Friday, September 30, 2011

Two Minutes of Elizabeth Warren ("to fix this problem, don't do those things")

Very much worth two minutes of your life.



"How we got into this hole - ... that's $4 trillion right there; part of the way you fix this problem is don't do those things..."

(hat tip Andrew Tobias; discussion at Sierra Voices )

3 comments:

Don Pelton said...

The right-wing, including the local right-wing, has gone crazy over this little speech, which is now viral on the Internet.

As usual with the right-wing, the message is the same everywhere (eliminating the time-consuming annoyance of actually having to think about it): she's a Marxist, a socialist, etc.

Partisan derangement syndrome.

Anna Haynes said...

The "socialist" business reminds me of this parable (reprinted in Forbes):

"[William Gates Sr.] says that the wealthy in America are the product not just of brains and hard work, but beneficiaries of a stable government, a strong educational system, and often of government-funded research and technology. As the rich grow richer, they should expect to give something back.

Gates warms with a parable of his own invention: Imagine, he says, that God is in his office looking over his portfolio. God's stocks are down--he's too heavy in the dot-coms--and to reverse his fortunes, he summons the next two spirits to be born on earth. He proposes an auction. The winner will be born in the United States, the loser in Ethiopia. He asks the two spirits to bid by writing down what percentage of their net worth they are prepared to cede to God upon their death. Hearing the terms, God's adviser (his accountant?) pulls him aside and says it will never work. Both spirits will certainly write 100%.

"What is it worth to be an American?" William H. Gates Sr. asks..."

Don Pelton said...

Interesting!

I always thought Bill Gates' dad sounded like a good guy. He wrote:

"Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes"

http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Our-Commonwealth-Accumulated-Fortunes/dp/0807047198/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1317511763&sr=8-2