. “Clinton and Obama focused on boosting growth and redistribution,” Gabriel Zucman, a University of California, Berkeley, economist who has advised Warren, says. “Warren is focusing on how pretax income can be made more equal.”'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/opinion/sunday/elizabeth-warren-president-2020.html?

[still_one]

1. Out of all our candidates Senator Warren has the most experience and knowledge

regarding our economic problems

That being said, regardless who our nominee is, unless we capture both Houses of Congress along with the WH it will be a very difficult road, and it won’t happen if 47% don’t vote

[wasupaloopa]

2. Presidents do not make the economy what it is. Warren cannot fix capitalism.

She may have an agenda but she needs Congress on her side.

[elleng]

4. which she surely knows.

[shanny]

6. FDR pretty much fixed it, for decades, by blending in enough socialistic elements

so that most could partake in the benefits, instead of only the few.

Yes, he had Congress on his side (and was able to curb the SC's instincts as well) but what makes you think a President Warren would not have an ally in Congress? The cascade of crises we face, of which rump is only one and not necessarily the worst, should produce a blue tsunami. Especially with real progressive changes in the offing...not, say, a 2 degree course correction.

Personally, I think we need to go far beyond "fixing" capitalism, but it is a good place to start.

[DirtEdonE]

7. If the gop can break it

Why can't the Democratic Party fix it?

[TEB]

3. I like Elizabeth warren

[dlk]

5. Warren Has the Best Well Thought Out Plans

She had been fighting for the little guy her entire career.

[backtoblue]

8. K&R

[Nanjeanne]

9. Yes Liz.

[BannonsLiver]

10. Her ideas are a great strength for her.

I can’t say enough positive things about her as a candidate.

[comradebillyboy]

11. That is a positive approach. Americans generally approve of capitalism.

Warren recognizes that and she recognizes the value of free market capitalism.