Biden unveils 2020 slogan: 'Make Depression Great Again'
Red Square
5/1/2019, 5:20 pm
PITTSBURGH — Joseph R. Biden Jr. used his first address as a presidential candidate Monday to sketch out his economic plans, vowing to bring back the economic recession and unemployment of the Obama years, and - with any luck - the Great Depression engineered by the greatest Democrat president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
"The only great things about America I had seen in my lifetime were the Great Depression and the great presidency of FDR," Mr. Biden told a crowd of union members at a Teamsters hall in Pittsburgh, PA. "The long lines to the soup kitchens had united the nation like never before or after. We were all equal in our misery then."
The former vice president pointed out that the subsequent tax cuts and the cutting of government regulations had plunged the country into the darkness of economic prosperity, where corporate greed and a booming economy made workers woefully independent of government programs.
The 76-year-old Mr. Biden, who is making his third bid for the presidency, offered few specifics about his economic plans, except that his goal as a progressive was to fundamentally transform the country to the way he found it when he was born in 1942. The way to achieve that goal was through taxation, regulation, unionization, wage restrictions, and starting a major world war against Germany and Japan.
"If we want to close the income gap, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is not enough. We must also bring down the maximum wage to $15 nationwide. To be equal, everyone must be paid $15 an hour," said Mr. Biden to a few hundred supporters who greeted him with "We Want Joe to make Depression Great Again" chants.
Taking on Mr. Trump directly, Mr. Biden said, "Donald Trump is the only president who has decided not to represent the whole country," accusing Trump of discriminating against the Washington establishment, the foreign gang members, the Democrat leaders, and the intelligence community that had failed to overthrow the sitting president.
"Because of this failure, our only remaining option to defeat Trump is this election. This is why I had to leave my favorite La-Z-Boy chair and talk to the likes of you. We are in a battle for America's soul," Mr. Biden said.
Yet even before he took the stage, Mr. Biden got a sharp reminder that before he can take on the president he must first survive the Democratic primary. His closest competitor, the 77-year-old Senator Bernie Sanders, had also visited Pittsburgh and spoke to union workers, promising to establish a $150 an hour minimum/maximum wage instead of $15, and to take the country back to 1941 instead of 1942.
"We can't have a nominee as radical as Sanders," said an unnamed union official who endorsed Mr. Biden. Democrats will lose, he said, if they put forward a candidate with all these beautiful ideas but with little chance of winning.
Red Square
5/1/2019, 5:20 pm
PITTSBURGH — Joseph R. Biden Jr. used his first address as a presidential candidate Monday to sketch out his economic plans, vowing to bring back the economic recession and unemployment of the Obama years, and - with any luck - the Great Depression engineered by the greatest Democrat president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
"The only great things about America I had seen in my lifetime were the Great Depression and the great presidency of FDR," Mr. Biden told a crowd of union members at a Teamsters hall in Pittsburgh, PA. "The long lines to the soup kitchens had united the nation like never before or after. We were all equal in our misery then."
The former vice president pointed out that the subsequent tax cuts and the cutting of government regulations had plunged the country into the darkness of economic prosperity, where corporate greed and a booming economy made workers woefully independent of government programs.
The 76-year-old Mr. Biden, who is making his third bid for the presidency, offered few specifics about his economic plans, except that his goal as a progressive was to fundamentally transform the country to the way he found it when he was born in 1942. The way to achieve that goal was through taxation, regulation, unionization, wage restrictions, and starting a major world war against Germany and Japan.
"If we want to close the income gap, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is not enough. We must also bring down the maximum wage to $15 nationwide. To be equal, everyone must be paid $15 an hour," said Mr. Biden to a few hundred supporters who greeted him with "We Want Joe to make Depression Great Again" chants.
Taking on Mr. Trump directly, Mr. Biden said, "Donald Trump is the only president who has decided not to represent the whole country," accusing Trump of discriminating against the Washington establishment, the foreign gang members, the Democrat leaders, and the intelligence community that had failed to overthrow the sitting president.
"Because of this failure, our only remaining option to defeat Trump is this election. This is why I had to leave my favorite La-Z-Boy chair and talk to the likes of you. We are in a battle for America's soul," Mr. Biden said.
Yet even before he took the stage, Mr. Biden got a sharp reminder that before he can take on the president he must first survive the Democratic primary. His closest competitor, the 77-year-old Senator Bernie Sanders, had also visited Pittsburgh and spoke to union workers, promising to establish a $150 an hour minimum/maximum wage instead of $15, and to take the country back to 1941 instead of 1942.
"We can't have a nominee as radical as Sanders," said an unnamed union official who endorsed Mr. Biden. Democrats will lose, he said, if they put forward a candidate with all these beautiful ideas but with little chance of winning.
