Elizabeth Warren did not want a goodbye party. She told her aides there would be no grand send-off, no celebration of a mission accomplished.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had been her idea from the start: a new arm of the government, uniquely empowered to police the kinds of loans and financial schemes that led to the Great Recession. Ms. Warren had detailed the idea in a journal article, then cajoled and pressured Congress to make it law. She was tasked by President Barack Obama in 2010 with setting up the bureau, and spent a year recruiting investigators and enforcers for an office they saw as an exhilarating cause.

But as spring turned to summer in 2011, Ms. Warren faced a wrenching separation. The White House had decided not to nominate her to lead the bureau permanently. So she gathered the staff for an “all hands” meeting and told them her work there was over. “She told us that we were ready to sail the ship, that we did not need her there, and that we would be able to do it on our own,” said Patricia McCoy, a Boston College law professor who was a senior official at the bureau.

Ms. Warren was right. Under her successor, Richard A. Cordray, the bureau would recover $12 billion for consumers from financial institutions by 2017. It would become, to supporters, a prized example of the government taking on big banks after the 2008 financial crisis. To opponents — Republican lawmakers, business associations and a few conservative Democrats — it would become an example of “runaway government,” an agency to be curbed at the first opportunity.

To Ms. Warren, the bureau is something else as well: a formative lesson in how an idea — a plan — can become reality. For it was through creating a new financial regulator that Ms. Warren developed the approach to government that now guides her presidential campaign. And it was in losing the chance to lead her bureau that Ms. Warren came to see the value of asking voters, rather than a president, to give her power.

A review of Ms. Warren’s role in creating the consumer bureau, including interviews with more than 30 people involved in the process, revealed an approach to politics that joins imaginative policy ideas with a keen instinct for mass communication and a willingness to negotiate. On one hand, she marshaled support from progressive activists and helped build public demand for her idea; on the other, she haggled with members of Congress to earn their backing.

David Axelrod, who was Mr. Obama’s top political adviser during the battle to create the C.F.P.B., called Ms. Warren’s role a “bona fide credential” for the presidency.

More at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/21/us/politics/elizabeth-warren.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

HOUSTON — A groan erupted at a debate watch party at Texas Southern University last week as former vice president Joseph R. Biden Jr. got a question about slavery and racism and gave an answer about Venezuela and record players.

But amid that exasperation, some students channeled their inner Beltway operatives and began a targeted rapid-response campaign. Tyler Smith, 19, texted his grandmother after the debate, hopeful that Mr. Biden's meandering answer may have swayed her from supporting him. Amaya St. Romain, 19, mounted a three-day lobbying blitz on her mother and her great-grandmother, making sure they had seen the former housing secretary Julián Castro’s criticisms of Mr. Biden onstage.

In meme-speak, the efforts amounted to Killmonger, the villain in the Black Panther movie, challenging the people of Wakanda: “Is this your king?”

...At Texas Southern University, a historically black university founded in 1927 and the site of last week’s Democratic debate, dozens of students, ages 19 to 23, differed on their top candidate. Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Kamala Harris of California were among the favorites, as was one of the two Texans in the race, former Representative Beto O’Rourke.

For Mr. Biden, though, students carried mixed feelings. They respected his tenure as Barack Obama’s vice president, but implicitly rejected his campaign’s central premise, that the primary goal of Democrats in the 2020 election should be defeating President Trump. They pointed to systemic problems they said the country must address, such as inequality, climate change and gun violence. The Democratic nominee, they said, should embrace progressive proposals like canceling student loan debt, the Green New Deal and gun buyback programs.

More at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/us/politics/joe-biden-black-voters.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

NEW YORK — Hedge fund titan Leon Cooperman said he’s concerned about a shift to the left in the political landscape, which could harm the economy and the stock market.

“There’s unquestionably a shift to the left in this country,” Cooperman said at the Delivering Alpha conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor. “They won’t open the stock market if Elizabeth Warren is the next president.”

“You don’t make the poor people rich by making rich people poor,” Cooperman said. “The Democratic party seems to be leaning towards the left to the policy, which is very harmful for the economy. I don’t like the shift to the left.”

Senator Warren has been moving up in the crowded Democratic presidential field, polling only second to former Vice President Joe Biden in a new NBC/WSJ poll. She is a champion for the left wing for her bank-bashing and wealth-taxing proposals.

Warren has made an aggressive economic populism the signature of her White House bid. She has proposed a new wealth tax on assets above $50 million, and a new minimum tax on the profits of the largest corporations, to help finance new government benefits for child care, health care, housing and education.

In an interview with CNBC in January, Warren said “I want these billionaires to stop being freeloaders.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/19/leon-cooperman-fears-a-shift-to-left-they-wont-open-the-stock-market-if-elizabeth-warren-wins.html

Officials at troubled drugmaker Purdue Pharma say “certain employees” should be paid more than $34 million in bonuses for meeting and exceeding goals over the last three years, even though the company is facing thousands of lawsuits over its role in the nation’s opioid crisis and earlier this week filed for bankruptcy.

In a legal filing, attorneys for Purdue Pharma asked a judge to authorize millions in payments to employees who have met “target performance goals.”

It is not clear from the company filings why employees would be eligible for bonuses because, while the bonuses are supposed to be partly contingent on the company’s financial performance, the company has filed for bankruptcy.

At a bankruptcy court hearing in White Plains, NY on Tuesday, Paul K. Schwartzberg, an attorney for the U.S. Trustee, raised objections to some of the bonuses. While it is typical for companies in bankruptcy to try to pay employees as a firm seeks to regain its financial footing, the Purdue Pharma bonuses go “way beyond” what is typical, he said.

...The attorneys for Purdue did not specify which of its 700 employees would be eligible for the bonuses, except that the incentives would not be available to “insiders” or any top executives involved in the company’s “strategic decision-making.” But other senior managers, who are often offered such incentive plans, could be eligible for the bonuses. The number of employees eligible for the bonuses and the amounts of their rewards are unknown. But if the $34 million in bonuses were distributed equally to each of the 700 employees, each would receive about $50,000.

More at https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/19/purdue-pharma-facing-thousands-lawsuits-bankruptcy-wants-pay-certain-employees-million-bonuses/

Sen. Cory Booker, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination next year, re-introduced a bill intended to curb the trend of corporate stock buybacks Thursday through a “worker dividend.”

Initially introduced in March 2018, the “Worker Dividend Act” requires firms to distribute the value of its stock buybacks dollar-for-dollar. That means if a company spends $300 million of its profits on share buybacks, it must spread at least an equivalent $300 million across its workforce equally.

“This legislation has a simple premise: when companies do well, workers should do well,” New Jersey’s Booker said in a news release. “There’s no reason that a country as rich and as powerful as ours should have to choose between great wealth for the few, like corporate executives and shareholders, and great opportunity for all of its citizens, including its workers.”

The bill accompanies other similar legislation from Democrats, like Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown’s own worker dividend bill introduced in July. Other 2020 Democratic candidates have joined the fray too in targeting the more than $1 trillion in buybacks stemming from President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts put forth a bill last summer requiring companies with over $1 billion in revenue to allow their workers to elect 40% of their board seats, while Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., along with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York proposed a measure that would apply “preconditions” on buybacks that would force companies to offer higher wages and better health benefits.

In the face of growing backlash against wealth inequality, Wall Street has signaled its willingness to shift away from their primary goal of increasing shareholder value too...

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/19/cory-booker-aims-to-reignite-stock-buyback-fight-on-2020-campaign-trail.html

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader and self-described “grim reaper” of liberal legislative dreams, settled into a routine of sorts during Barack Obama’s second term whenever he felt he was cornered by Democrats. Mr. McConnell would rise from his chair in the Capitol, walk to his scheduler’s desk, smile a tight smile, and ask: “Can we get Joe Biden on the phone?”

...”I’ll work with Mitch McConnell where we can agree,” Mr. Biden said this month — adding that on some issues, like gun control, there was no room for compromise. That he could agree with Mr. McConnell on anything is a controversial statement for any Democrat to make these days. But in a sprawling field of 20 candidates, Mr. Biden stands out for his enduring belief in the good will of congressional Republicans. He insists that the G.O.P. has been bullied by President Trump but that civility and compromise will return to Washington once Mr. Trump is gone.

It’s a view that has been branded as naïve and wistful by some Democratic rivals as well as by the ascendant left wing of his party. That criticism is particularly pointed with regard to Mr. McConnell, whose decision to block Mr. Obama’s nomination of Merrick B. Garland to the Supreme Court in 2016 elevated him from mere obstructionist to arch-villain in the eyes of many Democrats.

The criticism has only intensified in recent days as Mr. McConnell has rebuffed Democratic calls to quickly move ahead with gun control legislation and lashed out at Democrats for reviving attacks on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. As a result, many in the party say, Mr. Biden’s comfortable relationship with the Senate leader is not only out of date, but dangerous.

...During a follow-up meeting in the Oval Office in early 2013, Mr. Obama pressed Mr. McConnell to work on a long-term budget package before the 2014 midterms, when he would be running for re-election in Kentucky, Mr. Reid recalled in a recent phone interview. Mr. McConnell said that was impossible — Republican primary challengers could use it against incumbents.

Mr. Biden responded by saying, “Mitch, we want to see you come back,” Mr. Reid said.

More at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/us/politics/joe-biden-mitch-mcconnell.html?searchResultPosition=1

Presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) picked up an important endorsement Wednesday from Michael Fitzgerald, Iowa’s longtime state treasurer.

Fitzgerald is the longest-serving state treasurer in the country, and one of the last two uncommitted Democratic officials elected statewide in Iowa. Fitzgerald’s endorsement is Warren’s sixth from an Iowa state official.

A new poll released Wednesday by the Democratic group Focus on Rural America found Warren in a virtual tie with former Vice President Joe Biden among Iowa Democrats. Iowa is a critical state for Warren, who with a victory in the state caucuses next year could turbocharge her campaign.

In explaining his endorsement, Fitzgerald told The Associated Press that Warren “can address the biggest problems we have, and that is the hollowing out of the middle class. She’s clear, you understand her message, and I want her fighting for me and all of us.”

If history means anything, then the endorsement could prove pivotal for Warren. In 2007, Fitzgerald was an early endorser of then-Sen. Barack Obama, who went on to win the Iowa caucuses.

More at https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/461967-warren-picks-up-key-endorsement-from-iowa-state-treasurer

Elizabeth Warren surged to a strong second place among Democrats in a Florida poll released Wednesday, though Joe Biden remains in first place among candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Florida Atlantic University poll shows Biden with 34% among Florida Democrats, a dip of 5 percentage points since May. Warren stands at 24% – double the 12% she had in May.

“Elizabeth Warren is gathering strength and is becoming a real competitor for the state,” said Kevin Wagner, an FAU political scientist and research fellow at the university’s Business and Economics Polling Initiative. He said the 24% is “a really good number for her. If I were one of her people, I would love this poll.”

Since the previous survey in May, the candidates have had three debates, and Biden has been a focus of attention for occasional campaign trail gaffes, a relatively light campaign schedule and rambling answers. At the same time, Warren has been steadily increasing her support in nationwide polls as she’s become better known, continued issuing plans and demonstrated stamina as she’s stayed long after her rallies to take selfies with any supporters who want them.

The FAU poll found little change for Bernie Sanders. He stands at 14% in the new survey, up 2 percentage points from May...All the other Democrats were far behind in single digits in the FAU poll: Pete Buttigieg, 5%; Kamala Harris, 4%; Beto O’Rourke, 2%; Andrew Yang, 2%.

More at https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-fau-poll-biden-warren-trump-september-2019-20190918-iexc43spozhtlmpdoggomypi3i-story.html