Warren and the Presidential Primaries
As politics becomes more polarised, few offer politics of unity and hope. In the democratic presidential primaries, Elizabeth Warren has seen her stock rise. With Biden the initial trail-blazer in the opinion polls, with confidence clearly in his favour, Warren has managed to close the gap to extinction with the trend clearly predicting that her popularity will overtake Biden in the coming weeks. Her political message is clear – remaking American capitalism that works for all, a message that resonates with the American electorate’s frustrations, as noted by Republican pollster Frank Luntz. Warren, the former Harvard law professor, has rolled out a series of economic policy proposals with the vision of big structural change while addressing the wealth tax – taxing wealth over $50 million at 2% and wealth over $1 billion. Political change in the USA has proved difficult, take gun control as an obvious example. The resistance of iron triangles and large contributors from interest groups means little has been done to address the inequality emerging under Trump. As Clinton once said “It’s the economy, stupid” as the pivotal sway amongst voters. Has Trump made America Great Again, or has he finally opened the American public’s eyes to failing redistributive measures required for a great Western democracy to prevent those helpless from crumbling. It is true that the economy is doing well – but there have been periods when it was even stronger. The trade war with China, rising tensions in the Middle East and fears over the health of the global economy have unsettled markets recently and led the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, to lower interest rates.
It then becomes necessary to assess Warren’s proposals. A centrepiece of her proposal is geared towards fixing market failures – with carbon emissions remaining unpriced, tech giants accumulating more power and oligopolies dominating health care. Under Trump, but a continuing trend spanning the last two decades, American markets have become more concentrated, with two-thirds seeing them rise. Global dominance has facilitated the growth of MNCs, with the real costs burdened on the low-paid workers, being made to work unbearable hours. To tackle such inequality Warren proposes “Predistribution”, an idea based on boosting pre-tax incomes for working families and limit economic gains perceived to be unjust, thus tempering the engines of inequality. In combination with this, companies would face an extra 7% tax on all profits above $100m. With the clear vested interest of the Top 1%, the 2020 presidential election looks to be the most tribal yet.
Whether the economy is the main political currency for the election, will yet to be seen. With Trump seemingly the undisputed Republican nominee, the parameters for victory will be determined on a day-to-day basis, scandal by scandal. Warren’s vision of compassionate capitalism seems to be resonating with the electorate thus far – but whether she can overturn the dominate PACs is another, far larger problem.
