When she’s not looking out for the little guy being taken advantage of by predatory lenders, Elizabeth Warren is making high-interest, short-term loans to family members and flipping homes for a profit. That’s the revelation in a story published today by the Boston Herald which identifies nine instances when Warren made a quick profit either buying and reselling homes or loaning money to family members to flip homes in the late 90s.
For instance, in 1993 Warren purchased a foreclosed home in Oklahoma City for $61,000. She resold the home 18 months later for $95,000. In several more cases, Warren provided loans so that her brother could buy homes and flip them. In 2000 she reportedly gave her brother a loan with 9.5 percent interest so he could buy a home for $35,000. He sold the home three months later for a 10 percent profit.
Flipping homes was a profitable investment for the Warren family, which made as much as 383 percent on a five-month transaction. The average gain seems to have been closer to 40 percent. There was nothing illegal about the practice, but it was singled out by progressives connected to the Obama administration as one of the irresponsible practices that led directly to the financial crisis.[Emphasis added]
In late 2008, in the midst of the crisis, Rep. Rahm Emanuel took to the House floor and described the situation as a “man made disaster.” He placed blame at the feet of banks but also singled out people who were “buying homes, they were being flipped as if they were pancakes.” He suggested people had a right to be angry about this behavior by banks and home flippers. Just a few months later, Emanuel would become Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff.
In most of the transactions, Warren wasn’t the buyer but simply provided loans to her brother, who then made the purchases and flipped the homes. In essence, Warren was taking the role of a bank, making short- term loans to allow an experienced buyer to make a quick profit. She can certainly argue that all of this activity came a decade or more before the financial crisis hit in 2007-2008. However, there is some obvious hypocrisy in castigating the financial system which you and your immediate family have profited handsomely by emulating.
If nothing else, Warren has frequently posed in public as the champion of the little guy being squeezed by powerful institutions and often forced into foreclosure. It’s worth noting that she has also been the lender looking to make money, even if the profit she’s making comes from buying and selling a foreclosed home. [Emphasis added]
CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien, for example, had a testy exchange with West on Thursday morning, confronting him on the remarks and demanding he “name names.”
From the beginning, O’Brien was combative, vehemently disagreeing with Allen West regarding Ted Nugent’s controversial recent comments. Then they turned to West’s own remarks. After playing the clip, O’Brien asked him about it, and West said that Communists have “renamed themselves progressive” but the ideology has stayed the same. Mediaite picks it up from there with a transcript:
“So name names for me,” O’Brien said. “Start naming the 78 to 81…”
“Oh, we don’t have to…” West countered.
“Oh, we do! I’m dying to know,” O’Brien pressed. “Which are the members of the…”
“You can go look up the progressive caucus…” interrupted West.
“So Keith Ellison is a communist?” asked O’Brien. “Raúl Grijalva is a communist?”
“Well, look, I’m just talking about the fact that the ideology and principles — you can call it whatever you want…”
“Tammy Baldwin is a communist? Judy Chu is a communist?” O’Brien continued.
“You can call it whatever you want,” West replied.
“Yeah, but I want to know what you’re calling it,” O’Brien said.
“I’m calling it this,” West clarified. “Communist, progressive, Marxist, statist, another term being used. I’m looking at things they believe in. If you don’t think we have to stand upon truth and be able to identify and clearly contrast the different principles and values and ideologies of governance here in this country, then we’re never going to get to the fact of accepting the true debate happening in America. We don’t need a bureaucratic nanny state. We need to stay a Constitutional Republic. I think a lot of people need to study that and understand what it is.”
On November 11, 1999, CPC drafted a vital Position Paper on economic inequality,which called for “legislative initiatives” to combat the “income and wealth disparities” that “distor[t] our democracy, destabiliz[e] the economy, and erod[e] our social and cultural fabric.” Lamenting that “two and a half decades of government policies and rules governing the economy” had been “tilted in favor of large asset owners at the expense of wage earners,” the document derided the “pro-investor bias” of America’s existing “tax policy, trade policy, monetary policy, [and] government regulations.”
In 2005 CPC spelled out its political agendas in what would become its signature document, the “Progressive Promise.” Therein, the Caucus emphasizes its commitment to four major priorities: Economic Justice and Security; Civil Rights and Civil Liberties; Global Peace and Security; and Environmental Protection & Energy Independence. Under the rubric of these items fall a number of additional key CPC objectives, such as these:
● “To uphold the right to universal access to affordable, high-quality healthcare for all.”
● “To … create new jobs in the U.S. by building more affordable housing, re-building America’s schools and physical infrastructure, cleaning up our environment, and improving homeland security.”
● “To ensure [that] working families can live above the poverty line and with dignity by raising and indexing the minimum wage.”
● “To sunset expiring provisions of the Patriot Actand bring remaining provisions into line with the U.S. Constitution.”
● “To fight corporate consolidation of the media and ensure opportunity for all voices to be heard”—essentially a plan for purging conservative voices from the airwaves by means of the “Fairness Doctrine“ or adherence to the principles of “localism.”
● “To bring U. S. troops home from Iraq as soon as possible.”
● “To encourage debt relief for poor countries” as outlined in the United Nations Millennium Project, a massive redistributive scheme calling for the governments of wealthy countries to commit 0.7% of their GNP to promoting “the economic development and welfare of developing countries.”
● “To free ourselves and our economy from dependence upon imported oil and shift to growing reliance upon renewable energy supplies and technologies.”
● To “eliminate [the] environmental threat posed by global warming,” an objective that may be accomplished by increased emphasis on “solar, biomass, and wind power.”
● “To promote environmental justice,” a term founded on the premise that hazardous-waste landfills and pollution-emitting industries tend to be situated disproportionately near minority neighborhoods.A 2002 report by Joelle Fishman, chair of the Communist Party USA‘s Political Action Committee, stated that the Progressive Caucus “provides an important lever that can be used to advance workers’ issues and move the debate to the left in every Congressional District in the country.” In a 2010 CPUSA report, Party member David Bell identified Progressive Caucus members as his organization’s “allies in Congress.”
According to WorldNetDaily, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) served as the host of CPC’s website until 1999, at which time—shortly after a media expose of the link between the two organizations—CPC established its own website under the auspices of the U.S. Congress. The close ideological ties between CPC and DSA continued unabated, however. As of January 2010, fully 70 of CPC’s then-81 members belongedalso to DSA.
Many members were and continue to be linked to DSA and/or the Communist Party USA, IPS or other radical organizations.
From small beginnings the CPC has grown to embrace more than 80 members of Congress and three in the Senate – Roland Burris, Bernie Sanders andTom Udall(NM).
Possible new members after 2010 elections
According to David Dayden writing on leftist blog FireDogLake. “What about the ones who won? Democrats picked up three seats from Republicans, making good on some prior anomalies and realigning correctly. Colleen Hanabusa (HI-01), Cedric Richmond(LA-02) and John Carney (DE-AL) all won. Of those, I would say Hanabusa and Richmond will join the Progressive Caucus. In AL-07, Terri Sewellreplaced Artur Davis. She’s a lot more progressive than he ever was, and she will likely join the caucus. David Cicilline(RI-01), the replacement for Patrick Kennedy and another openly gay member of Congress, is likely to join (Patrick Kennedy never did). The race that a progressive lost in a primary,Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (MI-13), was over ethical issues, and she’ll be replaced by Hansen Clarke, likely to join the caucus.[6]
New California member
On entering Congress in 2011,Janice Hahnof Los Angeles joined the Congressional Progressive Caucus.[7]
Congressman Bernie Sanders has been charging that these bail-outs to regimes which violate worker and civil rights are illegal under a law passed last year by Sanders and Representative Barney Frank, both leaders of the Progressive Caucus in Congress which DSA has helped to organize.
DSA continues to work closely with the Congressional Progressive Caucus[9];
Since 1982, DSA has been working for progressive change. As a national organization, DSA joins with its allies in Congress’ Progressive Caucus and in many other progressive organizations, fighting for the interests of the average citizen both in legislative struggles and in other campaigns to educate the public on progressive issues and to secure progressive access to the media.
According to a DSA flier the organization works with CPC to promote “progressive change.“[10]
DSA is an activist organization, not a political party. From promoting single-payer health care, to combating Congress’ war on the poor, to proposing democratic alternatives to the power of the transnational corporations, DSA is in the center of struggles to advance a progressive America. This struggle is carried on not only by prominent leaders, but more importantly, through the work of thousands of DSA members across the country.
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Soledad mentioned Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva
Read about them by clicking on the blue lettered links below:
In August 2006, the Communist Party USA welcomed Ellison’s probable election to Congress, comparing him to the late far left senator Paul Wellstone[4].
If Keith Ellison is elected in November to represent Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, he will bring to the U.S. House of Representatives a fresh progressive voice in tradition of Paul Wellstone. He will also be the first African American congressman from Minnesota and the first Muslim in the U.S. Congress.
Ellison is a well-known civil rights attorney and an established progressive leader in the Minnesota House of Representatives. He received the Democratic Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party’s endorsement at the district convention in May, enjoys strong support from organized labor, and has been endorsed by the state AFL-CIO.
Peace and justice activists have been volunteering in increasing numbers in the Ellison campaign to refocus attention on Ellison’s program. Ellison calls for immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, a universal, single-payer health care system, protection and extension of civil rights to all, including gays and lesbians, and responsible stewardship of the environment.
In the Minnesota House, Ellison supported legislation to raise the minimum wage. He has spoken at peace rallies in the Twin Cities area. He pledged to fight all attempts to erode the Voting Rights Act. He founded the Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota.
TheCommunist Party USA paper Peoples World, September 21, 2002 issue carried an article on page 8 “People gain in Arizona primaries.” The article by local Party leader Joe Bernickdealt mainly with Raul Grijalva’s victory in the recent Democratic Party primary.
The tireless efforts of hundreds of grassroots volunteers dealt a blow to the corporate establishment here and their attempt to dominate Southern Arizona politics in the Sept. 10 primary election.
Long-time progressive Raul Grijalva routed seven other candidates to win the Democratic nomination for CD-7, one of Arizona’s two new Congressional seats.
Dennis Kucinichis a Democraticmember of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 10th district of Ohio. Kucinich, who has reportedly been close to the Communist Party USAsince his days in Cleveland Ohio council politics in the 1960s, was elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio in 1977. During his 1996 Congressional run, there was considerable controversy over his ties to CPUSAmember Nagin. In 2008, Rick Nagin was Labor Coordinator for Kucinich’s primary campaign. And in 2009, Kucinich returned the favor by endorsing Nagin in his 2009 City Council race. In 2006, Kucinich spoke alongside Neil Abercrombie and Christine Riddioughat a Democratic Socialists of America Political Action Committee event for Bernie Sanderswhich was held at the home of Stewart Mott.
Hilda Solis also enjoyed strong union and Communist Party USAbacking) when she ran for U.S. Congress in 2000.
In a report submitted to the Communist Party in November 2000Evelina Alarcon,Vice Chair CPUSA and Chair Southern California District, commented on Hilda Solis’s Congressional victory;
The monumental victories which are occurring in Los Angeles electorally and in the workplace are because of the coalition building that the labor movement is doing with the Latino and African American community. In Los Angeles, the Labor Federation not only targeted three congressional districts but it had organized 250 volunteers to help State Senator Hilda Solis win her Congressional seat by turning out the union household and Latino vote…
We in the Party can also be proud because our members were involved in all the targeted electoral efforts…[2]
Saturday evening delegates recognized the contributions of DSA vice chair and Washington Post]columnist Harold Meyerson, Occidental College sociologist and longtime DSAer Peter Dreier and insurgent California Congress member Hilda Solis (D) who in turn provided in-depth perspectives of the political scene.
Los Angeles City Council member Robert Farrell, presented Hani with a resolution signed by MayorTom Bradley and City Council presidentJohn Ferraro, welcoming him as “one of the most highly respected and powerful voices of the anti Apartheid movement.”
In May 1992 the Communist Party USAnewspaper Peoples Weekly Worldpublished a May Day supplement which included a call to “support our continuing struggle for justice and dignity”
Endorsers of the call included Congresswoman Maxine Waters, California.[5]
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Add to the above Rep. Maxine Waters slip about Socializing…..uhm….uhm….taking over your companies (talking to Oil Company Executives about Gas Prices).
BESIDES Vetting Obama in 2012; Americans need to vet the Candidates running for elected offices from local elections all the way up to the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate!
“We’re successful because somebody started the University of Michigan. We’re successful because somebody made an investment in all the federal research labs that created the internet…. We’re successful because somebody built roads and bridges…. And if we all understand that we’ve got to pay for this stuff, it makes sense for those of us who’ve done best to do our fair share and to try to pass off that bill on to somebody else, that’s not right. That’s not who we are.”
Now listen to Elizabeth Warren running for U.S. Senate (against Scott Brown) in Massachusetts.
Elizabeth Warren on Fair Taxation
September 21, 2011
“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there – good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory… Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea – God Bless! Keep a Big Hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.” –
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For those that don’t know Elizabeth Warren go HERE.
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Don’t think Elizabeth Warren is a Socialist? LOOK at the picture below: Elizabeth Warren is meeting with Congressional Progressive Caucus. (Started by Openly Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont)
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