The LuLac Edition #3626, October 28th, 2017

THE REPUBLICANS ATTACK ON THE MIDDLE CLASS

I love how the Republicans frame their social issues all the time by saying progress is an attack on this or that. Marriage equality…that's an attack on the family. As if there weren’t gay relationships a hundred years ago. They constantly yammer about not being able to say Merry Christmas when indeed no one is stopping them. They’ll tell you that anything they don’t agree with is an attack on Christianity.
Well this week the REPUBLICAN party has attacked people who use credit and banks. We have such short memories here in this country it isn’t even funny. Remember it was these REPUBLICANS, who nearly led us to financial ruin in 2008. Then they have the unmitigated gall to attack President Obama’s recovery program as tepid when the current occupant takes credit for the gains he inherited.
But this week, they put the screws to the middle class. The defenders on talk radio brought up a local McDonald’s case where people got charged for their pay checks on debit cards. The “faithful” whined, “but arbitration could have solved this!”.
Right. In this right to work state where you can fire anyone just for sneezing, do they naively think those workers would have won in arbitration?
This week, Senate Republicans voted to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new rule that protects your right to take big banks and financial institutions like Wells Fargo and Equifax to court when they cheat you.
Well why not, we have the biggest cheaters running the White House right now. I have been screaming about Obama’s credit card reform for years as an accomplishment but the zombies who voted for Trump, all they heard was “Lock her up” and “Make America Great” again.
This was created to get the tricks and traps out of financial products and level the playing field for working families. But now, Senate Republicans are gutting the CFPB and weakening essential consumer protections.
If you have a checking account, a credit card, or a student loan, you’ve probably signed a very long contract with a bunch of gibberish that you didn’t bother to read.
Hidden in the fine print of many of those contracts is a forced arbitration clause.
FORCED! These guys talk about freedom only when it’s an issue that doesn’t concern MONEY. That’s why they use wedge issues like the NFL players and the flag to divert attention from what they are doing.
That’s a fancy way of saying that you signed away your right to join together in court in a class action lawsuit to challenge big companies when they break the law.
Forced arbitration clauses are “ripoff clauses,” If a bank unfairly charges you $10, you’re most likely not going to spend the time and money challenging them all on your own through an industry-friendly arbitration process. So if a bank sneaks that small fee in millions of people’s bills, they can create ginormous profits for themselves -- with little accountability from their customers.
By prohibiting forced arbitration clauses, the CFPB made huge progress in stopping companies from tricking, misleading, and flat out cheating their customers. But then the big financial institutions spent millions of dollars on lawyers, lobbyists, and slick PR campaigns to get their Republican pals in Congress to reverse this policy.
That’s millions of dollars on top of the big bucks that they’re already spending to repeal the rules put in place after the 2008 crisis -- including the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
This is something they are slipping in under the radar but just wait……when a senior gets ripped off at a Casino with their credit card by a bank charges, then they’ll most likely still blame Hillary and not the people they voted for to screw them out of a 30 bucks. 
When banks who make so much money need to nickle and dime people, you know they are not your friends. Regulations exist, as Congressman Paul Kanjorski used to say, "For those 5% of people who need to be forced to do the right thing!"  
The GOP war on the middle class has started. 

TWEET DULL DEE....TWEET DULL DUMB!!!!!!!

When this guy starts tweeting about Hillary.....it's because Mueller has the goods! Lock who up?
The cracks in the dike are starting.

REP. CARTWRIGHT INTRODUCES BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION TO BOOST STEM EDUCATION, CUT RED TAPE

Congressman Matt Cartwright (Photo: LuLac archives)

U.S. Representatives Matt Cartwright (D-PA-17), Rodney Davis (R-IL-13), and Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) introduced bipartisan legislation to promote science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. The Innovate America Act would double the number of STEM-focused high schools, promote computer science training, and expand research opportunities for undergraduates in STEM majors.
“By boosting STEM education, this bipartisan bill lays the groundwork for future innovation and helps secure America’s standing in the global economy,” said Rep. Cartwright. “My bill not only devotes more resources into STEM fields, but also works to eliminate burdensome regulations and to provide our nation’s businesses with the workforce it needs to compete in today’s economy.”
Specifically, the Innovate America Act would:
• Improve STEM education by doubling the number of STEM-focused high schools, promoting computer science training, and expanding research opportunities for undergraduates in STEM majors;
• Study the impact of STEM field retention programs for students;
• Establish a website for technology commercialization ideas;
• Establish a manufacturing assistance program aimed at assisting small and medium-sized businesses;
• Identify regulatory barriers for small and medium-sized manufacturers;
• Identify the regulatory barriers for the top 20 exporting industries to improve global competitiveness.