The politics of greed

Elizabeth Warren is running for Senator in Massachusetts but every time I hear her talk, I wish she was running for POTUS. She may well be the only politician in America who is really willing to fight for middle class America. And she understands how to fight the system. She has lived and worked in the DC bubble. If it wasn’t for her we wouldn’t have a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau right now. And she’s not afraid to tell the truth about the “army of lobbyists” and “army of lawyers” who are really running our government.

Take for instance Warren’s recent interview on The Daily Show.

“If you’re in the drug business and you are selling prescriptions to seniors and you don’t want to have to negotiate over the prices, Washington works beautifully for you,” she said. “If you want subsidizes to drill for oil, Washington is working for you. If you run a hedge fund and you want to pay the lowest possible taxes, Washington is working for you.”

Furthermore she pays attention to details. Warren knows her facts, like these:

“It comes out that 30 of the largest companies of the United States are now spending more on lobbying than they pay in federal taxes,” she said. “Think about that. That is the investment and that’s what they see in the future.”

Keep that in mind when Republicans tell you we can’t raise taxes on corporations and the super rich because it will “stifle investment.” As Ms. Warren notes it’s America’s middle class who end up picking up the tab so the filthy rich can keep more of their money to make these “investments” in their own future. Money they largely made by gaming the system in the first place by hiring those armies of lobbyists and lawyers.

Republicans claim anyone who brings up this ugly truth is practicing the “politics of envy.” That, of course, is a completely bogus accusation. Nobody begrudges success in this country when it’s obtained fairly. But the majority of the 1% aren’t playing fair and aren’t paying their fair share to maintain the infrastructure they benefit from more than any single middle class family does. In essence, what the Republicans are really doing is defending the politics of greed. [graphic via Men Style Power]