Senator Warren releases her list of mandatory conditions for any kind of corporate bailout

Senator Elizabeth Warren may have abandoned her campaign for the Democratic nomination for president, but she’s demonstrating what a huge mistake the party made in not keeping her a front runner in the race by her fierce response to the coronavirus pandemic hitting our country and to the accompanying economic collapse following in its wake.

The woman who campaigned by developing plans for just about every conceivable ill that faces our society wasted no time in developing a platform of principles that she feels should govern the federal response to the financial ills brought on by the COVID-19 virus and that would help avoid the mistakes made in the government bailouts of the last economic meltdown due to Republican incompetency.

Senator Warren took to Twitter to publish her guidelines to prevent the government’s coronavirus response from helping maintain the same sort of income inequality that bailed out large financial institutions the last time around while failing to assist struggling homeowners from defaulting on their mortgages — resulting in a record number of foreclosures followed by the quick snapping up of suddenly empty homes at fire-sale prices by investors whose net worth still allowed them to spend their wealth on obvious bargains.

The Massachusetts Senator displayed her expertise as a Harvard professor specializing in bankruptcy law with her list of suggested mandated requirements for any companies seeking federal relief from the economic downturn in their businesses.

Trump fired America’s pandemic response team. Demand he reassemble it to confront the coronavirus pandemic immediately!

Using federal dollars to save your business while laying off employees to maintain profit margins would be prohibited under Warren’s plan.

Two more sensible steps that can help bring the nation back from this financial setback more quickly while benefiting the largest number of people, reducing the income inequality that has been growing since the 1980s and eliminating the tactic used by many large companies after the Republican billionaire tax cut to drive up the prices of shares that form a good proportion of senior executives compensation while doing little to help the average employee.

Warren sees federal assistance programs for corporations as not just a one-way street but as an opportunity to impose the same sorts of rules and restrictions that lenders often force borrowers to agree to before they will issue a loan.

No weaseling out of union contracts because of the change in economic circumstances for corporations under Warren’s plan, and no self-serving political contributions unless all the company’s stakeholders agree to their value.

Personal accountability for CEOs and an enforcement mechanism with real teeth are the last two items on Senator Warren’s well-thought-out checklist.

As Trump dithers and blathers and focuses on the needs of his billionaire buddies in the airline and hotel industries, here we have a woman who is ready with a plan that anticipates potential future problems and is ready to lead the charge to see that the recovery is done right — benefiting all Americans equally, rather than being a new profit center for the already wealthy.

With the coronavirus pandemic upending the primaries and with the Democratic nomination still to be determined, it’s not too late for grassroots Democrats to push for Warren as the compromise candidate for president who can bridge the gap between  Senator Bernie Sanders’ progressive supporters and the moderate wing of the party that has coalesced around former Vice President Joe Biden.

If that seems unrealistic at this point, then her quick action to jump into the fray to help shape the Democratic proposals to fight against the disastrous economic effects of the pandemic surely should catapult Warren to the top of the list of Vice Presidential candidates for both Biden or Sanders if either of them claims the top spot on the ticket.

Meanwhile let’s hope that all of our 70-plus-year-old contenders for the Democratic nomination are washing their hands frequently, practicing social distancing, and working from home while communicating via teleconference so that we have all the brainpower we need to bounce back from the two major catastrophes that have hit our nation simultaneously — the COVID-19 outbreak and the Trump presidency.

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Vinnie Longobardo

is the Managing Editor of Washington Press and a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile, & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.