Gillibrand proposes “a public option for banking”

[Mr. Morden]

Presumably this’ll feature in her presidential campaign:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kirsten-gillibrand-postal-banking-bill_us_5ae07f9fe4b07be4d4c6feae

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[Dr. Arch]

I think Bernie proposed this too.

[WestVegeta]

Oh man, giving loans to people who won't be able to repay them. When has that ever gone wrong?

[MAINEiac4434]

I think Bernie proposed this too.

Yes, he did.

Still an FF move.

[henster]

I think there is going to be a serious opening for a moderate Dem (like Bullock if he wants it) because it seems like everyone is racing to snatch up Bernie's base and forgetting everyone else.

[McGovernForPrez]

This is the type of innovative policy proposal that I'd like to see more from Democratic candidates. Payday loans are an indictment against our country and this is good step towards ending them.

[Politician]

This is the type of innovative policy proposal that I'd like to see more from Democratic candidates. Payday loans are an indictment against our country and this is good step towards ending them.

Excellent to see Gillibrand is really a progressive and not a phony now.

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

This sort of idea is a good one in principle - payday lenders all too often prey on desperate people without the means to repay debts and those debts then spiral out of control - and replacing payday lenders with a more reasonable means for lending is a good idea in theory.

But then you get to practice and realize that the exorbitant interest rates that one sees at payday lending establishments are market rate for individuals with such a high default rate.

So, how would these proposed establishments set interest rates? And if a patron defaults, is the US government going to initiate default procedures against a citizen and voter? If not, does it subcontract to a private entity, which then just replaces the awfulness of a payday lender?

I can definitely get on board with offering banking products like checking and savings accounts that are often difficult to obtain for those on the lower economic spectrum (all too often, people are forced into being paid by those awful payday debit cards with monthly "maintenance" fees that eat into their already low earnings and replacing these products is an admirable public policy goal).

But short term loans? It makes me a lot more nervous without specifics.

[publicunofficial]

Gillibrand is pretty much solidified her slot as my #2 choice behind Sanders.

I think there is going to be a serious opening for a moderate Dem (like Bullock if he wants it) because it seems like everyone is racing to snatch up Bernie's base and forgetting everyone else.

You. Don't. Matter. Any. More.

All moderates should learn this therapeutic mantra.

[foxh8er]

This is a very Warren-esque idea (she did champion it!) but I'm glad to see it's getting more mainstream support.

Again, it's one of the reasons why I think Warren is underrated.

[Pyro]

I think there is going to be a serious opening for a moderate Dem (like Bullock if he wants it) because it seems like everyone is racing to snatch up Bernie's base and forgetting everyone else.

Haven't we learned that regardless of this or that Democratic candidate's campaign promises, they will more than likely govern as a moderate if elected? Gillibrand may propose sensible programs at this point in her (granted, potential) candidacy, but should she win and be seated in the Oval, we are most certainly in for two years of moderated, halfhearted measures (in the name of across-the-aisle compromise) in order to appease the doner class.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

Gillibrand is pretty much solidified her slot as my #2 choice behind Sanders.

I think there is going to be a serious opening for a moderate Dem (like Bullock if he wants it) because it seems like everyone is racing to snatch up Bernie's base and forgetting everyone else.

You. Don't. Matter. Any. More.

All moderates should learn this therapeutic mantra.

Hiral Tipinerni, Conor Lamb, Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Donnelly, Claire Mccaskill, Colin Peterson, Phil Bredesen etc. all far outperform the socialist activists, who tend to flop when they actually run.

If Beto wins in TX (or literally any other leftwinger ever in any remotely hard district), you might have a claim to fame. But so far the amount of socialists who have actually won is very small, whereas people like Lamb, Tipi, Manchin, etc. wayyy overperform compared to leftwingers.

[UncleSam]

Why would someone ever repay such a loan. Absolutely preposterous.

I don’t mind providing some basic checking services, but I’d much rather force banks that are already set up to have that capability do it themselves - it would cost a lot less than having the government set up infrastructure to track this. The government already does pretty poorly when it comes to tracking things that aren’t packages or taxes anyway.

[Wisconsin SC Race 2019]

Definitely much more progressive than I though. Freedom Woman for now.

[Dr. Arch]

Gillibrand may be a good candidate for 2020. Need to see/hear more.

[Lord Admirale]

Gillibrand is pretty much solidified her slot as my #2 choice behind Sanders.

I think there is going to be a serious opening for a moderate Dem (like Bullock if he wants it) because it seems like everyone is racing to snatch up Bernie's base and forgetting everyone else.

You. Don't. Matter. Any. More.

All moderates should learn this therapeutic mantra.

If Beto wins in TX (or literally any other leftwinger ever in any remotely hard district), you might have a claim to fame. But so far the amount of socialists who have actually won is very small, whereas people like Lamb, Tipi, Manchin, etc. wayyy overperform compared to leftwingers.

Even here, "evil centrist" Phil Bredesen stands a better chance at winning 2018 than Beto.

[Kleine Scheiße]

Gillibrand is pretty much solidified her slot as my #2 choice behind Sanders.

I think there is going to be a serious opening for a moderate Dem (like Bullock if he wants it) because it seems like everyone is racing to snatch up Bernie's base and forgetting everyone else.

You. Don't. Matter. Any. More.

All moderates should learn this therapeutic mantra.

why are you endorsing sinema for az-sen, then

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

This is absurd. Gillibrand just lost my support in 2020

[WritOfCertiorari]

Not a horrible idea... but payday loan interest is high for a reason. The government would have to prepare for large defaults and will need to find a way to collect debts in a more reasonable way... because the idea of the government selling its loans to a private collections company is one of the most sinister possible outcomes of this policy.

[Sadader]

I think there is going to be a serious opening for a moderate Dem (like Bullock if he wants it) because it seems like everyone is racing to snatch up Bernie's base and forgetting everyone else.

Yeah, I also doubt that the party has moved as far left as the candidates think. It’s odd how much they all seem to parrot each other. There’s probably more gain by establishing a distinct (moderate) identity.

[YE]

I think there is going to be a serious opening for a moderate Dem (like Bullock if he wants it) because it seems like everyone is racing to snatch up Bernie's base and forgetting everyone else.

Yeah, I also doubt that the party has moved as far left as the candidates think. It’s odd how much they all seem to parrot each other. There’s probably more gain by establishing a distinct (moderate) identity.

Bernie Sanders tend to attack candidates in a very ideologically rigid way (which much of Atlas seems to wrongly interpret as an inability to compromise) and they all want to appeal to the Sanders faction to minimize attacks from him and to appeal to his faction whose ideological appeal is more apparent.

[Mr. Morden]

I think there is going to be a serious opening for a moderate Dem (like Bullock if he wants it) because it seems like everyone is racing to snatch up Bernie's base and forgetting everyone else.

Yeah, I also doubt that the party has moved as far left as the candidates think. It’s odd how much they all seem to parrot each other. There’s probably more gain by establishing a distinct (moderate) identity.

I think for the most part, they think that moving too far left could potentially create some general election problems depending on the issue, but that there's essentially no downside (and lots of upside) to moving farther left in the primary.  That's why they do it in lockstep.  Gillibrand makes a move, and then Booker follows her even if he thinks it might be a liability in the GE, because he's afraid that if he doesn't keep up with the leftward march, then he'll be seen as a "fake progressive", which would kill his primary chances.

The calculation here is that the vast majority of Democratic primary voters agree with Sanders on the issues, even most of those who voted for Clinton in the 2016 primaries, and that there isn't really much of a constituency for "moderation" in the Democratic primaries.  The thinking is that Clinton herself would have done better in the '16 primaries if she'd agreed more with Sanders, but that, because she was confident of winning the nomination regardless, she was positioning herself more for the general election from the get go.  But since no one in '20 is a frontrunner for the nomination in the way that Clinton was in '16, that dynamic doesn't exist here.  The candidates are all doing whatever they can to win the nomination, because they think that part is much harder than winning the general election.

Similar dynamics to the GOP races of '08, '12, and '16, where no one candidate was all that confident of being able to win the nomination.  Almost all of the candidates moved right, because they were more concerned with the primary than the general election.

[Mr. Morden]

The calculation here is that the vast majority of Democratic primary voters agree with Sanders on the issues, even most of those who voted for Clinton in the 2016 primaries, and that there isn't really much of a constituency for "moderation" in the Democratic primaries. 

And actually, as an addendum to the above, I'd note that on some issues, the 2020 Dems (including Sanders himself) are now somewhat left of Sanders in 2016.  E.g.:

https://mic.com/articles/189062/the-2020-shadow-primary-is-officially-a-race-to-the-left-on-policy#.bg7jfFGZ2

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[Blair]

I thought all the Red State Democrats (and moderates) voted for changing Dodd-Frank because they wanted to support community banking?

This is a pretty common sense proposal, and one that would really help people.

I don't get the pearl clutching over the 'Democrats are now far-left'. If you're running as a moderate I think you're gonna have more concerns that Gillibrand supporting post office banking

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Do you really think that states like North Dakota would ever go for a public bank?