Elizabeth Warren Eviscerates Wells Fargo CEO

The world may need more Canada, but it also needs more Elizabeth Warren. A tireless defender of the unrepresented, i.e., the majority of Americans, the Democratic Senator, as you will see in the following videos, is relentless in her systematic pursuit and evisceration of the self-serving rhetoric of Wells Faro CEO John Stumpf as he avers complete innocence in the scandal that has rocked his institution.

First, some brief background which saw the bank firing some 5300 frontline employees

roughly 1 percent of its workforce — for signing up customers for checking accounts and credit cards without their knowledge. Authorities said about 2 million sham accounts were opened going back to 2011, complete with forged signatures, phony email addresses, and fake PIN numbers — all created by employees who were hounded by supervisors to meet daily account quotas. The bank then charged customers at least $1.5 million in fees for the bogus accounts.

The greater scandal is that Ceo Stumpf knew about this practice going back to at least 2013 and did nothing. Indeed, his performance bonuses only grew, and Carrie Tolstedt, who oversaw the banking division responsible for the fake accounts, just left in July with a $125 million retirement package.

The following videos are brief; the first one shows Senator Warren masterfully outlining the parameters of, as she calls it, "this scam;" the second shows her eviscerating the no-longer-smug CEO.

Elizabeth Warren On The Trans Pacific Partnership

Recently, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a woman I much admire, released a five-minute video that takes aim at the Trans Pacific Partnership, specifically denouncing the Investor State Dispute Settlement provisions that give corporate entities the right to impinge upon a country's sovereignty through lawsuits if legislation affects their ability to make a profit.

Even though it is aimed at an American audience, Canada is mentioned in the warning; all of us would be very wise to take what she says very seriously, given the enthusiasm our 'new' government has for globalized trade.



I look forward to the day when our 'leaders' explain to us why these investor rights are good for all of us.

For more information about why this deal is bad and dangerous, click here.

Some Fascinating Speculation

I readily admit to not following U.S. politics too closely; my emotional resilience has limits. However, given the American media saturation coverage of Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, it has been hard to ignore the run-up to their respective parties' presidential nominations. Never, it seems, has either party offered such unpopular and unpalatable mainstream candidates.

In his column today, Tony Burman says there is ultimately little cause for concern if, as many are suggesting, Hillary Clinton will be forced to withdraw from the race should she be indicted for her unauthorized use of a private email server while serving as Barack Obama's Secretary of State.

Dismissing Bernie Sanders as unacceptable to the party establishment, Burman points out that unlike the Republicans, delegates to the Democratic convention are free to vote for any candidate, regardless of primary results, and he suggests that candidate may very well be Vice-President Joe Biden:

He originally declined to run due to the death of his son, but has told friends that he regrets that decision.

In early May, a story appeared on the Politico website that created considerable buzz. It quoted sources close to Biden indicating that, had he decided to run, Biden would have chosen Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as his running mate. Warren is a widely respected financial authority who supports breaking up the big banks to prevent another global crisis. On Tuesday, she enthralled a Washington audience by tearing into Trump, calling him a “small, insecure money-grubber.” It was a devastating performance — a real carving up of Trump — that gave some indication of how effective she would be on the campaign trail.

Whether any of this comes to fruition is anyone's guess. I suspect, however, that given the impressiveness and integrity of Elizabeth Warren, she will be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come.

Elizabeth Warren Dissects Donald Trump

Start at about the 2:40 mark, and you'll see how she does it:

Elizabeth Warren Speaks

In addressing a recent convention of the AFL-CIO, outspoken U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, about whom I have posted several times, offered some stirring words. Although directed to an American audience, her sentiments are equally applicable here, given the anti-union and anti-people demagoguery and practices of Mr. Harper's regime at the federal level and Tim Hudak's at the provincial (Ontario) level.

Although this excerpt from a much longer speech is brief and short on specifics, it is the tone that is especially noteworthy, along with the reminder that the fight of the people is the country's fight. If the people do well, so does the country, a wisdom and truth that our current Ottawa cabal and others have conveniently 'forgotten'.

Canada, Doesn't This Sound Familiar?

A Politician To Respect

Although she is not one of ours, Democratic Senator Elizabethan Warren is one of those rare politicans who commands respect. Calm, even unflappable, and eminently logical, she handles herself with great aplomb in the following video as she defends her efforts to bring back the Glass-Stegall Act, legislation that was enacted as a response to The Great Depression to create a firewall between investment and commercial banking. It was repealed by Bill Clinton in 1999, and is widely blamed for the 2008 financial crisis that eventually engulfed the world.

Canadians can only wish we had that calibre of politican here in a position to influence public debate. As good as our Eliabeth May may be, I do not see The Green Party rising to prominence in near future.

Elizabeth Warren

With each story that I read about her, my respect for Elizabeth Warren grows. Would that Canada had someone similar to inspire us.

Elizabeth Warren - Calm, Collected, Logical And Reasonable - A Rare Politician - UPDATED

Earlier today, Owen at Northern Reflections, commenting on a piece by Joseph Stiglitz, wrote a post on student debt, a scourge on both sides of the border.

Here is a video of Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, for whom I have a great deal of respect, on her proposal for dealing with that scourge. Eminently reasonable, one can safely predict that her approach will inflame the right-wing zealots:

H/t Upworthy

UPDATE: This piece by Truthdig's Robert Scheer on Elizabeth Warren's quest is worth having a look at.

Parsing The Rhetoric

Oh, how I do love it when the rhetoric of the right-wing is exposed for what it is: hysterical hyperbole.

Watch Robert Reich first as he punctures the myths regarding the 'dangers' of raising the minimum wage:

The look at Elizabeth Warren's take on the same topic:

Sticks and Stones...

Emboldened and enraged by the demagogic politics that substitute for reasoned discussion in the United States, an unemployed man is shown misdirecting his anger at Democratic Massachusetts' Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren in the following video. Calling her a 'socialist whore,' he adds that she is in the service of a 'foreign-born boss,' President Obama.

As long as the right is able to engender fear, anger and hatred instead of real hope, the Occupy Movement will have a steep upward battle in convincing that member of the 99% that progressives are not his enemy.

Fair Taxation

Democratic Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren speaks on the topic of fair taxation: