Elizabeth Warren: America Without a Middle Class

[supernova]

< Supernova: I really wish Elizabeth Warren were in the Admin and at the Treasury >

....

Families have survived the ups and downs of economic booms and busts for a long time, but the fall-behind during the busts has gotten worse while the surge-ahead during the booms has stalled out. In the boom of the 1960s, for example, median family income jumped by 33% (adjusted for inflation). But the boom of the 2000s resulted in an almost-imperceptible 1.6% increase for the typical family. While Wall Street executives and others who owned lots of stock celebrated how good the recovery was for them, middle class families were left empty-handed.

....

The contrast with the big banks could not be sharper. While the middle class has been caught in an economic vise, the financial industry that was supposed to serve them has prospered at their expense. Consumer banking -- selling debt to middle class families -- has been a gold mine. Boring banking has given way to creative banking, and the industry has generated tens of billions of dollars annually in fees made possible by deceptive and dangerous terms buried in the fine print of opaque, incomprehensible, and largely unregulated contracts.

And when various forms of this creative banking triggered economic crisis, the banks went to Washington for a handout. All the while, top executives kept their jobs and retained their bonuses. Even though the tax dollars that supported the bailout came largely from middle class families -- from people already working hard to make ends meet -- the beneficiaries of those tax dollars are now lobbying Congress to preserve the rules that had let those huge banks feast off the middle class.

Pundits talk about "populist rage" as a way to trivialize the anger and fear coursing through the middle class. But they have it wrong. Families understand with crystalline clarity that the rules they have played by are not the same rules that govern Wall Street. They understand that no American family is "too big to fail." They recognize that business models have shifted and that big banks are pulling out all the stops to squeeze families and boost revenues. They understand that their economic security is under assault and that leaving consumer debt effectively unregulated does not work.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-warren/america-without-a-middle_b_377829.html

[midnight]

1. Shock and Awe..... The perfect distraction for domestic terrorism....

Elizabeth Warren was just trying to do the job she was prevented from doing, protect the tax payer, AKA the middle class, so she quit. Who can blame her. When will the adults be allowed to do their jobs. It is as if every frat brat in the country is working D.C.

[Fire1]

25. Is there a link? n/t

[SutaUvaca]

2. I love that woman. nt

[Laelth]

3. k&r for the truth. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[Lugnut]

4. K&R n/t

[Faygo Kid]

5. So very true.

The end of the middle class, and many are willing participants in their demise.

[WinkyDink]

7. Not taxing the uber-wealthy ; not taxing the off-shore accounts; not taxing the out-sourcing; NAFTA.

We the people cost businesses money, so the fewer of us with jobs, the more of us in debt, and the more of us literally DEAD, the better for business and stock-holders.

EOS.

[Blue_Tires]

32. not properly taxing corporations is the worst imo....

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Most Important Post In Months

Look for her further marginalization in the near future. Larry and Rahm mad millions from Wall Street for one reason: they get the job done, and Warren's got loose lips.

[abelenkpe]

8. Must Read article

Elisabeth Warren is a national treasure.

The middle class has been under attack for 30 years. Republicans would get all ruffled if one called in class warfare but that is exactly what it is.

We've all seen the charts showing wealth flowing upwards into the hands of the very very top .1 percent. Through no fault of their own the middle class has been robbed while doing all the things things that officials told them were the right thing to do: save for retirement, save for their children's education, pay increasingly more for less and less health care coverage while the government and wall street pushed policies that put the middle classes financial and job security at risk.

I know it will never happen but honestly I wish we could simply seize the bank accounts and assets of the very rich and make those whose retirements and savings have been decimated whole again. (I know, I'm evil.)

Short of that taxing the rich, corporations, and creating incentives for hiring in the US and investing in US education would be at least be a step in the right direction.

[bertman]

10. Hear!! Hear!! Excellent post abelenkpe.

Recommend this thread.

Elizabeth Warren is an American Hero.

[debbierlus]

9. A big k & r!

[Vidar]

11. K&R.

[defendandprotect]

12. GOP's "third world America" . . . they've been working on it for decades . . .!!!

[JDPriestly]

13. Elizabeth Warren for Fed Chair (or Secretary of Commerce).

[mbperrin]

16. Yes, immediately!

She's absolutely great!

[Mithreal]

14. Kick & Rec

[Uncle Joe]

15. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, supernova.

[depakid]

17. On track for third world status...

[katty]

18. go EW!

[Fire1]

19. She quit!!! WOW!!!!!! Oh shit! n/t

[Fire1sKid]

20. She quit because she with out question represents

the American people.She cares that there are families currently suffering at the hands of wall street and corporate America.

[supernova]

22. She quit? What, the oversight chairmanship?

Is there a link? I hadn't heard.

[Fire1]

23. I saw it in post#1. I'd like a link, too! n/t

[me b zola]

21. K&R

[Oldtimeralso]

24. K & R and proud to help the truth to be revealed. n/t

[Quantess]

26. So true.

Too late to recommend.

[democracy1st]

27. Kick

[Doctor_J]

28. I wish that woman weren't married

She is spectacular.

[supernova]

29. :-)

I really hope there is a long term future for her in our public life, she's too smart to go back to private life.

[supernova]

30. Thank you everybody for all the recs!

:grouphug:

And why, WHY is it that someone so sensible is so rare?

[Doctor_J]

31. Probably not that rare, just one of the few who has any media access

Liberals, progressives, and Dems are practically shut out of the media completely.