Forum Post: Fight Crony Capitalism Not Capitalism
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 20, 2011, 3:51 p.m. EST by xmr8861
(16)
from Lansing Charter Township, MI
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I don’t think anti capitalism sentiment is going to gain much traction with the 99% across the country. However, anti crony capitalism and democracy will probably capture the attention of a vast majority of the 99%. I like to think of capitalism the way Winston Churchill thought of democracy: It’s the worst system there is except for all the others that’s been tried. Here is a high level rough outline of some ideas to drill into. I would like to see a discussion on how to realistically approach solutions to these problems.
- End legalized corruption in lobbying at federal and state level. (Everyone does their lobbying at the ballot box or by writing their representatives – no money changes hands)
- End legalized corruption in campaign financing. (Reduce money needed through using public financing, c-span, Internet, pbs etc.)
- Reform and simplify the US tax code in a way that is just and fair. (Reduce wasteful spending. Prioritize spending – infrastructure, education, social security, Medicare, etc. keeping in mind the country is approaching 15 trillion in debt)
- Champion fair trade over free trade. (Free trade as it has been practiced over the last 30 years may be one of the biggest reasons so much wealth is accumulating around the 1%)
- Energy independence for America by disengaging from the Middle East and its oil. (The money we send to the Middle East for oil and spend on aircraft carrier battle groups to protect Middle East oil access would be better spent here in America on renewable energy, natural gas extraction, oil drilling and conservation)
- Incentives to manufacture in America more of what we consume. (Jobs Jobs Jobs)
Dead on. Capitalism is not the enemy, it's the money in Washington. I sure wish this thing would gain some focus. There's a single issue here, and it's a big one, but it's in danger of getting lost in all this static.
It's understandable that people spend a lot of time focusing on symptoms of underlying problems because it's easier to see symptoms than it is root causes. In the above list I have tried to identify some root causes of our problems and am sure there are things that could be added. At some point the OWS Movement will have to coalesce around viable solutions to the cause of problems and be able to sell those solutions to the majority of the 99% if it hopes to affect change. I am hoping to see more discussion on the above issues and other issues that aren't listed. Thanks for your comment.
I'm with you. I'm looking for this thing to coalesce around something a little more focused, and something that stays clear of anything that can be labeled as conservative or liberal, democratic or republican. Those issues serve to divide the 99%. Getting the money out of Washington is something everyone can get behind.
I'd love to see the discussion center around that. Maybe they should create two separate forums, one for this, and another for the anything esle anyone wants to talk about.
Until we all enter a mature consideration of self understanding , reality itself , our individual patterns and conditions, and become responsible for our reactions and reacuring patterns we won't be able to transcend our egoic action (me me me iii self self self) to create a global cooperative forum based on prior unity of human kind.
not two is peace by Adi Da Samraj
I love this. Thanks for articulating these points so clearly - this is one of the more nuanced and thoughtful takes on our situation that I've seen. And I love the Winston Churchill analogy - that's a good way of putting it.
There are all excellent ideas, so perhaps you would consider our group's proposal, in addition to yours, of an alternative online direct democracy of government and business at http://getsatisfaction.com/americanselect/topics/on_strategically_weighted_policies_organizational_operating_structures_tactical_investment_procedures-448eo and then direct questions or comments to our group's 19 members committed to that plan at: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/StrategicInternationalSystems/
Thanks for the links, I will study them and respond later.
Good, I'm hope you like it and join our group at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/StrategicInternationalSystems/ because we look forward to your asking questions seeking clarification about our 48 Tactical Investment Procedures, for such questions are the most important part of any coordinated action; that is, keeping ourselves informed of our various perspectives is important because our collective knowledge is 10 times greater than our individual knowledge, agreed?
trade and ownership are the problems.
life should be about love and sharing.
Good List xmr!!!
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2011 6:52 AM Subject: Fw: This is great--- please read and pass it on.
THIS IS GREAT - SEND IT ON... Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling: "I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election".
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure. Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.
In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
Congressional Reform Act of 2011
A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.
Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Don't you think it's time?
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!
Good stuff, but anti-crony is not going to be enough and mentioning capitalism doesn't really help.-------
ENDING criminal collusion between corporations and government WILL be recognized and is almost exactly the same message it just leaves out the political judgment and reinforces the social quality we all need.
I agree with you, the title of this post is a bit disconnected from the intent of the list. I'm thinking I might repackage and re post the list... I would still like to see if there could be some rational discussion on these topics. My dream would be to have something similar to this list be a platform for a third party formed by the 99%... but that's a real long stretch at this point.
There is a serious corruption that has to be dealt with first. The items on the list will always be rejected by the criminal, treasonous infiltrations of government in favor of ongoing collusions. That is all the media will ever show because they are a part of it.-------
Tailoring the message to fit the immediate need of change is a good idea in the public 'free-for-all" we have here. Unifying around the first, curative action, in this case, logically, article 5 of the constitution, by adding recognition of the "law of the land" by appending you user name with "art5" really helps.------
Believe it or not, by default, in this situation, NOT adding that makes it easy for any infiltrating element working to disturb cognition to paint our association with the radical, violent, criminal elements sent to damage the image on the gound and on the forum. We have no unity except this forum which is associated with the undesireable by the infiltrators. By assimilating the image of our constitution through identifying with article 5, suddenly we are associated with the millions of soldiers that have died thinking they were protecting it, It avenges their deception and use in unjust wars.
Look if you don't reject my comment right before you read I am happy. Thanks So the economical principles of an ancient country were.
These three together cut down the life line of crony capitalism Take compound interest. If you had taken $1 to the bank in the time of Jesus and got 5% interest. You would have today more than $2.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Do the math. But releasing debt and not charging any interest does not help the poor much because hard hearted people would give them anything. Therefore you need a redistributioin of basic wealth. Thanks for listening so far. The country I was talking about was Israel. It was the law of God. According to a survey 76% of people in the USA say they are Christian. If they would only learn from Christ. If some calls himself a Chrisitan and is against debt release he doesn't even understand the Lord's prayer. Forgive us our debt, as we forgive those who are endebted against us.
Jefferson advanced separation of church and state so you could have freedom of religion, and the flipside of this freedom for some is freedom from religion.
And now you know about the wisdom of separation of state and Jesus. WallSt is happy and thowing a party and you are still blinded of who the true advocate of the poor is. Who is Jefferson? A Britsh subject who got rid of paying taxes and upheld slavery. Is this arighteousness you are looking for?
here is a good link for people who don't quite agree with this post
http://www.moneytrendsresearch.com/capitalism-and-wall-st-not-the-problem-end-the-fed-occupy-d-c/
I don't see the relation? That article author wants to end the fed, OP wants money out of politics + more. Both want an end to corporatocracy, right?
of course, but it starts with limiting government so that there much less opportunities for corruption of the special interests.
check this shit
http://youtu.be/SovALlOhSg8
Do you think the first three items on the list would limit government? Do we need smarter and more efficient government or just less government?
both
It's Marxism or death
I think you misspoke, did you mean "It's Marxism and death." I'm curious, which example of a Marxist regime would you like to implement: the USSR, Chairman Mao's China, North Korea, Cuba, Pol Pot Cambodia? Be careful what you wish for, in any of these regimes an OWS like movement would be crushed out of existence without mercy and without reguard for the body count.