Elizabeth Warren - a shining star for liberals

'Values, Not Just Math': Why Sen. Warren's Latest Speech Matters (Click on this heading to read more)_

Richard Rj Eskow

Tuesday, November 19, 2013, 9:12 pm

This week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts gave an important speech on the floor of the United State Senate. Said Sen. Warren, "the conversation about retirement and Social Security benefits is not just a conversation about math. At its core, this is a conversation about our values." Sen. Warren knows her values.

She knows her math, too. As co-author of The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke, Warren helped document a phenomenon which most Americans had observed but few had fully recognized: Typical two-earner middle-class families today can't maintain the standard of living which single-earner middle-class households enjoyed in the 1950s and 1960s.
Why? Because real wages have fallen, mortgages are more expensive, education costs have skyrocketed, and out-of-pocket health care costs have risen dramatically for families with employer-based insurance.