Elizabeth Warren: The Election Day Convo Everyone Needs

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Elizabeth Warren: The Election Day Convo Everyone Needs"

Released: November 5, 2024
Host: Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, and Amanda Doyle
Guest: Senator Elizabeth Warren

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Introduction to Election Day and Democracy

[01:56] Glennon Doyle
Glennon Doyle opens the conversation by emphasizing the sanctity of Election Day in the American democracy. She underscores the pivotal nature of this election, stating, "this election day is monumental because our democracy stands in the balance."

[02:08] Elizabeth Warren
Senator Warren echoes the importance of voting, highlighting the critical role of women and their allies in shaping the election's outcome:
"Women or friends of women are going to make all the difference in this election... we're going to be the ones who are going to matter here."

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The Housing Crisis: Causes and Solutions

[04:27] Glennon Doyle
Glennon Doyle introduces the topic of America's housing crisis by referencing Dr. Amos Wilson's insight:
"If you want to understand any problem in America, you need to focus not on who suffers from it, but who profits from it."
She directs the discussion towards Senator Warren, who has been at the forefront of addressing housing issues.

[04:43] Elizabeth Warren
Senator Warren delves into the housing shortage, explaining how Wall Street's involvement exacerbates the problem:
"Wall street unfortunately has discovered housing. These investors... are buying up single-family homes all across America, making cash offers, turning them into rental properties."
She criticizes companies like RealPage for engaging in price-fixing, which drives rents upward:
"They start jacking up the rents all across the country... making it harder for families to afford housing."

[10:38] Elizabeth Warren
Warren outlines Kamala Harris's comprehensive plan to tackle the housing crisis:

1. Beat Back Wall Street: Prevent private equity firms from purchasing and converting homes into rentals.
2. Strengthen Regulatory Oversight: Empower the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to combat price-fixing practices.
3. Expand Housing Supply: Commit to building 3 million new housing units to alleviate shortages and reduce prices.
   She emphasizes the economic benefits, citing that independent economists predict a 10% reduction in rents as a result of these measures.

[13:03] Glennon Doyle
Glennon shares a personal anecdote about the challenges of buying a home amidst investment-driven competition, reinforcing Warren's points.

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Fighting for the Middle Class: Taxation and Economic Justice

[15:39] Glennon Doyle
Glennon likens the current economic system to a feudal setup, where the wealthy systems favor the rich:
"Jeff Bezos pays at a lower tax rate than a teacher. These people are not even getting to the place where they're getting fairly."

[30:59] Elizabeth Warren
Warren discusses the necessity of taxing billionaires at the same rate as average Americans to fund critical social programs:
"We can do this by saying that the billionaires have to pay taxes at the same rate as everybody else."
She contrasts this with President Trump's approach, which she argues favors the rich:
"The Trump plan is to let the rich guys get richer... you're just gonna pay them sales taxes, higher taxes for the overwhelming majority of Americans."

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Healthcare: The Affordable Care Act and Prescription Drug Prices

[33:14] Elizabeth Warren
Warren highlights the significance of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in ensuring healthcare accessibility:
"The ACA makes sure everybody can have access to insurance in one form or another... no discrimination against anybody with a preexisting condition."
She warns of the consequences if the ACA is repealed, emphasizing the potential loss of insurance coverage and increased costs for families.

[38:11] Elizabeth Warren
The discussion shifts to prescription drug prices, where Warren praises Kamala Harris's efforts:
"Medicare is now able to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs... reducing out-of-pocket expenses for seniors."
She contrasts this with the Trump administration's stance, which she criticizes for aiming to repeal these protections:
"Trump says he's coming for the Affordable Care Act again... that will mean your family either could lose its insurance altogether or pay a ton more for insurance."

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Investing in Families: Childcare and Family Leave

[27:20] Glennon Doyle
Glennon brings attention to the lackluster investment in childcare and family leave in the U.S.:
"The US ranks an abysmal, really humiliating 35th out of 37 richest countries in terms of our investment in childcare and family leave in proportion to GDP."

[28:04] Elizabeth Warren
Warren elaborates on Kamala Harris's vision for investing in childcare as essential infrastructure:
"We need to invest in childcare. We need to invest in paid family leave so that mamas can stay and daddies can stay home with those babies."
She advocates for equitable funding, funded by taxing the wealthy, to support these vital services.

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Combating Price Gouging: Ensuring Fair Consumer Prices

[48:40] Elizabeth Warren
Warren addresses the issue of price gouging, particularly exacerbated during the pandemic:
"Corporations saw an opportunity to increase their profits by significantly raising prices beyond the actual cost increases from inflation."
She criticizes the lack of regulatory action under the Trump administration and praises Kamala Harris's proactive measures:
"Kamala Harris has a plan to go after these price gougers. We need a law at the federal level to prevent this kind of exploitation."

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Conclusion: The Stakes of the Election

[42:47] Abby Wambach
Abby Wambach poignantly summarizes the election's impact on everyday lives:
"This is Kamala versus Donald. But this is also about two ideas... whether we will say yes, we will be your grounds to make more money... or no, you cannot have our babies, you cannot have our bodies."

[55:38] Elizabeth Warren
Warren closes by reinforcing the importance of voting to protect families and democratic values:
"Today is such an important day for her [Kamala Harris] and for all of our families... Election day, that's exactly what we get to decide."

[56:53] Abby Wambach
Encourages listeners to take action and vote:
"If this podcast means something to you, it would mean so much to us if you'd be willing to take 30 seconds to do these three things... give us a five-star rating and review and share an episode you loved with a friend."

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Notable Quotes

• Elizabeth Warren
  "Housing is right at the heart of middle-class families... it's the single biggest expense that families incur." [05:05]

• Glennon Doyle
  "It's a feudal system." [10:02]

• Abby Wambach
  "This is about our lives and our babies and saying no or surrendering." [53:37]

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Key Takeaways

1. Housing Crisis: The shortage is driven by Wall Street's investment strategies and companies like RealPage, leading to inflated rents and reduced homeownership opportunities for average Americans. Senator Warren supports Kamala Harris's plan to combat these practices and increase housing supply.

2. Economic Inequality: There's a pressing need to tax the wealthy more fairly to fund essential services like childcare, family leave, and healthcare, contrasting sharply with President Trump's policies that favor the rich.

3. Healthcare Protections: The Affordable Care Act plays a crucial role in ensuring healthcare access and affordability. Repealing it would endanger millions of Americans, particularly those with preexisting conditions.

4. Childcare and Family Investment: Investing in childcare and paid family leave is essential for economic security and supporting working families. Kamala Harris's plans aim to address these needs comprehensively.

5. Price Gouging: The pandemic and subsequent economic strain led to rampant price gouging in essential goods. Federal-level legislation is necessary to prevent corporations from exploiting consumers.

6. Call to Action: The election is a pivotal moment to choose policies that support the middle class and protect democratic values against corporate greed and economic inequality.

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Conclusion

This episode brings to light the critical issues facing American families today, focusing on the housing crisis, economic inequality, healthcare, childcare, and price gouging. Senator Elizabeth Warren articulates clear contrasts between the policies of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, urging listeners to vote for candidates who prioritize the well-being of the middle class over the interests of the wealthy elite. The discussion serves as a compelling call to action, emphasizing the tangible impacts of electoral decisions on everyday lives.

Transcript

[Glennon Doyle]

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[Glennon Doyle]

Oh what a joy to be with you and to be on your porch with you.

[Elizabeth Warren]

I'm so glad that you all invited me to do this. I really am. And I'm so glad we're doing this on election day. I'm wearing my get out the vote pink.

[Glennon Doyle]

We're wearing our get out the vote camo.

[Elizabeth Warren]

I saw it.

[Abby Wambach]

If the people at home I saw.

[Glennon Doyle]

The camo pod squad. You are hearing this conversation on election day. Election day is a sacred day to be an American, to have the blessing and duty and right to cast our vote, to have our voice heard in our democracy. And this election day is monumental because our democracy stands in the balance. And on this day, other than you, there is no one else we would rather be with than the one and the only Senator Elizabeth. She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.

[Abby Wambach]

Warren oh.

[Elizabeth Warren]

What a fabulous intro.

[Glennon Doyle]

I feel like that should be your only bio for the rest of it. Just that today we are talking about why if you are Voting solely based on the economy, your personal economy that you feel in your grocery bills, your medical bills, your childcare costs, your rent or mortgage, your care for your aging parents, your student loans. Your vote should be for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because in contrast to Trump's plan, which promises to reduce every billionaire's taxes by three and a half million dollars and increase every family of four's taxes by $2,600, Kamala Harris's plan is for the everyday folks who are just trying to make it from here to the end of the month. Senator Warren has made her life's work serving and protecting the middle class everyday Americans from predatory schemes of billionaires. Senator Warren, thank you for being here. We adore you and we are so grateful for you.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Oh, I love you and I'm so, so glad always to spend time with you. But there really is something special about our doing this on election day.

[Abby Wambach]

That's right.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Because this is the day when we have the power, when we make the decision. And let's just be blunt here, women or friends of women are going to make all the difference in this election. We get ourselves out there and vote, we get our friends out to vote, we're going to be the ones who are going to matter here. So let's dig in.

[Glennon Doyle]

That's right. That's right. Okay, so first of all, Senator Warren, Dr. Amos Wilson said, if you want to understand any problem in America, you need to focus not on who suffers from it, but who profits from it.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Nicely done.

[Glennon Doyle]

Who? Senator Warren is profiting from the crushing costs of rent and mortgages in this country. And what will Kamala Harris do to make being able to afford a home possible for American families?

[Elizabeth Warren]

Oh, so fabulous. I am so glad you started with housing because if we can, let's just lay a little foundation on this.

[Glennon Doyle]

Let's do it.

[Elizabeth Warren]

You know, my work, you've already said all of my life has been about middle class families. Housing is right at the heart of that. The number one way that middle class families build wealth in America is they buy a house and they live in it. Over time, it appreciates and the mortgage does not go up. And that's what steadies them and really gives them opportunity. It's why when you look at the data, the difference between homeowners and non homeowners is enormous. Number one retirement plan in America, Pay off your house, live on your Social Security. Number one way that middle class families leave wealth to the next generation and give them a boost is Grandma and grandpa are lucky enough to be able to stay in that house to the end, or nearly the end, and the house goes to the next generation, or at least the money from it. Okay, so housing is like the whole center. It's the single biggest expense that families incur. Mortgage or rent is the biggest monthly cost they have. So look at the situation we've got with housing right now. And that is there's just not enough. Right. This is Econ 101. The number of human beings living in the United States, number of families is all good. It's been going up over the last 40 years. But the number of housing units, homes, but it could be condos, could be apartments, just hasn't risen at the same level. It's only gone up a tiny little bit. And that gap is what drives prices up. Now what happens in that space is. You said it exactly right. Let's follow the money is that Wall street unfortunately has discovered housing. And so these investors put together a pool of money. And when they put together a pool of money, it's not like you and me putting a pool of money together. We are talking in the hundreds of millions. And they send their agents out and they're buying up single family homes all across America. Making cash offers. Try competing with that. They come in, they're buying up these houses, taking them off the market for purposes of being able to rent. To buy, and they make them into rental housing. Yeah. So, and as if that's not enough to put a squeeze on the housing market, there's a second thing going on. And this is an outfit called Real Page. Now let's do a little law about price fixing. If you and I are selling dishware, we can't get together and say, so what are you charging? Well, this is what I'm charging. How about we both decide to charge 10% more? It's flatly illegal. It's called price fixing in America. It's a big no. And in fact, it's so bad you could actually go to jail for it. So I mean, this is really serious. You can't do this. So you got a lot of landlords in a big city. This outfit called Real Page has come along and said, you all don't have to talk to each other, just everybody talk to me. And then I'll tell you what the rents should be. They get all of this not public information, but private information, like what are you spending and exactly how many square feet are there and what is the condition of the bathrooms? And right. They got all the information and then they start jacking up the rents all across the country. So think about a family that doesn't yet have a home or a family that's hoping to move from that little starter that they started out with. Maybe she had gotten it early on and now she's married and now they have a kid and they want to move to the three bedroom or four bedroom. Think about that family. They're competing when they try to buy. Plus the rent payments are jacked up. Right. For any family that doesn't yet have a home, that's the market you're going into right now. So you want to understand why nobody who doesn't already have a nice big house is getting squeezed by this housing market? There's the answer. And understand everything I've just described. Oh, yeah, it's in San Francisco and New York and Boston, but it's also in Springfield and Akron and, you know, medium sized towns, small towns, towns in the Midwest, towns in the South. It's everywhere. Okay, so what are you going to do about it? Answer from Donald Trump. Not a damn thing.

[Glennon Doyle]

Right.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Let the rich guys get richer. Right. Let those real page guys just continue to help jack up the rent. So if you don't already own a house, good luck to you because you're going to get squeezed on the rent side and never have any money. Yeah.

[Glennon Doyle]

It's a feudal system.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Yeah. That is the message of the Donald Trump approach. And frankly, the Republicans in the Senate go right along with it. Republicans in the House, and that is help run this country to make it work better for those who are already rich. And listen, I'm just telling you, it's election day. If you're already really rich, those are your guys. They're for you. What does Kamala Harris want to do about this? Okay, so Kamala has a great plan on this.

[Glennon Doyle]

Is it a concept of a plan? Senator Warren?

[Abby Wambach]

Is it a concept of a plan?

[Elizabeth Warren]

No, real plan.

[Glennon Doyle]

Oh, good.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Yeah. Not the concept of a plan. So here's her plan. First one is beat back the Wall street boys. So what she wants to do, and we've already got a bill laid out to do this, is to beat back private equity that's coming into your neighborhood and buying up houses and turning them into rental properties so that you don't have a chance to buy a home. So it's to beat those guys back. Second thing Kamala Harris is doing is that she says, I'm going to have an ftc, Federal Trade Commission out there with somebody in charge like Lena Khan. Another tough, strong woman. Lena Khan. She's going after these real page folks that are, one would argue there's evidence that they're price fixing to beat them back. Okay, so that's the second way you get helped. But the third one goes back to that econ 101. We just don't have enough housing. So Kamala's got a plan to build 3 million new housing units across America. This is housing for first time home buyers, housing for apartment renters, housing for people who want to move from the little one to the bigger one, and including even housing for seniors so seniors can get out of those bigger houses and move to something that's more appropriate for them. So the whole idea is we get more housing built and when we do that, those prices come down. Now, for example, just to put some hard numbers behind this, I've been working on this plan for a long time. Independent economists have looked at it and said right off the top, it would lower rents by about 10%. So for people think about that who are trying to save money, it's huge. So you knock out the price fixers, that's going to help on rents and then you build more housing. That's going to help on rents and that's going to help. Look, some people are going to stay renting, that's fine because that's what's right for them. They move it around. That's where they are in their lives. But for some people, renting is just until I can save up the money so I could get into a house. So bringing down those rental costs, big, big deal.

[Glennon Doyle]

Yes.

[Elizabeth Warren]

But most of all, there will be more housing available for you, for your family. More housing of every kind. Housing in big cities, housing in little town, individual homes, condos, all the different ways we think about housing because we need more, more, more.

[Glennon Doyle]

It's such a perfect. I'm sorry, sister, were you going to say something?

[Abby Wambach]

No, I was just going to say that's the first time I've ever understood it. Yeah, and also we just sold a house and the agents told us, well, we have this one offer and then we have this other offer. It's a bunch of guys from a financial place. And I was like, what are you talking about? It's a bunch of guys. But I didn't know that's what it was.

[Elizabeth Warren]

That's what it was. So you're envisioning, wait, five guys are going to move from Wall street to live in our four bedroom house? What exactly is going on here? And the answer is you just look like an investment to them and they're doing this at scale. I mean, understand this. This is not just one off. This is happening everywhere around America. They're changing the whole opportunity to build wealth. Yeah. And this is why I think it's important to. There's so many of us who look to these billionaires as if they know the answers to how to solve life's problems. And when we see some of these CEOs of these private equity firms who are backing Donald Trump, this is the exact reason why not because they believe in him as a person, because they think that they know that if they don't choose the one who's going to make it a 10% plus or a positive, then that would be really bad for their company. So, yeah, no, you got it exactly right. Because what Donald Trump is promising to the rich guys, and by the way he refers to it, he tells them, he says, you are going to be so happy with me. He says this to his, these are his words, rich as hell donors. He said, you're going to be so happy because he's going to cut taxes. That leaves them with more money and not going to regulate. In other words, you guys want to run a scam to do price fixing and squeeze everybody else in America on what they're paying for rent. He's cool with that. Because the rich guys, right, are all going to go around bumping shoulders and making themselves richer and richer and richer. So gross.

[Glennon Doyle]

It's such a good way to start this conversation because when you go make an offer on a house, and I mean, my husband and I did it four or five times before an offer was accepted, you think, oh my gosh, it's me versus another family. It's me versus another person. And it's not in any of these areas. It is you versus the rich, rich people who are being subsidized by this system. Jeff Bezos pays at a lower tax rate than a teacher, a public school teacher. These people are not even getting to the place where they're getting fairly. And this isn't just a plan. I mean, you. I would love for you to talk just a little bit before we move on to the next area of the economy about. You were so critical after the financial crisis in getting justice and changing policy for these families who were cheated and then their houses were foreclosed and then the billionaires got away with it. And you work so closely with Kamala Harris, who worked so damn hard to get those bad guys to pay back the individual families in California for what they did to them. Can you just talk Just give us a little taste of what that was. Because she took some heat even from the other Attorney Generals who were like, just sign it, it's fine. It's good enough.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Yeah. So let me set the stage for you. Remember, what had happened is, again, the Wall street boys had figured out, oh, wait a minute, there are all these people. Remember, they started with people who already own their homes. There are all these people who own their homes and they have a lot of equity in their homes because they paid down their mortgages over the years. They literally sent people around, starting in black neighborhoods, knocked on doors and said, we could refinance your home, give you some money to repair the roof and bring down your monthly payment. What they didn't describe is, and there are going to be all these huge closing costs that are going to be put into it, and at the end, you're going to owe a lot more money than you owe and your payment is down for two years. But at the end of two years, it's going to go through the roof and you're going to lose your house. And that is literally what happened. And there were no laws to stop this. It was all deeply wrong. But perfectly legal was how this started. So this is where I got into the fight and said, look, you can't buy a toaster in America that when you plug it in, has a 1 in 5 chance of burning your house to the ground. We have something called Consumer Product Safety Commission. You can't do that. And yet somebody can get you to sign a mortgage that has a one in five chance of costing you your home. And they don't even have to tell you that much less. I mean, they can do this. So I was arguing we need a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. We need to put a cop on the beat. People thought I was, no, that's never going to happen. Then the crash came, no surprise. And about 6 million people lost their homes. And Congress passed the consumer agency. It's now the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. President Obama asked me to come to Washington and he says, set up the agency. So I'm loving this. I'm in Washington. And the Attorney Generals are now dealing with the fallout from this. So this is 2011. We've just gotten in and they're dealing with all these foreclosures. So the banks cheated people and now they want to be able to foreclose.

[Glennon Doyle]

Against their homes and they want a bailout.

[Elizabeth Warren]

That's right. And they want to bail out. They got their bailout. But let's be clear, they already had Their bailout. They not only wanted their bailout, they still wanted to squeeze families. They still wanted to be able to repossess these homes. So the attorneys general have, around the states, have basically signed off and said, we'll take some money because we think they broke some fraud laws here and there. And here comes this new young attorney General. Kamala Harris has just been elected in California. She and I end up on the phone, and Kamala basically says, hey, they broke the law. They're going to have to pay for it. And the other AG's are saying, oh, we need that money for other things and filling potholes and so on. And Kamala said, no, you guys do what you want to do, but I am going to protect the people of California. Her job. And the bank said, well, then we're not going to do any deal at all. And she stared him down and said, fine, don't do any deal at all. We'll see you in court. Two weeks go by. Nobody answers. The attorneys general are furious with the other guys. Around the country, there are couples supporting him, but basically, she's standing there alone. She's like, you know, a tree out in the middle of the golf course. You know, literally, thunderstorm is going on, and by golly, they caved. And they gave more money around the country, but particularly to California, the people she was responsible for taking care of. And they put a whole lot more money around, $20 billion more into California. And just a little side note, you remember Katie Porter, of course.

[Glennon Doyle]

Yeah.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Katie Porter became the person who was in charge. Kamala put her in charge of watching to make sure the money got spent on behalf of consumers and didn't get sucked up somewhere else into the system. Isn't this a great story? It's the best.

[Glennon Doyle]

It's so good. She had her whiteboard. She was like, I'm making sure this money goes where it should go.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Katie was fab. So that's how I first got to know Kamala. And the two things I took away from that. One is Kamala's top woo. Do not. Do not underestimate that woman. But the second is she is absolutely clear on who she fights for. And when the big banks said, we are giant banks, we have billions of dollars. We are corporate CEOs, she just wasn't very impressed. And she said, yeah, but my job is to watch out for the homeowners of California that you cheated, and you gotta come to the table on this and make that right. And to me, that kind of set the whole table for my knowing Kamala when I then remember I'm setting up the agency. When I decide to run for the Senate, Kamala endorses me right away. When Kamala decides to run for the Senate from ag, I endorsed her right away. We worked together for the period we overlap in the Senate, but I really saw her as someone who is clear on her values. And her values are government needs to work for middle class families. It needs to work for people who are just trying to put it together. From here to the end of the day, it's already doing fine for the billionaires, they'll be okay. And if they have to pay a little more in taxes, you know what, they'll still have enough money to make the grocery bill and rent, you know, they'll be okay. But that families, working people, they need a government on their side. And that's, that's why I'm in this fight for Kamala. That's why today is such an important day for her and for all of our families.

[Glennon Doyle]

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[Elizabeth Warren]

That's right.

[Glennon Doyle]

This is very much reminding me of another quote, which is Jessica Calarco's when she said other countries have social safety nets. The US have women. What does the economy of childcare and family leave look like under a Kamala Harris administration? And what does it look like under a Trump administration?

[Elizabeth Warren]

Okay, under a Trump administration, let's start there. The only plan is to let the private equity, remember private equity that moved in and housing. This will make you feel better. They're moving into childcare.

[Abby Wambach]

Oh Jesus.

[Glennon Doyle]

But I thought that JD Vance said childcare was warfare on normal people.

[Elizabeth Warren]

That's right. That's right.

[Glennon Doyle]

They're gonna let them wage the warfare on.

[Elizabeth Warren]

They're gonna let them wage the war. Okay, that's exactly right. And squeeze more money out of families that need childcare. That's the deal. So that's their childcare plan. Stay at home. And if you go out into that marketplace, it's like with the housing. You're not just competing with other homebuyers. You're actually doing battle with Wall street on some of them. Now, there are still lots of small ones, but that's not the case. But the point is, they're invading the area now and trying to buy them up. Kamala Harris plan is to say, look, we invest together in our children. It's the best investment we can make. What's wrong with you guys? No country becomes a richer country by shortchanging its children. And this is exactly what the United States has done for all this time. So I think of it this way. We invest in infrastructure. Roads, bridges, broadband. Now. Right. Why do we do that? So everybody can participate in the economy. We make those investments. I help pay with my taxes for an interstate highway system, even though I'm not going to probably drive on every mile of it, you know, not even on half of them. But you do that. All of us do, because it makes us all richer, because everybody can now get to work. And that helps us create a more vibrant economy for mamas and daddies who want to go to work. Childcare is infrastructure.

[Abby Wambach]

Yes.

[Elizabeth Warren]

And in the same way we invest in those roads and bridges, we need to invest in childcare. We need to invest in paid family leave so that mamas can stay and daddies can stay home with those babies. And I'm going to hit one more in here because Kamala's pushing on this, and that is many folks are now taking care of an elderly parent, an elderly relative. Also. We need to make it possible to do that. Just a little help, a little respite care. It turns out that a lot of people can keep a beloved parent at home if they could just get 15 or 20 hours of week. Just sometime. Sometime when they can go off and work, sometime when they can go shop, sometimes when they can do the things they need to do. All of that is about investing in us so that we can help make this country a richer country, but also so we can build economic security for ourselves and our families. That's Kamala's plan. And by the way, it's a plan that's fully paid for. We can do this. Oh, drum roll, please. By saying that the billionaires have to pay taxes at the same rate as everybody else.

[Glennon Doyle]

Wait. As much as a schoolteacher, I don't think that's fair, Senator Warren.

[Elizabeth Warren]

But that's the whole point, is that we have choices to make here. And one of the things that happens, it's why I keep going back to the tax stuff, is that we tend to take the taxes all by themselves. And all billionaires get up and they say, oh, but we are the job creators. We did this, we did that. Or you want to take away money from us. I gave to charity. Some of them even go on TV and cry. You know, you remember my beloved mug of billionaire tears. But they make it as, this is all we're talking about. That's all we're going to talk about, is taxes, taxes, taxes. But remember, this is really a choice. As a nation, as a people, as a democracy, we can say, you know what? I really do want to invest in billionaires. I want them to keep every nickel they can squeeze out from the real estate market, from the childcare market. I want them to keep it all. That's one decision. That's Donald Trump. Or you can say, whoa, whoa, I want those guys to pay more in taxes so that we can pay for the investments we need in childcare, in paid family leave, in at home care for seniors, so we can invest in a stronger America, a stronger middle class. That's how we will build real prosperity. And in a democracy, on a day like this, Election day, that's exactly what we get to decide. You want to invest in the billionaires, go for Trump. You want to invest in America's middle class, go for Harris.

[Glennon Doyle]

It's also just not even intellectually honest. I feel like what people hear is lower taxes. And they assume, probably what you would assume is, okay, I will also get those lower taxes. But when they say lower taxes, they say lower taxes. And then they have little tiny print. They say, just for those 14 people. But isn't the Trump plan to totally eliminate the child tax credit? So that goes away. So they're saying lower taxes. Except for y'all.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Except for y'all. That's exactly right. It's lower taxes for the billionaires and it's higher costs and actually higher taxes. You're just gonna pay them differently. You're gonna pay them sales taxes, higher taxes for the overwhelming majority of Americans. It's such a bad deal. That's the part. This really just makes My head explode on this. This is a bad deal. This is a deal that says the rich and powerful get richer and more powerful. And that's not just an abstraction that literally touches your family. Your.

[Glennon Doyle]

Touches your family. Yeah, touches your family. And you talked about elder care and just the costs of caring for our people. And I would love to talk about the economies in our homes, of medical bills, medical insurance, all of that. This is a huge cost to us, for ourselves, for our children, for our parents. Like, can you talk about what that also looks like under both administrations, including the foreboding sense about the Affordable Care act and what that will mean to us on day one?

[Elizabeth Warren]

Okay, so let's do a couple of parts to this. First, let's start with the Affordable Care Act.

[Glennon Doyle]

Great.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Okay. Because this is. Boy, talk about a contrast. Remember that in the four years that he was president, Donald Trump did two things, Three things. He got an extremist Supreme Court that overruled Roe versus Wade. He got tax cuts for billionaires, mostly soaked up by millionaires and billionaires. And he tried and failed by one vote to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. Why would that touch your family? Why would you care? The Affordable Care act does a couple of things that are really important. They make sure, in effect, everybody can have access to insurance in one form or another. Yeah, it costs a lot of money, but everybody gets access. There are federal subsidies. Now, understand there are some states where the state won't permit that to happen, but by and large, that's what the ACA is doing. Second thing the Affordable Care act is doing is it says no discrimination against anybody with a preexisting condition. So anybody who's listening to us, who's ever had a baby that the doctor thought, did he hear a heart flutter or not, who's been told by her doctor that she has a thing that needs to be watched, bang. You are now in preexisting condition world, and especially anybody with diabetes, right? Heart, any kind of thing, even mental cancers, anything cancers you've ever been treated for it. Even if you're years, years past, the Affordable Care act says you cannot be discriminated against. So you just get put in the pool with everybody. Oh, by the way, women of childbearing age, they used to discriminate against women of childbearing age because you might have a baby, and that costs money, right?

[Glennon Doyle]

Senator, can you say what you mean when you say discriminate against? What does that actually mean?

[Elizabeth Warren]

Charge you more money, Right.

[Glennon Doyle]

Or deny you altogether?

[Elizabeth Warren]

Or deny you altogether? Or just say you know what, ladies? Not you people who've had any diagnosis of cancer, not you people with diabetes, get out of here. That's the law. If we don't have the Affordable Care act, and so right now we have the Affordable Care Act. So everybody gets in the insurance pool, the cost gets spread. That's where we are today. Donald Trump has said he's coming for the Affordable Care act again. And just in case you missed it, the speaker of the House right now, the Republican in charge says, oh, yeah, we can get the votes lined up right now so that this time we're going to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. If that happens, that will mean your family either could lose its insurance altogether or pay a ton more for insurance or have insurance that says, oh, yeah, you've got insurance, but you know, if you're doing any of those things like having babies, forget it. We're going to exclude you. If you have to have treatment for cancer, we're going to exclude you on that. And they will be permitted to do that. That's the Trump plan, the Harris plan, and the Democrats is to say, no, we're keeping the Affordable Care Act. That's the base level that we want to do. And in fact, we want to put more into it to help bring down premium costs for people. But there's a second issue on the table, and that's the one about paying for prescription drugs.

[Glennon Doyle]

Yes.

[Elizabeth Warren]

So let's talk about that one for just a sec, because again, the contrast is terrific. You've seen this. The cost of drugs is just crazy. It's just out of control. And even if you have insurance, it's nuts because they're doing such high co pays on it because the prices are so high. Donald Trump Republicans say, yeah, so where's the problem? Because after all, the bazillionaire companies are making a lot of money out of this. Do you know there are actually, they identify how many drugs today make at least a billion dollars in sales. And they just had this long list of drugs. Those are known as blockbuster drugs. Okay, and who's paying for that? You're paying for that, Right? Okay. So the Donald Trump view on this is just let them do whatever they want to do. What Harris is saying on this is, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait just a minute. First of all, we need to bring down the cost of the prescription drugs. And we've already got some of these in place. Medicare is now able to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs. First 10 came in this year, another 10 next year. Then it goes to 15, 15. Then it goes to 2020 until we get it all done. So we're kind of on the very first part of the slope to start negotiating the price on prescription drugs. Why does this matter to you? It matters to you because now it's pressure on the drug companies to start bringing these prices down. It also matters to you because now for seniors, and this is your mom, mom and dad, they don't have to pay more than $2,000 out of pocket in an entire year. No matter how much they spend on drugs, including heart medications and blood pressure medications and cancer medications, they won't have to do that. In other words, reducing costs. Reducing costs, Reducing costs down at the family level. That's the key part of what Harris wants to do. What Trump says is he will repeal that, he will get rid of that. That particular provision that I'm talking about on negotiating drug prices is something the Democrats passed when Joe Biden's in the White House and we had Democratic control of the House and the Senate. So we passed that in 2022. That's why it's just now coming into effect. And Trump just says, we're getting rid of that. We don't want to do that anymore. So your parents will go back to paying whatever they pay and the drug companies will go back to charging whatever they want to charge. And that's going to be a real smack in the face to a lot of middle class families. So there's another difference. On the healthcare front, there are other tools. Another one's called March in rights that the FDA can use, Health and Human Services can use. If a drug is there's not enough competition and the prices are too high. The federal government helped pay to produce that drug. We pay a lot of this research. We come in and say, look, either lower the price or the federal government's going to put out a contract to manufacture this stuff and sell it more like a generic. So there are other tools. Trump, you don't want to use those tools because they will cost the billionaires money. And the billionaires know that. That's why they're signed up. That's why they're out there saying take another $100 million in this election cycle. But Harris says she's going to use those tools. She started using them already. And we're going to use it to help bring down the costs on prescription.

[Glennon Doyle]

Drugs and to put like a very concrete number on this. These are the same policies that Dems took insulin prices where people were paying hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars a Month. Some people going without insulin and dying because of it. Capping that at $35.

[Abby Wambach]

Proof it works.

[Elizabeth Warren]

That's exactly right.

[Abby Wambach]

Proof it's proof it works.

[Glennon Doyle]

It's beautiful. And also, if you're home and you're in our generation like this, where you're thinking about all these things, taking care of your parents, taking care of kids are getting older. The Affordable Care act is the act that allows your children, when they graduate from college, when they go out into the world, to stay on your insurance until they're 26.

[Abby Wambach]

Yes.

[Glennon Doyle]

The prior world, that wasn't the case. They could not stay on your insurance as adults. Like, this is what is allowing you all to launch your kids into the world in a very difficult time, to be launched into the world.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Boy, you hit that one right. The importance of that little piece of the safety net that our kids stay on mom's insurance policy all the way until they're 26 is huge. This is when people are just getting started. Right. This is when you're out there. This is when getting a job may be a little bumpy or you decide it's taking a little longer to make it on through school or you want to try to go back to school. This is when that bit of protection is powerfully important. And without the Affordable Care act, it's just gone. And those kids are out there flying without a net. So God forbid they get sick. God forbid they're in an accident. God forbid something goes wrong and that kid's life is destroyed financially. Even if they can heal physically, it is destroyed financially before it ever starts. Yep. So this is why we've got to hang on to the Affordable Care Act. You know, I just got to say, on health care alone, that's a reason to get out and vote.

[Abby Wambach]

Yes.

[Elizabeth Warren]

That one alone just all by itself is a reason to say, I am voting on behalf of my family. I'm voting on behalf of taking care of the people I love. My children, my elderly parents. I care. And that's why I'm going to the polls. And for people who've already gone to the polls, reminding everyone, today is the day you can volunteer. You go down to the local Democratic office and say, hey, do you need somebody to help drive folks to the polls? Do you need somebody to sit here on the phone and run through the lists and make sure that Mrs. Jones and Mr. Adams have actually gone ahead and voted and they have a planned vote by the end of the day? Do you need somebody to go pick up pizzas so the other volunteers can stay here and keep working. So it's about voting, but it's also about give that extra 10%. Today is a special day in history. We don't get these opportunities that often. And let's face it, a lot of times the elections are not going to be that close. They're not. It's not going to be that tight. But this time it is. And what's on the line this time is not an abstraction. It's whether or not your kids will be covered by insurance. It's whether or not you're actually going to have a chance to buy a house or to move to a little bigger house to have a housing market where your neighbors are also people who are buying homes instead of stuck in the cycle of renting because some Wall street boys figured out they could squeeze a profit out of it. Those economic the playing field on which you will be running for the next many, many years will be decided in this election today.

[Glennon Doyle]

My sister is going to be so jealous when she realizes that I am telling you about maybe her favorite holiday tradition ever. And this is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's right around the corner, y'all. This is something that Glennon is absolutely obsessed with. Some families are turkey trotters. She's a couch parader. Okay? This is what she does every year. She makes everyone in the house watch it all the way through and is maybe the delight of her life because it is the official kickoff to the entire holiday season in her heart. So join Glennon on your couch from wherever you are to tune in to Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade all morning long. Tune in to Macy's 96th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade from New York City, airing live on NBC and streaming on Peacock 8:30am to 12 noon in all time zones. Learn more at Macy's.com parade Missouri is so awesome because it has fine jewelry, like really nice stuff and the quality is consistently excellent. What I love about it is the range. The range is wild all the way up to like diamond tennis necklaces for many thousands of dollars. So there is something in between for everyone who you're looking to buy gifts for or for yourself. What I'm very into at the moment is Mejori's Duet rings and huggy hoop earrings. It's called Duet because they have silver and gold both in them and it's so fun because I can wear my pieces that have a lot of sentimental value to me, like my gold necklace and my silver bracelet. And the Duet brings it all together like they're having A lovely little conversation and no one is left out. So start stacking your own favorites. Head over to Missouri.com or visit a store near you. Senator Warren, can we just hit one last piece of the economy? And that is the very basic. I am bringing food into my house. Oh, the cheese used to be $3 and the cheese is $14. Like along this theme of the people, this mysterious group of billionaires who is profiting from this. Tell us what is happening with the price gouging. Tell us what Kamala Harris will do about that. Because cheese isn't $14.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Okay, so what's gone wrong here? How did this happen? Let's go back to the pandemic. Okay, before the pandemic, you know, we watched prices increase and sometimes you roll your eyes in the grocery store, but it was pretty steady, about 2%. And wages were keeping up at about the same level. So everything's going along pretty steady. Then the pandemic hits and prices go up. Why do they go up? Well, supply chains get really cranky and shipping gets really, really hard all at once. And by the way, right in the heart of this, Russia invades Ukraine. And so access to basic grains and some of the things that go into our food products get tangled up. Okay, so big tangle. Prices go up over a two year period. Prices go up about 14%, which, whoa, they've been going up at 2% a year. So that's, that's a pretty big deal. Corporations look around and say, hmm, everybody's talking about price increases. This is an opportunity for us to increase our prices, not just to pass along that 14% over two years, but this is a chance for us to really boost our profits. So instead of raising prices a little bit, let's raise them a whole bunch. Let's just lard it on. And when anybody asks us what happens, whoa. It was inflation, right? How do we know that's what they did? I mean, how do we now look at the numbers? 2 year period, 14% increase inflation, 75% increase in corporate profits. And where did it occur the most? It occurred everywhere where there's not much competition. So it occurred in eggs, it occurred in cheese, it occurred in grocery stores themselves. Because even though you may think there are several grocery stores, they're all owned by one conglomerate. They're basically just a couple of conglomerates out there running through the names of these grocery stores. So the companies figured out, and they did, they got rich over this. And by the way, you don't even have to take my word for it. Every quarter these corporate CEOs have to go on what's called an earnings call. And they actually have to say, here's what happened in the last quarter, here's the outlook for our business. And if they don't, by the way, it's a violation of laws. If they don't tell the truth, they can actually get in trouble for it. These corporate CEOs went on these earnings calls and brag. They said, inflation has been really good to us because it has given us cover to get out there and juice our prices far more than passing along the cost increases that we have from inflation. And people say to me, sometimes you'll hear on, like, these business channels, oh, you just think corporations all of a sudden got greedy. And I say, no, I think they've always been greedy. What? They saw an opportunity. That's exactly right. And they seized that opportunity. And here's the best part. Once one company seized it, others looked over and said, oh, me too. And that's what's pushed prices up. Okay, so what can you do about it? Answer Donald Trump. Nothing. Nope. Zip. Got nothing to say about price gouging. Kamala Harris says, I'm going after the price gougers. She did it as an attorney general. I met her on housing, but by the way, she used the California price gouging laws. 37 states have price gouging laws in America. Red states and blue states. Texas uses them, Florida uses them to say on prices. But they can only do it on local stores.

[Glennon Doyle]

Right.

[Elizabeth Warren]

So what we need now is we need a law at the federal level that says we're going to go after these price gougers. It's one thing to pass along costs. Everybody understands it. I understand how cheese might go from $3 to three and a quarter. 3.3 30. Okay, that'd be 10%, right. $3.45. But it's not $14. Right. That's. That's where we're just going to say, you don't get to do this, guys. So Kamala Harris, A, has a plan, Trump does not, but B, has the courage to back it up. And this goes back to my stories about having known her for 14 years. She stood up on housing. She stood up on price gouging. She says, I'm not running to be president. To be president to help the billionaires. I'm running to be president to help your family.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah.

[Glennon Doyle]

For the people.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Yep.

[Glennon Doyle]

Yep.

[Abby Wambach]

I just want to say that this interview with you has clarified for me, and I want the pod squad to hear that this is about two ideas. Okay, this is Kamala versus Donald. But this is also about two ideas. And when you feel viscerally the idea of a bunch of rich men reaching in to make decisions about your body, that's what we're talking about here. It's also those rich men making decisions about your grocery cart, those rich men making decisions about your babies. Those rich men making decisions about the medicine that your family needs. This is about whether we will say yes, we will be your grounds to make more money. When Tim Walz says, mind your own business. Hear that? We are their business. Our lives are their business. They are harvesting our lives and our bodies and our babies and our food and our medicine. And this election is about whether we will say, no, you cannot have our babies, you cannot have our bodies, you cannot have our food, you cannot have our medicine. No or yes, we surrender to you, billionaires. We surrender to you or we will not. And so if you are sitting at home and you are thinking you do not make a difference, go to the polls and say, no, you cannot have our babies. No, you cannot have our bodies. So that you can look at yourself in the mirror tomorrow. And if you are someone who is sitting at home and has already voted and you are so scared and nervous, please use that energy. Do not sit in front of the TV and watch. Go, go listen to Elizabeth Warren. Go to the headquarters. Say, use me. Use this energy. Because the opposite of despair is connection. Go get connected. Get activated. Do not sit home tonight. This is about our lives and our babies and saying no or surrendering.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Wow, that's perfect. Senator Warren, thank you for just all of your service. Yeah, all of it. And thank you because this is service. You're watering democracy right now so it has a chance to grow and to nourish us all. So thank you for all you do.

[Glennon Doyle]

I know this is about the country and about service, but we would be remiss to not say that we had the honor of sitting in that glorious auditorium at the DNC and watching you get up. And as soon as you stood up, you could feel the nation's gratitude, women's gratitude, for you standing up like that tree for us for so many years, unmoving in that storm. And you have been doing it for so long. And we are better for it. We are smarter for it. We persist because of it. So thank you very much.

[Elizabeth Warren]

I love you.

[Glennon Doyle]

We love you so much. We're so grateful for you. Thank you.

[Elizabeth Warren]

Thank you.

[Abby Wambach]

Okay, pot squad, go. Go vote. If this podcast means something to you, it would mean so much to us if you'd be willing to take 30 seconds to do these three things. First, can you please follow or subscribe to We Can Do Hard Things? Following the POD helps you because you'll never miss an episode, and it helps us because you'll never miss an episode. To do this, just go to the We Can Do Hard Things show page on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Odyssey, or wherever you listen to podcasts and then just tap the plus sign in the upper right hand corner or click on Follow. This is the most important thing for the pod. While you're there, if you'd be willing to give us a five star rating and review and share an episode you loved with a friend, we would be so grateful. We appreciate you very much. We Can Do Hard Things is created and hosted by Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, and Amanda Doyle in partnership with Odyssey. Our Executive producer is Jenna Wise Berman and the show is produced by Lauren Legrasso, Alison Schott, Dena Kleiner, and Bill Schultz.