Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
Senator John Edwards
"Building One America"
Cooper Union
June 21, 2007
Thank you, Governor Cuomo, for introducing me and for inviting me to share some thoughts with all of you today.
I want to use our time together to continue a conversation about the economic life of our country: those served by it and those left out in the cold; the fundamental values our economy elevates and the ones it violates.
More than that, I want to talk about what we have to do to put our economy back in line with those fundamental values - and to put our government back in the service of America's best interests, not the special interests.
It is fitting to continue this conversation here at Cooper Union - a school founded by a man who couldn't afford to go to college, but who succeeded and made sure that others would have chances he never did.
Peter Cooper's story is the story of America. A place of optimism and upward mobility, a place where people work hard and sacrifice because they know it will lead to a better life for themselves and their children. And a place where we recognize that we are all in it together.
I know that story well, because it's my story, too. My father had to borrow $50 to bring me and my mother home from the hospital. Now I enjoy all the blessings of America.
Governor Cuomo knows it, because it's his story, too. His father came here without a penny in his pocket or a word of English and he raised his son to work hard and to stand up for the rights of working people.
I'm willing to bet that most of you or your parents or grandparents can tell similar stories.
We call it the American Dream: The right to succeed on the strength of your own merits - and the responsibility to help others to do the same.
Nobody gets to pull the ladder up behind them, once they've gotten to the top, and everybody has a chance to make the climb. It's a simple principle of fairness and opportunity, first and always, even in a complex world.
That's the soul of the American Dream. It is what draws people from around the world to our shores; it is what has sustained the optimism of the American people; and it is what has helped build the wealthiest nation in history.
But if you go out and talk to people around this country, they'll tell you, they still believe in the American Dream - they just think it's out of reach.
It's hard to call it the American Dream when fewer than a third of Americans thinks life will be better for their children than it is for them.
It's understandable that they feel that way. For the last 20 years, about half of America's economic growth has gone to the top 1 percent.
Today, the top 300,000 Americans now make more than the bottom 150 million put together.
Productivity is up but median income is down. People are making more, while they're making less. Men in their 30s today earn less in real dollars than the men did 30 years ago. More and more women have gone to work, and now married couples with children are working an average of 10 hours a week more than their parents did. Working families with breadwinners in their 40s are almost three times more likely to fall in to poverty than they were a generation ago.
What does all this mean in real terms? It means that our system rewards wealth, not work.
The gap between CEOs and the average worker is out of sight - today, the average CEO makes 400 times what the average worker makes.
Our tax system has been rewritten by George Bush to favor the wealthy and shift the burden to working families. That is simply wrong - and even those who benefit the most from our current system know that it is wrong.
Warren Buffett once complained that his receptionist loses more of her income in payroll taxes than he does. He called it "class welfare," and he meant welfare for the rich.
Nobody understands these divisions better than the man who introduced me today -- the man who dared to differ with Ronald Reagan's rosy vision of a "shining city on the hill" and who told a legendary "tale of two cities," where the rich and powerful are insulated from the needs of the vast majority of Americans.
Governor Cuomo's words ring as true today as they did in 1984 ... or in 2004.
Because there are still two cities. There are still Two Americas.
One America that lives by the paycheck calendar; another that never has to look at the calendar before writing a check.
One America that's afraid it won't be able to leave its children a better life; another whose children are already set for life.
One America - middle-class America - long forgotten by Washington; and another America - narrow-interest America - whose every wish is Washington's command.
It's no coincidence that our economy is only working for a few when Washington is only working for a few.
Since 1996, the number of Washington lobbyists has tripled to 36,000. That's 20 times more people than live in my hometown of Robbins, North Carolina. It's 60 lobbyists for every member of Congress. Sixty. And I can tell you from experience, a lot of them are more powerful than the members.
So what happens?
Big insurance and pharmaceutical companies are writing our health care policies to ensure their own profits, not their customers' well being, while 45 million Americans go without health insurance and premiums skyrocket for everyone.
Big oil companies and electric utilities are writing our nation's energy policies. No surprise, they are blocking the development of clean renewable energies we so desperately need, both to protect the environment and to stimulate a new wave of economic growth.
Big financial interests are writing our economic policies - and while their profits are setting records, record numbers of families are going bankrupt and losing their homes.
Sallie Mae and other banks are blocking efforts to make college more affordable and student debts smaller. Cable and telecommunications companies are blocking efforts to make high-speed Internet universal and affordable. Accounting software companies are blocking efforts to make it easier for you to do your taxes.
Is it any wonder that so many hard-working, law-abiding middle class Americans feel as if the economic system is stacked against them?
And that's the problem of Two Americas. It's not that some people are doing well - Lord knows, that is what we all want. It's that too many people don't even have a chance. It's that the system that should be helping more people to succeed increasingly protects those who already have -- and it's doing it at the expense of everyone else.
There are a lot of people, especially people in Washington, who don't want me to talk about the Two Americas. And if you think they don't want me to talk about middle class Americans, you can bet they don't want me to talk about the 37 million Americans who are living in poverty here in the wealthiest nation on earth.
People tell me, poverty isn't good politics. But what is politics if not the public forum for our highest ideals?
They tell me there are better ways to win votes than to talk about poor people. But this isn't about winning votes: it's about winning back the American Dream for everyone willing to work hard to achieve it.
I'm not surprised, frankly, that people who rigged the system to begin with want to keep it that way forever, forget who gets left behind in the bargain. But the last time I checked, you're not supposed to check your values at the door when you run for president.
And you should not be president if you do not acknowledge the divisions that threaten our economy, our society and our soul.
Abraham Lincoln - who once spoke here at Cooper Union - famously said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. That is as true in our Two Americas as it was in his.
I have learned something in the last four years, though. It's not enough to talk about the Two Americas. We also need to talk about what we need to do to build One America -- and to do that, I believe we have to build One American Economy.
We should start with the Wild West of the credit industry, where some abusive and predatory lenders are robbing families blind. It's time for a new sheriff in town.
Debt has become the central fact of middle-class existence. Thirty years ago, families saved around 8 percent of their income; today, the family savings rate is negative - so families are going more deeply into debt. "Debt collector" is one of the fastest-growing jobs.
We can't afford all this debt, either. There were 1.2 million foreclosures in 2006 -- a 40 percent jump -- and millions more are expected.
Lenders deliberately build in tricks and traps for families. There are all kinds of fees, teaser rates, penalty rates, cross-default clauses. Terms are disguised instead of being disclosed.
As Elizabeth Warren has pointed out, you can't buy a toaster that has a one-in-five chance of burning your house down - consumer protections prevent it. But you can easily get a mortgage that has the same one-in-five chance of putting the family out into the street - and the lender doesn't even have to disclose the risk.
Our leaders in Washington stand by and watch. Of course, the financial industry is one of the top three givers to political campaigns, so the math just isn't that hard.
It's time we did more than say "buyer beware" while millions of families go broke every year. We should put in place the same consumer protections for financial products that we have for everything else Americans can buy. And when I'm president, I'll do just that.
First, I will create a Family Savings and Credit Commission to make sure that financial services treat families safely.
Right now, there's no sheriff in town. Interest rates were effectively deregulated 20 years ago. States cannot effectively regulate banks because most are based in other states. Federal regulators put bank "soundness" - profitability - far ahead of consumer protection.
My Family Savings and Credit Commission will change this. It will deal with all financial services -- credit cards, mortgages, car loans, check-cashers, payday loans, investment accounts, and more. It will ban the most abusive terms and make sure consumers understand the others.
Second, I will also pass strong national laws protecting us against the worst abuses in credit markets - predatory mortgages - abusive credit card terms - and payday loans with interest rates of 300 percent or higher.
Finally, I will help create alternatives to abusive lenders. I will help working families build up a cushion by matching their savings and bringing bank accounts to the 56 million without them. And I will support non-profit groups offering affordable, short-term loans. We need a new era of responsible lenders who see families as long-term investments, not quick bucks.
All across the economy, we need to do the same thing - take on the special interests and put Washington back on the side of regular families.
We need to take on insurance and drug companies to reform health care, bringing down costs and covering the 45 million uninsured.
The oil and power companies may not like it, but we need to invest in renewable energies and use energy far more efficiently.
And we need to do more to reward the hard work of regular families.
I grew up in a mill town where work was often in short supply, and it was understood that work was the key to upward mobility. It wasn't a chore - what I've heard called "a Monday-to-Friday kind of dying." It was a ladder to a better life.
It still is - and Americans' hard work is the driving force of our nation's prosperity.
Why then do we do so little to reward the average work of regular families?
It's time the working people of this country knew the system was working for them, not just for their bosses.
We need to reform our tax code. Our current system favors the unearned income of people already doing incredibly well instead of rewarding the work of families trying to get ahead. It has all kinds of loopholes and shelters that lawyers can twist for their wealthy clients. It forces millions of families to hire help to figure out how much they owe. That's just not right.
And we need to strengthen our labor laws. Unions made manufacturing jobs the foundation of the middle class and they can do the same for the millions of new service jobs in the labor market. But businesses routinely - and illegally -- block organizing drives by harassing and firing service workers. We need fair laws that let workers form a union if they choose.
These are just some of the things I believe we need to do to build One America - and which I will do as president. So you're going to hear me talking a lot more about them.
Not because it's good politics.
Not because it'll win me some more votes.
But because I believe we cannot go on as Two Americas -- one favored, the other forgotten -- if we plan to stay productive, competitive and secure.
Because I believe the backbone of the American economy is the hard work, determination, and ingenuity of the middle class.
And because I believe that the way a strong nation becomes stronger is by giving all its citizens a chance to prosper.
I know that together we can build One America - a place where everyone has a fair shot at the American Dream.
A place where our government cares more about people, wages and jobs than it does about profits, corporate prices and campaign contributions.
A place where patriotism means more than supporting a war; it means supporting one another.
That's the One America I want to help lead. And I look forward to working with all of you to build it.
I thank you for taking the time to listen to me today. And now, I'd be happy to take some questions.
Building One America: Taking on Abusive Lenders and Helping Families Save
"The engine of our economy is not Washington, D.C., or Wall Street. It is the tens of millions of men and women in offices, factories, and fields across America who go to work every day. When we stand up for them, our middle class grows and our economy grows." -- John Edwards
American families are working harder to get by. Despite living in the land of opportunity, most families' incomes have stagnated for the past generation. Meanwhile, George Bush's Washington has let corporate interests grow stronger than ever. The result is Two Americas, one struggling to get by and another that has everything it could want. As president, John Edwards will put our government and our economy back in line with our values. Today, he announced his plan to take on abusive lenders, create a new Family Savings and Credit Commission on the side of families who are investing and borrowing, and give families alternatives to high-cost debt.
Middle-Class Debt in the Two Americas
Debt is now a central fact of middle-class life. In Washington, the financial services sector gives more money to politicians and spends more money lobbying than any other sector of the economy. With no limits on interest or fees, loans have become more costly and deceptive. Consumer debt has increased eightfold and foreclosures have skyrocketed in recent years. [Open Secrets, 2006; Federal Reserve Board, 2007]
· Regular Families Are Borrowing to Make Ends Meet: Half of Americans say they live paycheck to paycheck. For most families, wages have not kept up with rising costs for middle-class essentials like health care, housing and child care. More than half of middle-class families do not have enough savings to survive a job loss at 75 percent of their income for even one month. [MetLife, 2003; Warren, 2007; Demos, 2007]
· Credit Card Rates Are Skyrocketing: Interest rates and fees have skyrocketed since rates were deregulated in 1978 and fees in 1996. Penalty interest rates now top 39 percent. One in three accounts is assessed a late fee a year, averaging $35. Deceptive tactics include bait-and-switch marketing on interest rates, penalty rates triggered by unrelated debt under "universal default" clauses, and mailing statements later in an effort to induce more late fees. Credit card debt helped drive increasing numbers of families to the bankruptcy courts. One in 53 households filed for bankruptcy in 2005, more families than got divorced or graduated from college. [NCLC, 2005; Cardweb, 2005]
· High-Cost Financial Services Exploit Low-Income Families: Financial services companies collect high fees in urban and working-class neighborhoods where there are few mainstream bank branches. Payday loans -- short-term unsecured loans that carry high interest rates -- have ballooned to a $28 billion industry. Annual rates on payday loans typically exceed 400 percent a year. Families pay check-cashing stores as much as $500 a year for services that banks offer for $60. Interest on car title loans quickly exceed the amount borrowed. Low-income tax filers pay more than $1.2 billion a year for the "refund anticipation loans" that are aggressively marketed by tax preparers, even though they could get their refunds from the I.R.S. for free within ten days. [CRL, 2004; Fannie Mae Foundation, 2006; CFA, 2005; NCLC and CFA, 2006]
· Predatory Mortgages Have Led to Millions of Foreclosures: While subprime mortgages are a valuable option for families with poor credit, predatory mortgages have abusive terms that deceive and exploit borrowers. Americans own a smaller share of their homes today than they did a generation ago -- down from 68 percent to 55 percent -- despite the housing boom. Some banks and mortgage companies refinance mortgages with high rates and often deceptive terms. Repeated refinancings create millions in fees for lenders while hurting homeowners. Today's homeowners are more than three times more likely to lose their homes than they were a generation ago. [Demos, 2007; Warren, 2003]
There Are Two Economies: The number of Washington lobbyists has tripled in the past decade. Drug and insurance companies write our health care laws, oil and power companies write our energy laws, and banks write our lending laws. It is no coincidence that regular families are finding it harder to get ahead. Working families face less income mobility, more inequality, and more risk.
· A Generation without Progress: Middle-class families' income has grown slowly in recent years are largely the result of more hours worked, particularly by women. Men in their thirties today earn less in real terms than men of their fathers' generation did 30 years ago. Only 30 percent of Americans think life will be better for the next generation. [Pew, 2007; Edison Media Research, 2006]
· An Economy Only Growing at the Top: Over the last 20 years, American incomes have grown apart: 40 percent of the income growth in the 1980s and 1990s went the top 1 percent. The top 300,000 individuals now make more than the bottom 150 million. If all Americans were sharing in economic progress as they were nearly thirty years ago, families in the bottom 80 percent would be earning $7,000 more a year. [EPI, 2006; Saez, 2007; Summers, Furman and Bordhoff, 2007]
· More Risk for Regular Families: Families' hold on the middle class is more precarious than ever. Families in their forties are almost three times more likely to fall into poverty than they were a generation ago. The chances that an average person will experience a 50 percent or larger drop in income more than doubled since the 1970s. [Hacker, 2007]
Taking on Abusive and Predatory Lenders
Washington has stood by as the financial industry has ripped off millions of families with deceptive and unnecessarily expensive loans. To stand up for regular families, Edwards will:
· Protect Families from Abusive Financial Products: Families need someone on their side to help them get a fair deal from lenders and investment companies. The current crazy-quilt of five federal regulatory agencies share oversight responsibility but overlook consumer protection in favor of bank profitability. Federal law prevents states from effectively regulating financial products offered to their own citizens from out-of-state banks. Edwards will create a new Family Savings and Credit Commission to protect consumers. It will review all financial services products marketed to families, from six-figure exotic mortgages to $30 bank overdraft charges. It will ensure that terms are reasonable and fairly disclosed and oversee all types of financial institutions, whether chartered under federal or state law. To reduce excess regulatory bureaucracy, Edwards will eliminate the Office of Thrift Supervision. [Warren, 2007]
· Prohibit the Most Abusive Practices: Edwards will enact strong national legislation to protect families from the most abusive practices in the credit card, payday loan, and mortgage industries:
o Limiting Abusive Credit Card Practices: Edwards will restore balance in the credit card market through a Borrower's Security Act. The strong new law will require credit card companies to: (1) disclose the true cost of making only minimum payments, (2) restore a 10-day grace period before imposing late fees and penalty rates, (3) apply interest rate increases to future balances only, and (4) end the practice of universal default, where a creditor can change borrowers' terms based on their debt and payments to other creditors. [Demos, 2003; GAO, 2006]
o Banning the Most Abusive Payday Loans: After the Pentagon concluded that exploitive payday loans undermined military readiness, Congress capped interest rates on payday and other loans to military families at 36 percent, a cutoff that many states use to prevent loan sharking. Edwards will extend this cap to all payday loans. [Center for Responsible Lending, 2006]
o Protecting Homeowners against Predatory Mortgages: Edwards will pass a strong national law to prohibit the worst abuses in the mortgage market, such as steep prepayment penalties, mandatory arbitration clauses, balloon loans, loan flipping, and excessive fees. The law will strengthen underwriting standards to ensure that borrowers receive affordable loans suited to their means and reach non-bank lenders and mortgage brokers. To help the estimated 2.2 million families already facing foreclosure, Edwards will create a Home Rescue Fund to help families get into more affordable mortgages and let families shed excess mortgage debt that exceeds their home's value through bankruptcy. [Center for Responsible Lending, 2007; New America Foundation, 2007]
· Create Alternative to Abusive Lenders: Edwards believes we must help families gain independence from high-cost debt:
o Supporting Alternatives to High-Cost Credit: Because commercial banks rarely make personal loans anymore, high-interest credit cards and payday loans are often the only option for families with unexpected expenses. Edwards will help non-profits and states administer low- or no-interest emergency loans directly to taxpayers. States could choose to use state tax refunds as collateral. Because neighbors have a stake in one another, Edwards will help community groups establish up local revolving loan funds. [Center for Financial Services Innovation, 2006]
o Helping Families Save and Get Ahead: Savings are how families cushion themselves against bumps in the road. Edwards will create new "Work Bonds" to help low-income workers save up to $500 a year. He will subsidize banks to offer free savings accounts to the 56 million Americans without them, giving them a way to save and avoid exorbitant check-cashing fees. Finally, he will give taxpayers the option of directly depositing their tax refunds into a retirement account. [Center for Economic Progress, 2004; BEA, 2007; Barr, 2003]
o Modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act: For decades the CRA has led financial institutions to serve millions more families, helping them save. However, lower-income families, people of color, and rural Americans are still underserved and President Bush has weakened the law's requirements. Edwards will modernize this important law by expanding its reach to non-bank finance and mortgage companies, securities firms, insurers, and services in areas without bank branches. The new CRA will reward financial institutions for marketing financial products at fair terms to underserved consumers and collect the data we need to ensure that all Americans have equitable access to financial services. [Woodstock Institute, 2006; NCRC, 2007]
ADVERTISEMENTS 
Comments
It's quite comical to read these old press releases. Edwards was such a creep.
Bad Credit Car Loans
Posted by: Jerry![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.blogthecoast.com/primary/breaking/nav-commenters.gif)
|
August 24, 2010 09:25 AM