Twelve 2020 democratic presidential candidates gathered at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, last night.  The debate was substantial on policies, and it lasted 3 hours. 

America is still a middle-class country, but their sufferings are real.   Many of the candidates knew that fact. Some more than others. Which candidate championed middle-class policies the most?  We rank them from worst to best.

12. Former Vice President Joe Biden

Joe Biden’s centrist ideas to help the middle class have been tried and failed.  Joe Biden wants progressive tax code, but not too liberal and a bump in the minimum wage, but not Fight for 15.  The so-called centrist democrats are against significant structural changes that will benefit the middle class because their donors are against them. 

Joe Biden’s rapid wealth accumulation and his son’s overseas financial dealings are also big red flags for the middle class.

11. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard 

The middle class does know where the Hawaii congresswoman stands on many domestic issues. Her strong stand against regime change wars might allow the leader of the free world to focus more on domestic issues.  However, the middle class does know which domestic issues that the congresswoman’s priorities.

10. Sen. Kamala Harris

Senator Kamala Harris is another centrist democrats. Her donors will block most of the structural changes that can really benefit the middle class.

During the debate, she said,  “Donald Trump told us he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and get away with it. And he has consistently since he won been selling out the American people. He’s been selling out working people. He’s been selling out our values. He’s been selling out national security. And on this issue with Ukraine, he has been selling out our democracy.”

If elected, Kamala Harris might not sell the American people and their values to foreign countries, but her big banks and pharma donors will not allow medicare for all, student debt relief, or universal childcare.

9.   Sen. Corey Booker

Corey Booker has many great plans that can help the middle class, but he failed to articulate them last night.  He spent most of his time playing the referee.

At one point, Corey Booker said, “Well, first of all, I just want to be respond by — you know, we’ve got one shot to make Donald Trump a one-term president. And how we talk about each other in this debate matters.”

8. Billionaire Tom Steyer

Tom Steyer is a billionaire, who has been calling for impeachment for two years. Last night was its first debate. The middle class does not know much about him.  However, one of his comments last night resonated with them.

He said, “There have been 40 years where corporations have bought this government, and those 40 years have meant a 40-year attack on the rights of working people and specifically on organized labor.”

Mr. Steyer seems to understand what needs to be done to help Americans maintain a middle-class lifestyle. But, the middle class does not know how committed he is to those issues.

7. South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Mayor Pete is conscious and calculated.  He thinks that Medicare for all will divide the country further than it already is.  

He told Elizabeth Warren, “I don’t understand why you believe the only way to deliver affordable coverage to everybody is to obliterate private plans, kicking 150 million Americans off of their insurance in four short years, when we could achieve that same big, bold goal”.  He continued, “ why unnecessarily divide this country over health care when there’s a better way to deliver coverage for all?”

Mayor Pete is another centrist Democrat who wants to make the system better by keeping it the same.  

6. Sen. Amy Klobuchar 

Amy Klobuchar is another centrist Democrat who wants to make the system better without changing it. She believes that Medicare for all is a radical idea.  Her idea of long-term care is proprietary.

Long-term care insurance is an obscure part of the insurance that drives many elderly Americans and their kids to bankruptcy.  

Senator Klobuchar said that “what really bothers me about this discussion, which we’ve had so many times, is that we don’t talk about the things that I’m hearing about from regular Americans. That is long-term care. We are seeing — I once called it a silver tsunami. The aging — and then someone told me that was too negative, so I call it the silver surge — the aging of the population.”

5. Secretary Julian Castro

Investments in infrastructure and clean energy economy can put millions of people to work.  Having a decent job that pays a livable wage, is something that the middle class appreciates.

4. Congressman Beto O’Rourke

Beto O’Rourke support fight for 15, citizenship for Dreamers,  and broad paid family and medical leave, No doubt that those plans help the middle class greatly.  However, Beto’s staunch support for universal background checks and a gun license program is why he ranks so high on this list.

Last weekend, a popped balloon caused widespread panic at a South Florida mall.  The Town Center mall in Boca Raton was in lockdown for six hours while officers in tactical gear rushed in.

As of October 16,  there have been 337 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to Gun Violence Archive.  That level of gun violence makes American society paranoid and anxious.

3. Sen. Elizabeth Warren

Mrs. Warren has proposals ranging from tax policies to student debt relief.  She has about 20 different proposals so far. Between the student debt relief and antitrust, Mrs. Warren has many policies that the middle class can benefit from significantly.

As the perceived front-runner,  Senator Warren was under fire for most of the debate.  

Senator Klobuchar might have laid the hardest blow.  She said, “and I appreciate Elizabeth’s work. But, again, the difference between a plan and a pipe dream is something that you can actually get done. And we can get this public option done. And we can take on the pharmaceutical companies and bring down the prices.”

Senator Warren endorses Senator Sanders’ Medicare for All bill, but, unlike Bernie, has been vague about how she would pay for it.

2. Sen. Bernie Sanders 

Senator Sanders has to be the most transparent candidate in this presidential race. He has been talking about the same well-needed middle-class policies for nearly 40 years. 

Free healthcare and college are not pipe-dreams, they are what a healthy society and middle-class needs

1. Businessman Andrew Yang

Andrew Yang might be the most “Woke” macroeconomist in this presidential race.  The country will look back 20 years from and regret not taking this guy serious. Here are examples are Yang dissected the U.S. Economy during the debate:

 “Senator Warren, I’ve been talking to Americans around the country about automation. And they’re smart. They see what’s happening around them. Their Main Street stores are closing. They see a self-serve kiosk in every McDonalds, every grocery store, every CVS. Driving a truck is the most common job in 29 states, including this one; 3.5 million truck drivers in this country. And my friends in California are piloting self-driving trucks.”

“What is that going to mean for the 3.5 million truckers or the 7 million Americans who work in truck stops, motels, and diners that rely upon the truckers getting out and having a meal? Saying this is a rules problem is ignoring the reality that Americans see around us every single day.”

The middle-class agrees with Mr. Yang’s assessment because they are going through dynamic scheduling, irregular hours, and unsteady workloads right now. 

Universal basic income (UBI) is not a handout.  It is the policy of the current U.S., perhaps, the global economy needs.  UBI recognizes that technology and advanced machine learning have created a winner-take-all economy.  Here’s another excerpt from Yang.”

“If we give the American people a tiny slice of every Amazon sale, every Google search, every robot truck mile, every Facebook ad, we can generate hundreds of billions of dollars and then put it into our hands because we know best how to use it.”

Amongst the twelve candidates on stage last night, Andrew Yang championed middle-class policies the most.