Forum Post: Goals For Taking America Back From The Top 1% That Own It
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 31, 2011, 5:14 a.m. EST by fwankie123
(490)
from Immokalee, FL
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Get the Fair Elections Now Act passed into law and require new FCC regulations granting 100% FREE air time to all federal candidates who obtain sufficient petition signatures and/or votes to get on the ballot and participate in the primaries and/or electoral process.
Start electing candidates who voluntarily refuse to take over $100.00 per campaign contribution.
End the "revolving door" of politicians and their staffs from ever becoming becoming lobbyists and prohibit all federal public employees, officers, officials from ever being employed by any corporation, individual or business that they specifically regulated while in office.
Break up the biggest banks. Reenact Glass-Steagall. Derivatives must be traded on transparent exchanges. Tax all financial transactions at 1% ($400 billion a year).
End the wars. Reduce the military budget by half ($275 billion).
Medicare For All. Allow Medicare to purchase drugs directly. Give MEDPAC more authority to drive down medical costs.
Create a fair and progressive federal tax code with a top rate of 70%. Eliminate corporate loopholes, unfair tax breaks, exemptions and deductions, subsidies and end all tax havens.
New Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to create millions of jobs rebuilding America.
Great job. They are all there.
I think that they are a good prioritized order for the most part. What is necessary immediately for a movement, and what would be the work of a legislature of true representatives of the people, can vary.
1 through 3 give a chance to have representative government and that gives potential and hope for solutions to the problems that 99% of our nation suffers.
4 gives a direct response to the Wall Street behavior that has drastically harmed the nation and the "too big to fail" entities that are a demonstrated enduring threat to our nation.
Perhaps 8 should also be included with the package, though frankly, government will do nothing if we cannot fund it, so left to its own, an honest government that desires to address problems will raise funds to do so on its own. At that point we would expect our representatives to eliminate tax loopholes and firm up our national funding.
5,6, and 8 are the kinds of things that a funded, representative, congress might be expected to take up. Health care is currently an unfinished and unsatisfactorily legislated solution. Ending the wars is something that is already under way. Creating jobs will be the main focus of an "honest" congress (if that isn't truly an oxymoron).
Overall, I'd have to say that this is the list that is on my mind. You hit them all
Good start on ideas to add to a list to be debated, prioritized and refined into an actual plan.
I like the list, though I suspect it is too ambitious and too left-leaning for the majority of Americans (I am for the single-payer health care system, or perhaps slightly subsidized by the patient [pick up 2% of the tab so you don’t ever have an incentive to cry-wolf for any old reason, i.e. to get a doctor’s note to ditch a day of work], but the ignorant, the wealthy, and those who are in cushy positions in the health care industry aren't likely to go for that at this time, as exemplified by their recent reactions to “Obama care”). If I were you, I'd repost with 1-3, 5, 8, 4 without the last sentence, and 7 without the first sentence. The people we need to convince (many of which don't already agree) are often foolishly enough to think they will be multi-millionaires someday (even though the odds are tremendously stacked against them). This is often why they are willing to vote against their current financial interests.
So instead I would leave 7 up for debate about an actual percentile cap on income tax. Maybe something vague and not so radical like: "Amend the federal income tax code to cap somewhere between 37-50% depending on mild consensus (or approximately 57% of respondents in national polling that includes at least half cell phone lines on their call lists)." This may not be as dramatic a change as you ultimately desire, but it will have appeal to people you will need to convince to get anything moving. You would also probably want to be clear about who this potential increase will effect like wage earners over HALF a million dollars PER YEAR (and indicate that it won't affect anyone else). Obama is currently pushing a million as the new tax dividing line, probably as a way of framing the argument. Despite the notion that they will be rich soon, most people know it is extraordinarily unlikely that they are going to be making more than half a million in the next few years (if ever). Also, on 7, many people count on an income tax deduction based on the interest of their mortgages, so you wouldn't want this to change (right away) for people who are already having troubling paying their mortgages. You should probably specify that write-off for wages beneath some level would still apply, and even then I'm not sure how this would affect the countless several small business owners, many of which use this system legitimately, though it is sometimes abused. A sudden move on this could cause unintended consequences.
Also, with #4, most moderate Republicans and many independents will only hear additional-"TAX INCREASE" from the last sentence. Reenacting Glass-Steagall seems fundamentally important (and I don't think the Dodd-Frank Bill did that, I'm not certain). Ideally you get enough from either the income-tax cap raise on high incomes or a capital gains tax hike (mentioned below), or both to avoid much more austerity from the 99%. Plus I'm not sure if that 1% on all transactions would really be a progressive tax, it seems like it is more regressive.
A few editorial notes: I had good guesses, but even I wasn't exactly sure what WPA and CCC stood, so you might want to spell it out: "Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)". Also, in #3 you repeated the word "becoming".
After telling you all they hear is taxes:...You may also want a vague line in there about capitol gains taxes increasing...capital gains taxes are the lower taxes paid on investment returns (businesses and individuals invested often get to write off losses in their income tax...socialism for the rich). I forget what that rate is at, but I want to say it is at least 10% lower than wage-earned income tax. You get taxed more if you actually do work for it as opposed to having money work for you in the market (again socialism for the rich). A bold move would be to recommend that this be taxed at the same rate/percent as what someone making 5 times the national average pays in income taxes...it seems fair and then maybe the income tax increase wouldn't have to increase as much.
Finally, just as a reminder, while I came with a critical eye, I'm on your side. I wouldn't offer this much criticism if I didn't take you seriously. A large part of my criticism as to do with what will be palatable for the majority. It is too bad that so many are convinced they have superstar earning potential in their near futures. But a worthy proposal will have appeal greater than the Occupy Wall St. Movement itself. Whether you stick with this one or amend it, you should put together argument paragraphs with corresponding numbers to the list of desires/wishes/demands. Good luck.
Cheers from Xenop "Zen Op" Murphy of California, midnightmurphy@hotmail.com
Murphy,
Thanks for the post. You are obviously an earnest and engaged participant. I want you to know that I appreciate that. The pendulum of public opinion is moving in a new direction now thanks to OWS. If the pendulum swings far enough, all of these things are possible.
I like most, but you can shove it with #8. Relying on criminals is ALWAYS a bad idea.
We have 25 million people unemployed or underemployed! You just want to sit there?
There ya go! I nominate you as the Goals Facilitator!
thanks
Hi Fwankie, Good Post. Best Regards, Nevada
thanks
Fail
Succeed
Ok to be fair, 2, 6, 7,8 are fails, rest ok
thanks
....sounds like the economy recovery act that Detroit has been using for 50 years....nice. Go get 'em, tiger!!!.....you dumb ass ......
what???
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