Elizabeth Warren: "What's "ridiculous" is billionaires who think they can buy the presidency"

[bigtree]

Steve Inskeep @NPRinskeep 46m46 minutes ago
And here, @ewarren responds to Schultz (saying her tax plan is "ridiculous."

Link to tweet

Elizabeth Warren @ewarren
What's “ridiculous” is billionaires who think they can buy the presidency to keep the system rigged for themselves while opportunity slips away for everyone else. The top 0.1%, who'd pay my #UltraMillionaireTax, own about the same wealth as 90% of America. It's time for change.
9:17 AM - 29 Jan 2019

[randr]

1. The harsh reality is that the cost of the Presidency is mere peanuts for the uber wealthy

Fact is they could buy all the influence they could ever want with current finance laws.
Their only drive is pure egotistical.

[safeinOhio]

2. Like to see sales on Amazon go crazy on

guillotines.

[RainCaster]

3. and one inch sisal rope

along with "Tying a Noose For Dummies"

[KPN]

26. And pitchforks!

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. it's not ridiculous because it already happened (in various ways)

it should be IMpossible. But it's not.

[bigtree]

6. she didn't say it wouldn't happen

...she says it's ridiculous and spells out why.

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. it is this sentence - needs a tense adjustment

What's “ridiculous” is billionaires who think they can buy the presidency to keep the system rigged for themselves while opportunity slips away for everyone else.


Would be more accurate is to say "what is ridiculous is to have a system in place that allows billionaires to buy the..."

Way it is worded hedges too much in my view.

[Pope George Ringo II]

9. Also, billionaires have simply owned Presidents before.

Many of the "Forgettable" Presidents from the Gilded Age fit that description.

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. yes. I think the words our candidates use will be critical.

[Hortensis]

30. :) Electorates virtually always let problems grow far

past when they should be stopped, until they finally say no when things are stupid-bad.

E could have said we won't let "any more billionaires," but I'm not inclined to quibble. Humans also respond best to playing to their egos and best qualities; and first listing failures may be more honest but not exactly more smart.

E knows what she's doing. Tell people what to think and for goodness sake keep it short and simple.

[bigtree]

17. she didn't hedge anything

...she correctly pointed to the inequity, and declared that it shouldn't happen.

"It's time for a change," she says.

[KPN]

27. Yup ... in direct, straightforward English.

No need to be erudite or refined. People prefer direct, understand her language perfectly well, and trust her to mean what they think she means.

[delisen]

5. Great Response

[WA-03 Democrat]

7. Tell it Liz!

She is the only populist I trust. Eat the rich

[SWBTATTReg]

10. What's ridiculous is that running for any major office in this country requires such a huge ...

amount of money. It shouldn't ... money should not be the ultimate qualifier since they are, by far, many other measurements of a truly qualified candidate for office then money. Go and ask your local church this (not all of them, some churches are called 'churches' only in name only).

[TreasonousBastard]

12. "Think"? One just did-- and proves it's a lousy idea.

[bigtree]

14. I think her drift there is that we would/should reject him

...I don't think she has any illusions that billionaires can't succeed.

[TreasonousBastard]

15. Of course we should. Didn't Perot teach us anything?

[bigtree]

18. I remember quite a few folks for years afterward

...still believed Perot had some special economic genius.

[calimary]

13. What's even more ridiculous is how many people might buy in.

[Scurrilous]

16. K&R

[DinahMoeHum]

19. Thank you, Liz Warren.

Schultz once mismanaged, then ignored, then sold out the NBA franchise he owned (Seattle SuperSonics) to a pair of Oklahoma liars (who then took the franchise to OKC - they're now the Oklahoma City Thunder)

http://www.espn.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=hughes_frank&id=2525634

That alone is a huge disqualification.

STFU, Schultz. GTFO and go home.

[luvtheGWN]

24. Are there enough Democrats willing to boycott Starbucks

to send him an effective message? Had my first and last Starbucks coffee in San Diego in the 90's. Hated it. Tasted like burnt coffee beans.....

[bigtree]

28. where Schultz compares health care to coffee

Link to tweet

[ZeroSomeBrains]

20. Preach on Warren

Billionaires running on a platform of don't tax the wealthy and cuts to the social safety net should be DOA.

[disillusioned73]

21. Good for her..

tired of f%cking billionaires controlling everything... it's time to cut the umbilical

[TwistOneUp]

22. Well, I guess we all know what Howard Schulz's "hot button" is!

Da Wealth Tax.

Sorry, Howie, no one wants you.

[oasis]

23. Elizabeth tellin' it like it is.

[demigoddess]

25. And will someone explain to these 'smart' millionaires that Social Security and Medicare

are essentially insurance programs, not 'something for nothing'. If they are that stupid they should go home and read a comic book or something.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

29. smack him again, Senator Warren

The first smack barely registers through the protective ego.

[fescuerescue]

31. It's not ridiculous. It happened

November 2016