My eight-point plan for the 99 Percent Movement (aka OWS)

Talk among yourselves...


Eight Things We Should Do Now

There are a lot of things we need to do if we are going to turn the U.S. around. Members of the 99 Percent Movement will have different views about long-term goals. But the following might provide a near-term legislative agenda most members could agree with.

1.Reinstate Glass-Steagall Act, which created a healthy separation of commercial and investment banks. The repeal of Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 made possible some of the worst abuses that caused the banking crisis of 2008. Clearly, repeal was a failure and we need to go back to what works.

2.Pass a real jobs bill. The proposed American Jobs Act contains a lot of good ideas, but is insufficient. Congress should pass a bill that spends even more on infrastructure, devotes more money to education and includes direct hiring modeled after the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Projects Administration.

3.Commit to letting the Bush tax cuts expire. The tax rates of the 1990s worked well and produced federal surpluses. The Bush tax cuts didn’t. We should re-impose those tax rates – first, on the wealthy and, over time, on everybody else.

4. Get the big money out of politics. There are a lot of ways in which this could be done. One of the best ways would be to create a system for public financing of campaign. But less-dramatic, intermediate steps move us in the right direction, they should be supported.

5.Overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling. This will require a constitutional amendment declaring that the Constitution of the United States protects the rights of natural persons only. The rights of corporations should be limited to those outlined in statutes passed by Congress and state legislatures.

6. Review all trade agreements and renegotiate the bad ones. Free trade can be a good thing, if it is thoughtfully set up with the interests of American workers in mind. Too often, it isn’t. But trade agreements that pit American workers against low-wage foreign labor in a race to the bottom need to be altered or eliminated.

7. Rebuild America. Future generations need this one to leave them with a strong national infrastructure. If we are to do that, there is a lot of work to be done. We need to get started with all deliberate speed.

8. Protect health care reform and build upon what has been passed. The Affordable Care Act is far from perfect, but scrapping it is a recipe for decades more of inaction. Let’s instead concentrate on making it better over time, establishing access to good health care as a right for all Americans.

I was hoping to get some feedback?

C'mon, help a guy out.

Corporations are not people they should not have rights that people have and money is not speech.
One main lesson of economics is that every country, no matter their level, must develop an economy that supports their population. This means that jobs and employment are critical to having a thriving economy. When we let international corporations use the cheapest labor from around the world to make their products we are cutting our own throats when we let them sell them here in this country. An economy can not withstand 10 to 20% unemployment. When people don't spend money and debt rises then the economy gets worse and worse. This is where we are right now. We have let corporations offshore their jobs and profits. This has left our economy hanging by a thread. We have borrowed huge amounts of money to back-up our financial institutions that are selling us out for big profits. Our free trade agreements have destroyed our workforce and short changed our economy. For most of the history of our country, we have had tariffs that equalized the cost of labor from foreign countries. American workers can never compete against counties with dirt cheap labor. Trying to raise them up with trade agreements just leads to more exploitation of them and shoots us down. In the end no one will be able to buy these cheap foreign goods if there are no jobs.
Some say no to protectionism but protectionism is critical to having an economy that works. We have been following a supply side economic strategy for decades and things have only gotten worse. It is time to chart a new course. We find ourselves in overwhelming debt, our credit is almost at its limit and we have nothing to show for the money we have spent and borrowed. Our banking system is said to be on the verge of complete collapse, we are drowning in red ink and still we continue to meddle in three or more military conflicts around the world that are draining what little money we have.

This country needs to take a serious look at what we are doing and reevaluate where we need to be going. Everything is tied together as the protesters around the country are pointing out. Big business has taken over our government, corrupted our elections and sold out the people for short term profits. They are destroying our environment and holding us hostage to their greedy ways. The Wall Street protesters are spreading the word and it is working. Demonstrations are popping up all around the country and I don't think they will stop or go away. Our leaders must heed the call and start fixing what is wrong with this country, the people are speaking and if they don't begin to listen they will be pushed out of the way.

If Pres. Obama can't beat the mediocre candidate the Republicans run against him next year than he does not deserve to be our President. Pres. Obama must reverse his course and begin to rescue our country from the clutches and influences of the corporate world. The lessons are simple and the solutions are even simpler. It is time to take back our country. No more free trade agreements, bring fairness to our tax structure, rebuild our infrastructure and put Americans to work.