Sen. Elizabeth Warren's bill would end trading in water futures

jeffw@lemmy.worldmod to News@lemmy.world – 720 points –
Sen. Elizabeth Warren's bill would end trading in water futures
motherjones.com
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It's selling hypothetical water that is not there and will never be there. It's a total scam that is going to bite drought-prone areas in the ass big time.

I'll try not get too distraught over the fate of people who live on Pueblo land and learned nothing from it

Never underestimate the ability of banking and finance to invent new financial products and then tell you how it's beneficial for everyone. (See financial crisis and derivatives for good example of this money making house of cards)

Thank goodness for polits like Warren, a regular target of repubs and wealthy individuals, greedy corps and crypto bros.

*As others pointed, like many other polits, Warren too should be called out for insider-trading. We need less cheerleading and greater accountability. Thank you folks for educating me on this.

Talking about a politician who insider-trades her way to tens of millions in gains each year.

The real fix here is to ban speculative trading on anything with either industrial or everyday use (like metals and real estate).

You are right, thank you for the education. Congressional stock trading should be banned. And Warren like any other polit should be called out on it as well.

I mean, futures have an effective place in capitalist societies; the onion market is rather volatile because onion futures are banned (for hilarious reasons, I might add). The volatility makes is more difficult to run a sustainable onion farming operation.

As for these water futures, while the concept does seem repulsive to me, I don’t really understand how they are responsible for anything here. If water futures were illegal, water suppliers would still be charging a huge markup today. Water companies sold undervalued futures years(?) ago, and they’re the only ones really losing out here. No skin off my back.

(I think that everything I just said is stupid btw. Don’t take this as a defense of the “system”.)

I dont think she deserves to be held up as high as you seem to want to, but I agree with the rest of what youre saying.

No, you are right not to put any polit on a pedestal, it should be a boring job where everyone is working for the people. Net, net her advocacy for consumers has been positive and ruffled the feathers of big business. Doing something right.

eh, I think her rep is overblown, but she's insecure and responsive enough to not be a complete monster.

In Mexico there is a town run by Coca Cola and the people literally believe in what I think is Fanta. Everyone dies of diabetes and the undertaker sees what's going on, but it's part of the religion. Coca Cola owns the water in that town. I think it's a Vice report.

https://youtu.be/hqnUohxXV0I

This sounds like a plot from fallout.

It's almost like Fallout is inspired by real life...

I am sure some Ivy League consultant or MBA was paid handsomely to exploit the illiteracy and/or faith of poor people.

I'm angey about this but I definitely see the comedic value in it

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How can water rights be purchased when most of the western states follow prior appropriation? If this introduces riparian laws to the western US that seems like a terrible idea, in addition to the terrible idea of trading in water futures.

basically all the water policy here is terrible ideas.

I am seeing more Warren in the news lately. Are they trying to make her an alternative to Biden?

She has been an important figure for decades. Biden's got Kamala Harris as VP, they don't need more than that.

Warren tried to fight a law in 2005 that made it more difficult for consumers to file bankruptcy. From 2006-2010 she worked as a member of the FDIC. Her career really started to take off after she was very vocal and harsh against bankers and financial institutions following the 2007-2008 financial crisis, which lead to reform, and later when she became the first female representative from Massachusetts sent to US Congress, she served as the chair for the Congressional Oversight Panel of the TARP. She then served as very first congressional advisor for the newly established Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She repeatedly refused to run for President in 2016 despite strong support at the time.

So get used to hearing about her until the day she dies, so long as you follow US Politics.

No she's the next controlled opposition after Bernie dies. It's important to have a fake progressive in the Democratic party.

Reminder that she voted to block UNRWA aid and said "israel had the right to defend itself" for quite a while into the Genocide of Gaza.

People can have a mix of positions. Being shitty about Israel doesn't make her controlled opposition.

Yeah seeing Palestinians as subhumans is a staple of being a progressive.

fucking hope so. might even make me consider voting blue in local elections

If this bill fails we should all go long water and opt for physical delivery instead of cash settlement.

"Yes, seller of water futures, you have to deliver 800,000 cubic feet of water to my house. That's derivatives bruh!"

Seriously you have to talk to these finance bozos in the only language they understand- money. For some reason, "people need water (and housing etc.) to live" just doesn't get through to them.

I wont care about something she wants until she can no longer inside trade and manipulate stocks. No one is that good at the stock market. Just another greedy person who has more than they can ever spend stealing from her people.

I think you're confusing her with Nancy Pelosi.

Elizabeth Warren has introduced legislation to prevent members of Congress from trading stocks.

You sure they aren't referencing the fact that they all can still do that right now in general? Nothing will change until we take the politicians outside of insider trading.

Given what I know about Senator Warren and her political career, especially the fact that she is one of the very few that isn't actually doing it despite the opportunity and is trying to prevent it at the same time? Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

If Biden stepped down and Warren was on the ballot again I would definitely vote in this upcoming election.

You are the problem.

nope, they're right. I'd vote for Warren and I'd drop my prohibition against voting blue in any race. I don't love warren, but I think she has virtues, I'd be voting for something, and I could at least half hope that the things I'm voting against wouldn't happen if she won. plus she stands a much better chance of actually fucking winning; non-trumpers dont hate her.

I will not under any condition vote biden, and if the blues run him, a D by your name gets you the same treatment as an R in my book.

dangling us over a fascist cliff is not endearing behavior. I will not vote for a terrorist.

You're still the problem even if you pretend to be above it. Trying to prop up your argument with the morality of not choosing the lesser evil does nothing but make you feel better about yourself in "refusing to compromise your principals". This is reality and the reality is we live in a two party system. By not voting for one you are actively supporting the other.

So rather than three paragraphs of idealistic bullshit you should just truncate it down to:

"I support Trump" -melpomenesclevage

I'm not refusing to compromise.warren would be a compromise.

biden is making trump more of a threat to get himself elected. that's not okay. if he doesn't step down, he's okay with that wager, and I don't want him near power.

fascist edging is irresponsible and not something I'll vote for. especially if it doesn't even stop the genocides!

Is voting Warren for president an option? Quit being a jackass.

its not.because of Joe biden.

again, I don't even like biden. don't worry, I'll stay politically engaged; I just won't be wasting my time at a voting booth.

Cool. So what you're saying is you are perfectly ok with Trump being president, just so long as you don't have to vote for Biden. That is the reality we are staring down the barrel of. You might not like having to vote for him, but if there are not enough votes under the Biden column then we will have a second term of Donald Trump. Keep what-ifing and patting yourself on the back.

I'm saying biden is threatening me with a trump presidency by not stepping down. I'm not okay with that.

I thought this was a jokefour years ago,but you people really are just as bad.

when your only point of favor is 'they're worse' you can't really avoid the comparison.

You. Do. Not. Get. To. Choose. Who. Runs. For. President.

Rather than accepting that reality, you're choosing to sit and watch as a Trump presidency happens and say "Whelp. My hands are tied" rather than do your part in voting in the far superior option.

Don't bother. They want fascism, they're just too cowardly to admit it.

There was a primary. She didn't run.

Are you talking about 2024? Because no there wasn't. No party in the US holds more than a pro forma vote for presidential nominee if they have an incumbent running. Primaries in such years are specifically for lower offices. A President hasn't been primaried in the US since Johnson declined to run again after getting beat horribly in polling and the New Hampshire primary.

Oh, got em on the technicality!

The OP you're replying to was clearly highlighting that Warren isn't a candidate for President, but because you caught that it was a lack of nomination rather than a lack of primary campaign that totally invalidates their point!

Oh did I catch you guys operating in bad faith? Shock.

because the party would take it as an insult, and her career would be over.

Sounds like you've made a compelling argument as to why what you're demanding isn't a real option, so you'll need a better excuse as to why you're refusing the only rational option you have.

he's why it wouldn't be an option. the rational option is ignoring your bullshit elections in favor of direct action, the emotional reaction is voting for the red team out of spite.

You’re brainwashed. The system is the problem. They want us peasants playing the imaginary game fighting with each other instead of unifying and making real change. You’re a pawn.

Nice not-fighting there, idiot.

Ad hominem. I don’t participate in fear based politics or hate based discussion. Try again.

Ad hominem is when you try to attack someone's ideas by attacking their character instead. I'm not doing that. I'm just calling you an idiot.

That’s not the definition but using ignorance to fit your narrative just like a politician. Nice.

Unifying and making real change means coming together and voting against the fascist that's going to make everything worse.

Feeling righteous about not doing the one thing that can actually help is immature and stupid.

The Democrats aren't making any real change though. They just patch things up for the next Republican to ratchet us further to the right. If we want change we're going to need to change the democratic party first.

And that happens by voting in local elections

Sure. Let me know when Biden is running for my local congressional seat so I can not vote for him there too.

You really are missing the point. Local elections reach up into higher elections. Vote for more liberal mayors, more liberal DAs, more liberal Congresspeople, and more liberal senators. The more liberal they move, the more liberal the overall party becomes.

Ad hominem. I don’t participate in fear based politics or hate based discussion. Try again.

If you're not either participating in politics by voting, running for office or campaigning; or actively attempting to overthrow the government, then you are accepting whatever government we have and whatever government gets voted in.

There's nothing morally wrong in voting for the less-bad of available. options now, while still working toward changes that give us better choices in the future. If nothing else, if you really cared about how this country and world runs, you would at least be voting for whoever you think will give you even a SLIGHTLY better chance of allowing or enabling the change you want to see.

The absolute least useful thing you could possibly do is throw up your hands and give up and not participate. As a matter of fact, that's exactly what extremes on both ends of the political spectrum want you to do. The fewer people who participate, the easier it is for them to get away with all the money and power.

It’s the opposite. They need your participation to keep the machine churning. The more you care about red vs blue the more money they make and the longer the system prospers with little real change. Another 4 years of Trump is what the Democratic Party needs to get off their asses (no pun intended) and actually give us somebody who’s gonna make real changes.

It’s all business, you’re the consumer and our lives are the currency. If you’re not buying what they’re selling, they’re gonna need to give you what you want.

So close but still framing it as "Blue needs to save us so we need to punish them with Red", which is still red vs blue thinking

In the future scenario you are referring to Trump being elected is not a punishment but a consequence of an indirect action. You incorrectly assume I’m trying to punish Democrats. I don’t care what they do, they’re just not getting my vote until they’re doing what I want them to do. It’s just business to them and should be treated as such. They don’t truly care about you.

You call it consequence, I call it punishment. What's the difference here?

Well then it’s an indirect punishment, but I’m not doing it to directly punish them. You just see it as a punishment.

They need your participation to keep the machine churning.

You are 100% incorrect about this. The system will continue regardless of your participation. Sitting on the sidelines and pouting about the rules being bad does nothing but make you look like a child.

I don’t need to explain to you how change happens, but it’s not only continuing to play their games. Ever heard of a boycott?…

You're a fucking moron.

Vote against trump then? Unless you never want to vote again I guess

I only vote for, not against

Unfortunately that's not how our system currently works. The least you can do is undo one Nazi's vote

I’ll vote for any candidate who wants to change the voting system. RCV or some other alternative voting method. Changing the electoral college vote. I’ll vote for that. Not about fear-based voting. Good luck in this upcoming election!

Trump's first term resulted in abortion bans that are actively making women die. Next targets on the list will be banning birth control and GAHT. These will also cause people to die. That's not to mention how much worse Trump's positions are on Israel/Palestine and Russia/Ukraine. Is it worth it to you to stand by and watch innocent, marginalized people die in the name of your personal political ideals? Elections are about way more than the idiosyncrasies of the political process. Literal human lives are on the line.

I'm pretty sure they only care about their performative solipsism.

I’m pretty sure you only care about the political circlejerk you subscribe to. Cum-stained high fives all around with your cronies. Demand real change. Don’t play into fear politics.

Neither candidate cares about people’s lives. Biden could have expanded the court but let Roe/Wade happen. His foreign policy is going to put us in the middle of a war. No different than Trump. We could have already had RCV or some other voting system that allows us to vote for who we actually want instead of fear based voting. Biden could have stepped down and given people a candidate they wanted to vote for. Anything that happens is theirs and your own faults for letting them spin you in hamster balls or decades and scaring you into demanding change. They’ve forced your hands every time and now you’re crippled by the system. Demand change. Don’t play the game. I don’t subscribe to fear politics. Good luck.

You think first past the post voting is something that gets changed in a presidential election? Really?

No. I’ll vote for somebody who wants to change it while in office. Surprised you would think otherwise…

Well now I'm even more confused, no you don't think a president's going to be the one to change first past the post, but yet you want to vote for someone who will? So you're just straight up saying you're never going to vote? This makes no sense.

When you stop letting anything excuse your apathy, maybe you'll be able to start understanding that to change first past the post you have to work at the local levels first. Which I'm sure you don't do because apathetic people don't get involved in local politics passionately.

Didn't you hear? Not participating in part of a system absolves you of any moral responsibility for anything! Ever!

It’s a constitutional issue if you knew anything. It can happen federally like Roe/Wade or it can be at the state level like many states have done. President can push to make it happen while in office. Not during this current election year.

It's absolutely not a constitutional issue. Nowhere in the Constitution anywhere is first pass the post mentioned. And even if it were a constitutional issue that wouldn't be something the president deals with that would be a Congressional issue or more accurately a state issue.

Electoral college in constitution

President can appoint judges and can bring attention to issues so people can vote on it. Same thing with partially why Roe/Wade was overturned. Trump packed the court with conservatives. RCV can be done at the state level, but reforming the electoral college voting system can absolutely be spearheaded by a president.

Very clearly said first pass the post which you've completely abandoned even though you're the one that brought it up I see. Still pointless though because a change of the Constitution is not done by a Judiciary it's done by legislators at the national and at the state level. If you truly believe the electoral college should be abolished all the more reason you have to get involved at the local level at the state level at the county level even. Which you won't do.

Also for someone who's worried about the president's ability to point judges, you seem to be ignoring the problem with allowing a fascist to be in the office.

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We tried that in Csnada, once they got elected, they didn't want to mess with the system that got them elected

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Vote for not criminalizing human being? Vote for not giving tax breaks to the wealthy?

You can't vote for those things, it's not one of the choices.

Ah, must be morning in Russia. The “both parties same” shills are out

Two flavours of dying neolibs, a system designed to keep everyone else out, it's good cop bad cop washington consensus edition, don't like demoxracy you russian traitor ?

You can vote based on fear. I’ll sit this one out until there’s a candidate I actually want to lead our country.

It sounds like you're looking at this like you're choosing someone to marry. I'll wait for the one. I don't want to settle. Etc... but you may never, ever get a candidate you like. Instead, I suggest you think of it like picking a city bus. Is this one going where I want to go? Probably not but it's closer. And unfortunately, in this metaphor, you have to get on a bus anyway. "Sitting this one out" just means getting on someone else's bus.

It's okay, when the Nazis come, they'll realize that he is a purist and will not do anything bad to him.

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Fuck cunt she fucked over progressive for her career. Anything she claims to want to pass that even sounds progressive, either isn't really progressive or she knows it won't pass and she uses it as a prompt.

This cunt would vote against Healthcare for all if it had a chance to pass. Remember she "capitalist to her bones'

There are times I think I’m the lefty-ist person I know, then I see something like this.

I do think she’s not quite as lefty as her image from 8-10 years ago but she’s a far cry from Sinema. I like 60ish percent of the things Warren says and does, that’s a decent start.

Jesus these THE THEMS AREN'T LEFT ENOUGH nazi troll bots are going to need so much counseling after the war.

This isn't going to be popular, but fuck her. She shat on our chance of change. I'm still going to vote for the current Dems because of obvious reasons, but I'm not going to like doing it.

Same Biden got my vote but only because the alternative is worse.

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