Will it be Joe Biden economic status quo or Elizabeth Warren middle-class centric ideas

[egbertowillies]

Now that Joe Biden has jumped into the race, Democrats will have two paths. The status quo of #JoeBiden & #AmyKlobuchar or the Progressive middle-class centric path provided by #ElizabethWarren & #BernieSanders. #KamalaHarris seems to be moving left, but it is not yet clear.

To make a sensible vote, we must understand however what ails the economy. More importantly, we must be brave, take our blinders off and realize that our economic system, capitalism, isn't divine but here to serve us. We must assert our worth and revamp as necessary.

IMHO, absent bold ideas, Trump wins again. The status quo only serves the Plutocracy.

[Honeycombe8]

1. Whoever can beat Trump is the name of the game this time. They're all Democrats.

They all support the Democratic Party Platform and have the same ideology. Even if you choose someone because of plans, plans almost always change, or can't be passed.

It's force of personality and leadership skills....and ability to go toe to toe with #DerangedDonald.

We'll see once the debates start who stands out and who falls to the bottom.

[egbertowillies]

3. I agree. I contend however that the status quo cannot win against Trump.

We need bold ideas. The biggest jump for voters in 2018 was GenZs and Millennials. Most importantly they still have much room to grow. They are looking for the policies of Warren and Sanders. Ironically, so are rank and file Democrats who are still stuck to the old guard. As such, I hope we let it play out without being fearful of Progressives. No matter what we do, they will brand us as socialists. So we better just lean in to middle-class centric policies

[Honeycombe8]

20. I know what you're saying. I was waiting for Obama 2.0, too. But he didn't appear.

I gotta tell you, the candidates that are more progressive aren't going to win a general election against Trump, IMO. They are not charismatic "leaders" that hordes of people follow and fall in love with. Especially Warren. Warren in particular is a group worker, best working in groups and handling complex matters with a lot of details. That is not what an executive does.

Sanders could have a chance, I suppose. But he's just so unlikable to many, and his negativity against Democrats makes it unlikely he would get elected. He is, in the end, not a member of the Democratic Party, by his own statements and identifications for decades as being an Independent or a Socialist. The word "socialist" won't get anyone elected.

There's just no Pied Piper among the lineup, with the possible exception of Pete and maybe Beto, if he finds his legs again. Both of them are moderate, like Obama was.

And none of them can beat Trump, IMO. They're just not experienced enough on the national stage. Except for Biden and Sanders, and Sanders IMO won't get elected like I said above.

But I'll watch the debates and see. Like most people, I like Mayor Pete...but no one is taking note of a problem with Pete that I've noticed. He speaks above the head of the average American. He's very smart, and he speaks like it. I love it, but some just won't understand him.

It's not about ideology. Hey, I don't like some things in Biden's record. That bankruptcy law he pushed through years ago, for one thing. But he's a decent man, who would be a good leader, IMO. And I think he MAY have the best shot at beating Trump. But I'll see. Maybe Pete will shine at the debates and get such a wide following that he'll show he could beat Trump.

We need Independents, too, to vote for our candidate. So just having the left wing of the Democratic Party passionate for someone won't cut it. I know what you mean about settling for the status quo, though. The same ol', same ol'. But the one I was waiting for didn't come. There is no Obama 2 in the field.

[delisen]

2. I think it likely Trump will not be the Republican candidate in 2020

[egbertowillies]

4. Tell me more. Predictions. You should call into my show with your thoughts.

[Celerity]

5. only way I see that is if he gets ill and dies

He is backed into a corner now, just like the old Roman counsels, where as long as he is in office, he cannot be legally touched, thus he will run for re-election no matter what. We can (and should) impeach him, but the Senate will never vote to convict and remove.

[delisen]

6. There seem to be fault lines developing in Republican Party

[Celerity]

7. Evidence of that claim? At the end of the day, the Rethugs will never turn on the orange bloat

They love 99% of what he actually does in terms of policy and governance, and they also love the fact all his bat shit crazy acts take attention away from them and away from his appointees dismantling the state apparatus (the parts they hate). It is all a big con, a pea and shell game.

[Hortensis]

8. Let's be informed on this subject a bit.

Here's a recent Brookings Institution article that sheds some light on Biden's economic views. BI has launched a "Future of the Middle Class Initiative," and this came out of that, thus the middle class theme.

Vice President Joe Biden’s 5 ideas for helping America’s middle class

Vice President Biden said that a strong, aspiring, and growing middle class accounts for much of the stability in America over the last century. “When the middle class does well,” he said, “everyone does well.” ...

“The middle class is not a number,” Biden said, “it’s a value set.”

It’s about being able to own your home and not have to rent it. It’s about being able to send your kid to a park and you know they are going to come home safely. It’s about being able to send your kid to a school, a public school, and if they do well enough they can go on after high school, and if they qualify to go on after high school you can figure out how to pay for it. And in the meantime you can take care of your geriatric mom after your dad passed away and you hope your kids will never have to take care of you.

A STRONG MIDDLE CLASS BREEDS OPPORTUNITY ...

A YAWNING INCOME GAP IS PULLING AMERICANS APART ...

THE US NEEDS A BETTER-EDUCATED WORKFORCE ...

WE’VE GOT TO REBUILD AMERICA’S INFRASTRUCTURE ...

INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT HEART OF US ECONOMY ...

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2018/05/09/vice-president-joe-biden-5-ideas-for-helping-middle-class/

There's plenty of good information out there. Biden is famous for his support of unions and the principles of collective bargaining, for instance. Anyone who wants to argue that a growing, prosperous middle class, much less healthy unions, is "status quo" these days is totally disconnected from reality. Before our electorate as a whole swung conservative beginning around 1978, our middle classes were growing every decade and poverty shrinking. Both Biden and Warren want to put an end to the predatory conservatism that followed and return to a nation, including its economy, of, by and for its people. They differ how best to accomplish that, of course.

[Celerity]

9. meh

Tell me how the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act (repeal of Glass–Steagall), the odious Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (both of which were positively foundational to bringing on the 2007-2009 global financial crisis) and the horrid 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (joke of name), all 3 of them mightily pushed by Biden, worked out for the middle class?

Biden is famous for his support of unions and the principles of collective bargaining

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/biden-boasts-strong-early-support-from-unions-union-busters.html

snip

Union-Busting Lawyer to Host Biden’s 1st Fundraiser Thursday

http://paydayreport.com/union-busting-lawyer-to-host-bidens-1st-fundraiser-thursday/

PITTSBURGH, PA. – On Monday, Vice President Joe Biden intends to launch his presidential campaign at the Teamsters Local 249 in Pittsburgh with United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard appearing alongside him.

However, first, on Thursday, Biden is hosting a $2,800 dollar-a-plate fundraiser at the mansion of Comcast Executive President David Cohen in Philadelphia. Among the dozen select political power players on the host committee for Biden’s 1st fundraiser are Steven Cozen, founder and chairman of the union-busting law firm Cozen O’Connor.

According to Cozen O’Connor website, the firm specializes in union busting advertising that it helps employers to “avoid unionization through positive employee relations and regain nonunion status when employees indicate they no longer wish to be union-represented”.

The firm also boasts on its website that it helps employers to lock out their unionized workforce.

snip




Another one of his co-hosts was Daniel Hilferty, CEO of Independence Blue Cross, the multi-billion dollar insurance giant. Hilferty is on the executive board of America’s Health Insurance Plans, who fought hard to try and block Obamacare, and now are extremely anti-Medicare For All and also anti-Medicare for those who want it (one out of those 2 plans are supported by almost all our other primary candidates).


https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/America's_Health_Insurance_Plans

Opposition to the Affordable Care Act

Investigation by the National Journal into the 2011 990 forms of both the National Federation of Independent Business and AHIP revealed that AHIP transferred $850,000 that year to NFIB in order to fight against the premium tax that is a key component of the Affordable Care Act. [7] As the National Journal reports, "The back-channel spending shows how insurers were able to fund a key—and much more politically popular—ally in their fight against the premium tax."


[7]

How Much Big Insurance Paid a Small-Business Group to Fight a Premium Tax

https://web.archive.org/web/20131215130740/https://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/how-much-big-insurance-paid-a-small-business-group-to-fight-a-premium-tax-20130513

[Hortensis]

10. Sigh. (!) You know that "union-busting lawyer" is hostile spine

on a respectable situation, even dishonest. Or you really, really should. Biden's long history of support for labor rights is very real, as has been strong union support for him, and none of that is denied by honest people.

Oppose Biden but do it honestly, with truth. Here's a little kernel of truth worth noting: Biden's been wooing the Culinary Workers Union in Nevada and making excellent progress; it's too early for the union to officially commit, but not for their ex- political director, NV state senator, Yvanna Cancela, who just endorsed Biden.

That powerful union will ultimately endorse the Democratic candidate, of course, as they did Hillary and Obama. Nevada will now be kicking off the primary elections next February 3 along with whitey-white NH and IA.

[Celerity]

11. I am well aware of his history of support for unions (and their support for him)

but it is a really bad look to have a union-busting lawyer helping run point for his first mega-donor fundraiser. Same for that Blue Cross CEO and board member of a large trade group who fought the ACA and now fights MFA and/or optional Medicare buy in. Those are both 'in good faith' observations, I am not making them up at all. Same for those 3 ruinous financial bills he pushed.

[Cha]

12. Mahalo, Hortensis, for telling

us about NV state Senator Yvanna Cancela endorsing Biden, and what he's up to in Nevada!

[Hortensis]

15. :) Yes, very promising. Not just for him, but for all

of our solid Democratic candidates. Nevada's legislature is only discussing an increase in the minimum wage to $13 by 2023, not nearly good enough.

Whoop. Thoughts of NV's primary just brought to mind the 2016 death threats and so on against our state party workers, physical attacks on them on the convention floor requiring police to shut it down, and so on; from zealous followers of the trailing candidate, of course. Wonder how memories of that will effect the choices of NV's Democrats this time? Might not stack up well against the messages of Biden's mature decency, or for that matter our others.

I was reading that in the 2016 primaries Hillary won 10 of the 11 states where Hispanics were more than 15% of the population, including NV, which is a caucus state that Sanders tried to flood with supporters. NV's a swing state, but not if Hispanic workers join others to actually vote their power.

[Cha]

16. I would think so!

You probably knew this..

Nevada Democrats announce changes to 2020 caucus

snip//

(CNN) — Nevada Democrats proposed extensive changes to their 2020 caucus on Wednesday, recommending in-person early voting and a way for voters to caucus absentee as a way for the process to be more open to Democrats.

The plan includes long-held proposals, like hosting caucus sites on the Las Vegas Strip for hospitality workers and offering bilingual preference cards in English and Spanish. It also adds new proposals, such as a four day in-person voting period for those unable to caucus on February 22, a two-day virtual caucus for those Democrats who can't participate at all in person and adding Tagalog to the list of languages offered in caucus locations.

William McCurdy II, the chairman of the Nevada State Democratic Party, touted the accessibility of the new caucus process.

"Our new delegate selection plan will ensure that 2020 is Nevada's most expansive, accessible and fair caucus yet," McCurdy said

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/20/politics/nevada-democratic-2020-caucus/index.html

[Hortensis]

18. I was actually looking to see if there were

any changes to their caucuses when I got distracted to something else. Thanks!

This is great. I much prefer Nevada’s very Democratic plan to Iowa’s, but both enormous improvements. Notice they both have 4 congressional districts, but Nevada is twice the size. We lived there long ago, and there was a reason there was no speed limit on those long, lonely desert highways.

[WeekiWater]

13. I consider four more years of Trump to be the status quo.

Biden or Klobuchar would be an extremely dramatic change.

[Cha]

14. Exactly, Weeki.. they've

grasped on to the buzz words "status quo" like "establishment".. it's not the insult they think it is.

I'd much rather have the country and the Planet in Joe Biden's hands, who has the experience needed.. than someone who doesn't give one bit of confidence they know what they're doing.

[LexVegas]

17. ...

[BlueFlorida]

19. It is never a binary choice

Binary choices end up doing injustice.

Everything is nuanced and has multiple facets.

Binary slogans hurt us in 2016. It is sad to see they are still around.