Resistance in the new political universe created by Trump cannot succeed if those who speak for working people continue down the discredited path of the Clintons, Obama, Schumer and others associated with the elites of the financial and academic worlds. All the talk about Trump being a Russian puppet or a racist misogynist will not win back the vast numbers of white working people who made him president under the archaic electoral college rules. And who form majorities in the gerrymandered congressional districts created by the the Republicans.
But here’s the thing They are hurting badly and desperate to believe someone can save them from their misery. And so far only Trump has offered that. But that does not men that a real and very clear attack from the Left will not win their votes away from trump and his cabal of wealthy elitists.
Last week Forbes magazine reported that 63% of the American people could not meet an unexpected $500 expense. They simply do not have even five hundred bucks cash. This reality cuts across all racial and ideological lines. After generations of union busting and neoliberal policies, people are broke. And nothing Trump does will change that. But he has shown us the power of identifying enemies of working people and attacking them. Of course, rich people like him are always the real enemies but that needs to be made clear to working people. And there is no place better to start than with the bastards who are dunning ordinary people when they cannot pay the debts they have to take on in circumstances like the present.
The Sanders movement was a fair start for a new attack from the Left but did not get close enough to what really oppresses working people in the US - the credit and loan industry. From payday and title loans to exorbitant credit card interest rates, the majority of working people and families are under terrible pressure. With over 60% of workers unable to meet any unexpected expense, they are driven back again and again to the loan sharks. And that is what all those who loan money at exorbitant rates, whether they are Capital One master cards or the grungy payday loan shop on the corner, must be called.
Add to this student loans which under Obama’s “reforms” became ineligible for bankruptcy relief, not to mention back taxes, and people are being squeezed mercilessly even by their own government. And medical bills, already criminally high, will become unbearable when Trump’s gang repeals the ACA. All of this misery is topped off by collection agencies which hound people relentlessly. This is the reality of working people's lives, as it was of mine when I was younger, and this is where a resurgent Left should direct its fire.
Here is what a real working class party should demand - three simple points that even the most low information Trump voter will understand and applaud:
1- Liberalize bankruptcy laws back to the old standard of eligibility: Simply owing more than you have in assets means you can declare bankruptcy. This will make at least 70% of workers able to declare bankruptcy immediately and will provide needed discipline on the loan sharks. If they know they will lose money, they will stop loaning it to people who can't pay it back. And this must also apply to back taxes and federally backed loans. If this wrecks the banks or even the federal budget, too fucking bad as our role model Trump might say.
2- Pass a federal law that negative information, such as unpaid bills or bankruptcies, must be removed from credit ratings annually. This will give working people a clean start every year. The loan sharks will scream but as our role model Trump might say...
3- Pass a federal law banning the practice of selling debt to collection agencies. Period. If, for example, a hospital overcharges a working family and they cannot pay, that hospital or doctor will not be able to pass that debt on to a collection agency. They will have to accept what people can pay, even if it is five dollars a month and this way they will learn to stop gouging ordinary people.
These three points wil be called wildly irresponsible by “responsible” economists, bankers and politicians but Trump has redefined the very meaning of the word. He has shown all of us that the way to win is to identify the enemies of the workers and attack without mercy, consequences be damned.
