Elizabeth Warren: Not Who You Think

Before you buy into the notion that Elizabeth Warren — and, for that matter, young Alexandria Ocasio-Cortzez — are unhinged lefties, here are a couple of things you may not have known.

Elizabeth Warren was a moderate Republican until her forties.  “”I was a Republican because I thought that those were the people who best supported markets. I think that is not true anymore,” she explains.

A young hedge-funder who just maxed out to her campaign tells me that “everything she’s advocating for is about protecting and promoting capitalism, in which she ardently believes.  It’s just that something has gotten very messed up over the past few decades and it’s led to markets not functioning in ways that promote the public interest.  For example, read Jonathan Tepper’s new book The Myth of Capitalism for its description of the collapse of antitrust enforcement.  Antitrust enforcement is not at odds with free markets; it’s necessary for free markets to function. Without it, capitalism will become untenable over time and you’ll end up with public demand for straight-up socialists. Warren has been an advocate for a capitalism that works for her whole career. Watch this excellent documentary in which she and the great right-wing personal finance radio personality Dave Ramsey address the ways in which a perversion of markets is hurting people.  The idea that promoting capitalism requires no price be paid by companies like Wells Fargo or the for-profit colleges is nuts.  Her proposals are about promoting a return to the institutions of capitalism that led to the greatest period of widespread prosperity in global history. For instance, her proposal that workers have minority representation on corporate boards is about promoting the traditional role of public company boards. Contra what Paul Singer et al would like the public to think, corporate boards are not supposed to represent exclusively the interests of shareholders. This belief has led to the rise of predatory capitalism that hurts everyone, including, in the end, the shareholders. See Lynn Stout’s The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations, and the Public.  In short, Warren is the only candidate who has devoted her entire career to fighting for the most important issue in America: free markets that work.”

Tomorrow: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.