While talking with Stephen Colbert, Elizabeth Warren made it clear that she is no friend to the status quo, no partner of Wall Street thugs.
“Here we are, the richest country on Earth,” said Warren. “We have so much going for us, and yet we have a federal government that works great for millionaires. It works great for billionaires. It works great for giant corporations, for anybody who can hire an army of lobbyists, an army of lawyers, give lots of campaign money… For the rest of America, it’s just not working and it’s time to take that government back and make it work for us.”
Then came about as direct and indictment of trickle-down economics as there can be.
“What happened starting in 1980?” said Warren. “Remember trickle-down economics?”
Colbert answered, “I do remember trickle-down economics! Rich guys like me, you cut my taxes, and then I spend more and eventually it trickles down to people who don’t make the kind of money I do.”
Warren leaned in:
Except that last part never worked. So, what trickle-down economics was all about was saying to the rich and powerful, the government will help you get richer and more powerful… So starting in 1980 when it was all about “fire the cops,” it was called deregulation, cut taxes for those at the top, which means there was less to invest on eduction, on infrastructure, on basic research. So what happened from 1980 to 2012 … the answer is the 90 percent, everybody not the top ten percent, how much of the growth did they get? That GDP kept going up. How much of the income growth did they get? And the answer is zero! None. Not a bit.
Warren concluded:
One hundred percent of income growth in this country since the 1980s has gone to the top ten percent and that’s not only wrong, that is going to destroy our country unless we take our country back!
Watch Warren’s interview with Colbert:
