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I warned about an economic crash years before the 2008 crisis, but the people in power wouldn’t listen. Now I’m seeing serious warning signs again—and I’m calling for action before another crisis costs America’s families their homes, jobs, and savings. medium.com/@teamwarren/th…
I know it sounds stark, but here's what I see today: Families are taking on more debt than ever, thanks to a generation of stagnant wages and rising costs. Student debt has more than doubled since 2008. More than 30% of American adults have debts in collection right now.
Corporations are deeply in debt and taking risky loans, spreading that risk throughout our financial system. These high-risk loans look a lot like pre-2008 sub-prime mortgages: poorly underwritten and with minimal protections, packaged up and sold to investors.
Despite Donald Trump’s promises of a manufacturing “renaissance,” the country is now in a manufacturing recession. For the first time ever, the hourly wage for manufacturing workers has dropped below the national average.
Our country’s economic foundation is fragile, and a single shock could bring it all down. Trump's reckless behavior makes that shock more likely. Financial markets and experts agree: We face a serious risk of another recession by the end of 2021—maybe even by the end of 2020.
The good news is that we have the chance to head off a crisis, just like we had the chance to head it off in 2008, if we take bold action now to address the underlying problems in our economy. Here's what we need to do:
First, we can reduce household debt by raising wages and bringing down household costs. My plans tackle both sides of this problem, from raising the minimum wage to $15 to canceling student debt and making housing more affordable: elizabethwarren.com/issues#latest-…
Next, we have to tackle corporate debt. After the 2008 crisis, Congress created the Financial Stability Oversight Council to monitor market risks. But the Trump-era FSOC is falling down on the job. The FSOC should meet to discuss these risks and announce a plan to address them.
We need to strengthen manufacturing by investing in it instead of undercutting it. My Green Manufacturing plan will invest $2 trillion in American green research, manufacturing, and exporting over the next decade, creating more than a million new American jobs.
With an economy this vulnerable, we need to reduce the odds of the potential shocks that can send us into another downturn. That means Congress should eliminate the debt ceiling & the Trump administration should replace its trade-war-by-tweet with China with a coherent strategy.
The warning lights are flashing. Whether it’s this year or next year, the odds of another economic downturn are high. This time, though, we can head it off. Congress and regulators should act immediately.
