By SARAH CROSBY
@DHGCrosby
NORTHAMPTON — A solemn tone preceded Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s speech at the World War II Club Sunday as she began her crowd address after a moment of silence for the victims in Orlando, Florida’s early morning shooting.
“We are all valued and we pull together,” she said. “That is the single most important thing that we can do.”
Roughly 450 people greeted her remarks with applause at the free event in which Warren primarily discussed economic inequality.
Warren noted her background as the daughter of a maintenance man and a minimum wage Sears worker and said she “believes in that America” where someone from humble beginnings could end up in the U.S. Senate.
But, she said, the reality of today’s world is less optimistic for many.
“For a lot of families, no matter how hard they work, no matter how many coupons they cut, no matter how hard they try to save, there is never enough to make ends meet,” she said.
Warren said growing up her own family was hanging on to their place in the middle class “pretty much by our fingernails.”
To make things harder, she noted, the system has been rigged for decades against African American and Latino families.
“None of this will get any better unless we make some fundamental changes in this country,” she said.
Warren described America as the “great economic engine of the world” with a booming stock market, record profits for corporations, low inflation and unemployment under 5 percent.
“All of the markers of a healthy economy are there,” she said, which creates an illusion that everything is great.
“But the question is,” she added, “great for whom?”
Warren then made comparisons between the finances of families in the past compared to that of present day. She said America once had a “solid middle class” and families had savings and not much debt.
“Today, she said, “families carry more than 15 times more debt than families did a generation ago.”
“Families are living on the edge of a financial cliff and it is a long way down,” she added.
She said the American economy looks very different on the outside than it does to those living in it.
Families are bringing in more money, and over the last 30 years have cut spending on food, clothing, furniture and appliances.
“So what has happened,” she asked the crowd.
“The big, fixed expenses are staggering,” she said, noting the staggering cost of homes, health insurance, a college education and childcare.
She said that when her parents needed extra money for unforeseen circumstances, they could cut back in their spending to get by.
“Today’s families just don’t have that flexibility,” she said, noting that most of the fixed costs of today cannot be cut further and thus, they take on more debt to get by.
“What changed in our country?” she asked. “The answer is more simple and maddening than you might think.”
Policy change is where the answer lies, she noted.
“We went from a country that strengthened the middle class to one that bet on its wealthiest citizens and hoped than the benefits would eventually trickle down.”
That story began, she said, with “very deliberate policy changes by our government.”
Warren said rewriting of tax laws including loopholes made it easy for Republicans and a lot of Democrats to say “sorry, there’s no money for this other stuff.”
Another big change she noted was the firing of cops on Wall Street.
And, the system itself is now corrupted to serve the wealthy and powerful, she said, noting that politicians work for donors who support their campaigns.
“The economy is growing, but only for those at the very top,” she said.
But, she added, “there is actually good news in this story.”
Warren said regulations must be made to create a level playing field.
She said working to raise the minimum wage, refinance student loans, expand social security and regulate big banks would aid in this change.
She quoted data stating that if the tax loophole in performance pay was removed, $55 billion would be created over the next 10 years.
But, Warren said, “without government we don’t build a stronger nation.”
And the tools to get there, she listed, are raising your voice, raising your hand to volunteer for change and raising questions before voting.
“Democracy will not survive on its own,” she said. “We need people to participate.”
“They’ve got money and power, but we’ve got voices and votes.”
Sarah Crosby can be reached at scrosby@gazettenet.com.