Forum Post: DETAILED LIST OF DEMANDS & OVERVIEW OF TACTICS FOR DC PROTEST (compiled from suggestions made in this forum) -- Please suggest additions or edits so I can propose this list to those keeping the official one.
Posted 12 years ago on Sept. 28, 2011, 7:08 a.m. EST by GandhiKingMindset
(124)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Note: If you think we should only have one demand, please click here: https://occupywallst.org/forum/the-one-single-demand-that-will-tip-the-dominos-an/
----- BELOW THIS BRIEF INTRODUCTION is a numbered "LIST OF PROPOSED DEMANDS" we would make in DC. These would not be empty demands. They would be made in the context of engaging in non-violent direct action / peaceful non-resistance, proven tactics that produce real results. Clearly the language would need to be edited and certainly grow more specific (hoping you'll help with that), but you get the idea.
TACTICS: WHY DIRECT NON-VIOLENT ACTION?
It's pretty simple. It works. It's worked for MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. Non-violent direct action is what made the civil rights movement and Indian independence from the British possilble. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: "The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation."
We should make the demands below very publicly at a press conference a few days after arriving in DC. When doing so, we should give a clear deadline of 3 days for a firm written commitment with signatures from at least 60% of members of House and 60% of the members of the Senate to pass these bills by the end of the year. If this commitment on the full slate of demands is not met by midnight on the 3rd day (which it won't be) we should be prepared to non-violently block access to all or part of the Capitol complex the next morning by traditional proven non-violent tactics. The purpose is to bring the leaders of the House and Senate to the negotiating table.
NOTE: There are always entrances because there is always a point where people who work there have to leave the public street and enter secure space. We should focus our non-violent direct action and civil disobedience on those entrances no matter where they move them because these are, by definition, always accessible.
----- LIST OF PROPOSED DEMANDS -----
- CONGRESS PASS HR 1489 REINSTATING GLASS-STEAGALL ACT. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass–Steagall_Act --- Wiki entry summary: The repeal of provisions of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933 by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act in 1999 effectively removed the separation that previously existed between investment banking which issued securities and commercial banks which accepted deposits. The deregulation also removed conflict of interest prohibitions between investment bankers serving as officers of commercial banks. Most economists believe this repeal directly contributed to the severity of the Financial crisis of 2007–2011 by allowing Wall Street investment banking firms to gamble with their depositors' money that was held in commercial banks owned or created by the investment firms. Here's detail on repeal in 1999 and how it happened: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass–Steagall_Act#Repeal . If we wanted to have a BIG IMPACT and we were able to have only one slogan that we could paint on signs and chant during marches within earshot of press, it would be "PASS HR 1489. REINSTATE GLASS-STEAGALL" or "RE-IN-STATE the ACT GLASS-STEAGALL. IT MAKES THE WALL STREET GAMES ILLEGAL"
USE CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORITY AND OVERSIGHT TO ENSURE APPROPRIATE FEDERAL AGENCIES FULLY INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE THE WALL STREET CRIMINALS who clearly broke the law and helped cause the 2008 financial crisis in the following notable cases: (insert list of the most clear cut criminal actions). There is a pretty broad consensus that there is a clear group of people who got away with millions / billions illegally and haven't been brought to justice. Boy would this be long overdue and cathartic for millions of Americans. It would also be a shot across the bow for the financial industry. If you watch the solidly researched and awared winning documentary film "Inside Job" that was narrated by Matt Damon (pretty brave Matt!) and do other research, it wouldn't take long to develop the list.
CONGRESS ENACT LEGISLATION TO PROTECT OUR DEMOCRACY BY REVERSING THE EFFECTS OF THE CITIZENS UNITED SUPREME COURT DECISION which essentially said corporations can spend as much as they want on elections. The result is that corporations can pretty much buy elections. Corporations should be highly limited in ability to contribute to political campaigns no matter what the election and no matter what the form of media. The Supreme Court decision is really weird. Read it when you have a chance. The justices who argued for unlimited corporate contributions thought that wouldn't have an adverse effect on democracy and wouldn't undermine the citizen's view of legitimacy of elections. I'm not sure there's a word for that it's so strange.
CONGRESS PASS THE BUFFETT RULE ON FAIR TAXATION SO THE RICH AND CORPORATIONS PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE & CLOSE CORPORATE TAX LOOP HOLES AND ENACT A PROHIBITION ON HIDING FUNDS OFF SHORE. No more GE paying zero or negative taxes. Pass the Buffet Rule on fair taxation so the rich pay their fair share. (If we have a really had a good negotiating position and have the place surrounded, we could actually dial up taxes on millionaires, billionaires and corporations even higher...back to what they once were in the 50's and 60's.
CONGRESS COMPLETELY REVAMP THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION and staff it at all levels with proven professionals who get the job done protecting the integrity of the marketplace so citizens and investors are both protected. This agency needs a large staff and needs to be well-funded. It's currently has a joke of a budget and is run by Wall St. insiders who often leave for high ticket cushy jobs with the corporations they were just regulating. Hmmm.
CONGRESS PASS SPECIFIC AND EFFECTIVE LAWS LIMITING THE INFLUENCE OF LOBBYISTS AND ELIMINATING THE PRACTICE OF LOBBYISTS WRITING LEGISLATION THAT ENDS UP ON THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS.
CONGRESS PASSING "Revolving Door Legislation" LEGISLATION ELIMINATING THE ABILITY OF FORMER GOVERNMENT REGULATORS GOING TO WORK FOR CORPORATIONS THAT THEY ONCE REGULATED. So, you don't get to work at the FDA for five years playing softball with Pfizer and then go to work for Pfizer making $195,000 a year. While they're at it, Congress should pass specific and effective laws to enforce strict judicial standards of conduct in matters concerning conflicts of interest. So long as judges are culled from the ranks of corporate attorneys the 1% will retain control.
ELIMINATE "PERSONHOOD" STATUS FOR CORPORATIONS (Sorry Mitt Romney)
RE-ESTABLISH THE PUBLIC AIRWAVES IN THE U.S. SO THAT POLITICAL CANDIDATES ARE GIVEN EQUAL TIME FOR FREE AT REASONABLE INTERVALS IN DAILY PROGRAMMING DURING CAMPAIGN SEASON. The same should extend to other media.
Be sure to see "Why We Fight" and "Inside Job" if you haven't already.
And keep one thing in mind. This is from Martin Luther King, Jr.:
"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation."
Here's the entire "Letter from the Birmingham Jail": http://abacus.bates.edu/admin/offices/dos/mlk/letter.html . It's a treasure and is as timely as ever.
Also, here's a short video from BBC to inspire you. It gets pretty extraordinary about halfway through: http://youtu.be/lqN3amj6AcE
Repeal the "Patriot Act" and any other legislation that allows the government to infringe on its' citizens liberties without a system of checks and balances.
Require the Supreme Court justices to hold to the same Code of Ethics that lower court justices (Review those codes of ethics for loopholes to prevent possible misuse/abuse)
Break up the "Too Big To Fail" banking institutions (sic. Bell Telephone Company)Eliminate Fractional Reserve Lending-- replace it with a model similar to Credit Unions where depositors become members/shareholders--they could only lend the actual money they have on deposit or certified collateral. This would create competition amoungst banks for depositor dollars and depositor services vs. charging fees for whatever they want just because they can.
Authorise State Banking system based on the Bank of North Dakota Model.
Nationalize the Federal Reserve Bank Let the government print its own money without paying interest to some third party (FRB). This would allow the government to basically do what the Fed currently does except it won't pay interest. Government will have control of the money supply to inject into economy and pay for the programs and its day-to-day operation (instead of creating debt by paying the fed interest on every dollar it (FED)generates out of thin air).
Investigate the FDA/USDA who have created policies in the food and drug industry that favours corporations at the expense of the individuals it was created to protect
(especially important for the current Occupy Wall Street Protest): Require the strict enforcement of the "Posse Comitatus" Act passed in 1879 which limits the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. The statute prohibits Army and Air Force personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress.
Review the current education system. Create a system of quality "free or low cost" education for those who desire to pursue higher education without being saddled with extreme debt. This will create a nation of individuals that are qualified to participate, create and inspire change without having to worry about how the heck loans are going to be repaid.
Force Media Conglomerates to divest their holdings, right now, less than a hand full of companies own all the printed, television media outlets which prohibit free speech. The failure of the media outlets to actively report on OWS protest, is proof of this.
Most importantly: PROTECT THE INTERNET and individuals rights to access-- its media free from filtering by government and corporate powers that be. The internet should NEVER be shut down! And no government or corporate entity should have the right to do so....EVER!
Review ALL so-called Terrorist Watch List to assure that those listed are listed for valid reasons and prevent abuse of citizens.
Prevent companies from shutting down cell phone and other electronic communication signals unless it meets legally instituted criteria. The airwaves are free! Never allow what happened in San Francisco to happen again. This is important especially now as people stand up and begin to speak out and organise in protest of the unfair treatment.
Has anyone else noticed how politicians have began to call "people" "folks?" Is this in an attempt to dehumanise individuals? We are People and should be addressed as such.
Check out William Stills The Secret of Oz and Money Masters on YouTube.
There are two threads on this forum that are virtually the same, one made at 6:45 and one made at 7:08. If you haven't seen the other thread you might want to take look: PROPOSED LIST OF DEMANDS [6:45]: http://occupywallst.org/forum/proposed-list-of-demands-please-help-editadd-so-th/
Top 3:
1) Equal Access Amendment: includes Citizen United, Lobbyists,Campaign finance, Media and ballot access.
2) National Resources Amendment: zero waste zero pollution new energy policy
3) Medicare for All HR 676
These are all great :D
Thank you nor choosing neutral issues!
AND DID THAT REALLY HAPPEN IN SAN FRANCISCO? Do you have an article link?
6: "CONGRESS PASSING LEGISLATION ELIMINATING THE ABILITY OF FORMER GOVERNMENT REGULATORS GOING TO WORK FOR CORPORATIONS THAT THEY ONCE REGULATED"
It's also known as the "revolving door".
These are all great! I agree with the removal of the patriot act and of all acts that intrude on our rights.
We need campaign finance reform. Because, so long as a person has to raise millions of dollars to run a campaign they will never truly be a servant for all the people. Perhaps a fund that would be evenly divided between those that advance past the primaries. And I agree there must be equal and free media time for them to present their platforms and have debates. There must be Term Limits! We need civil servants not professional politicians. That was the original idea and it can work today. When they break the law, they are tried in civil courts, they go to jail and loose all pensions and benefits and can never run for any office again. Eliminate the Electoral College and let the Presidency be ELECTED by a popular vote as true representative of all the people. Never again APPOINTED by the Supreme Court.
Um, how hard would it be to add legalizing marijuana to end the wastefulness of the war on drugs and focus it on harder drugs and rehabilitation from those drugs?
I mean if someone's drug use (or society's drug use) becomes a problem, shouldn't the money be spent in education and rehabilitation? I'm a little tired of this country's denial that weed is prevalent and plentiful and used by a huge percentage of "the people" and yet people are jailed over its use. Change this immediately.
Suggested demand:
Congress pass specific and effective laws to enforce strict judicial standards of conduct in matters concerning conflicts of interest.
So long as judges are culled from the ranks of corporate attorneys the 1% will retain control over a puppet branch of our government.
Solidarity Victory XCIX
Pretty good! I think there is one essential reform missing and that is to nationalize the Federal Reserve system. Today, the Fed is owned by a private banking cartel. They have wrecked our economy while pursuing their own financial gain. There is more to say about this than I can do here. Instead, I recommend that you read Rep. Dennis Kucinich's NEED Act, or go to monetary.org . Thanks!!
I guess I don't have that on there because I didn't think I could even describe what kind of legislation could make that happen. Is there a bill already in line HR __ that would do that?
Yes there is an actual act introduced in the House. It would make the Fed owned by the government as well as have money created to provide for full employment. There are many references to it on the web. You can use Google to find these. You might go to the actual bill that Rep. Kucinich introduced: http://www.kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/NEED_Act_FINAL_112th.pdf .
MY DEEP GRATITUDE FOR ALL EVERYONE IS DOING!
Forgive me. This is one thing I'm not up on. Can you answer a few questions briefly for me?
Does this bill HR __ have any chance of passing even with pressure of direct action? How would you compare its chances compared to the other 9 demands I've listed? I suppose I'm picturing extra resistance not associated with some of the others but maybe that's not the case. Just my impression.
Are there many "mainstream" supporters we could point to? Not saying thats required but trying to get a handle on this.
Many around the country in the "mainstream" support many of the 9 demands I listed. Is that the case for the fed provision you're suggesting? Again, that doesn't change the need but I'm just trying to get a sense of whether some might say this FED one is throwing the list off because it's so impossible. Not saying that's the case. And not afraid of a challenge. I'm not a mainstream guy but I just want to get done what's possible with extraordinary effort :)
There is support. Believe it or not even Glenn Beck did a segment on this with G Edward Griffin. Then he spun it trying to tie unions into it. Amazing. Point being, the knowledge is out there.
It's a necessary step in fixing our economic system.
Currently the banks create most of the money by lending. They only lend when times are good creating bubbles that cause recession when they collapse, then they won't lend which makes the recessions deeper and longer.
The monetary system has been changed a number of times before and this system is performing poorly at best.
Yes.yes.
This comment was also included in part on the long discussion website.
Demand 5 about the stock market is a good start. But it doesn't go far enough. It doesn't address the major problem.
The entire stock market has been corrupted from the fundamental reason for its creation. It was originally created to help BUSINESSES raise money to start and grow. What we have now is mostly just GAMBLING. The whole market is very much like a Ponzi scheme. It is also a "negative sum" game. Except for the initial investors, people can gain in the market only as long as prices go up. BUT, like a Ponzi scheme, the last one holding a stock when the price falls loses big. And, like a casino, for every trade, the HOUSE takes a cut! We need to stop the GAMBLING.
What should be done is to separate the stock market into a PRIMARY and SECONDARY market.
The primary market is the IPO investments. The rules for this need to be tightened up a lot. ALL citizens should be able to invest in these as simply as they buy stocks now, and no special deals should be available to company or other investors.
The secondary market, where stocks are just traded as gambling, should be controlled by a version of the RICO commission. A very important provision for this market is that NO bank deposits or pension funds should be allowed to participate in the secondary market.
As for the commodities market, a similar division should be made. Protecting businesses from climate variations should be handled with insurance. Speculation should be moved to the RICO commission and limits placed on who can invest and which commodities can participate.
These provisions should be added to demand 5 or another demand should be added to cover them.
My own suggested list:http://occupier777.angelfire.com/
My list is both about changes to the political system to make it more representative, less corrupt, and a lot more transparent. On top of a few other popular ideas.
Will NYC allow the other states to submit demands? Will they prevent the other states from expressing demands? WE MUST HAVE BALLOT ACCESS. We can not continue to go back and forth between Republicans and Democrats or we will be right back here in this devastating moment. We MUST HEAR MORE ideas.
@occupythegreenparty, I added a longish discussion about this as a comment to LibertyFirst's comment above. I think my approach may be a little radical even for OWS. But it shows that there can be some very different ways to approach our problems which solve many problems in one fell swoop. My concept is discussed at length at http://A3society.org Democracy tab - Plural Democracy.
I was introduced to something and so I haven't been around. Too bad this forum doesn't send me an email when someone responds. It did tell me that someone already started a post called Resource Based Economy but I can't seem to locate it.
Resource Based Economy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gKX9TWRyfs
What about Equal Access to our elections? Ballot Access Reform. All states must be equal (14th amendment) http://www.ballot-access.org/winger/iba.html Also all candidates that make the ballot must make the debates. Otherwise we will be right back where we started. All of your laws can be reversed AGAIN when the tide turns against us. An amendment for our election security is a MUST. Can I get some feedback on that Ghandikingmindset?
3, #6, #8, #9 are INCLUDED in the Equal Access Amendment which ALSO addresses Ballot Access that your list does not address.
Re. #9 I urge that this demand include language explicitly extending its pertinence to candidates of other parties than the "two major" ones. The stranglehold of the Two-Party system is a primary cause of sloganeering substituting for thought in American politics. More to the point, it is the reason why those with money are able to continue to amass power--because the viable options in American politics are restricted to an increasingly narrow band of the political spectrum, while giving the appearance of "debate."
Thank You! I thought no one else was concerned about this
I support the movement and I think that most of your demands are valid attempts to address the correct causes of our present situation. But….
In demanding that the current government create or change policies, you are trusting the foxes to guard the hen house. You are not dealing with an honest broker. Our corrupt government and its corporate puppet masters have been enacting legislation for decades that looks like it is going to be good for the people, while in actuality, it benefits only the 1%. You may get them to reinstate Glass-Steagall, for example, but I guarantee they will create new loopholes and/or other new legislation to ensure the status quo. There is a reason that legislation is so voluminous and complex you need a law degree and a staff to understand it–this is how they hide the loopholes and they are very good at it. If the movement's demands end up being a list of policy changes, at some point they will agree to change policy, the movement will rejoice, disban and they will promptly fuck us over anew.
In order to get any real change, we need first to have a legislature we can trust. This is an enormous challenge and I am not exactly sure how this can be accomplished–maybe we can figure that out together.
So as not to get caught up in too many details now, run with me for a minute on the big picture. Let's say we fire the entire congress–like a nationwide recall. We ensure an honest election system for their replacements, including ensuring their is no corporate, big money or dem/rep influence. There is an equal playing field for all candidates, etc. and it is clear to them that if they get into office and even talk to a lobbyist, we will yank them back so fast their heads will spin. If we could make this happen, then we would have an honest legislature whom we could trust to enact the will of the people. Then we can demand policy change and have a reasonable shot at getting actual reform.
Right now, we are just arguing about which deal to make with the devil.
I want to address the problem about getting a legislature we can trust. This is a bigger issue than most people realize because it isn't just about minimizing influence during voting.
Society is in DENIAL about the COMPLEXITY of our modern technical world, and the limitations of human brains. People want to believe that every one of them understands enough that they could be leaders of the country. People want to believe that, even if politicians argue about the pros and cons of an issue, those pros and cons EXPLAIN the whole issue. Therefore, they conclude that regular, average people, who they think politicians should be, are capable of running a government. They want to believe this "other" American dream – that their kid can grow up to be President. The problem is, none of this will work using the current system of government.
The U.S. Government was designed for a simple minded, very small population, homogeneous, agricultural society that needed 2 weeks to send a message by stage coach from one end to the other. Laws didn't have to be complex. Today's world requires complex thinking, has a population that covers the globe, power tools, automation, chemistry, electronics, high speed world wide transportation, and instantaneous world wide communications. No human is capable of understanding it all any more. And very few laws can be so simple that there are only two alternative models which can be chosen by a vote.
In short, the whole structure of a "legislature" needs to be re-invented. It wouldn't resemble anything we have now. Instead of a power based representative model, it would be a technically based, service model. The "legislators" would have to be very smart and capable specialist and systems analysts. They would be selected for their ability to COOPERATE. Their jobs would be to develop programs and laws, not to polarize an issue, but to address as many citizen views as possible within the constraints of sustaining life and happiness on the planet.
Using LibertyFirst's analogy, we are being forced to make a devil's deal because when we look at the existing governing models, all we see are flames and devils. We don't have a clue what an opposite realm might look like. To understand this point further, take a look at A3society.org under the Democracy tab. The Plural Democracy page has such an example.
I would like a Congressional investigation into the Supreme Court and the possible conflicts of interest by some of their members, specifically Thomas and Scallia.
This post right here; and all those commenting on this post; reminds me of when our Founding Fathers drafted our original Constitution in 1776. You people are brilliant! I am following your every step of the way and I think it is incredible! Keep going! Take Wall Street to Washington D.C. !!!!
You obviously have not read the founding fathers--you lot wouldn't last 5 seconds in a debate with them because they truly were brilliant while you are all dim.
Resource Based Economy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gKX9TWRyfs
I'm from DC, and please take this well: You can't expect to give Congress a list of 9 demands and expect it to get all done...maybe I'm wrong, but I feel first you have to learn how to play the Hill Game, you chip away at it until you get it all...
Education is the KEY, once the masses know we are going to break-up the banks and create the even playing field we had after the Great Depression until 1999--They will rise up with up! Which was, of course, before the Lobbyist spent a reported 5 billion to throw out G-S act, and a year after our CFTC Act, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Modernization_Act_of_2000 which this new Act deregulated energy markets too. Cheers.
I agree with you, but this is a national, almost international movement. We should be broad in our scope.
I believe that in order to take our protest to the next level, we need to try and change policy, and back representatives who will champion our causes. We should let people vote on a list of ten or fifteen, and those policies that get the most votes are those that we will champion.
I am going to put a list i have been thinking of, just as a starting place. I hope this idea can take root, and grow, and that we can try and push for something concrete. These are in order of my preferences.
A non aggression pact: We want our representatives to end pre emptive strikes on nations that are a so called threat to our sovereignty. (Kinda like a Grover Noquist pact but for the use of military force, unless its to aid peoples oppressed by their autocratic regimes ie. Syria.)
Campaign Finance reform: an end to protection of money as an expression of free speech when it comes to campaigns, and a limit to campaign spending.
Higher taxes for the top earners of the united states.
An end to subsidies for oil companies, and Private jets.
Return Capital gains tax rates to the Pre Bush levels, if not higher
Lower pay for the house and senate. I think that a representative and a senator should make $120,000 dollars a year, and no more. (I know that it wont save a lot of money, but it will send that message that we the people do not approve of the job that our elected officials are doing.
No trading will be permitted by our elected officials, and all private funds of elected officials must be placed in a blind fund to disallow trading based on inside information.
KL
If you want to talk about subsidies, it should also be mentioned that we subsidise agribusiness quite heavily. Just saying.
Eliminate the electoral college so that the presdent is elected by popular vote of the American People, and definately take money out of politics, all political advertising for public office should be public service anouncements only and free to all candidates running for public office.
As one who sees himself as a capitalist I agree with most of these demands. Much of what I have seen or heard on the radio or online has had quite different feel -- a very anti-capitalist sentiment. These demands don't reflect the media's interpretation. But, who would trust the media these days. "3" is fine but I do want to be able to spend as much of my personal money on what or whom ever I wish. "6" and "7" I would say it will be easier to enact legislation that states that if politicians or regulators want to engage in those sorts of activities then they loose all their entitlements and must repay the cost of all the benefits they received while in those positions. That way the govt is not telling people what king of work they can do, but it better be worth it to do it. This way the tax payers are repaid and the conflict removed. "9" is pointless in my opinion and brings up more problems than it could ever solve, but the door is not closed for me on this one.
If this truly is the core of the movement then I am on board with this. This are demands even the Tea Party can get behind. Which is what will be required in order to do something meaningful. I have more to say but I think I need to read more first. Cheers!
Create service like the military whose mission is a peaceful rebuilding of our nation's infrastructure as opposed to war.
Repeal Bush Tax Cuts
Repeal Bush Tax Cuts, its a good start.
11 Reasons Why Occupy Wall Street Protesters Are Hypocrites If They Do Not Call For Barack Obama To Resign http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/11-reasons-why-occupy-wall-street-protesters-are-hypocrites-if-they-do-not-call-for-barack-obama-to-resign
MEANS of enacting DEMANDS once OWS figures them out: White House website sponsored petition PUBLIC VOTE on the COMPETING FINAL DEMOCRATIC vs FINAL REPUBLICAN vs INDEPENDENT VERSIONS of a CONGRESSIONAL BILL. http://wh.gov/bhC For example, both the Republican and Democratic parties claim to have tax code and healthcare reform plans, etc. Fine, put them in writing. Here the media polls and media talk shows would have something real to talk about before submitting the competing versions to the final decision-making responsibility of We the People.
OWS protesters could act on this SIGNING STATEMENT demanding a PUBLIC VOTE OPTION be incorporated as a new legislative continuing JOINT RESOLUTION. Binding on Congress itself to pass along the public majority winning version of a bill to the President. The legislative precedent being no legal difference between a joint resolution and a bill.
White House rules are Petitions receiving 25,000 votes in 30 days, are referred to evaluation followed by official White House statement. Petitions CANNOT be SEARCHED on WHITE HOUSE WEBSITE until it gets 150 VOTES. This link, same as above, is only way to initiate petition: http://wh.gov/bhC
Legislative PUBLIC VOTE OPTION re-strikes the BALANCE OF POWER between representation and democracy, effecting CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM via re-directing the CASH FLOW. Not sure how? Sign the petition and find out, effect starts immediately.
Not bad. It is practical but needs to be more specific. How about all lobbying done via email and open to public scrutiny. No gifts, trips etc. And what about addressing health care? Single payer is inevitable.
we need to fight to reduce everyones first mortgage to 1%. Give a 1% loan to all who lost their home regardless of their credit !!! Lets get the banks back for getting us in this mess in the first place!!!
we need to fight to reduce everyones first mortgage to 1%. Give a 1% loan to all who lost their home regardless of their credit !!! Lets get the banks back for getting us in this mess in the first place!!!
Wiki Occupy Wall Street
http://www.wikioccupywallst.org
United We Stand ! Let's Build it Together ! Yes we are Us . . .
Federal elections should last one week instead of one day so that the peoples voice can be heard more clearly.
I can actually agree with all of those. Good luck with getting other countries to cooperate though. Should fix ourselves internally first, then work on swaying other countries.
Great list, but political TERM LIMITS and CAMPAIGN FINANCE are missing here, and are at the root of most of our problems. We must (1) Demand term limits for our elected representatives both at the Federal and State levels and Supreme Court. We must also (2) Implement Campaign Finance Reform.
TERM LIMITS: Currently, there are no term limits for Senators or Representatives in the House at the federal level. The Supreme Court voted against States setting term limits for their representatives. The Supreme Court justices themselves have no term limits. If it's good enough for the president, it's good enough for our representatives and top judges.Senators should be limited to two 6-year term limits and Representatives in the House to four 2-year terms. Supreme Court justices should be similarly limited to no more than 12 years. States should set similar limits. No elected representative should remain in office for over 12 years.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM: Campaigns should be run from a pool of public funds allowed for any candidate. No private money should be allowed in campaigns.
Today it is Wall Street and Defense Contractors, tomorrow, who knows. Unless we strike at the heart of the problem, our symptoms will arise again and take another form. Our problems are structural, we need to fix the foundation before we can begin building.
Thank you for listening.
Return to Original rules of "incorperation" by the framers. Corporate charters (licenses to exist) were granted for a limited time and could be revoked promptly for violating laws.
Corporations could not own stock in other corporations nor own any property that was not essential to fulfilling their chartered purpose. *Corporations were often terminated if they exceeded their authority or caused public harm.
Owners and managers were responsible for criminal acts committed on the job.
Corporations could not make any political or charitable contributions nor spend money to influence law-making.
lifted from: http://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate_accountability/history_corporations_us.html
I suggest an increase in the minimum wage. I don't know how anyone can live off of ~$7.50/hr in NYC. :\
Agreed. Lets get these demands into smart one liners that people watching will understand. If Michael Moore and others with money want to help they can shut their yap and send truckloads of signs with these one liners.
Suggested sign: Yellow, Plastic, Black lettering, 24"wide by 30" tall affixed to a 4 to 5 foot tall wooden pole
REINSTATE GLASS-STEAGALL
PROSECUTE NOW
ELIMINATE CORPORATE "PERSONHOOD"
Any more ideas?
Sounds like you right in the back pocket of Obama and the left-wing. It is obvious you all know less than nothing about why the sub-prime crisis happened--it began with democrats during the Clinton regime getting into bed with James Johnson at Fannie Mae, who set the template for Wall Street to follow the extreme economics of Fannie Mae. So why stop at putting Wall Street types in prison? Why not include those involved in the incestuous relationship with Fannie and Freddie i.e. Bill Clinton, Barney Frank, Henry Gonzalez, Larry Summers, Chris Dodd etc etc etc. Bottom line, you are missing the forest for the trees and your brand of left-wing socialism will prove no better than any other brand of socialism. I suggest you all go somewhere where your theories are already being tried and tested for there many socialist nations faltering all around the world just waiting for fresh recruits who are willing to quixotically swing at windmills. In the end, I doubt any of you would be doing this if it weren't for the stipend you're getting paid, the drugs, and free condemns.
Suggestions:
20% of the country's wealth has been destroyed and not a single person has been convicted, much less indicted.
REVIEW ALL COMMISSION AND INCOME DATA FOR 2000 to 2008 ON WALL STREET. RECAPTURE/CLAWBACK ALL COMMISSION INCOME.
Wall Street has iron control over the country’s economic policies and that both parties are wholly owned subsidiaries.
ELIMINATE THIS.
24 million people cannot find a full time job, that 50 million cannot afford to see a doctor when they are sick, that 47 million need the government’s help to feed themselves.
IMMEDIATE FEDERAL INFRASTRUCTURE REPAIR JOBS PROGRAM. HEALTH CARE, NOT HEALTH INSURANCE, FOR ALL.
15 million families owe more on their home than it is worth.
ELIMINATE - CANCEL ALL PREDATORY LOANS. WRITE NEW NONPREDATORY LOANS.
MOVE MONEY FROM BANKS TO CREDIT UNIONS.
Pass constitutional amendment prohibiting private contributions to election campaigns, this will take it out of the hands of the supreme court. A suggested amendment is at http://getmoneyout.com
A Green Progressive Party would be to our interest to explore.
These ideas you have listed could turn America around, thank you for your efforts to make America a better place.
some additional ideas: ~Health care for all, Open Medicare for everyone. The idea some die because they have no coverage is cruel and inhumane. ~Create a law/s where lies will NOT be rewarded anymore. If a sitting politician is caught in a falsehood or deliberate lie, they must give up their seat and resign. It is an embarrassment to hear our politicians on a daily basis lie, distort and spin non facts as truth. ~Stop outsourcing America...send Halliburton packing!
~Stop ALL American WARS NOW! ~Stop voter suppression and any other tactic to keep citizens from the voting booth. For all the talk about spreading democracy, then suppress our own citizens is hypocrisy at the highest level. ~Place a heavy tax on all Corps that send there jobs to other countries, or kick them OUT of America all together. Who needs Corps that deliberately work against America ideals.
Please march on the Supreme Court. Citizens United has got to be repealed. C Thomas is a disgrace to the human race, and he sits as a supreme being. What a flip-pen embarrassment he is!
We as Americans demand the following:
We demand Cheaper & More. We demand not facing the terrible truth of our greed and the fact that we directly support Wall street and it's Products. We want more & cheaper.
I really respect and admire you guys.You are the true heroes of this country.Keep the pressure on.They will have to comply to some degree.I also agree to all the demands proposed,but wanted to add one more that I hope everybody agrees on.And it is to eliminate once and for all,the Electoral College.It is a ridiculous process that opens up even more opportunities of corruption to the system.The election results should be decided by popular vote,don't you think?My best to all of you.Keep up the fight!!!
P.S. - Fox News Lies!!! That was classic!!! I love you guys.
Please add this to the laundry list!
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. _ (2010), was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that the First Amendment protects corporate and union funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections. The 5–4 decision originated in a dispute over whether the non-profit corporation Citizens United could air a film critical of Hillary Clinton, and whether the group could advertise the film in broadcast ads featuring Clinton's image, in apparent violation of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, commonly known as the McCain–Feingold Act, in reference to its primary Senate sponsors.[2]
I would definitely use the "the-one-single-demand-that-will-tip-the-dominos" architecture... way more to be gained for All.... further it provides time for refinment every step of the way.... GREAT JOB ALL
push congress to end bush tax cuts , rebuild America bridges and roads , invest in middle class not banking class thats the occupy wall street message
Then... there IS this!..... http://www.thepetitionsite.com/8/stop-the-corruption-on-wall-street/
It's a Petition that was written By the On Line Retail Investors who KNOW the Facts about the Crimes on Wall Street.. and how it abuses America. ...... Read the Facts, all substantiated.. then Sign it!
While Citizens United surely and truly sucks, shouldnt we, a movement like OWS, go for nothing less than full out publicly funded campaigns?
Many of us have long bemoaned the corrupting impact of private money in elections, PRIOR to CU. Many have long been saying that EVERY ISSUE is negatively impacted regarding change for the better due to the influence of money in politics, prior to the CU decision. I think going for the real deal re how to fund campaigns democratically and in a socially responsible way is the way to go for a movement like OWS - a movement of, for and by the people and a real democracy for a change.
EXACTLY!
10.Repeal the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) of 2000, which removed the OTC-derivative market from all federal regulation.
11.Repeal the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 which established states as the primary regulators of insurance and exempted the insurance industry from parts of the Sherman Antitrust Act and a handful of other antitrust laws
GREAT STEP toward Medicare For All!
Demand the stop of stock short selling stocks. This is nothing more than bets by Wall Street that the American Economy will fail. The practice is where stock brokers short sell stock that they never ever paid a penny for in the first place.. It's an accounting ploy where they can make virtual purchases of shares at a higher prices and betting that the price will fall and then they sell them at the lower price. They are destroying the market right now and this is perpetuating the view by average americans that the economy is MUCH MUCH worst than it is and so average Joe main street stops buying products and services because they hear on the nightly news the markets are plummeting and thereby they see their retirement accounts wiped out all the while these stock brokers are making billions as the markets continue to free fall. In fact, the brokers would loose billions if the market goes back up, they don't want to see this happen. Again, they pay zero dollars for this stock but yet they make billions short selling the stock as the stock prices falls.. It's incentivises the market, and the economy, to plummet while wiping out average Americans retirement accounts and teachers pension funds.. These are the Hedge Fund Companies you hear about. They are in business to do this practice... Please add this..
You mean Naked Short Selling.
I may have missed it, but where's the demand that business's stop off shoring our jobs for cheaper labor off shore. Heavily penalize businesses that fire here and hire there....
ultimately, you are not in a position and nobody is to brainstorm up mere demands. demands are stupid and infantile. complaints and then problem defintions and then detailed problem solutions are great. that requires time and homework to generate, not bong hits and then a brainstormed imagine yourself as emperor of the world Scrawl. this kind of thing does not help the movement, it just gives the powers that be ammo against us and prevents meaningful conversations which have depth or open source research and problem solving because you and everyone else imagines we can just skip all the steps and churn out "demands." Listen to the other people in the movement who are wisely saying NO to demands lists. I have demands, they are to the movement itself- thats where the real game is.
"Would you rather have war in this land? Do not confront me work with me...Civil unrest could very well lead to civil war... This list will prevent civil war.... Infantile, we are all infants in conciseness, which explains your poor choice of words.... You should be telling me how to make the list better not how it will never work."
? gawdoftruth (Santa Barbara, CA) 1 points 0 seconds ago
no, you need to drop making lists of demands. period. until you do open source research and science centered problem solving with other people, you have nothing to say worth repeating. your brain storming in ignorance. it sounds really really awesome to you- but for many people your tone def. Making demands is itself a sign of infantilism. period. Take responsibility and start working the problems in a deep and real way. I should not have to run through this further with you. This is a ludicrous sense of direction, it is not helping the movement and its not useful or meaningful for long term strategy in fact all it is is a giant set of red rings to give the pundits a clear target.
I don't want war. how i stop the war is to work the problems in a deep way and address the war. Not make demands. I'm an adult, not a seven year old, not a hostage taker, not a terrorist. I don't make demands, i communicate evolutionary truths. If ten thousand people follow my example we can have an evolution. If you run around like a bunch of punk alpha dominant azzholes, i promise you, all of your demands will lead to nothing but scorn and alienation.
but i can expect that we will find good solid means to that end instead of self sabotaging means to that end. Change your communication strategy. These are main political issues which you find to be critical. Now ask people to join you in reasearching them and working on these problems open source. You think you have the end product. instead you have a starting point. remove the "demands" from "demands" and replace with "these are the issues i want to discuss which seem critical to me." There you go. Thats the real process. "Demands " is itself what big Bruddah wants precisely because that makes us the ones holding wall street hostage. Domestic terrorism even when called non violent is still in essence domestic terrorism. Terrorists issue demands. Evolutionary patriots form think tanks.
Bravo gawdoftruth!
I am reminded of the line in the movie "Remains of the Day" 1993 (8 Oscar Nominations) spoken by the American Congressman played by Christopher Reeve to a conference of Nazi appeasers in the castle of a British aristocrat prior to the battle for Britain, "You are, all of you, amateurs. And international affairs should never be run by gentlemen amateurs. Do you have any idea of what sort of place the world is becoming all around you? The days when you could just act out of your noble instincts, are over. Europe has become the arena of realpolitik, the politics of reality. If you like: real politics. What you need is not gentlemen politicians, but real ones. You need professionals to run your affairs, or you're headed for disaster!"
These are main political issues which we find to be critical.
thanks. this bit was somehow mysteriously deleted from my computer. just goes to show people should pay closer attention.
i'm hurting them and they know it and so they are somehow hacking my computer with viruses and etc.
it would be neat if more people would realize and wake up and listen...
While I feel that you are addressing the right Snake, I would suggest you strike closer to the head, the private Federal Reserve Bank, IMF, and all other Central Banks. As this stands, it is a fine document, but it should be presented in a more professional manner, please, no contractions, ie: it's. Also, personal comments should certainly be removed.
While I feel that you are addressing the right Snake, I would suggest you strike closer to the head, the private Federal Reserve Bank, IMF, and all other Central Banks. As this stands, it is a fine document, but it should be presented in a more professional manner, please, no contractions, ie: it's. Also, personal comments should certainly be removed.
the only thing that matters right now is CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM, unless you get the big money out of politics, no change whatsoever will occur, this should be the focus of the protests, we need to have honest politicians that work for the public before any thing else can get done, campaign finance reform (ending corporate personhood, kicking the lobbyists out of the Washington) is the perfect starting point. It really is a no brainer that this should be the one thing we can all agree on. Because unless we do this, all those other demands that people have will never be addressed, not in a millions years.
make it simpler and deeper than "ending corporate personhood" and clearer and more specific than "campaign finance reform." We didnt have CU until a short while ago and we had CFR way before then. And elections and politics in general were terribly corrupted by money. It blocked meaningful change for the better on every issue for decades.
Publicly funded campaigns. Period.
I would like all the OWS protesters to consider this... If all the protesters wore Polo shirts and Dockers, it would change opinion of the movement in a positive direction. Can you imagine the reaction of viewers seeing a "clean cut citizen" being beaten, pepper sprayed and arrested? I personally have been judged by my appearance, and learned that to be taken seriously, you must dress the part. People do judge the book by the cover. The majority of hatred being spewed by the right wing, is about the protesters appearance and/or hygiene. Remove that argument, by supplying a uniform of Polo shirts and Dockers. It would be money well spent...
We need these comments separated into topics, it is getting hard look through them all.
The Currency Manipulation Bill to allow damages caused by China's currency devaluations should be supported immediately since it is in the Senate now.
58,000 factories were moved to China over the last 10 years directly resulting in 5 million unemployed and indirectly resulting in maybe 10 million more unemployed.
Factories were moved to China to take advantage of China's devaluations since 1980 which made everything in China 1/5 - 1/2 their former cost in US dollars and the US government didn't counter the devaluation.
The US didn't counter China's devaluations because the corporations lobbied the Congress and President not to intervene so they could manufacture in China very cheaply in US dollars then sell the products in the US at the same price as when it was made in the US since they made the same products resulting in huge profits.
The US didn't imposed a VAT tax on imports like all of the major trading countries to protect it's jobs and industries because it would have reduced the huge profits on imports from China.
Since prices haven't come down due to competition even though costs have come down on products made in China it seems price-fixing is occurring on products made in China and imported to the US which should be investigated.
The reason all the bickering is going on about the Chinese currency devaluation and sending jobs off shore is that people are reacting emotionally to very shallow claims about what is really going on and political speak designed to stir people up. Neither of these issues is the fundamental issue.
Start with "sending jobs offshore". This phrase is an emotional smoke screen. What it is hiding is a very different reality. And that is, that as communication and transportation technolgy improved, global commerce improved. The U.S. was asleep while other countries learned to produce MUCH SUPERIOR products at much lower cost. This began with the Japanese in the '70s and '80s. While U.S. manufacturing still thought production defect rates of 2% were "normal", Japan began shipping product, using "high tech machines" ( not just cheap labor ) with defect rates lower than 1 part per MILLION at 1/10 the cost of American parts. The Irony in all of this is that the Japanese were taught how to do this by an American: W. Edwards Demming. American industry REFUSED to pay any attention to him. NO JOB was actually sent to Japan, just as we never claim jobs are sent from one U.S. company to another, when a new firm out competes an old firm. It's just pure competition.
The irony is that the availability of better goods at cheaper prices is actually a large BOON for the country that receives the goods. This is true whether the low cost comes from better production methods OR currency pricing. The tragedy occurs when the country receiving this benefit gets lost in its internal corruption and political wars and fails to use the benefits of the low cost goods to IMPROVE its society. And that's what the U.S. has done! Instead of using the BOON in goods to improve our infrastructure, to clean up the environment for everyone, to raise the standard of living for the poor, to improve education, etc. , the value was converted into $$$ by Wall Street and hoarded by the 1%. And because so many of us got a piece of the action, we went along with it.
The BIG thing the U.S. failed to do was get our heads out of the weeds and try to understand what life could look like with all the new CHANGES: what will "jobs" even look like? What will families look like, or careers? We are still hanging on to old ideas. If we don't look IN DETAIL at our future and understand world sustainability, we will surely lose it..
Most of the stuff I've seen and bought that was made in China is of terrible quality and priced the same as when it was made in the US. Anti-Trust price-fixing for sure.
NOT TRUE. China devalued its currency from 1.5 Yuan per US dollar to 8 Yuan per US dollar making everything in China 80% OFF.
100,000 US factories moved to China to take advantage of their 80% OFF deal but the products made in China at 80% OFF are priced the same as when they were made in the US.
This indicates Anti-Trust price-fixing which is subject to triple damages and should be a few Trillion dollars.
China is suppose to help its people and seems to have done a very good job.
I love this list of demands but where is there anything in here about taking down the patriot act? With the patriot act in place, the executive branch of government simply has too much power. And when are we planning on ending our US occupation in the 100's of bases we have over seas? The longer we allow and perpetuate this endless war, the longer we will let our government rob us through funding those useless bombs.
I'd like to see a provision that prevents the president, CIA or any other gov. entity or pub./private collaboration, or civilian for that matter (since war is increasingly being privatized) from conducting any operations that may lead to a loss of life without a full vote in the House and Senate. Consequenses and enforcement will be a vital part of that but I don't know what to propose. I just want to stop the assasinations, the wars, conflicts, gov. contractors, CIA, etc. from operating in secret and with impunity when our founding fathers clearly intended acts of war to be national decisions made by our elected representatives.
I like this list. I don't like the single demand. It sells short the extent of the problems in this country and makes it look as if we can be easily compromised. I also have to ask what we can do to help get jobs back in America. There must be some way to reduce outsourcing, for instance, and help put America back to work. I believe it was primarily the lack of jobs that pushed things to the brink.
As I mentioned elsewhere about jobs, when we create the image of sending jobs over seas, or outsourcing, the words are misleading us. So, what can we do to get jobs back in America? This is actually a much more complex and much, much more serious a problem than we are being told.
All the proposals being presented, by either political party, are doomed to fail, because they are oblivious to the real problems. Those problems are: automation, global competition, saturation of goods, population growth and expectations, exhaustion of natural resources, AND failure of society to understand and adapt to how these forces interact.
In short, during only the last 200 years, humanity has learned how to replace human labor with power driven machines. In the last 50 years, we have learned how to replace human thinking with computers. Once a machine is designed, it takes very little effort to duplicate it to make goods for 1 thousand people or 1 million, or 1 billion. The goods can also be made much cheaper than they can by human labor. Simple! But, humanity DOES NOT WANT TO FACE UP TO THIS! They want to believe in the "nostalgia" of the small family farm, but at the same time, want to pay the low prices only achievable by a large automated farm. Our society is living in DENIAL.
We want access to products from all over the world, but don't want to face up to the differences in labor cost and productivity around the world. We fill our houses with so much stuff, many people need to rent storage rooms to hold their "excess" stuff. When "we", as consumers, don't have any room for more STUFF and stop buying it, "we", as workers, complain that "we", meaning everyone else, aren't buying enough. Our society is living in DENIAL.
As the population explodes into the 7B range, all 7B want the machines to make more stuff! They want to live like "Americans". BUT, there is a problem! The earth's natural resources are approaching DEPLETION! All the easy resources to get are gone: 50% of forests – gone. 90% of fish and wildlife – gone. 50% of hospitalizations are due to lack of clean water. Metals are experiencing shortages in every category. Medical drugs are now being rationed because of shortages. 33 nations are at risk of social unrest due to food shortages. SO, what does society refuse to face? The hard mathematics of growth and population. READ THIS CAREFULLY! More people live on earth today than ALL the humans who ever lived before 1970! That means, in the next 40 years or so, humanity will "try" to extract the same amount of resources from the earth that have already been taken during the whole length of civilization! And if we've already used more than 50%, how can we possibly do it?
The point is, this isn't just about U.S. jobs. It's about world wide jobs. Because without natural resources, nothing can be produced. So, in only a few years, the Chinese, Indians and Europeans will also be looking for work because key natural resources won't be available. The armies of workers Obama wants to employ fixing roads and building schools will be out of work again.
The entire world, except for food production and basic necessities, will be forced into service jobs. We will all become students, teachers, football players and rock stars. And THAT'S what congress has to wake up to. We need the philosophical leadership to understand and transition society to a completely service economy.
What does that mean for today?
Congress should immediately role the standard work week back from 40 hours to 32 hours.
They should strictly enforce overtime, which should be expanded to cover ALL professions. Overtime should also be "person" based. That is, if a person works 2 jobs. As soon as they go over 32 hours in a week, they must be put on overtime pay.
The minimum wage should be raised to $10 per hour.
The job shortage would disappear overnight. The plight of many people in poverty would be eased. Budget neutral: NO TAX INCREASES OR CUTS. NO GOVERNMENT PROGRAM INCREASES OR CUTS.
See the US government program to develop Fusion energy which should produce ample power and be demonstrated within a year or so(probably right before elections) strange its hardly ever mentioned even though they have been building the reactor for 20 years:
http://lasers.llnl.gov
No CO2, very very very little radiation, gigantic fuel supply, can be used to burn up all current waste nuclear fuel which current reactors only get 2% of its energy out.
I wish the Fusion energy project at Livermore was as promising as you think. But I have bad news. In 1977, I was an engineer on that project. We had a joke about it - that the light coming out of the lasers was actually a "rainbow". Success aways seemed just about 2 years away. As we moved toward the "pot of gold", it kept moving away. We said 2 years for the single arm Cyclops laser; then the dual arm Argus; then the 10 arm Shiva; then the 20 arm Shiva Nova. Always just 2 years away ( at least, that's what we told congress ). As you can see, 35 years later, it's still just a "few years" away. I don't think the U.S. should stop this effort. But, I don't think we are going to get there soon, and certainly not in a form to produce commercial power.
dealing with our waste and transforming it into energy would create lots of jobs. If we could just get more Ideas/parties/people into the election sphere we might get some things moving.
58,000 factories which formerly employed 5 million US workers were moved to China over the last 10 years to take advantage of China's currency devaluations which reduced prices to 1/5-1/2 of what they were before the devaluations in US dollars.
Add in around 10 million workers from indirect jobs associated with the factories and economic activity generated and you have one of the roots of our problems.
Wonderful. Bravo and keep it up. Thank you so much for your service to our country. Another demand should be: let us have Medicare for All - the way nearly every other civilized country has.
Anyone reading my comments might ask if I have any insights about the whole U.S. medical problem. Yes. I do. This is a complex issue as well. So, just a brief summary here.
Fiddling with Medicare and Medicaid is a waste of time. The real issue is the COST of providing medical care. So, here is the key provision of my solution concept:
Start teaching basic and intermediate healthcare in the schools starting from 1st grade. By the time a student graduates from high school, every citizen should have training about equivalent to current EMTs.
Equip every household with basic telemedicine equipment that can track their personal medical needs. This would start with just: weight scale; blood pressure cuff, temperature probe, and short query menu for self reporting.
The objective of this is to relieve the ridiculous burden of trivial cases that primary physicians have to attend to.
While we are affecting change we may want to address the issue with the filibuster and intent to filibuster.
3 - violation of separation of powers, unconstitutional 4 - Can't really tax foreigners. 5 - unlikely ever to be implemented effectively 6 - Already laws in place that don't work. Try addressing the underlying problems. 7 - Kinda screws over people in those industries. If, say, you're an insurance regulator and you don't like your job at the state regulatory agency, you're banned from working anywhere else. 8 - This would make it impossible to sue a corporation 9 - Clear violation of freedom of speech. Anyways, are you going to give the "Rent is too damn high" guy the same amount of press time as Obama?
end the patriot act end the fed
Instead of the Buffet approach to taxation - implement the Fair Tax, this removes all the motivation of congressmen (and government) to yield tax breaks/codes to big corporations and wall-street alike. It removes power of the 1% who buy off our legislature and puts it squarely in the hands of the majority.
There is a serious problem with the "Fair tax". The word "fair" is a political word trying to use emotion to cover up the many faults in the "Fair tax" concept. Let me put it this way. The whole OWS effort includes an attempt to redefine the word "fair" so that it doesn't only mean value for the 1%. The word "fair" has become like "double speak" in George Orwell's novel 1984 where "all men are equal - EXCEPT, some men are more equal than others." Any uniform tax on sales is regressive against the poor.
6 -STRONGER! "Limiting the influence" is far too timid.
What sort of democracy do you want?
Not what you think is politically plausible, what do you want?
Enact legislation that removes the incentive of monetary gain from the legislative process. No monetary donations to political candidates from individuals or corporations or unions, period. Campaigns to be publicly financed, with adequate free air time given equally to all candidates. That is the only way to achieve the sort of democracy we want to see.
These are good ideas, but there are other ways as well. One of the failures of our system is that people in leadership are not required, by their job description, to broadly research and understand what alternative they have. Here are some other options:
Allow anyone: individuals, corporations, unions etc., to make as big a contribution to "elections" as they want. BUT, the contributions must go to a GENERAL ELECTION FUND which is then distributed according to law equally to all those running.
Allow anyone: individuals, corporations, unions etc., to make as big a contribution to "elections" as they want. BUT, the contributions must be identified to the "source" donor ( no hiding behind PACs ). Then, if the candidate is elected, they must ABSTAIN from any vote that would "significantly" impact any of the sources who contributed to them who's contribution favored them over any other candidate by more than $1000.
Allow anyone: individuals, corporations, unions etc., to make as big a contribution to "elections" as they want. BUT, the contributions must be identified to the "source" donor ( no hiding behind PACs ). Then, if the candidate is elected, and votes on a bill that passes, any monetary gain by a donor related to the bill must be paid to the government.
I think this speaks perfectly to one of the issues i'm most concerned about. The amount of disinformation and manipulative journalism out there is sickening. An entirely transparent platform could be developed which could stamp each stations authenticity. It would skeptically evaluate every aspect of our media's structure for being a credible source information. Rewarding those who do the right thing.
In order to retain this platforms integrity, it must be entirely transparent. Perhaps even sacrificing some of the rights of those who work for it, such as yearly audits.
This comment speaks to an important need. A system I came up with to address the transparency issue I call the National Opinion Census. ( Discussed in more detail at http://A3society.org – Government tab. ) In short, the widest possible collection of citizen views is collected from across the country and ORGANIZED for everyone to see. Comments are collected and organized as well, showing how many people endorse each point. Rating groups, like you suggested, could also chime in. There could be many of these ranging from local organizations to appropriate trade groups and colleges. The point being, it would soon become clear how the public felt about any issue without relying on any authority that had to be policed to enforce that they tell the truth.
AND remove the signature collection and other requirements to creating a political party so others can participate. Make all the states equal. requirements.
AND remove the signature collection and other requirements to creating a political party so others can participate. Make all the states equal. requirements.
This would go a long way toward making fixing the other problems through the legislative process possible.
I like all of these! I think that all of these are reasonable actions and will make a change in our society! Good job & I hope people are able to agree that these points are a great start and important to stand behind.
Reverse legislation to Banks/Investment Banks regarding Debt Ratio leverage. George W. Bush administration allow raising leverage from 3-1 to whatever goes. Some institutions leverage ratios were as high a 35-1. Meaning they could lend/burrow $35 for every $1 they had. I do not know the specific bill.
Better than that put money creation back in the hands of the government . The banks now create most money via loans which means that they create money(loans) when times are good leading to bubbles that bust and when times are not as good after bubbles bust they don't create money(loans) leading to recessions.
see a description of the problem and Rep. Dennis Kucinich's bill at http://monetary.org which also pays the debt off and puts the Fed under the government.
George W. Bush is the one who legally allowed the Banks the higher is Ratio.It was in the hands of Government. A Government owned by Banks is what we have now. Most of the too big to fail Banks, will fail with a 3% loss and it is going to happen. End the Fed is the best way forward. If citizens and IRA's ect get out of biggest Banks (Who now say they don't need our deposits) and the Fed is ended. who then takes the losses?
Their stockholders, or the government can coin money and there are probably many other options.
The taxation of religious organizations at 25% would be a great addition.
Term limits?
What do you think of a "fair tax" or like the pizza guy's 9/9/9 plan? And what about a balanced budget amendment to the constitution?
the "fair" tax is unfair, its essentially an elite scam to get the proles to argue in favor of eliminating income tax.
what do you think of the 9/9/9 it is a flat 9% income tax, 9% corporate tax, and 9% national sales tax
its probably better than the tax system we have now by a wide margin. i don't know much about it, sounds pretty straight forward... if we are going to have taxes i think a flat flat flat percent based taxed on those 3 things is about right.
that is the complete plan. it was presented by rep presidential candidate Herman Cain. CEO of Godfathers Pizza
huh. well, i guess even republicans can't be wrong all the time.
Until one realizes that $9.00 for the guy that makes $20,000 a year is more than $9.00 to the guy that makes $200,000 a year, you won't be able to find the right tax structure. 'Global Resource System' investigate it.
Maybe add a 9% net wealth tax and it may gain some traction or maybe 5-5-5-5 would do it.
9 is perfect. + New campaign finance laws - stricter. Force candidates to only utilize monies from the contributions from our annual taxes. therefore #9 is well applied.
You already cover #8 in #3. Add Senate confirmation of Richard Cordray for the Consumer Protection Bureau. Finalize and creation of the Consumer Protection Bureau.
Hey - It happened!
Can we eliminate the ability for politicians to keep their warchests after they've been elected? If they can't keep the money that's given to them, they can't be as effectively bought...
So you say they don't get paid?
That's a great point.
Nice to see some good ideas starting to form. Not sure how this "entrance blocking" maneuver using "proven non-violent tactics" is going to work once the pigs arrive, but awesome!
The key is having the press there. It changes everything. King and Gandhi were absolutely vigilant about making sure that happened. That was never an accident. Camera phones and video capability of phones have actually added a whole knew dynamic. King and Gandhi would have loved that aspect of technology (putting aside, for a moment the downside of those devices).
This non-violence stuff is in no way "pie in the sky". If you read history, this is very systematic and it works. Gandhi and his supporters beat the British wearing a bedsheet and King and his supporters won rights for millions of people. Did either of them get everything? No. But they got a lot and that means something for real people. People are still benefitting from what they did.
Non-violence tactics are wildly frustrating to the establishment. Creates huge tension, a good kind of tension. King put it like this:
Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation."
Here's the entire "Letter from the Birmingham Jail": http://abacus.bates.edu/admin/offices/dos/mlk/letter.html . It's a treasure and is as timely as ever.
I think the list proceeds from the narrow view of the Wall Street interests themselves. This list is a bit like the Br’er rabbit legend where Br’er rabbit begs not to be thrown into the Briar patch though he is happy to be thrown in there.
I would like to recommend much more fundamental reforms that will end the ability of Wall Street and other capitalist rent-seekers from dominating our lives. Instead finance will be made to serve our interests and our needs as a People. I call the program Path to Prosperity for US ALl (P2P4USA). You can read all about it at http://path2prosperity4.us/. Enacting the Path to Prosperity for US All initiative would render moot most of these other demands: demands which are far too subject to manipulation and erosion on their own.
Whether you think P2P4USA is too radical, too democratic, too revolutionary, or too extreme, I would like to say that merely understanding the proposals of the P2P4USA initiative will make us all far more savvy and worthy political opponents to the 1% Wall Street interests than we are today. Please take the time to understand.
It's not that I don't agree with you. I do. However, if we go for everything at once, I think it's pretty certain we get nothing. I think the key is to focus on one area (in this case Wall St. and big corporations), get a win, and then focus on another area. We need a significant portion of the general public to get behind the first wave for them to have our back (and we need that) and this list is one many could get behind.
Once we get a taste of what winning feels like, we should certainly get into the areas you're talking about. I'm not saying we should stop after we win on the list of 9 things above. I'm thinking we'll just be getting warmed up!!! :)
I understand the sentiment. However the problem with that approach is much of these remedies are the remedies Wall Street wants for itself. They do not tackle the very serious problems of our structural debt and our concentration of power in Wall Street’s reigning corporate elites who sit on interlocking boards of directors making decisions how most of the resources in our society get directed.
Even if you think this is too democratic, too extreme, too comprehensive, too radical, or too revolutionary, P2P4USA [http://path2prosperity4.us/] provides the schematic to actually fix our political economic institutions. Understanding P2P4USA will make everyone better able to advocate their own solutions.
In my 2010 Congressional campaign I also proposed an approach that could get at the worst monopoly offenders without a constitutional amendment called ‘Strategy for Socializing our Commons’[http://campaign.robburns.com/key-issues/strategy-for-socializing-our-commons]. That strategy could get us many of the proposed republican government stewardship of the natural monopoly sectors of our economy provided for in P2P4USA with a constitutional amendment and the progressive net worth tax with other non-constitutional-amendment measures. Such an approach gets us to many of the new federal administration of natural monopoly sectors of the economy called for in the P2P4USA Supporting Legislation[http://path2prosperity4.us/index.php/supporting-legislation.html] essay.
Continuing to mix Wall Street plutocrats with our representative government is a recipe for disaster. So I hope that those who occupy Wall Street will push for genuine effective reforms.
After China devalued its currency from 1.5 Yuan per US dollar before 1980 to 8 Yuan per US dollar everything in China became 80% off in US dollars(or other floating currencies).
100,000+ US corporations formerly employing 10 million US workers moved their factories to China and began exporting to the US.
I wouldn't be surprised if our products from China have been price-fixed for years even though our product were made cheaply in US dollars the consumer in the US paid about the same as when the products were made in the US.
Anti-Trust price-fixing has a penalty of triple damages and with our trade deficit adding up to $2.5 Trillion we may be able to recover very large damages.
I can get behind all of this as policy - but as communications, I respectfully submit that it is too long and wide-ranging.
I drafted a more concise declaration here:
http://warmowski.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/submitted-to-occupywallstreet-for-consideration-new-and-improved-messaging/
-NO MEMBERS OF SECRET SOCIETIES IN POLITICS
-NO INFLUENCE FROM THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX ON THE POLITICIANS
-DIRECT & TRANSPARENT DEMOCRACY
Fantastic list of demands that most should subscribe to. Focused and targets wall street. Put this up for a vote at the next GA and post on the main news page. You will get at least 79% support ;)
Anything you can do to help spread the word would be much appreciated. Maybe someone could read this at next GA since I can't be there.
Hi form an outsider,
I say outsider because I am not a member of your group, and can not see myself forming a opinion (positive or negative) about what the occupy wall street group wants to accomplish until you state what it is you want to do.
If this is what your goal is as a group then I suggest you get it on to the about page ASAP!
As I said on the Occupy Chicago site
"I think you would have much more support, press coverage, and respect if you clearly outline your mission.
Right now as far as I see the "Occupy X" movements are viewed as unorganized and are therefore easily dismissed.
How do you expect people to support you if they do not know what you stand for? "
This holds doubly true for Occupy Wall Street because you will be viewed as the parent group that all other occupy groups spawned from.
as the media turns its mighty eye on you (much like the eye of Sauron) unless you can clearly tell them what the goal of the group is they will look right past you.
The media is your greatest tool here, if they have nothing to report they will report nothing (or worse make up things to report about you) and all the people out there you are trying to reach will not get the message.
This list is clear concise and outlines the groups goals in a way the average American can comprehend.
I wish you all luck on hammering out a goal. (I hope I will agree with your goal, but even if don't i still wish you luck because at least you are doing something)
Thank you!!
You should go out to one instead of just reading the critiques. I was surprised at how organized the movement is. For better or worse this is a kind of a "direct democracy" movement, where at each general assembly they discuss proposals for demands and amendments. If you are on the fence, seriously, just go down there and listen to what the people are saying - that's how you'll form an unfiltered opinion of the movement. You'll even have a say in the result. Be well.
I was thinking of doing that, but my point was not me individually but the nation as a whole might not take the chance of going out to find out what you are about. Having a clear mission will bring in some of those fence sitters who would not otherwise take the chance.
I know it is one of my concerns, do i want to risk becoming affiliated with a group I don't clearly know the goal of? How are these people going to affect change? Are they going to just have a sit in? Or on the other extremity are they going to affect change like the Weathermen did?
You see why someone would want a more clear idea of what the movement is about?
nice list. a Transaction Tax on all stock and bond trades is something you might consider putting on the list of demands. Keep on Keeping On!
Not sure why this is such a popular idea, care to explain?
Thanks!!!
A related demand in taking back democracy is to eliminate the anti-lobbying requirement for 501c3 nonprofits. In no other country that I know of, do organizations formed for non-profit advocacy purposes have to accommodate laws that limit their right to advocate for changes in legislation. We have to make sure that this part of the political process is not treated the same as corporate lobbyists when we want to get tough on corporate lobbying. Like anything else, nonprofits can abuse any power and resources they have, especially large ones. But if we have a serious agenda to have "democracy not plutocracy" we should be able to draw the lines accurately.
I like it SIGNED
edit: there are a lot of demands, there is a lot of confusion. I think this is a good base we can start telling people. We need this. If you agree just SIGN, quote for truth, or something to this effect. This is not the end, just the beginning of something concrete. This is apeal to get something final to present, something that can be copy pasta'd.
Great point. I added that. :)
Edited
This is a great list and I support having a list of demands as opposed to a single demand. I think they should be ranked by importance. And probably shouldn't grow to be larger than 11. Probably should be smaller but these are all very good. I think you should cut 9 and 11. Since they are a bit too unrelated and broad reaching, 10 could be added to the revolving door one.
I agree with those who are looking to end military occupations and rallying behind environmental causes, but "OccupyWallStreet" doesn't connote those, so I think these banking and finance related demands are best.
How do we get this to the group for adoption?
I took your advice. Thanks. You mentioned the next step...getting this to organizers. Working on determining how best to do that. Could use help on this for both New York group and the group doing the main planning in DC. This is clearly the next step. I think first we need to get it edited down, then get it widely read so it has support and we can hone the message from feedback, then send to organizers. That was my thought but I definitely need help on getting this down to essentials. There is a fine line though that I don't think we should cross. I don't want to get it so short that a person new to this stuff couldn't understand why something is included. It can't just be a list. There has to be a quick but thorough explanation on each that is convincing to the newcomer, that gets them to adopt.
Definitely needs to be shorter but I also think it's essential to have something about tactics and also give just a bit of history / context so people realize that this is possible. Otherwise, even if they like the items on the list, they won't get excited because it all seems so daunting.
Awesome. I like the reasoning blurb - it makes the proposals accessible. I've been trying to spread this link around where I can. It's a shame posts in this forum just sort of disappear down the page.
Thanks very much. I really appreciate it.
Much of this seems to be about the economy and the banking system. It seems to me that there is no hope of saving the U.S. from bankruptcy, corruption and ruin unless the addiction to militarism and imperialism is eliminated. Therefore, I suggest calling for an immediate end to all current wars, overt and hidden, an orderly end to all foreign military occupations and bases, an open review of all CIA and other secret agent operations, orderly termination of foreign military aid, and a change of foreign policy from one designed for domination to one designed for mutual, egalitarian accomodation and peace. I think this is critical to salvaging the economy.
I agree with you. However, I feel like it would be biting off more than we can chew at the moment. I think a lot of people agree that we need to stack a win or two in our pockets before getting to the even tougher stuff. I can see how good people could disagree on this though. When I watch the award winning documentary "Why We Fight" I feel exactly what you're saying. I guess I'm thinking, let's build up our non-violent action muscles on the 8 or 9 phase one items listed.
These demands are all very well thought out, reasonable and should be met. I would, however encourage this entire movement to rally around just ONE demand.
This will allow everyone, press, public, politicians, etc. inlcluded to have a clear understanding of the movement's main motivation and rallying cry. Once that demand is met, move on to another. I've read through many press releases thus far and there is absolutely NO consensus on exactly why people are "occupying wallstreet."
Put all your efforts behind pushing over one domino and perhaps another will fall thereafter....
Thanks for the input. How about this? https://occupywallst.org/forum/the-one-single-demand-that-will-tip-the-dominos-an/
Thanks for the input. How about this??
"Reinstate the act GLASS-STEAGALL." "It makes the Wall Street games illegal."
"Reinstate the act GLASS-STEAGALL." "It makes the Wall Street games illegal."
Here's why:
Most people are beginning to conclude that this is the A #1 thing we can do. I had this confirmed earlier when I received a message this evening from someone I know on the inside at one of the big investment banking firms we all know. Here's what he said:
"If you really want to drive the higher ups in my office and others absolutely nuts, start speaking relentlessly about reinstating Glass-Steagall and Congress passing H.R. 1489."
He said if we put this on a ton of signs, talk about it relentlessly to the press, chant it like a mantra, we'll "give the guys on the top floors in the corner offices of these giant investment banking firms a coronary."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass–Steagall_Act --- Wiki entry summary: The repeal of provisions of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933 by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act effectively removed the separation that previously existed between investment banking which issued securities and commercial banks which accepted deposits. The deregulation also removed conflict of interest prohibitions between investment bankers serving as officers of commercial banks. Most economists believe this repeal directly contributed to the severity of the Financial crisis of 2007–2011 by allowing Wall Street investment banking firms to gamble with their depositors' money that was held in commercial banks owned or created by the investment firms.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-1489
For full list of suggested demands for DC, please click here: https://occupywallst.org/forum/specific-demand-and-action-list-for-washington-dc/
1 Demand --- Confront the global corporate/financial/militarist Empire which has 'captured' our former country by hiding behind the facade of its bought and owned TWO-Party modernized "Vichy" sham of faux-democratic government --- as surely as the Nazi Empire hid behind its crude single-party "Vichy" facade in France c. 1940.
This modern 21st century, post-nation-state EMPIRE is the undiagnosed seminal and causal cancer of all the distractive 'symptom problems' (and related, so-called 'identity issues) in our world today, and as Zygmunt Bauman said, "In the case of social ills, the lack of an adequate diagnosis is a primary if not critical element of the disease" (pathology).
"It's not the police, stupid." "It's not the politicians, stupid." "It's not the parties, stupid"
It's the global corporate/financial/militarist EMPIRE behind the police, behind the two phony parties, behind the media, behind the wars, behind the vast economic inequality, behind the global environmental destruction, and most dangerously behind the TWO-Party modernized "Vichy" sham of faux-democratic government --- which is the causal cancer that keeps all the people fooled all the time and insures that the understanding of, recognition of, confrontation of, and even the slightest mention of EMPIRE is never, never, never whispered by the politicians, never mentioned by the corporatist media, never hinted at by most of the internet sites, and too-seldom even mentioned by progressive web sites and their posters.
Very few people, even on the most progressive sites ever mention the Empire!
Well, someday, perhaps, before this camouflaged, disguised, hidden, and "Vichy" Empire does what the Nazi Empire did behind its earlier "Vichy" disguise in France and Europe, the American public may catch-on and stop wasting time complaining about the police, the parties, the politicians, and all the rest of the 'symptom problems' and so-called 'identity issues' of protestors, and maybe realize that "It's the Empire, stupid".
Alan MacDonald Sanford, Maine
Liberty & democracy over violent & 'Vichy' empire
New America People's Party 2012 – our last chance “Against Empire” [Parenti]
These parties seized our media, and when you control the media you control everything. There are only two choices as far as ratings dictate.
I don't mean to re-post, But this idea is just as prevalent here as it is in #6 "limiting the influence."
I think this speaks perfectly to one of the issues i'm most concerned about. The amount of disinformation and manipulative journalism out there is sickening. An entirely transparent platform could be developed which could stamp each stations authenticity. It would skeptically evaluate every aspect of our media's structure for being a credible source information. Rewarding those who do the right thing. In order to retain this platforms integrity, it must be entirely transparent. Perhaps even sacrificing some of the rights of those who work for it, such as yearly audits.
This type of solution can extend beyond the media. Certain aspects such as those in power having to sacrifice some of their rights, can easily be wielded in any area our national influencers integrity is to vital to be left up for chance.
How about something that requires the oath takers that hold office to uphold their oaths -which means you can't swear to uphold the constitution and then turn around and do everything to destroy it or say it is only a road map and doesn't really pertain - the penalty should be a complete and total loss of all benefits.
2 is a technical impossibility. Because you can't "criminally prosecute" an entity that isn't, in reality, an actual "being". However, by implementing #8, you do open the door for civil litigation on behalf of the people, with the likely outcome of breaking these corporate entities apart, and recouping at least some of the people's wealth through civil suit and bankruptcy proceedings.
4 is a tax matter, and can ONLY be resolved in congress. It cannot be "mandated" by the people directly, under provisions in the constitution. However, by introducing "honesty" into the tax system, you could then at least find "fairness" in taxation.
The rest of the issues surrounding these will eventually resolve themselves.
As for the federal reserve: it is a "reactionary" entity. Its purpose is to react to the current state of the economy. The only real improvement you could make concerning the FED, would be to create a monetary commission through congress, that would work beside the FED to determine policy directly in line with the needs of the people. In other words, if a "bailout" is warranted (as a matter of shielding the public from economic harm), it would be up to the congress to determine the validity, and long-term benefit of such bailout before any action could be taken by the FED.
And I couldn't agree more with ReyMostaza's recommendation of the federal judicial system.
I would also add a legislative requirement that ALL campaign donations be capped within reason dictated by the level of government for which a candidate is seeking election. Ban the usage of "superpac" funds which allow for unlimited campaign smear funds, used directly to sway the public opinion of an opposition candidate. If you can't win on your own merits, without smearing your opponent rather than focusing on his record, then you don't deserve the office for which you are running.
Other than that, I'd say this is off to a great start.
This is exactly what's needed. If everyone can stay on message then failure is impossible!
Right on!!
we need to fight to reduce everyones first mortgage to 1%. Give a 1% loan to all who lost their home regardless of their credit !!! Lets get the banks back for getting us in this mess in the first place!!!