Forum Post: A Simple Solution to the Problems that Started This Mess...
Posted 11 years ago on Sept. 11, 2012, 1:08 p.m. EST by SingleVoice
(158)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
It seems to me that if we want to fix what caused the meltdown, it is up to us. No one in Congress not even the President has done anything to fix it. The Dodd-Frank bill does nothing to fix the cause and most of that bill has not even been written. What has been written is weak. It's all smoke and mirrors. Congress doesn't want to fix what has gotten them rich by being in the banks' back pocket. Both parties created the mess but neither will clean it up unless we speak up with specific demands and threaten their jobs.
There are easier ways to get it done than trying to change the constitution as I've heard on this site by many. It's not the constitution. It's the abuse of power by Congress to pass laws that benefit one or two groups rather than all the people that has corrupted our government and hurt its people. Instead we should work within the system and go over the heads of congress.
Where to start? As I see it, the financial sector started the mess and that's where we need to start to fix it. I think the 3 major goals to start with is to break up the banks and sever the ties between the banks and the politicians, outlaw sub prime mortgages (that take advantage of high risk mortgagees) which the banks in turn bundle and sell as derivatives, gambling with people's lives and money and finally, return to the Gold Standard to take the money manipulation out of the hands of the Fed and strengthen our dollar. We could move on to other things after we take care of the financial sector.
The simplest way to achieve these goals would be for EVERYONE to contact the people running for Congress in their state and district (from ALL parties) and demand that they promise to reinstate Glass-Steagle (abolished in 1998) to separate the banks back into depositor or investment banks as they were for 65 years. Secondly, demand that they outlaw sub-prime mortgages to stabilize the housing market (repeal the Community Reinvestment Act). The banks are still creating these toxic derivatives out of the high risk mortgages they are still granting and bundling and selling them for profit, risking yet more of our money that we have spent to bail them out. Nothing has changed to fix what caused the meltdown and on this path we will have to bail them out again before too long because they now know that Congress will bail them out. (Did you know that the Dodd-Frank bill has more bailouts included in it if the banks fail again?) Lastly, demand that these candidates push to go back to the gold standard to stop the manipulation of money by the Fed. That would cause an immediate increase in the value of our dollar. The income inequality that has grown since the 1990s is a direct result of these 3 things and congress is complicit in all of it. The wealth created by these means have not been for goods and services but from money manipulation. Let the people running for office now know that we are aware of what caused the meltdown and we want it fixed now. We won't vote for anyone that doesn't push for these changes and make them a part of their platform, no matter the party they represent.
Also, let them know that we will impose our own term limits if they don't make good on their promise to do these things. Term limits would stop the cronyism in Washington but since that would take a constitutional amendment, we will impose our own term limits. Get it right or you're gone. No matter the party.
If we can elect candidates that will do the things we need to break up the banks and stabilize the financial market, it will send a message to others who are not up for re-election in this cycle. State and district candidates are much easier to reach by phone, email, facebook, twitter and many voices among their constituents would be powerful. You need to be open to vote for any candidate from any party that furthers this agenda.
Keep in mind that if we continue to elect candidates that do what we want and remove politicians that have gotten rich by cozying up to the big banks and making laws to benefit themselves and screw us, the ones in office will become afraid of losing their power and will make the changes we insist on or we will keep our word and fire them. Remember that career politicians may have come to Washington to serve the people initially but the longer they are there, the more it becomes about the power and wealth they can achieve being bought and paid for.
If we can get a congress that works for us, the presidential race becomes inconsequential. The President only signs bills or vetoes them. With a large majority in Congress, any veto can be overridden and the President is forced to sign. We can then vote our conscience and principles instead of the lesser of 2 evils in the Presidential elections. We can vote 3rd party if we want and make a statement by that vote that we are no longer servants to the 2 party system. That would also wake them up.
http://ampedstatus.com/part-iv-the-financial-coup-detat-the-economic-elite-vs-the-people-of-the-united-states-of-america/ (This is from 2010 but still explains much)
http://reason.org/studies/show/what-caused-the-meltdown-a-fin
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/aug/06/financial-crisis-25-people-heart-meltdown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/16/whose-policies-led-to-the-credit-crisis/
Your right with all your reasons with one more. I believe there is one more problem that is overlooked. There is a huge problem that was caused by businesses not paying to the government the withholding taxes that were withheld. When a business fails to give to the gov't the withholding taxes, the gov't can't meet its budget. So why is the government allowing businesses to withhold employees' withholding taxes if that business didn't pay the withholding taxes from the year past and owes taxes. It makes no sense. If all taxpayers paid their taxes directly, it would eliminate the middleman- business not paying the government the money they took from the employees. Change of the tax laws are needed. Until this happens, every other problem just adds to the main underlying problem that our government has. http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-corporate-abuse
There are some cases where you CAN exempt yourself from withholding now. If you get a refund of ALL of your taxes paid in, you can file an exemption and not have to pay any withholding. However, the employer must still take out Social Security and Medicare taxes. Social Security and Medicare are matched by your employer so you WANT him to pay those or you would be responsible for all of it instead of just your share.
What I do is when I fill out my W-4 form for the company, I take the most deductions allowed. It varies depending on circumstances, but in my case I claim 6 exemptions even tho I only have 1. That way I get the most in my paycheck but I have to pay at the end of the year. I figure I would rather pay my own taxes than letting the gov't or my employer hold them and collect any interest on that money. Most people prefer to get the refund so they'd rather pay it in each week. I don't.
Back to your point, however, it's a good point but it can wait until we change the congress in our favor. Then we can demand tax reform. I'm personally in favor of a fair tax or at the least a flat tax.
The fair tax stops tax payers from being taxed twice on the same income. It is unconstitutional to be taxed twice but the 16th amendment allowed for it to pay for WWII. It was supposed to be a temporary tax but we all know how that ended up. With the fair tax, you keep all your income but pay tax only on your purchases. Food and medicine are exempt from tax.
The flat tax is just a flat percentage you pay the gov't. Lower incomes pay less of a percentage (10%) than higher incomes (25%). It gets rid of all loopholes and different tax rates.
Whether you agree or not, I think there is a lot of room for debate on tax reform but we need to fix congress first and by keeping our demands limited initially, we have a better chance of appealing to a larger public of all political parties with a concise message that would actually work if people would do it.
Of course we should bring back GS But as long as the Banksters can give their employees in Wasington millions to keep the banks "safe" nothing will happen
Our final goal: get money out of politics
do that with an amendment overturning CU & Corporate personhood
do that by electing people who favor such an amendment.
the punch line to this story is that 80% of Americans ALREADY agree with this
You've just made my point. My point is to get rid of the crooks in congress paid by Wall St for more than 20 years to change the laws that took us to our knees in 2008 and pad their pockets. These same politicians are STILL in Washington, STILL getting rich on our backs, writing so-called reform laws that do nothing to fix the cause but keep enriching their cause-politicians of both parties. Getting the money out of Washington has to do with getting the crooks out of Washington and then electing new leaders that adhere to our demands (the 3 goals listed in my post) no matter the party, and if they don't push for our agendas, we fire them. If they work for the banks, we fire them. We impose our own term limits on them and fire them.
If we get congress to work for us, the Pres election and the CU money won't matter as much. I think fixing our financial sector is more important than anything else at this moment to make our money worth more, stabilize our housing market and break up the big banks. Until we fight for Glass-Steagle, delete sub-primes and get rid of the Fed, our economy will not heal. The dollar will continue to fall while the Fed decides to print more. The banks will continue to take advantage of people that can't afford the loans they continue to write and bundle and the banks keep getting bigger as they invest more of our money into their high risk schemes.
It's simpler to start with only 3 goals on a nationwide scale but geared to state and district congressional elections that more than just OWS protesters can agree to. The 3 goals I've brought up have a majority of Americans behind them from all walks of life and both parties and would be easily adopted by the majority if we just bring it to light on a major scale. To make things happen, we need a clear message that a majority can get on board with and make happen. Getting the corrupt congressional leaders out of congress is the most important move we can make as well as forcing people we elect to adopt the 3 goals I listed as their initial platform.
Money will make less of a difference when the politician's are more afraid of losing their job. Constitutional amendments are difficult to get through and take many years even decades. It will take getting the right people in Congress to begin with to even take it up. It's much easier to make a politician fear his electorate might vote him out. Overturning CU will take a congress working for us to do that. It is better to first work to get a congress working for us and then adding more to our agenda. Instead of a long laundry list, we need to keep to a few important items that the majority can agree with but will go far to impede the banks influence.
You are asking a lot from a very apathetic public.
I guess I expect people on a website geared around trying to come together to find solutions to fix big problems to actually be serious about trying to fix things. I didn't think I was asking a lot of people to want to fix the core problem-congress, with a little work to promote a platform that could go nationwide if pushed enough. OWS with a real message...what was I thinking.
People complain so much on this site that you have to wonder, do they really want to change things or is this just a way to socialize and nothing more. Kind of ironic that people involved in a movement to make change would be apathetic to actually doing something to make the change happen. Maybe some will read it and act. I'll just keep saying it to more and more people on different sites and different media platforms until more and more decide that it makes sense. I guess the public that is apathetic is just using this site as a social gathering place to either appear concerned or intelligent or spread partisan propaganda. So sad.
Thanks for reading it. I tried.