John Edwards's Speaking Fee Reduced $15,000

Excerpts from "Building One America"

by John Edwards

Cooper Union Speech

June 21, 2007

"There are still Two Americas.

One America that lives by the paycheck calendar; another that never has to look at the calendar before writing a check.

One America that's afraid it won't be able to leave its children a better life; another whose children are already set for life.

One America – middle-class America – long forgotten by Washington; and another America – narrow-interest America – whose every wish is Washington's command.

It's no coincidence that our economy is only working for a few when Washington is only working for a few.

Since 1996, the number of Washington lobbyists has tripled to 36,000. That's 20 times more people than live in my hometown of Robbins, North Carolina. It's 60 lobbyists for every member of Congress. Sixty. And I can tell you from experience, a lot of them are more powerful than the members.

There are a lot of people, especially people in Washington, who don't want me to talk about the Two Americas. And if you think they don't want me to talk about middle class Americans, you can bet they don't want me to talk about the 37 million Americans who are living in poverty here in the We should start with the Wild West of the credit industry, where some abusive and predatory lenders are robbing families blind.

wealthiest nation on earth.

I believe we have to build One American Economy.

We can't afford all this debt..

Lenders deliberately build in tricks and traps for families...

It's time...

First...create a Family Savings and Credit Commission to make sure that financial services treat families safely.

... States cannot effectively regulate banks because most are based in other states.

.. Family Savings and Credit Commission will change this. It will deal with all financial services -- credit cards, mortgages, car loans, check-cashers, payday loans, investment accounts, and more. It will ban the most abusive terms and make sure consumers understand the others.

Second... pass strong national laws protecting us against the worst abuses in credit markets predatory mortgages abusive credit card terms and payday loans with interest rates of 300 percent or higher.

Finally...create alternatives to abusive lenders....help working families build up a cushion by matching their savings and bringing bank accounts to the 56 million without them.

...support non-profit groups offering affordable, short-term loans. We need a new era of responsible lenders who see families as long-term investments, not quick bucks.

We need to take on insurance and drug companies to reform health care, bringing down costs and covering the 45 million uninsured.

...we need to invest in renewable energies and use energy far more efficiently.

We need to reform our tax code. Our current system favors the unearned income of people already doing incredibly ..And we need to strengthen our labor laws.

Cherubim of TN 7:38PM October 06, 2008