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US Politics Thread

His whole agenda is about taxing the rich (>$400,000 pa) and using that to help the working classes. Why do you think he doesn't champion them?
His whole agenda was that he wasn't Trump, it was hardly a campaign driven by policy.

Let's see what he does but it's very clear from his voting record and time as VP that he is a neo liberal as opposed to a genuine champion of the working class (unlike Sanders for instance). It's really not that hard to see. If you think 'champions of the working class' in American politics you think Bernie Sanders, Ralph Nader, even an AOC, and not a Joe Biden LOL!
 
I don't think you saw his agenda, then, Pangloss.

His site has a full breakdown of what he was offering, including the tax plan I outlined.

Biden sponsored Bills that helped working people, never mind voted for them, not least working women. He has championed them all his career.
 
Joe Biden wins AFL-CIO endorsement as organized labor targets working-class voters


The AFL-CIO, the country’s largest coalition of labor unions, endorsed Joe Biden for president Tuesday, with the organization’s top official vowing to wage an aggressive effort to help him defeat President Trump by reaching out to working-class voters.

Union officials cemented their support for the former vice president in a vote of the organization’s general board, joining a long roster of influential labor groups backing the presumptive Democratic nominee. In an interview with The Washington Post, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said his group will be “playing hard” in about a dozen battleground states where it plans to urge members to support his candidacy.
“Joe Biden has demonstrated his character,” said Trumka. “We look forward to helping him get elected president and changing the direction of the country.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...657c70-9f61-11ea-81bb-c2f70f01034b_story.html
 
Would a Biden Victory Be a Win for the Working Class


In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, could working-class incomes and bargaining power increase? The crisis has given Americans a new appreciation of the importance of many working-class jobs that are often taken for granted, from warehouse worker to grocery clerk. The heroic sacrifices of these essential workers will not be forgotten by American voters, who will demand higher wages and better workplace conditions for their hardworking fellow citizens.
Just as the Great Depression led to the New Deal, so the Great Pandemic is likely to lead to a new era of pro-worker policy. Already the progressive movement has pushed Democratic centrists so far in a pro-labor direction that if Joe Biden is elected president, he may be the most pro-worker president since Franklin D. Roosevelt.


https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/coronavirus-pandemic-working-class
 
I don't see why Democrats can't stand up for Wall Street and the people. Is it an either/or situation?

Haven’t followed the thread enough to know what led to this, it’s an interesting dynamic here because as much as the London Banking/Financial sector subsidises the rest of us and looking at how much revenue it brings to the treasury, the resentment of that sector anywhere outside of the M25 means it is a vote loser in some respect, unless backed under the radar.

The cost of losing that in the south east would impact all of us, it’s irrational for the normal person to be against it. I’ve no idea if that’s the same dynamic over the pond.
 
Yeah, most people now have some sort of share portfolio, via a pension or ISA. Keeping the stock market afloat is basic common sense.

Never mind the knock on effect to business confidence letting it fail would do.
 
Most Americans Don’t Have A Real Stake In The Stock Market


But the majority of Americans are not significantly affected by jumps in the stock market. The stock market bounce is passing most Americans by. Just a modest majority of Americans, some 55%, own stocks, according to an April 2020 poll by Gallup, which asks whether households owned stocks either directly or as part of a fund.
Stock ownership was at its peak in 2002 when 67% of Americans said they owned stock. That proportion reached 65% in April, 2007, before the Great Recession, after which the share of Americans owning stocks dipped once again. Of those earning below the median household income, the typical household owns essentially zero financial assets, and of those who do, most don’t have significant balances.
The latest available government data, via the Federal Reserve from 2016, shows a relatively small share of American families (14%) are directly invested in individual stocks but a majority (52%) have some market investment mostly from owning retirement accounts such as 401(k)s. The Federal Reserve study found that only about one-third of families in the lower half of the income scale had stock holdings. In the next 40% of the income scale, about 70% of households held stocks, while households in the top 10% of the income scale had stock ownership rates above 90%.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/teresa...al-stake-in-the-stock-market/?sh=652b3bd01154
 
How many people have 401k's, Siggy? I got the impression they were widespread?

Not everyone has the ability to get a 401k. I do not have one, even with all of the big companies I've worked with in the past (pre twins) not one of them offered a 401k.

Millions of American Workers Still Lack Access to 401(k)


ARLINGTON, VA (July 24, 2019) —Today the 401(k) is Main Street’s retirement plan – but tens of millions of American workers don’t have access to this opportunity.
According to a new state-by-state analysis published by the American Retirement Association, more than 5 million employers in the United States still don’t offer a workplace retirement savings benefit, a generation after the 401(k) plan design was first introduced.
When a 401(k) is available, 78 percent of American workers who earn between $30,000 and $50,000 a year take advantage of the opportunity. Today more than 80 million Americans are already participating in a retirement plan where they work.
However, data also shows that workers who earn between $30,000 and $50,000 a year are twelve times more likely to save at work than on their own [ii]. But today more than 28 million full-time workers don’t have an opportunity to save for retirement in a 401(k) – and that doesn’t include more than 23 million part-time workers who don’t have that opportunity.

https://www.usaretirement.org/milli...n a 401(k) is,retirement plan where they work.
 
There’s very little on the 5 (or is it 6?) deaths, except for the lady who was shot and the policeman. What were the other 3 or 4? I know “natural causes” was quoted, but surely there weren’t that many heart attacks.
 
I don't think you saw his agenda, then, Pangloss.

His site has a full breakdown of what he was offering, including the tax plan I outlined.

Biden sponsored Bills that helped working people, never mind voted for them, not least working women. He has championed them all his career.

For the sake of America, I hope Biden can make a real difference to the lives of those 75m Americans who voted for Trump.

I expect, just like Obama, that his promises to the working class are empty.
 
His whole agenda was that he wasn't Trump, it was hardly a campaign driven by policy.

TBF most people thought that's exactly how he should campaign, anonymously. Avoid the gaffs, don't say anything divisive and you can win. That was the plan.

Essentially win by default.
 
For the sake of America, I hope Biden can make a real difference to the lives of those 75m Americans who voted for Trump.

I expect, just like Obama, that his promises to the working class are empty.

I expect this to be true and as my GF said, he's not Trump. It was that simple for most people. It's hoped more so than any knowledge or conviction that he'll do good for the people. I think most people recognize that not being Trump is better for most of our lives.

Biden at least gives respect and dignity to the office but he'll go right back to the swamp as he already has done.
 
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