Warren Warns of Economic Trouble Without 'Bold Structural Change'

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren drew a stark ideological contrast between herself and political rivals on Thursday in a speech on her economic plans at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

Warren’s visit came a day after a WBUR poll showed her losing ground in New Hampshire to former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, whose health care and economic proposals Warren said would not accomplish the structural change she says is needed to rebuild the middle class.

Citing statistics on slow economic growth and lagging productivity, Warren warned voters that the United State’s economy is in trouble. “Families are struggling. After accounting for inflation, average wages have barely budged for decades,” she said. “Meanwhile, the core costs that most families face - housing, child care, education, health care - have shot through the roof.”

Thomas Patrowski, a 38 year-old voter who attended the event, said those costs were making it hard for him and his wife to put any of their paycheck towards savings. “I’ve been told my whole life the economy’s great and the economy’s doing really doing well,” he said. “Then you take a look at it and you’re like: ‘It’s really not.’ If it’s doing well, I wouldn’t be having the issues I’m having. My friends wouldn’t be going into bankruptcy in their 30’s.”

Warren promised that her arsenal of plans, which range from boosting green manufacturing to forgiving student loan debt to breaking up big tech, “will produce more jobs, more growth, more investment, higher wages, and stronger American companies that can compete and win.”

More at https://www.nhpr.org/post/warren-warns-economic-trouble-without-bold-structural-change#stream/0