SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a new ad Wednesday attacking billionaires for their objections to her proposed wealth tax. (Photo: @ewarren/Twitter)
'OK, Billionaire': Warren Campaign Shrugs Off Mega-Rich Investor Who Called 2020 Candidate 'Disgraceful'
"Some billionaires don't like my Two-Cent Wealth Tax? I'm shocked."
Nov 13, 2019
Sen. Elizabeth Warren was unfazed by billionaire investor Leon Cooperman's objection to her latest ad promoting her proposed wealth tax in which the 2020 Democratic candidate ridiculed Cooperman's and other wealthy public figures' disapproval of the plan.
In a CNBC interview Wednesday, Cooperman called Warren "disgraceful" and accused the Massachusetts Democrat of trying to "demonize wealthy people because there are more poor people than wealthy people."
Warren's campaign team offered a succinct response on Twitter:
Warren struck a similarly sarcastic tone when she posted the ad on Twitter earlier in the day.
"Some billionaires don't like my Two-Cent Wealth Tax? I'm shocked," the Massachusetts Democrat wrote.
Watch the ad:
The video features several corporate CEOs, investors, and powerful political donors who have taken pains in recent weeks to paint Warren's plan as unjust. Under the senator's proposal, households with over $50 million in assets would pay an annual 2% tax on every dollar above $50 million--a tax Warren says would pay for universal childcare, universal pre-K, student debt cancellation, and other programs.
As Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein says in the ad, "She probably thinks more of cataclysmic change to the economic system as opposed to tinkering"--a statement Warren has made clear she would agree with, with her calls for "big structural change" throughout her campaign.
In the video, Warren accompanies comments from Blankfein, investor Leon Cooperman, and other billionaires with on-screen text showing some of their notable financial activities. Cooperman was "charged with insider trading," while Blankfein "earned $70 million during the financial crash."
The senator also explains the reasoning behind the tax in the video.
"Here's the deal: you hold a great fortune, good for you," she is seen telling an audience at a rally. "I guarantee you built it at least in part using workers all of us helped pay to educate, getting to your goods to market on roads all of us helped pay to build."
"We're Americans--we want to make these investments," she adds. "All we're saying is when you make it big, pitch in two cents so everybody else gets a chance, too."
Also on Wednesday, Warren introduced a new addition to the merchandise available on her campaign website: A mug labeled "Billionaire Tears."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren was unfazed by billionaire investor Leon Cooperman's objection to her latest ad promoting her proposed wealth tax in which the 2020 Democratic candidate ridiculed Cooperman's and other wealthy public figures' disapproval of the plan.
In a CNBC interview Wednesday, Cooperman called Warren "disgraceful" and accused the Massachusetts Democrat of trying to "demonize wealthy people because there are more poor people than wealthy people."
Warren's campaign team offered a succinct response on Twitter:
Warren struck a similarly sarcastic tone when she posted the ad on Twitter earlier in the day.
"Some billionaires don't like my Two-Cent Wealth Tax? I'm shocked," the Massachusetts Democrat wrote.
Watch the ad:
The video features several corporate CEOs, investors, and powerful political donors who have taken pains in recent weeks to paint Warren's plan as unjust. Under the senator's proposal, households with over $50 million in assets would pay an annual 2% tax on every dollar above $50 million--a tax Warren says would pay for universal childcare, universal pre-K, student debt cancellation, and other programs.
As Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein says in the ad, "She probably thinks more of cataclysmic change to the economic system as opposed to tinkering"--a statement Warren has made clear she would agree with, with her calls for "big structural change" throughout her campaign.
In the video, Warren accompanies comments from Blankfein, investor Leon Cooperman, and other billionaires with on-screen text showing some of their notable financial activities. Cooperman was "charged with insider trading," while Blankfein "earned $70 million during the financial crash."
The senator also explains the reasoning behind the tax in the video.
"Here's the deal: you hold a great fortune, good for you," she is seen telling an audience at a rally. "I guarantee you built it at least in part using workers all of us helped pay to educate, getting to your goods to market on roads all of us helped pay to build."
"We're Americans--we want to make these investments," she adds. "All we're saying is when you make it big, pitch in two cents so everybody else gets a chance, too."
Also on Wednesday, Warren introduced a new addition to the merchandise available on her campaign website: A mug labeled "Billionaire Tears."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren was unfazed by billionaire investor Leon Cooperman's objection to her latest ad promoting her proposed wealth tax in which the 2020 Democratic candidate ridiculed Cooperman's and other wealthy public figures' disapproval of the plan.
In a CNBC interview Wednesday, Cooperman called Warren "disgraceful" and accused the Massachusetts Democrat of trying to "demonize wealthy people because there are more poor people than wealthy people."
Warren's campaign team offered a succinct response on Twitter:
Warren struck a similarly sarcastic tone when she posted the ad on Twitter earlier in the day.
"Some billionaires don't like my Two-Cent Wealth Tax? I'm shocked," the Massachusetts Democrat wrote.
Watch the ad:
The video features several corporate CEOs, investors, and powerful political donors who have taken pains in recent weeks to paint Warren's plan as unjust. Under the senator's proposal, households with over $50 million in assets would pay an annual 2% tax on every dollar above $50 million--a tax Warren says would pay for universal childcare, universal pre-K, student debt cancellation, and other programs.
As Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein says in the ad, "She probably thinks more of cataclysmic change to the economic system as opposed to tinkering"--a statement Warren has made clear she would agree with, with her calls for "big structural change" throughout her campaign.
In the video, Warren accompanies comments from Blankfein, investor Leon Cooperman, and other billionaires with on-screen text showing some of their notable financial activities. Cooperman was "charged with insider trading," while Blankfein "earned $70 million during the financial crash."
The senator also explains the reasoning behind the tax in the video.
"Here's the deal: you hold a great fortune, good for you," she is seen telling an audience at a rally. "I guarantee you built it at least in part using workers all of us helped pay to educate, getting to your goods to market on roads all of us helped pay to build."
"We're Americans--we want to make these investments," she adds. "All we're saying is when you make it big, pitch in two cents so everybody else gets a chance, too."
Also on Wednesday, Warren introduced a new addition to the merchandise available on her campaign website: A mug labeled "Billionaire Tears."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.