Yesterday, I composed a lengthy piece which is generating a lot of traffic titled, It’s Not Just the GOP – The Democratic Party is Also Imploding. Here’s one of several observations:
While it might sound strange, a coronation of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary will mark the end of the party as we know it. There’s been a lot written about the “Sanders surge,” with much of it revolving around Hillary Clinton’s extreme personal weakness as a candidate. While this is indisputable, it’s also a convenient way for the status quo to exempt itself from fault and discount genuine grassroots anger. I’m of the view that Sanders’ support is more about people liking him than them disliking Hillary, particularly when it comes to registered Democrats. He’s not merely seen as the “least bad choice.” People really do like him.
The Sanders appeal is twofold. He is seen as unusually honest and consistent for someone who’s held elected office for much of his life, plus he advocates a refreshingly anti-establishment view on core issues that matter to an increasing number of Americans. These include militarism, Wall Street bailouts, a two-tiered justice system, the prohibitive cost of college education, healthcare insecurity and a “rigged economy.” While Hillary is being forced to pay lip service to these issues, everybody knows she doesn’t mean a word of it. She means it less than Obama meant it in 2008, and Obama really didn’t mean it.
Hillary is the embodiment of a sick and detested status quo. She stands for nothing, is nothing, and a vote for her all but guarantees both murder abroad and oligarchy at home. I think a large number of Bernie Sanders supporters understand this and won’t be going off silently into that quiet voting booth to commit ethical self-sacrifice despite the terrifying prospects of a Trump presidency. I think they’ll stay home, but they won’t sit there passively. They’ll be seething inside, and many will renounce the Democratic party forever. Many rank and file Republicans already came to such a conclusion years ago, which is precisely why the nomination was wide open for a man like Trump to capture.
Hillary is the candidate of the corrupt establishment. The status quo wants Hillary in the White House so the parasitic gravy train can roll on. DNC head and Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is one of these people. She isn’t interested in reform, because reform wouldn’t advance her personal interests. She wants things to stay the way they are, because it’s working great for her.
Genuine liberals are finally starting to see these people for the frauds they are, which is why the Democratic Party is currently splitting in two. On one side there are those who understand United States policy doesn’t need a tweak here or there — it needs to be hauled off to the emergency room immediately. The so-called “elites” in the Democratic Party are just as disconnected and clueless as their Republican counterparts. Instead of accepting that paradigm level reform is required, they merely double down on their support of cronyism and rent-seeking.
A perfect example of this has just been revealed in the person of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. Specifically, she is intentionally trying to sabotage Elizabeth Warren’s reform efforts when it comes to the abuses of payday lenders.
The Huffington Post reports:
WASHINGTON — Payday lenders have been gunning for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since the day President Barack Obama tapped Elizabeth Warren to set up the new agency. They’ve had plenty of help from congressional Republicans — longtime recipients of campaign contributions from the payday loan industry. As the CFPB has moved closer to adopting new rules to shield families from predatory lending, the GOP has assailed the agency from every conceivable angle — going after it’s budget, attempting to tie its hands with new layers of red tape, fomenting conspiracy theories about rogue regulators illegally shutting down businesses and launching direct attacks on payday loan rules themselves.
To date, the GOP blitz has resulted in a few close shaves for the young agency, but no actual defeats. But the industry has cultivated a powerful new ally in recent weeks: Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).
Wasserman Schultz is co-sponsoring a new bill that would gut the CFPB’s forthcoming payday loan regulations. She’s also attempting to gin up Democratic support for the legislation on Capitol Hill, according to a memo obtained by The Huffington Post.
The DNC chair isn’t the first Democrat to defend payday lenders. A handful of House Financial Services Committee members consistently join the GOP’s payday loan boosterism. But support from such backbenchers has been politically impotent. Wasserman Schultz, by contrast, is the nominal head of the Democratic Party. Her support undercuts efforts by liberals in Congress to draw contrasts with Republicans on economic issues.
The misleadingly titled Consumer Protection and Choice Act would delay the CFPB’s payday lending rules by two years, and nullify its rules in any state with a payday lending law like the one adopted in Florida. The memo being passed around by Wasserman Schultz staffers describes the Florida state law as a “model” for consumer laws on payday loans, and says the CFPB should “adjust their payday lending rules to take into account actions Florida has already taken.”
Remember this for later. She is espousing the Florida approach.
Consumer groups are appalled by the bill. The Consumer Federation of America, the NAACP, The National Consumer Law Center, The National Council of La Raza, The Southern Poverty Law Center and hundreds of others wrote a letter to every member of Congress in December urging them to oppose the legislation.
Data compiled by the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts is similarly dismal. A typical Florida payday loan customer ends up taking out nine payday loans a year and is stuck in debt for nearly half of that year, according to Pew. The average interest rate on Florida’s payday loans is 304 percent — only slightly better than the 390 percent annual average. Critically, the average payday loan amount of $389 is equal to 35 percent of average paychecks in the state — in line with national figures.
So that’s what the Florida bill has achieved — 300% interest rates.
Going after the CFPB is becoming something of a habit for Wasserman Schultz. In November, she voted to undercut the agency’s standards on auto lending, helping car dealers charge higher prices to customers of color. She recently signed onto a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray asking him to exempt credit unions and banks with up to $10 billion in assets from consumer protection rules.
Republicans routinely push deregulatory legislation to dilute federal consumer protection standards. But the Wasserman Schultz payday loan bill had implications at the state level, as well. If approved, the bill would unleash a nationwide lobbying campaign at statehouses that would put new pressure on states like Colorado to weaken their consumer protection standards to fit Florida’s law.
As I said yesterday, if Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton, full blown civil war will erupt and it’ll be the end of the party as we know it. Good riddance.
For related articles, see:
It’s Not Just the GOP – The Democratic Party is Also Imploding
The DNC is “Feeling the Bern” – Debbie Wasserman Schultz Faces Serious Primary Challenge
Elizabeth Warren Releases Blistering Report on Corporate Criminality – Singles Out SEC Uselessness
Thoughts on Election Day: Relax—Both Parties Are Going Extinct
Bernie Sanders to Hillary Clinton – “I’m Proud to Say Henry Kissinger is Not My Friend”
A New Low – Hillary Clinton Claims 9/11 is the Reason She’s Owned by Wall Street
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
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Don’t forget which countries/systems Bernie has shown the most admiration for: the Soviet Union and Cuba. His lip service for Scandinavia is merely a cover for his love of totalitarian systems that have complete control over the populace.
Luckily he’s only an effigy of a candidate strategically placed to give Hillary some cover. Debbie Washerwoman Schultz doesn’t want it to look too much like a coronation.
I’m sure he’ll get a plum job in the Hillary regime.
Pintada, thanks.
yea gabby hawaiin punch the new nobody congress woman ‘left’ the dnc. she was kicked out by debbie for supporting sanders. she officially endorsed him like 2 days ago, too little too late, but i think she had believed the dnc wasn’t hilldog dnc, and shulz probably was forced to kick her ass out.
the dnc is basically a woman run operation now. kick the men out. talk up racial politics for 15 years and see what happens, 2016 is what happens. it’s in part why i unregistered from being a democrat to a republican at age 35 , 17 years of being a nyc democrat. I never voted religiously democrat, but i am now voting religiously anti-democrat
……….in another 15 years , there will be not a single man with a penis who is a democrat. only dicklitoris men will be dems. you can thank the likes of bernie sanders for refusing to tackle hillary. bernie is playing to the dnc line, race baiting transexual femnisit free education for everyone politics. there is nothing anti-establishment about bernie in that regard. it’s simply that’s he’s not hilllary clinton which is real and only draw and why the hilldog as stuck the dnc on him.
bernie has been shooting for VP or for a return to his seat in the senate. he is more interested in playing the polticis game than in using his time in the spot light to take down the hilldog run dnc because he knows the rnc will benefit.
you know what i’d like to see. I’d like to see bernie sanders and trump both quit and run together as a 3rd party candidate ticket . START THEIR OWN TICKET TOGETHER.
kick the rnddnc in the nutulvas. we both know that will never happen, but it would be amazing if it did. and even more amazing if bloomberg financed it instead of financing his own ego.
bernie’s nuts have been spade neutered and everything else. the media won’t even broadcast him anymore. they probably even charge him triple what they take for Hillary campaign advertisments on their network.
Sanders is the only one of the bunch that has a record of consistency and integrity. If he doesn’t win the Democratic Party nomination, then I will not cast my vote for the Presidency in November.
I hate to say this, but even though Sanders is the only candidate that is acceptable to me, I’m afraid that Sanders going to the White House would renew voters’ faith in the system
and perpetuate the status quo,