Presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday warned that an economic crash was coming and said she had a plan to stop it.
Pointing to high debt and a sagging manufacturing sector, Ms. Warren said the economy teeters on the edge of disaster.
“The country’s economic foundation is fragile. A single shock could bring it all down. And the Trump administration’s reckless behavior is increasing the odds of just such a shock,” the Massachusetts Democrat wrote in an op-ed in Medium.
The alarm took a swipe at the strong economy that is President Trump’s chief argument for reelection. It also highlighted Ms. Warren’s agenda of wealth redistribution.
The plan to repair soaring household debt included her previous proposals to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour and use revenue from an “ultra-millionaire tax” to pay off student loans and provide other new benefits to the working class.
To combat the manufacturing recession, she offered her previously released “Green Manufacturing Plan” that would pump $2 trillion into environmental research, manufacturing, and exporting over the next decade.
Ms. Warren built her political brand on opposition to Wall Street. She is vying with Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont in the primary race for the support of the far-left.
She said that for years she had warned of the approaching 2008 financial meltdown.
“But the people with the power to stop the crisis didn’t listen — not enough of them anyway. Not the banks, not [Federal Reserve Chairman] Alan Greenspan or other federal regulators, not Congress,” Ms. Warren said. “And when the crisis hit in 2008, working families lost it all while the big banks that broke the economy got a fat taxpayer bailout.”
When she looks at the economy today, she said, she sees a lot to worry about again.
“I see a manufacturing sector in recession. I see a precarious economy that is built on debt — both household debt and corporate debt — and that is vulnerable to shocks. And I see a number of serious shocks on the horizon that could cause our economy’s shaky foundation to crumble,” Ms. Warren said.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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