Elizabeth Warren Fighting Chance

Then I asked the obvious follow-up question How did he know that people in bankruptcy existed mostly at the economic margins and would always be there? (Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" 2014 p.28-9)

In 1995, Congress launched a blue ribbon commission to review the bankruptcy laws. President Bill Clinton appointed former Oklahoma congressman Mike Synar (Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" 2014 p.48-9)

The commission report had been delivered in October 1997, and for the next three years we fought off the industry as best we could. But in 2000, we were running out of ways to counter the relentless campaign. The industry-supported bankruptcy bill passed the House and Senate by sizable margins. Fortunately, one last warrior held out against the banks and the credit card companies: President Clinton. In 1998 I had met with First Lady Hillary Clinton to discuss the proposed bankruptcy legislation, and after our meeting she had declared that she would fight on behalf of working families, against “that awful bill.” Now the president was under enormous pressure from the banks to sign the bill, but in the last days of his presidency, urged on by his wife, President Clinton stood strong with struggling families. With no public fanfare he vetoed the industry’s bill. (Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" 2014 p.65-6)

Warren's New Book Whitewashes Some Awkward Hillary History 04/17/2014

In early April, I got a call from the office of Larry Summers. I didn’t know Larry well, but I’d met him a few times while he was president of Harvard in the early 2000s. According to reports, Larry had been Tim Geithner’s mentor when they were both in the Treasury Department in the 1990s. Now Larry was the director of the National Economic Council, which meant that, along with Secretary Geithner, he advised President Obama on economic issues. Would I be interested in meeting him for dinner?

Sure, I replied. Larry’s office suggested the Bombay Club, an Indian restaurant near the White House. Quiet and softly lit, it served Washington’s power elite.

When Larry arrived for our dinner, he ordered a Diet Coke as soon as he sat down. He glanced at the menu, ordered quickly and soon the food started coming.

It was a long dinner, with plenty of intense back-and-forth about everything from the bailout, to deregulation, to the foreclosure crisis. I also talked to Larry about an idea I’d been working on for a new consumer financial agency and he seemed interested. We didn’t agree on everything, but I give Larry full credit: I’ll take honest conversation and debate any day of the week over the duck-and-cover stuff I so often saw in Washington that spring.

Late in the evening, Larry leaned back in his chair and offered me some advice. By now, I’d lost count of Larry’s Diet Cokes, and our table was strewn with bits of food and spilled sauces. Larry’s tone was in the friendly-advice category. He teed it up this way: I had a choice. I could be an insider or I could be an outsider. Outsiders can say whatever they want. But people on the inside don’t listen to them. Insiders, however, get lots of access and a chance to push their ideas. People — powerful people — listen to what they have to say. But insiders also understand one unbreakable rule: They don’t criticize other insiders.

I had been warned. (Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" 2014 p.105-6)

(Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" cited on Bill Moyers

And it could stamp out marketing that advertises a 5 percent interest rate in large print and buries the 35 percent interest rate in the fine print. (Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" 2014 p.136-7)

(Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" Cited by Amelia Warren Tyagi, in "Consumer Financial Product commission is needed"

“I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they [Occupy Wall Street] do” .....

I was deeply embarrassed. My words sounded so puffy and self-important, and they made it seem as if I were trying to take credit for a protest I wasn’t even part of. I wondered if some alien had invaded my body and said something stupid while the real me was visiting a desert island. I wondered if politics turned everyone into an idiot–or was it just me? I wanted to cover my head with a blanket and never come out. (Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" 2014 p.220-1)

(Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" cited in "Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control"

A thin young man-- really just a kid-- in a loose-fitting suit, with a backpack slung over his shoulder, looked at me and smiled. A minute later, he came over. "Are you Elizabeth Warren?"

He was from central Massachusetts, the first in his family to go to college. He was attending school in Boston and he loved it, but he said he worried about money all the time. He worked a full-time job during the school year and took two jobs during the summer to try to cover as much as he could. As we waited for the subway, we talked about student loans, declining government investment in universities, and rising tuition. Finally, he asked me if he could take a picture. Bruce [her husband] snapped the shot on the young man's phone. The kid smiled and started to walk away, then turned around.

"I give you money every month and I'm taking on hours so I can give you more."

I felt as if he'd hit me with a spear right between the ribs. Good Lord-- this kind was working until nearly eleven o'clock on a Saturday night and he was sending me money? I smiled weakly and said something along the lines of, "Uh, I'm doing okay in the campaign. Maybe you should keep your money. I'll be fine. Really."

He looked back at me. "No, I'm part of this campaign. This is my fight, too."

And that really was the answer. It wasn't just my campaign. My name was on the ticket, but these folks weren't volunteering and donating for me. They were supporting something a lot bigger. When I said that we were better off if we invested in the future together, they already knew it was true-- and they lived it. They thought America could do better, and they wanted it every bit as much as I did. And they would do everything possible to try to make that better future a reality.

This is my fight, too It gives me goose bumps. ..... (Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" 2014 p.224)

(Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" also cited in Blue America

The boys' mother was right. Autism, Alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer science is advancing at a pace people only dreamed of a generation ago. (Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" 2014 p.225)

I half expected someone to declare that I had given birth to space aliens, but at least that one passed me by. The attacks were a big distraction and at times ... (Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" 2014 p.232-3)

Guy Cecil, a gifted strategist who helps Democrats organize Senate campaigns, is a true believer. When he talks about ....

I was incredibly lucky and deeply grateful to get so much generous help. I met a couple in Newton who celebrated their anniversary by eating sandwiches at home and writing me a check for the amount they would have spent on dinner at a nice restaurant. A boy still in grade school raided piggy bank and brought me a bucket of change. A man wrote me a check for the exact amount of his tax refund, with the comment that it was "unexpected money, so I figure it can do some unexpected good. Go win!" (Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" 2014 p.248-9)

Even as he doubled down with commercials about my Native American background, Brown opened a new front in the ad wars: he claimed I'd hurt asbestos ... (Elizabeth Warren "Fighting Chance" 2014 p.262-3)

Everything you need to know from Elizabeth Warren’s new book or at least the things they want you to pay attention to, excerpts included

The Virtual Candidate Elizabeth Warren isn’t running, but she’s Hillary Clinton’s biggest Democratic threat. 05/04/2015 Hillary stood up and declared, “Well, I’m convinced. It is our job to stop that awful bill.