You want to see a clearly written set of Priorities? Look at Elizabeth Warren's

[ThomWV]

Here is a link to Elizabeth Warren's "Priorities" as she persues her political career. Wouldn't it be nice of the White House would come out with something as concise, clear, and worker/family/middle-class friendly?

Here it is:

"There are plenty of people in Washington looking out for the billion dollar corporations. My life’s work has been fighting for middle class families, taking on big banks, putting forward new ideas, and working to turn those ideas into a reality that makes a difference for people. That’s what I’ll do in the U.S. Senate.

I want you to know what I believe, where I stand, and what I think is worth fighting for: I want to help rebuild America’s middle class. I want a future filled with opportunities for those who work hard and play by the rules.

We need a 21st century manufacturing base and expanded service capacity. We need a set of workable rules that don’t tangle up those who are trying to create something new. We need to be able to invent things, make things, and sell things to the rest of the world. We did that once, and we can do it again.

Here’s what it will take:

Education. Good public schools, good public universities, and good technical training can give us a workforce better than any in the world. Well-trained workers are cost effective, and they can give us a powerful competitive advantage in world markets. Investments in our people pay the highest dividends.

Construction. We need to upgrade our aging roads, bridges, mass transit, and water and sewage lines—the basic pieces it takes to manufacture goods and to get them to market. My brother-in-law Steve operates a Gradall out of Plymouth. He tells me that he digs up water and sewage pipes in some parts of the state that were laid in the late 1800s and now are crumbling. We could be upgrading right now—creating good jobs and investing in our future.

Renewable energy. If we invest now in 21st century energy, we can lower the costs of production for all of our future work. Right now, renewable energy competes with old energies that get lots of special breaks in Washington. Massachusetts can lead the world in using green technology to cut production costs and make our products competitive around the world. Again, we could do this right here, right now—and create jobs here in Massachusetts.

Research. Massachusetts is a world leader on the research that produces new products and new industries—and creates the demand for new technical jobs. Increasing our support for this kind of research helps Massachusetts and helps the country.

A level playing field. Our self-employed and small businesses, and the community banks that fund them, are drowning in complicated regulations. Long, complex rules create loopholes that the big companies can take advantage of, but they leave little guys out in the cold. We need rules that are written with small businesses in mind. We need straightforward rules that any small business can deal with, like the short and streamlined mortgage form the consumer agency is putting into law.

Workers’ rights. We need to make it easier for workers who want to organize to have the chance to do so. If people want to work together for better wages, for better health care, and for better working conditions, they should have the right to do so.

Fair trade. If we are going to sell our products to the rest of the world, we need to strengthen trade laws and ensure their enforcement. We need to make sure that those we compete with also respect workers’ rights and environmental rules.

Now is the time to rebuild America’s middle class. Instead of giving tax breaks to the already-rich and already-powerful, to the corporations and CEOs who have already made it, it’s time America recognized the working people and small businesses who are still trying to build a future.

We believe in a country of opportunity, a chance to get ahead, a world in which our children will do better than we do. Those values have made America special and strong, but they are slipping away.

We can change course. We can rebuild. But we can do this only if we work together. Join me in this fight, in this campaign and beyond, to stand up for our middle class families and small businesses and to make Washington work for us."

You can read it for yourself and get other information about her and her campaign from links found at http://www.elizabethwarren.com/priorities

[meegbear]

1. I'm gonna do everything I can to get her elected ...

I want that shit Brown out.

[Demeter]

2. And this is the Woman Who MUST be President

because she would be of the People, by the People for the People.

[ThomWV]

3. Amen Brother! I sincerely hope that some day I will be able to vote for her for President

[aquart]

8. See, that's what I was thinking.

[Stuart G]

4. k & r

[sabrina 1]

5. I am so glad she is running.

She is a fighter too, as she has demonstrated when up against the Republicans.

:kick: for Elizabeth

[hfojvt]

6. I prefer to talk about "working people"

when politicians talk about the "middle class" and "small businesses" that ALWAYS tends to be defined upwards. Obama is proposing "middle class tax cuts" that give 46% of their benefits to the top 20% and 27% of their benefits to the bottom 60%. Obama is proposing "small business tax cuts" that give less than $3,000 to businesses with less than $100,000 in payroll and give $155,000 tax breaks to corporations with more than $5 million in payroll.

Talking about the middle class and small businesses just makes me think she is gonna ignore the bottom 60%, not to mention the poor.

Seems to me that when the middle class pursues their own happiness that they end up trampling, or running past, those on the bottom. Not on purpose, but through blindness and indifference.

edit; sheesh, I just typed 'peiple'. And to think I was gonna make a comment about 'persue'.

[ThomWV]

7. I think if you familiarize yourself with her and her history you will not say that about her

"Talking about the middle class and small businesses just makes me think she is gonna ignore the bottom 60%, not to mention the poor."

I can understand why you would say that, providing that you didn't know much about her. I say that because I am certain that if you had been sort of 'following' her for the last year or two you wouldn't have said what you did. Of all the Democrats and Republicans either in or running for public office right now I'd say there is less chance that she will "ignore the bottom 60%, not to mention the poor (sic)." than any others and about equal to the chances of Bernie Sanders doing it. Those of us who follow her know it, she's the real thing. Progressive and as strong as she is smart - and her intellect dwarfs most political candidate's.

[hfojvt]

12. the thing is she is already doing it, no matter her credentials

In all that long statement, it was all about the middle class, no mention of the bottom or the poor (and yes, I mention the poor twice - on purpose, because even though they are part of the bottom 60%, a person could always help the bottom 60% without doing much for the bottom 10%). That is what I liked about Edwards, he started with the poor. How about we start by helping them and talking about them, and let the attention and the help trickle up to the middle class?

[sam11111]

11. small businesses=rip off artists.- but otherwise i love her ideas Will strongly back her

Small businesses- way back in my student days when I lived on a small income -

-- sold me "used as new" -
a pillow with hair on it
A/C that had dirt (soil) on fins. Terrestrial soil where someone had dropped the unit in mud

Vitamins - expired
Canned stew tasted of machine oil
Kleenex with water stain on box corner
Vile mom and pop landlords
Bad dr.
Change for a ten after I gave a twenty

These greedheads need lots more regulations..probably need to be sent into PERMANENT receivership...new owners should be customer organizations.

I do not praise small business.

Aside: Big Chain retail is bad...local stores are worse

But overall Warren is great! Strongly support her. Must elect her!

[hfojvt]

13. I certainly do not agree with that, since I had two small businesses

I started a new and used bookstore that I ran for 7 years (at zero profit), and then I bought a laundromat that I ran for a year. At the same time, I also owned three apartments, one of which I lived in. I don't think I was a bad businessperson or landlord, although my tenants and customers might disagree. Lord knows my renter got mad when the hot water heater went out. (I guess I was just supposed to click my heels three times and make a new water heater appear. (In actuality I spent a day putting it in, just about killing myself on the day before I was scheduled to take the GRE, and still had to pay a plumber some $400 to do some soldering). Plus I gave them cash christmas presents, gave one a ride to his son's 4th birthday party, and carried him rent free for about 5 months after he failed a drug test and lost his job.

Then, too, I could tell you stories about customers who seemed eager to rip me off. Trying to dump off bags of worthless books and then taking my best books in trade. Shoplifting. Using my store as a library, or a dump or a cash machine. After I had been in business for six years I started to get annoyed at people who would ask "do you buy books?" when they had never bought any of those books from me. Where the hell do you think I am supposed to get the money to buy books? Ultimately I gave away a whole bunch of books when I went out of business and moved.

[hifiguy]

9. It is so nice to see a statement of REAL Democratic principles

from a Democrat running for office these days. I'd nearly forgotten what it was like.

And you can bet Professor Warren won't sell them out on the first day after she is elected.

[Uncle Joe]

10. I believe Elizabeth Warren will make an excellent Senator.

Thanks for the thread, ThomWV.:thumbsup:

[Yuugal]

14. I read your other thread about giving her some cash.

So, being as jaded and cynical as the last two and a half years have made me about people who promise to help my family, I went to her page to see what she stands for and get some info. I'm unimpressed with the lack of specifics. What actually scares me is she doesn't mention the poor, homeless, or war even once! As another poster noted, middle class to some people seems to be the guy making 250k a year with his "small business". That guy is actually in the top 10% or even the top 5%.

Also, anyone appointed by Obama to anything is immediately suspect in my mind, no matter how many times she kicked the banksters in the 'nads during some political theater in DC. I'm also very nervous about another "inside the elite bubble" Harvard superstar making general promises to get in office and then doing a 180 and giving guys like Boner 98% of what they wanted and calling that kind of miserable cowardly surrender some sort of bipartisanship. Please don't hate me for this, but if Obama likes her, how good can she really be? With precious few exceptions everybody Obama picked for his cabinet was DLC or a republicker. Of course, she can't be all bad because he didn't fight for her to head the agency that was her brainchild. :)

When I read any mission statement for a prospective candidate, I always apply the "opposite rule". Take whatever they say and reverse it, if it makes no sense then neither did what the person said. I'll give you some examples from the page on her website you just posted.

"I want to help rebuild America’s middle class. I want a future filled with opportunities for those who work hard and play by the rules."

Um, yeah. "I want to destroy the middle class and no opportunities for you or your kids muhahahahahah!" Ever hear anyone say that? Nope? Then what she said is meaningless political BS.

"Good public schools, good public universities, and good technical training can give us a workforce better than any in the world. Well-trained workers are cost effective, and they can give us a powerful competitive advantage in world markets. Investments in our people pay the highest dividends."

"I like shitty schools and a dumbass workforce we can exploit the fuck out of! Take that Upton Sinclair! Woohoo!"

Once again, meaningless word salad that politicians spew to get elected. I went to her site hoping to hear that she wanted to shred NAFTA into toilet-paper sized pieces and wipe her ass with it before giving it a nice powerful flush down the toilet. instead I read this:

"Fair trade. If we are going to sell our products to the rest of the world, we need to strengthen trade laws and ensure their enforcement. We need to make sure that those we compete with also respect workers’ rights and environmental rules."

That is the exact same lie Al Gore fronted to us on CNN in 1992 and it was BS then and it is BS now. Good luck forcing China to do anything when we already owe them our firstborn.(So much for MFN status making them change their evil ways.) So all we ever get is the shitty trade deal and the stuff that is supposed to make it all better is forgotten the second that piece of treason is signed. Is Mexico some sort of utopia now that we gave them our factories? NAFTA hurt us AND Mexico but it was sure a good deal for Richie Rich. I smell a senator who will vote with Obama on 3 new "free" trade deals and my union blood already boils whenever I even hear Obama speak these days.

"Workers’ rights. We need to make it easier for workers who want to organize to have the chance to do so."

Uh-huh. Then why not mention EFCA by name? I am so damn tired of wimpy dems never even having the courage to say what they want, and then expecting me to believe they will mention it when they are in office. Before you mention she can't be a wimpy dem because she was hard on the banksters(kudos to her btw), how do I know she doesn't just have an axe to grind on that one issue because the mortgage on her mansion was a bad one? You would never know from her page what she stands for. Just a ton of generalities about improving things and wanting blue skies and happy children frolicking in the sunshine.

Do you happen to know how much she and her husband make a year and what their net worth is? It seems we only elect millionaires these days and when they betray us I'm just not surprised anymore. So no more brazillionaires for me, thanx.

She also has zero experience and wants to shoot straight to the top of govt, but didn't poor people like me just fall for someone who did the exact same thing as she is doing now? I remember a guy who said he wouldn't sign a bill without a public option, I remember being told he would kill NAFTA, I remember him running against the Bush tax cuts and mandates and then pushing both once in office. I remember the same guy last year, responding to criticism about cutting one of the legs out from under the social security table by cutting the FICA tax who said it won't be permanent, who now wants to ..............wait for it.........make it permanent. He even has the gall to lump that bit of republicker bullshit into a nice clump of trade agreements and calls the resulting shit sandwich for the poor and working poor a "jobs bill".

I guess that, in a nutshell, is what makes me really nervous about her. One of the Obama DLC crowd, one of the Harvard elite crowd, she may have been struggling 30 years ago but that was a long time ago and she is probably very comfortable now and since she doesn't seem to know my class of people exist(the poor), why should I give her money?

This isn't me bashing her though and I hope you can see that. I'm still healing from what I consider the worst betrayal I've ever had politically and since she is only a household name because of someone I now despise I'm very nervous about being had again by another hero who turns out to be a zero. If you have anything specific she would do or not do on policy please let me know and then maybe I'll give her some of my food money. But first she has to acknowledge that poor people even exist on her web page. If I missed it please let me know. I will never work, contribute, or vote for anyone who isn't crystal clear on policy ever again and even when they are crystal clear I still need to be damned sure they mean it. Newcomers make me nervous when they say nice things but have no record of doing them at all, except when they yelled at some banksters one time. I prefer people work their way up the ladder and show us by their actions what they are instead of me having to "believe". Maybe it is just the Hopium withdrawal talking......