Elizabeth Warren thread

[Kyreth]

sure looks like it to me. that's like the headline and first few sentences of an article you'd find on page 3 or something.

Spambot, period. Kill it with fire.

[Ragnus]

http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/2013...r_cause_to.htm

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told a packed house at the Back Nine Cafe on Wednesday to fight to take government control back from big business.

"How do Fortune 500 companies pay zero in taxes while college loans go up to 6 percent?" she asked. "This game is rigged."

The consumer must "get up and fight," she said. "You've all got to be there to fight."

Warren was guest speaker at the Community Development Partnership's annual meeting.

It was her first official Cape visit since being sworn in as a U.S. senator, said Jay Coburn, executive director of the partnership.

The Harvard law professor won the seat from Republican Scott Brown in 2012.

Warren's work as a consumer advocate meshes with the goals of the Lower Cape nonprofit agency, which provides loans for local businesses and affordable housing programs.

In its 20 years, the organization has granted $2.5 million in micro loans to 140 businesses from Harwich to Provincetown, Coburn said.

Coburn said he became a fan of the future senator when he first heard her in 2007 being interviewed by National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" host Terry Gross on the topic of credit cards.

In that show, Warren revealed the various ways the credit card companies nailed consumers with fees, including mailing bills from the West Coast to the East Coast, thus making the mailing time so long people would get hit with late fees, Coburn said.

Coburn then got to know her on the campaign trail while working on election campaigns for state Sen. Daniel Wolf, D-Harwich.

Warren spoke passionately about the ways in which citizens are being hurt by a lack of consumer protection in Washington, D.C.

The interest rate on many college loans is set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent

July 1.

At the same time, there are Fortune 500 companies paying zero in taxes, she said.

Automatic budgets cuts are hurting the Head Start program, which helps low-income children, and the Meals on Wheels program, she said. Meanwhile, she said, the big agricultural businesses take in millions in subsidies.

An audience member asked how fishermen could work "to bring back our codfish." As federal regulators continue to restrict the amount of allowable catch, fishermen are losing income.

Warren said the federal government has declared the Northeast groundfish fishery a disaster, but the House of Representatives has blocked funding tied to the designation.

Disaster relief is granted to farmers during a drought and people harmed by storms, and fishermen should be given the same kind of help, she said.

Warren vowed to keep trying to help fishing families. "Fishing has been part of New England for 400 years. We will not let it disappear on our watch."

[Mazmaz]

http://www.latimes.com/business/mone...,3954620.story

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants student loans to get Fed discount rate

WASHINGTON -- Students taking out government loans to help pay for college should pay the same rock-bottom interest rate that the Federal Reserve charges big banks, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) proposed Wednesday.

With the interest rate on federal student loans set to double to 6.8% this summer, Warren said it's unfair that big banks can borrow money at 0.75% from the central bank's discount window.

"In other words, the federal government’s going to charge interest rates nine times higher than the rates they charge the biggest banks -- the same banks that destroyed millions of jobs and nearly broke the economy," Warren said in introducing her first stand-alone bill since taking office in January.

"That isn't right," she said.

Warren, a longtime consumer advocate, defeated incumbent Republican Scott Brown in November in the nation's most expensive Senate race.

She won with strong backing from liberals, who cheered her embrace of the Occupy Wall Street movement and outspoken criticism of big banks.

Warren's first bill, which likely stands little chance of passage, takes a swipe at Wall Street while advocating for more government help for average Americans.

Warren acknowledged that the Fed's policy, which also includes a near-0% federal funds rate, is designed to help boost the economy by providing cheap credit.

But, she said, "our students are just as important to the economic recovery as our banks."

"Let's face it: Banks get a great deal when they borrow money from the Fed," she said. "In effect, the American taxpayer is investing in those banks. "

"We should make the same kind of investment in our young people who are trying to get an education," Warren said.

The Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act would direct the Fed to make money available to the Education Department for one year at the discount window rate to fund federally subsidized Stafford student loans.

WILL IT PASS?

[Kurokikaze]

It won't pass but it would be so awesome if it did. I just hope it includes student loans that have already been taken out...

[Blubbartron]

http://www.latimes.com/business/mone...,3954620.story

WILL IT PASS?

Hell no. But it'd be awesome if it did.

[Guyverarmor]

Fuck I wish it would pass -_-

[Edelweiss]

For every dollar of student loan (Stafford, I think) the government makes it back plus 36 cents, if that's any indication of how profitable it is with the rate right now.

[Mazmaz]

[djzombie]

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014...friday-protest

On Tuesday, the freshman senator[Warren] will hold an event on Capitol Hill calling out the retail giant[Walmart] for its low wages and terrible employment practices.

Warren and her colleagues also plan to discuss legislation that could help Walmart employees and other low-wage workers around the country, including measures that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, forbid unpredictable irregular work schedules for part-time workers, and help prevent employers from retaliating against workers who share wage information.

"The Walmart economy—a business model where a few profit significantly on the backs of the working poor and a diminishing middle class—perpetuates the income inequality problems that are devastating our country," OUR Walmart and the United Food and Commercial Workers union said in a statement Monday.

[Outlaw]

What do you want to bet that will get no press coverage tommorrow? It's a for gone conclusion Wal-mart has some influence in Washington.

[kuronosan]

I actually think it's nice that she's fighting against companies forbidding discussion of wages.

I, for one, do not like making less money than someone less qualified than me just because they needed to fill a spot.