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Forum Post: A comprehensive economic recovery program

Posted 12 years ago on July 31, 2012, 10:20 a.m. EST by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

The United States of America is in a state of dire economic emergency. It comes by no accident. As the LIBOR rigging overseen by President Barack Obama’s Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has shown, it was intentional. Over decades, a criminal conspiracy at the highest level has bankrupted our states and municipalities, and impoverished our citizens while leading many of them to their early deaths. As part of the LIBOR operation, Wall Street and the City of London banks were bailed out to the tune of trillions of dollars beginning October 2008, a bailout which only accelerated under Barack Obama’s presidency. This policy has gutted the real economy of the United States, and we have now come to the point where the system is dead: no bailout, of whatever magnitude, can save it.

Therefore, there is now only one policy that can save this nation, and that policy consists of three, interconnected and mutually dependent elements -- Glass Steagall, a National Credit System, and a high-technology employment program keystoned by NAWAPA -- three interdependent elements integrated as a unified policy, no part of which will function in isolation from the whole.

First, we restore Glass-Steagall, the Franklin Roosevelt legislation outlawing gambling as part of our commercial banking system. By reinstating Glass-Steagall in its pure 1933 form, we will stop the hyperinflationary bailouts and protect our commercial banks by separating them from the gambling casinos, thus wiping the trillions of dollars in outstanding speculative obligations from our books. These debts cannot be paid; these debts will never be paid. The US government has no responsibility for this debt. Glass-Steagall transfers these gambling debts off of the government’s books.

However, Glass-Steagall only stops the collapse, it does not create a recovery. Once we’ve eliminated these trillions in fictitious assets and subtracted that from our accounts, the residual real value remaining will be a very small percentage of what was previously nominally there. We will still be bankrupt. To alleviate this desperate state of bankruptcy, we return to National Banking. National Banking is inherent in our federal system, which Alexander Hamilton organized in the wake of the American Revolution, resolving the bankruptcy of the separate states by consolidating them under the centralized institution of the first National Bank. Without a revival of the Hamiltonian system, the nation will die. The Federal government must issue large masses of credit, to compensate for what the banking system no longer has the power to generate. By channelling immediate relief into cities and states, we can stop the bleeding, like Franklin Roosevelt did in the early days of 1933. However, mere relief will not be enough. As Hamilton understood, large-scale credits, issued by the federal government and earmarked for specific categories of productive employment, will be needed not only to restart the economic engine, but to restore a standard of real physical value to the nation’s economy -- as opposed to the fictitious values that Glass-Steagall will wipe out -- while establishing a multi-generational economic mission for the people of the Un ited States. Without a national credit program today, there is no way to save the US economy.

The credit generated by the National Bank must be connected to a high-technology job creation program, in order for the credit to take on any real value. This employment program will create a rapid expansion in the productivity of the nation and its people, without which the credit created would merely be inflationary. With tens of millions of Americans currently unemployed -- and with those who are employed totally lacking in productive skills or training -- a great national project must be initiated to force a change in paradigm, away from make-work jobs towards those of a high-technology productive character. The Kennedy-era project in its updated form, NAWAPA XXI, to bring water from Alaska to the western United States, will not only alleviate the drought conditions now plaguing most of our nation’s territory, but will immediately create upwards of 6 million jobs: 4 million in the construction of NAWAPA alone, and an additional two million in high-technology materiel production in the industrial belt stretching from Detroit to Pittsburgh, the Roosevelt-era “Arsenal of Democracy”.

These six millions jobs, though only a fraction of the employment necessary when considered in light of the unemployment levels now reaching to the tens of millions, will serve as the cornerstone, the focal point for training and developing an entire generation. The very act of bringing a national, top-down organization to the economy of the nation, with a future-oriented science-driven mission, will set off a process which will tend to be self-expanding. With NAWAPA, we will have turned the corner towards a paradigm of recovery, away from fifty years of self-cannibalization. The psychology of our people will begin to change. The desperation of the youth population, which drives them to drugs and horrific acts of violence will be supplanted by a sense of identity vectored, at least, towards a sense of anticipation of what the future will bring, and what they can bring to the future. This perspective inherently points to a culture of space exploration, in which man’s mission becomes the colonization of the Moon and Mars. These projects will bring us into collaboration with our natural would-be partners in Russia and China and the rest of Asia. Within this framework of cooperation, the United States will resume its rightful place in the leadership of mankind and the world.

This is a single, unified program -- without Glass-Steagall, National Banking, and NAWAPA taken as one, there is no recovery for the United States. No one element of this program can be taken in isolation from the rest. The functioning of each part is dependent on the function of the whole.

However, this program is impossible as long as Obama retains the presidency. Currently, Obama and his Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are running protection for the biggest criminal conspiracy ever witnessed in the history of this planet. Libor, and the drug money laundered for the financing of terrorism, are typical of the criminal system which Obama represents. As increasing numbers of leading voices on both sides of the Atlantic join the call for a new financial system, Obama and his faction within the City of London, have openly declared their intent to unleash a military attack on Syria, a policy which has been intended since the murderous operation in Libya. Such an action will set off the potential for a thermonuclear conflict between Russia and the United States, the leading nuclear powers on this planet.

Therefore, we are currently operating on a timeline of mere weeks. Obama must be removed before the Democratic Convention. Another candidate must stand in his place and adopt as their platform this three-fold program to save the United States.

25 Comments

25 Comments


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[-] 1 points by nomdeguerre (1775) from Brooklyn, NY 12 years ago

How about adding TOO BIG TO FAIL IS TOO BIG TO EXIST and shifting to a small business economy? Competition is the magic of capitalism, but degraded capitalism always ends up stomping on competition (David Rockefeller, Sr.: "Competition is a sin") -- businesses should never be allowed to grow to the stage of stifling competition. Further TOO BIG TO FAIL businesses will always overshadow democracy. Limiting corpoRAT size is a two-fer. Actually a three-fer, small businesses are the major source of jobs.

Aside from NAWAPA how about a national elevated high speed rail line and other infrastructure projects, mostly more mundane?

But, absolutely, GLASS-STEAGALL is the number one priority. With a restored commercial banking sector (run initially by the government in bankruptcy reorganization (which the government is very capable of) if need be) commercial investing can restart. Economies are demand driven. Money in the hands of buyers will have a multiplier effect. Jobs fuel jobs.

[-] 1 points by Cocreator (306) 12 years ago

seize the assets of all criminal elite,estimated in excess 500 trillion dollars and distribute the wealth to all people,the ones they have been robbing for generations.. Eliminate the Pope,the Catholic Mafia, The dope dealing Queen of England,Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Bushes,Harrimans, Ford, Carnegie,Bilderbergs and any other dastardly villians who might be trying to destroy us..

[-] 1 points by GregOrr (113) 12 years ago

Arturo, check out http://the99vote.com - propose and vote on public policies for the 99%.

We've got Glass-Steagall - http://the99vote.com/idea/US69 - but feel free to add your ideas in any form / combination.

Hope to see you on the site - these are valuable ideas.

Thanks, Greg

[-] 1 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 12 years ago

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out.

[-] 1 points by richardkentgates (3269) 12 years ago

Nowhere did you mention wages or retention of wealth at the level of wealth creation. Wealth is created when a tangible product is created or introduced to the system. Not even services create wealth and damn sure not the banks, only production serves this purpose.

You simply reformatted the economy to do exactly what it has been doing for 40+ years except you make the government the wage-slave masters instead of banks. If it could actually gain traction and also provide results, it would only be for another few decades before we end up right back here. What part of this do you people not fucking understand. Capitalism requires demand, without it there is no capitalism. For fuck sake, without demand, there can be no economic system of any kind. Stop protecting the aristocracy while playing to populism, it's disgusting.

[-] 1 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 12 years ago

Services do create wealth, or at least one service, education, does. I believe that wealth is the capacity of the economic system to improve itself, and education is an essential part of that.

What has been suggested here has little to do with the economy of the past 40 years. It has more to do with the economy under FDR or JFK, when working people, with no higher education, made enough money to buy homes and cars, send their kids to college and allow the wife to stay home from work, if that's what was wanted.

What put us into our situation today was America's adoption of British free trade policies and the abandonment of our own "American School" of economics:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_School_%28economics%29

I see nothing particularly impressive in your capacity to throw around profanities and petty insults, nor in anything else you've written.

[-] 1 points by richardkentgates (3269) 12 years ago

Where do schools get the books from? Do they teach under the open sky and use the ground for toilets? Everything in civilization begins at the hand of labor. Everything.

The idea that you can educate your way out of poverty is ludicrous at best. I work with people everyday, in a labor capacity, in a restaurant, that have a masters, so on and so forth.

Are you going to educate the population so completely that there will be nobody left to work in fast food, or are you at some level willing to concede to leaving an entire segment of the population open for continued exploitation in such low wage positions?

The education talking point is only that, a talking point. It will not and cannot fix the problem of the 1% siphoning off the value of production. Sure, education is good and nobody is saying that it's the opposite of good, but it's like replacing a tire when the car is broken.

Nothing you offer will fix the core problem of inequality and a failing global economy. The basics have been thrown out in favor of delusion and rationalization. We need some of the things you wrote about but they are safeguards and were designed as safeguards. They are not solutions.

[-] 1 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 12 years ago

The program presented here is intended to produce lots, millions, of good paying jobs for workers. Educations provides people with the capacity to protect their own rights. What more is it that you are asking for?

[-] 1 points by richardkentgates (3269) 12 years ago

Nothing you presented will create jobs. Nothing you've written even leans toward an explanation of how it creates jobs. I'm sure showing a direct link between this article and jobs is primarily because one does not "Create Jobs". It's a talking point used by both parties that summarizes in two words a false notion that job growth can be attributed to an authority figure. Jobs are the result of increased demand, not financial regulation or the nationalizing of the Federal Reserve.

Again, education is a long term issue that will not "create jobs" nor can it abolish inequity. I'm not saying your ideas are worthless. What I'm saying is that you are offering safeguards when a solution is required. The title of the thread also indicates that you feel you are offering solutions but that is simply not the case and I'm pretty sure you're intelligent enough to know the difference. You just choose to ignore it for purposes unknown.

[-] 1 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 12 years ago

So by "increased demand" are you talking about "the invisible hand" of the economy or what? I'm beginning to suspect that you are talking about Austrian economics.

[-] 2 points by richardkentgates (3269) 12 years ago

http://news.cnet.com/A-return-to-demand-driven-capitalism/2010-1071_3-281312.html

Demand is just that, demand. As in supply and demand. Basic economics. If the real economy had adequate demand to justify the level of profits being claimed by Wall Street and even the US reporting of GDP, letting a few corporations do a face-plant wouldn't have made the economy bust. The economy busted because the banks operated so far leveraged out (Fractional reserve banking) and the bluff was almost called until the government stepped in (if they hadn't bailed out the banks, the gov would have still paid out through FDIC [Glass Steagall]) and now the fed continues pumping an IV of cash into Wall Street.

There are not enough sales and transactions in the real economy to actually create the economic growth needed to fill the void left by the now fallen house of cards. The foundation has been eroded and the foundation is the consumer. The consumer has an 8.6%+ chance at unemployment, a 16%+ chance at poverty, and a 50% chance of just making ends meet. Not only are these people a tax burden to cover the cost of social services, they are lost potential consumers, Job Creators as you like to call them. This is not revolutionary or even news, it's not even advanced economics, just the basics. Apparently when you become a politician or work in the financial sector, the basics don't apply.

How do you increase demand? You must get cash into the hands of those who will spend it. You can do this through deflation (Take that you 1%ers) or through increasing wages. More jobs, yes of course (Nobody is going to hire for the fun of it). Demand must come first, then jobs will follow and yes it has a snowball effect.

Then, you need to quickly find a way to keep wages proportionate to inflation. The cost is always shifted right back onto the consumer through price inflation so ultimately it does nothing. A wage policy or law that requires a wage adjustment for inflation annually without the need to pass a new law each time, would accomplish this. Will others like the company owner or shareholders have to eat the cost in the form of smaller profits? Of course they will, they will have to share the profits with the people who actually create the profit to begin with.

It's amazing how common sense all of this is but it's blasphemy to both socialists and capitalists, Democrats and Republicans alike.

[-] 1 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 12 years ago

Personally, I don't believe that it is just sales and transactions that create economic growth, because that is just consumption. What differentiates human beings from animals is that we use fire, and this requires the consumption of fuel. As we consume fuel, our fuel source eventually runs out, so we have to, through scientific progress, gain access to new and better sources of energy.

So I believe that the scientific process, and the implementation of science through technology, particularly in infrastructure, is what creates economic growth. Consumption by itself will not create "growth" and in fact will take us backwards if we consume the resources that are readily available to us, without developing ways to gain access to new and better resources.

[-] 2 points by richardkentgates (3269) 12 years ago

"I don't believe that it is just sales and transactions that create economic growth"

Then you are in agreement with Wall Street. You are also part of the problem. You have traded in common sense and your own education in favor of free market talking points. The only way to profit without a sale is embezzlement.

Fuel requires labor, getting it to market requires a series of sales and various forms of labor. Everything starts at labor. You seem to be having a hard time with the scope of what labor is and where it fits in to civilization.

Take sales out of capitalism, what are you left with? Absolutely nothing.

Take labor out of civilization, what are you left with? Absolutely nothing.

These things are the foundation for both civilization and capitalism. Without them you have nothing yet you downplay them as accessories to the fact. At this point I can assume you to be nothing more than another campaign hack. Good luck.

[-] 1 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 12 years ago

I'm not talking about "profit" I'm talking about economic development, the improvement of the economy. Your focus on profit suggests to me that it is your mind which is the captive of Wall Street.

Sales and labor without improvement through science will consume themselves leaving nothing but an empty wasteland behind.

[-] 1 points by richardkentgates (3269) 12 years ago

Take sales and profit out of "Economic Development", now what do you have? Absolutely nothing.

I'm not trying to be personally disrespectful so don't take offense. Forums are for debate and this is the issue I push almost daily. If you have some information that shows a direct link between your suggestions and jobs or economic growth, feel free to share. General ideas and cultured talking points are not debate material unless you're a politician.

[-] 1 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 12 years ago

Even all time highs can be improved.

Furthermore, how can our productivity in manufacturing be high when most of our manufacturing industry has been eliminated? Perhaps it is high for those few remaining manufacturing jobs, but we need to re-establish many of the high tech, high paid, highly productive manufacturing jobs in the US.

This could be done through projects like NAWAPA which would require a lot of manufactured good for the development of infrastructure. Once we regained our capacity to manufacture for our own infrastructure, we could export to China, for example, rather than just giving the Chinese our debt in return for their manufactured consumer goods.

There are many high tech items the Chinese would like to buy from us if we began to manufacture them for export. This would do much to balance our trade deficit with China.

[-] 1 points by richardkentgates (3269) 12 years ago

These are all good ideas but you need a foundation for initial and sustainable growth. If you have a large portion of society receiving aid rather than creating demand, all other efforts will be ineffective at economic development. It doesn't even have to be raising the minimum wage but some how you must shift the working class paradigm to one of demand rather than dependency.

[-] 1 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 12 years ago

One example would be the boom in the US economy following FDR's investment in infrastructure through his New Deal policies.

Another would be the boom in the economy which followed JFK's development of the space program. Its said that $10 in terms of economic development resulted from every dollar invested into the program. A whole new industry was created, the aerospace industry, which provided high paying jobs for both white collar and blue collar workers.

[-] 1 points by richardkentgates (3269) 12 years ago

So those projects did not involve sales? Labor?


FDR and minimum wage

http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/flsa1938.htm


[-] 1 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 12 years ago

Recovery and development have always been the same thing. Our economy is depressed because our government has not invested anything into developing it for the last fifty years. If we do not move forwards, we inevitably move backwards.

The improvement of labor involves the development of people through education as well as by providing them with advanced tools. This would include public infrastructure, such as facilities for generating electricity, as well as private infrastructure, such as advanced machine tools for manufacturing.

When labor is "developed" in this way, it becomes capable of producing at a higher level, that is, more units produced per person, and better quality units produced per person.

Development of the worker in this way is what created the high wage worker of the past in America, that is, the worker who was able, without a college education, to afford a car, a home, recreation and education for his children.

You see, it really is not vague at all. Most people have just been rendered incapable of thinking in these terms by the information war that has been conducted against us by the financial oligarchy.

[-] 1 points by richardkentgates (3269) 12 years ago

Yes, and everyone loves puppies. This is not revolutionary but again, it's long form talking points.

I'm not sure what it is you are debating or why you think these vague terms and talking points actually amount to a plan of action. Raising the minimum wage is a very specific action that has measurable impact. If your points do not contain enough information to asses it's impact, they are not actionable suggestions. If it has an impact but it does little or nothing to gain ground on the target issue, they are not actionable suggestions. Again, I'm not against any of your talking points, they just aren't useful as a plan of action.

We need most of the things you talk about but they are vague and not relevant to a recovery.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recovery

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/economic+development

FYI: If you have two red objects and one is a circle, that does not mean both things are a circle.

[-] 1 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 12 years ago

Sure they involved labor, but this post was about economic "development", the improvement of the economy. Economic development involves the improvement of labor, that is, increasing the efficiency of labor, through the implementation of science and technology.

Such improvement of labor is what makes it possible to pay higher wages to laborers, while producing products at a lower cost, and selling them for lower prices - a win, win, win situation.

[-] 1 points by richardkentgates (3269) 12 years ago

Now you're talking in circles. The article of yours is about a recovery plan. When did recovery and development become the same thing?

What is the "improvement of labor"? Another vague reference.

You are still unable to connect your talking points to jobs, either directly or indirectly. You're unable to solidify your own talking points and are you unable to disprove the idea of recovery through increased wages. What exactly are you debating?

[-] 0 points by arturo (3169) from Shanghai, Shanghai 12 years ago

I hear that you are uncertain and that these ideas sound vague to you, but I'm sure that with continued effort you will become capable of comprehending these ideas with greater clarity.

These are ideas that have already worked for the US, there is no debating that. Plans for their implementation exist in minute detail, certainly more information than I could possibly post here.

Raising the minimum wage is specific, but having a good reason to raise the minimum wage, such as the increased the productivity of the workers, is even more important.

And by the way, if you have two red objects and both are circles, that does indeed mean that both are circles.

[-] 1 points by richardkentgates (3269) 12 years ago

Productivity is at record highs. The information for that, is also out there.