The economic playing field in the United States has been tilted to favor the rich (and the corporations) at the expense of everyone else. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is one of the few elected officials in Washington that stands up for the poor and middle class Americans. Here is her latest e-mail sent to her supporters:I spend a lot of time talking about the struggles of America's middle class, but sometimes I need to stop to say out loud that poor families have it so much harder.
Even the smallest day-to-day problems can crush low-income families. Car trouble or a sick baby can mean losing days at work. Any emergency can mean a trip to a payday lender and stepping into a trap that can cost thousands of dollars. And piled on to the economic stress is the reality that the ugly claw of violence tears more often at poor families than rich ones.
The same erosion of investment in the future that is hollowing out America's middle class is destroying the even more limited opportunities that poor families have to pull themselves forward.
I won't pretend that fixing this is easy – especially not with a Republican Congress that time and again puts the needs of millionaires and billionaires before working people.
But that's why we keep fighting to raise the minimum wage. It's why we fight to make sure women don't get fired for asking what their male coworkers make for doing the same job. It's why we fight for better schools and to make it easier for kids to go to college. It's why we fight for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And when times get tough, it's why we fight for unemployment benefits.
For me, that's what this is always about. Are we a country that builds a future for only some of our children, or do we build opportunity for all of our children?
We fight side-by-side because no matter where a child is from, no matter what a child's parents do, no matter a child's background, every child in this country deserves a fighting chance to succeed.
Thank you for being a part of this,
Elizabeth
P.S. Opportunity is built one brick at a time. In just a few weeks, the Senate is going to vote again on our bill to let people refinance their student loans. In June, every Democrat, every Independent, and three Republicans voted to move the bill forward – but we're still two votes short. Send an email, make a call, or show up to an event with your senators. If they voted for Bank on Students, thank them for their support. If they didn't, ask them to put students before billionaires this September. We can do this.
