July 6, 2019

Canceling student debt could close the racial wealth gap

Warren and Sanders say canceling student debt could help close the racial wealth gap for families. This startling graph shows they might be right.

The US might need to look to the student-debt crisis to address racial inequality.
Americans are currently saddled with $1.5 trillion worth of student-loan debt, and the total amount of debt young people owe is the highest since immediately before the 2008 financial crisis.

Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren both released plans that would eliminate the debt entirely. Their campaigns have said canceling student debt would help black and brown families much more than white ones.

The crisis has hit minority communities worse than white families on average. Black graduates default on their loans (meaning they do not make a payment within 270 days) at five times the rate of white graduates, and graduates from historically black colleges have 32% more debt than other students.

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-eliminating-student-debt-would-close-the-racial-wealth-gap-2019-6

July 5, 2019

Warren-Biden Bankruptcy Fight

In 2005, bankruptcy was on the rise and had been for years.
Lawmakers were pondering why, exactly, that was happening — and what, if anything, they should do about it — when two future presidential rivals squared off over a bankruptcy overhaul bill that would restrict who could write off their personal debts.

In one corner, Joe Biden — one of the staunchest Democratic advocates for the bill and a senator from Delaware, home to several large credit card companies. He was also a member of the Judiciary Committee, which was debating the bill.

In the other corner, Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law professor who had fought against this type of bankruptcy overhaul for years and who was on a panel convened for a hearing over the bill.

Their conversation started off with a testy (but weedy) exchange about bankruptcy courts. And it escalated from there, with plenty of interruptions and the occasional barb — Biden at one point cast Warren's arguments as "mildly demagogic." It ended with a tense dispute over what, exactly, the dispute ought to be.

WARREN: [Credit card companies] have squeezed enough out of these families in interest and fees and payments that never pay down principle.
BIDEN: Maybe should talk about usury rates. That maybe, that's what we should be talking about, not bankruptcy.
WARREN: Senator, I'll be the first. Invite me.
BIDEN: Now, I know you will, but let's call a spade a spade. Your problem with the credit-card companies is usury rates, from your position. It's not about the bankruptcy bill.
WARREN: But Senator, if you're not going to fix that problem, you can't take away the last shred of protection for these families.
BIDEN: OK, I get it. [pause] You're very good, Professor.

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/11/731370440/democratic-presidential-debates-could-reignite-warren-biden-bankruptcy-fight

If you watch this clip of that exchange you can hear Joe Biden's tone when talking to Elizabeth Warren.

It's in the first few minutes and it got laughs, but honestly seems tone deaf and dismissive in 2019.

July 5, 2019

Professor Elizabeth Warren Faces Off Against Sen. Joe Biden

Elizabeth Warren goes toe to toe against Joe Biden over predatory Credit Card companies.

Joe Biden's first comment to Elizabeth Warren got laughs, but seems tone-deaf in 2019. Too dismissive.

July 4, 2019

"Was this a moment for a real leader..." [apparently not]

[snip]
‘Forced busing:’ Into the 1960s, Delaware had unequal black and white public school systems. A parent lawsuit against that system was combined into the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case in which the Supreme Court ordered an end to school segregation.

A federal judge rejiggered school districts in the Wilmington area where most Delawareans live, so each stretched from the black city center to the white state line, and ordered that schools balance enrollments, white and black.

Sam Waltz, who headed the Wilmington News Journal’s state capital bureau and covered Biden in the mid-1970s, says the elementary school in his suburban neighborhood, North Star, was one of several shut under the court order so his three kids and their neighbors could be “bused nearly an hour into the city. Even as a lifelong Democrat involved in civil rights, I didn’t like it. It was a federally-imposed judicial solution.”

Was this a moment for a real leader to back the law even if it meant alienating some parents? “Many of us characterized Joe Biden as a 'Ted Kennedy liberal’ — but he was also a politician who could count, and he wasn’t going against a mass of his white supporters to endorse ‘forced busing,’ ” Waltz said.

‘Charm and b.s.:’ In Congress, Biden approached the segregationist senators who controlled key committees, made friends, and got ahead. In the Senate, “you’ve got to see things from the other guy’s point of view, and Joe mastered that," from the time he took his seat in 1973, aged 30, Waltz said. Like Bill Clinton, he pushed mandatory-sentencing prison legislation to show he was “hard on crime,” boosting support among white Democrats who otherwise backed Reagan, or Trump.

https://www.inquirer.com/business/joe-biden-delaware-roots-segregation-moderate-democrats-20190704.html

July 4, 2019

Biden-Harris debate over busing spills out onto campaign trail

Harris’ debate performance was widely praised and prompted a surge in state and national opinion polls.
But in the days since, Harris has faced backlash after appearing to backtrack on her support of federally mandated busing.
On Wednesday at a West Des Moines picnic, Harris indicated she believed school districts today should make the voluntary decision on whether to bus students in order to integrate de-facto segregated schools.

“I think of busing as being in the toolbox of what is available and what can be used for the goal of desegregating America’s schools," Harris said in response to a question from a reporter. Pressed for clarification on her stance, Harris said: “I believe that any tool that is in the toolbox should be considered by a school district.”

That statement led many within the Biden campaign to say that Harris essentially agrees with Biden. She pushed back on that notion at an Indianola house party Thursday afternoon.

“Sadly, we do not agree,” she said. She said that although she currently supports voluntary busing, it was wrong to oppose it in the 1960s and 1970s when “there were forces and individuals and supposed leaders in our country who actively worked against the integration of schools based on race.”

“I’ve asked him and have yet to hear him agree that busing that was court-ordered and mandated in most places and in that era in which I was bused was necessary,” Harris said.

“He has yet to agree that his position on this, which was to work with segregationists and oppose busing, was wrong. Period.”

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/07/04/joe-biden-kamala-harris-iowa-caucuses-2020-4th-july-busing-school-integration-debate-exchange/1647944001/

Harris made an excellent point. The racial atmosphere in 2019 is totally different than it was in the 1970's when racist state politicians were actively suppressing African Americans.

July 4, 2019

Did Biden just realize he has competition in the 2020 Democratic primary?

Clinching the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination might be harder than former Vice President Joe Biden thought. His first debate performance was lackluster, and recent polls show his Democratic rivals are closing in on his lead. So, he's adjusting his strategies.

Bloomberg reports that "after spending the first two months of his campaign focused on attacking President Donald Trump, the former vice president turned his attention to rivals in his own party."

Biden likely wants to highlight his own moderate positions in contrast to a field of far-left candidates, and he's starting with a hot-button issue: health care. In campaign events in Iowa this week, he defended ObamaCare and said "we can't start over" with a whole new health-care system, like Medicare-for-all, which many of his closest rivals favor.

Biden hasn't outlined his full plan yet, but "he would favor a hybrid public-private system that could help the uninsured get coverage," Bloomberg reports. On Thursday, Biden elaborated slightly:

A Morning Consult/Politico survey this week found that 55 percent of all voters support a Medicare-for-all system that reduces the role of private insurers — so long as they get to keep their preferred providers. Among Democrats, the approval was at 78 percent.

https://theweek.com/speedreads/851212/did-joe-biden-just-realize-competition-2020-democratic-primary-

July 4, 2019

Warren: Trump's 4th of July Parade Is a Campaign Event

Elizabeth Warren Says Trump's 4th of July Celebration Is a 'Campaign Event' That 'Should Be Paid for by His Campaign Contributions'

President Donald Trump will hold his "Salute to America" event in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, debuting his own take on Fourth of July celebrations.

Despite the high costs of the parade, fears of damage caused by heavy military vehicles and the authoritarian connotations of such a spectacle, Trump is plowing full speed ahead with his "great celebratory military parade."
Nonetheless, his critics have been in full voice. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren added her condemnation of the event on Wednesday night, telling a CNN reporter that the "Salute to America" is really more of a salute to Trump.
VIP guests at the event—many of whom are Republican operatives and big-ticket donors to the party—will be seated in a cordoned off area around the Lincoln Memorial. From here, they will be able to watch in comfort as jets, bombers and helicopters roar over Washington.

They will be right in front of Trump as the president delivers his speech. Though Trump has said his address will honor the U.S. military, it would be uncharacteristic if he did not use the opportunity to score political points, leaning on the military to boost his image while denigrating his opponents.

All things considered, Warren argued that the public should not be footing the bill for the "Salute to America."
"Trump is handing out tickets to his big donors," she told CNN reporter MJ Lee. "That's a campaign event. And if he's going to do a campaign event, then it should be paid for by his campaign contributions."

https://www.newsweek.com/elizabeth-warren-donald-trump-fourth-july-celebration-campaign-event-contributions-1447503

July 4, 2019

A Democratic Woman Candidate Will Beat Trump in 2020

Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 by over three million votes and would be President right now except for blatant Russian interference in the election.

Yet this year we have been barraged with articles by pundits claiming a woman can't possibly win the 2020 Presidential race.

Well, the pundits are wrong. The results of HEAD-to-HEAD polling puts this ridiculous claim to rest.

Looking back over the last 4-5 weeks, we see Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris BOTH defeating Trump.

Tuesday, June 25 Emerson Poll :
Warren 53, Trump 47
Harris 52, Trump 48

Sunday, June 16 Fox News Poll :
Warren 43, Trump 41
Harris 42, Trump 41

Tuesday, June 11 Quinnipiac Poll :
Warren 49, Trump 42
Harris 49, Trump 41

Friday, May 24 Rassmusen Reports Poll:
Warren 46, Trump 44

Friday, May 17 Fox News Poll :
Warren 43, Trump 41
Harris 41, Trump 41

Tuesday, May 14 Emerson Poll :
Warren 52, Trump 49
Harris 51, Trump 49

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/national_general_election/

July 4, 2019

Warren, Harris surge into tie with Biden in new Iowa poll

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) have surged into a virtual tie with former Vice President Joe Biden in Iowa after last week’s debates, according to a new survey conducted for a Democratic group.

The poll, conducted by Democratic pollster David Binder for the group Focus on Rural America, shows Warren leading the field with 20 percent of the vote, a statistical tie with Harris at 18 percent and Biden at 17 percent.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is just off the podium at 12 percent, closely trailed by South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 10 percent. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) clocks in at 4 percent, and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) scores 2 percent. Ten other candidates each notch 1 percent support in the Hawkeye State.

The poll shows Warren and Harris both doubling their support following strong performances in last week’s debate, while Biden and Sanders have slipped. In the group’s March poll, Biden led the field with 25 percent support, followed by Sanders at 17 percent.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/451520-warren-harris-surge-into-tie-with-biden-in-new-iowa-poll

July 3, 2019

Is Biden suffering from Hearing Loss?

Hear me out on this, pun intended.

In another thread a Biden supporter raised this point, noting that Biden seemed to be hesitant in raising his hand when a question was asked, much like they do themselves do because they have some hearing loss.

This would explain Biden's otherwise inexplicable answer to the question, and I paraphrase:

"What would be the first thing you would do as President".

In the debate, Biden responded "Defeat Donald Trump", to much ridicule later by pundits.

Also, consider the fact that Biden did not participate in the Spin Room throng after the debate. I suffer some hearing loss myself, and find it very hard to hear conversations when there is a lot of loud background noise, as occurs in the Spin Room.

So, did Biden not participate in the Spin Room because of a similar problem hearing?

If he is suffering hearing loss, shouldn't he just wear a hearing aid?

Many many people do. or is there too much of a stigma attached to a 76 year old Presidential candidate wearing a hearing aid or something?

Hearing loss is the kindest possible explanation I have heard yet that would explain Biden's apparent confusion at times on stage during the debate.