http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/05/14/2011911/sen-warren-questions-regulators-willingness-to-prosecute-wall-street-banks/

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) isn’t letting regulators off the hook for their lack of prosecutions of Wall Street banks in the wake of the financial crisis. After using her initial Senate Banking Committee hearing to press regulators about whether big banks are “too big to trial,” Warren is doing so again — this time in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Justice Department, and the Federal Reserve.

The letter questioned regulators’ willingness to pursue settlements instead of prosecutions, and asked them to provide any analysis to justify that practice, The Hill reports

5/14/2013 8:20:20 PM

Settlements = some of the money back to investors, prosecution means while they go to jail, investors get squat?? I don't know, just throwing that out there.

5/14/2013 8:54:23 PM

Pretty sure she will be a good presidential candidate for 2016. $22/hour min wage will get a huge number of supporters under her wing.

5/27/2013 9:54:47 AM

Yeah if the last two elections have taught us anything it's the fact that ridiculous promises to knuckle-dragging democrats really flush out the chumps.

That being said I agree with the OP.

5/27/2013 9:59:29 AM

^ not sure if you are being sarcastic, but Elizabeth Warren has a HUGE progressive backing.

5/27/2013 10:03:18 AM

If you dont know why $22/hr is a bad idea, or cant recognize simple pandering / unrealistic appeals to poor, uninformed saps, then I dont know what to tell you.

I still like her, but this is a pretty shamelessly idiotic proposal.

The progressive equivalent of "DEY WONT TAKE OUR GUNS FROM OUR COLD DED FINGRS," or "GIT R DON," or something along those lines. Pitiful.

Dont pretend that supporting this makes you or her smart.

5/27/2013 10:37:01 AM

the reason it's a bad idea is employers will go Galt dontcha kno

5/27/2013 10:40:08 AM

Dont be a simpleton lewis...

I know youre smart, and I know your forte is also math.

Just because shes Elizabeth Warren doesnt mean you dont know why this is stupid.

5/27/2013 10:45:14 AM

I do indeed know why it's stupid: After all, part of the impetus for the many labor-saving devices that have increased worker productivity is to reduce the cost of a given level of labor, so not all of the gains from increased productivity should go to the worker.

Also, Warren's comment treats the minimum wage like it's a common thing, whereas the lower it is in real terms, the smaller is the proportion of the workforce that earns it (however, if the minimum wage really were raised to $22/hr, about half the remaining workforce would end up earning it).

I just thought it was funny to put in a jab about the threat of "going Galt," which like every Rethug brings up at even the slightest proposal to aid the poor (cf. Obamacare).

5/27/2013 10:59:09 AM

Quote :

"Pretty sure she will be a good presidential candidate for 2016. $22/hour min wage will get a huge number of supporters under her wing."

Holy shit...no one is really this stupid, right guys? Please God let it be trolling.

5/27/2013 11:55:29 AM

She used it to make a point in a Senate hearing against some Wall Street people or something one time. Maybe about the productivity gains we've seen in the last 20-30 years and the stagnant wages. I'm pretty sure there hasn't been any legislation introduced that would bring the minimum wage to that level and if there were I'm pretty sure every single member of Congress would vote against it. I know I certainly wouldn't take it seriously.

Although she very well may be a presidential candidate in 2016.

[Edited on May 27, 2013 at 1:07 PM. Reason : ]

5/27/2013 1:06:39 PM

i do not understand how, as a fucking american, someone can not like elizabeth warren.

she's one of like four people actually trying to get anything done in congress. and who is on the banks' side here, other than bankers?

5/27/2013 1:26:57 PM

Dont act like her statements regarding banks are linked to this minimum wage nonsense.

Her sentiments about them are spot on.

A $22/hr minimum wage however is simply testing the waters to see how many stupid people will pay attention to her.

[Edited on May 27, 2013 at 3:06 PM. Reason : -]

5/27/2013 2:54:39 PM

$22/hr was part of some remarks she made to highlight productivity increases.

$10/hr is the actual minimum wage Warren has seriously suggested.

5/27/2013 3:26:12 PM

^ $10/hr minimum wage is far, far too low. You have to make college education free and accessible at those levels. The only other viable option is to level the playing field and make the minimum wage at least $22/hr.

5/27/2013 5:14:01 PM

I hope you're ready for 20-30% unemployment with a 22/hr minimum wage.

5/27/2013 5:47:42 PM

^ How do you support your 20-30% unemployment claims? With higher minimum wage, people can spend more. You sound like the stereotypical Tea Bag that wants to continue to support the 1%.

5/27/2013 6:59:35 PM

so, you think that with 22/hr versus the current 7.25/hr, prices will remain the same? you honestly think that? A tripling of the minimum wage will not lead to any increase in prices, right?

As for my numbers, I pulled them right out of my ass, and I'm damned proud of it. But you can be guaran-damn-teed that if you triple the minimum wage overnight, you will see a massive increase in unemployment.

[Edited on May 27, 2013 at 7:13 PM. Reason : ]

5/27/2013 7:12:16 PM

Quote :

"$22/hr was part of some remarks she made to highlight productivity increases."

No, actually she was just trying to illicit an emotional response.

http://theweek.com/article/index/241530/the-case-for-22-an-hour-minimum-wage

I mean $9, $10, whatever; at least that's borderline realistic.

Quote :

"$22/hr was part of some remarks she made to highlight productivity increases."

I think you're giving her too much credit; her objective was to stir up people like oneshot.

5/27/2013 7:23:09 PM

y0willy0 is all over the stupid map on this one

5/27/2013 9:28:44 PM

Such insight-

5/27/2013 9:44:09 PM

^ the article you posted is flawed, minimum wage would be around 30-33 dollars/hr if it kept its course.

[Edited on May 27, 2013 at 9:49 PM. Reason : mathmatical!]

5/27/2013 9:48:57 PM

Quote :

"Dube agreed, then upped the ante again. If the minimum wage had kept pace with the rise in wealth by the top 1 percent of taxpayers, he added, it would have reached $33 an hour in 2007. Nobody, of course, is arguing for a $33-an-hour minimum wage, and Warren isn't even pushing for $22 — she just wants a bump to $10 a hour. But where did the $22 come from, and does it make any sense? The actual number is $21.72, and it comes from an analysis by economist John Schmitt at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. That's only one of the numbers he churns out to argue that "the minimum wage is too damn low." In real dollars, the minimum wage peaked in 1968. If that had been linked to inflation (CPI-U), the minimum wage would be $10.52 an hour, and if you look at how the minimum wage fared against the average production worker wage, it would be $10.01 today. But the most egregious imbalance is productivity."

That article?

5/27/2013 9:52:19 PM

Quote :

"$22/hr is a bad idea,"

Fine with me, i'll just put all my assets into inflation protected securities and assume that my wage will go up proportionally to $240K a year.

5/28/2013 1:15:28 PM

It's a fine thing to point out that wages have not tracked productivity. That's not very controversial. We've seen tremendous boosts in productivity due to computers and the Internet. People are not actually getting better at doing work in many cases, they just have better tools.

That's not an argument for a minimum wage. We could have an interesting conversation on how the profits from this increased productivity are being sucked up by the banks and corporate-state alliances, but I just have to laugh when people actually believe that voting will change any of this.

5/28/2013 1:42:49 PM

Quote :

"We could have an interesting conversation on how the profits from this increased productivity are being sucked up by the banks and corporate-state alliances, but I just have to laugh when people actually believe that voting will change any of this."

indeed, indeed.

that said, warren is at least trying.

5/28/2013 1:53:57 PM

I agree. She's the only person talking about (Bernie sanders a little bit too) these terrible problems that are only going to get worse.

5/28/2013 4:30:03 PM

yeah, john mccain was recently added to my now-four person list of people in congress that give a shit about anything, which is warren, sanders, franken and mccain. mccain is just trying to stay relevant by giving people better cable service, but it's still something god dammit.

5/28/2013 6:08:14 PM

Really? McCain?

I don't see how Rand Paul doesn't make that list. A lot of his platform is bullshit that I disagree with, but he at least hold's the administrations feet to the fire on some important topics.

[Edited on May 29, 2013 at 8:41 AM. Reason : ]

5/29/2013 8:40:12 AM

Not on anything important. He had that filibuster that consisted of little substance and then came out a couple months later and said that if someone walked out of a liquor store with $50 and a gun, he doesn't care if a police officer gets him or a drone does.

And if you think ALL republicans aren't holding the administration's feet to the fire then where have you been? I would like to see the Justice Department's feet held but rand Paul isn't doing anything about that. Rand Paul is just a tea party stooge.

5/29/2013 8:59:15 AM

yeah, seriously. Rand Paul is a nutball.

5/29/2013 9:03:58 AM

That's not an argument for or against anything he's said or done. I'm not going to defend his every move, but calling someone crazy is laziness.

There are politicians that are legitimately deranged. People like McCain, who are willing to put thousands or millions of lives at risk with his caution to the wind foreign policy ideas. The man needs to be put in a retirement home ASAP.

5/29/2013 9:19:49 AM

hey, mccain isn't fucking around when it comes to cable.

he also, on a more serious note, sponsored a campaign finance reform bill that stood no chance. doesn't forgive being a warhawk, but I'm not making a list of non-warhawks.

5/29/2013 6:00:21 PM

McCain used to be pretty good. But he totally sold out to the establishment Republicans to win the 2008 nomination. If McCain of 2000 had been the Republican candidate, the entire world would be so much better.

5/29/2013 6:25:54 PM

Quote :

"but calling someone crazy is laziness."

Completely ignore the post above mine where IMStoned420 explains exactly why Rand is a nutball

5/29/2013 6:58:16 PM

He didn't explain that. Paul didn't say that drones should be used in that example, only that it could be legally justified (i.e. used to stop a crime that was in the process of being carried out). But yeah, I'm the one missing context here.

5/29/2013 9:22:56 PM

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/04/23/ron_paul_fans_furious_over_rand_pauls_drone_flip_flop

Full context. He clearly says that he doesn't care if someone comes out of liquor store carrying $50 and is killed by a drone or a police officer. Even if you believe that's a slip of the tongue, you've got to admit the hyperbole he expressed is condemnation enough and a terrible affront to the 6th Amendment.

I'm not going to say it doesn't exist, but I can't think of one thing Obama has said that is as bad off the top of my head.

5/29/2013 11:28:04 PM

Obama could murder and/or mutilate an innocent child and you'd see no problem with it. Oh, wait...that actually has happened.

Did you not actually listen to anything Rand Paul said in his filibuster? He's not against the use of drones. He's against the targeted use of drones against citizens when there's been no due process and when there's no crime in process. Right or wrong, that was his position from the beginning.

[Edited on May 30, 2013 at 8:37 AM. Reason : ]

5/30/2013 8:33:50 AM

D347R0Y3R RAPED AND KILLED A GIRL IN 1990

Also I'm not listening to the filibuster.

[Edited on May 30, 2013 at 8:39 AM. Reason : !]

5/30/2013 8:38:25 AM

Quote :

"He's against the targeted use of drones against citizens in the United States when there's been no due process and when there's no crime in process."

Which has never actually happened. He's never had issue with blowing up Americans overseas, like al-Awlaki.

5/30/2013 12:19:00 PM

it was a good filibuster, but then the administration responded with the most succinct response ever and closed the issue. so if he continues to talk about it anymore (i have no idea if he does), its a pretty poor example.

5/30/2013 1:22:42 PM

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/20/494738797/you-should-resign-watch-sen-elizabeth-warren-grill-wells-fargo-ceo-john-stump

She absolutely torched WF's CEO earlier.

9/20/2016 2:48:15 PM

Yes that was great. Sounds like he deserves every bit of flack he gets. What WF has done is deplorable - not the fake account creation, that is bad too. But firing the low-level employees who were goaded into doing it, without going after any of the brass.

9/20/2016 2:50:42 PM

Nothing is going to happen to him. Wells Fargo is a piece of shit bank and anyone who trusts them with their money deserves to have it all stolen from them now that this has come to light.

9/20/2016 2:54:03 PM

Well, I was a Wachovia customer, so unfortunately I didn't have much of a choice unless I wanted to close everything out and go somewhere else.

Which I may do.

9/20/2016 2:57:10 PM

I mean yeah, switching banks is a huge pain in the ass. But by knowingly/willfully continuing to bank with them after this? FFS dude...

9/20/2016 3:02:47 PM

Quote :

"Yes that was great. Sounds like he deserves every bit of flack he gets. What WF has done is deplorable - not the fake account creation, that is bad too. But firing the low-level employees who were goaded into doing it, without going after any of the brass."

This. I sincerely doubt that 5300 people all came up with the exact same fraudulent idea independently.

9/20/2016 9:18:51 PM

Yeah and then he hopped in his gold plated jet while Congress continues to do fuck all about greedy bank execs

9/20/2016 10:01:55 PM

I mean, they are the reason why the economy collapsed in 2008, right?

9/20/2016 10:12:43 PM

It just keeps getting worse

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/21/investing/wells-fargo-fired-workers-retaliation-fake-accounts/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom

People who tried to do the right thing got fired.

9/21/2016 9:28:31 AM