Forum Post: The Official OWS List Of Goals For Changing The Course Of American History...
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 28, 2011, 8:46 a.m. EST by DavidGilbert
(64)
from Tampa, FL
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
More Democracy - Real campaign finance reform with public financing of federal elections. A constitutional amendment reversing the Supreme Court's bizarre rulings that under the First Amendment money is speech and corporations are people. End the filibuster - the continued tyranny of 40, the number of senators who can block action—perhaps representing as little as 10 percent of the American public.
More Jobs - A ten-year federal program that creates over 30 million jobs rebuilding America that includes infrastructure banks run by engineers, not politicians and a massive clean energy initiative that links some of those new jobs to workers in fossil fuel industries who otherwise would be displaced. Pay for it by taxing all Wall St. financial transactions at 1% raises $400 billion a year, end the wars and reduce military spending.
End The Housing Crisis - A national anti-foreclosure plan that is up to the scale of the problem would include principal write-downs of underwater loans, expanded refinancings for borrowers in high-rate loans, and forbearance for unemployed homeowners.
Reduce Financial Risk To Society - Break up the biggest banks. Reenact Glass-Steagall. Abolish credit default swaps. Derivatives must be traded on transparent exchanges. Ban "flash" trading.
A Fair Federal Tax Code - progressive taxation where the marginal tax rate should be raised to 50 percent on income between $500,000 and $5 million, 60 percent on income between $5 million and $15 million, and 70 percent on income over $15 million. There should be a 2 percent annual surtax on all fortunes over $7 million. The estate tax should be 55 percent and kicks in after $5 million. Capital gains should be taxed at 35 percent. End the home mortgage deduction on first homes over $1 million. End the home mortgage deduction on all second homes. Corporations should be taxed by a variable amount based on the percentage of their payroll going to US workers. A small business employing 100% US workers should be taxed somewhere between 15-20% while a company that has completely shifted its production overseas should be in the 50% range. Eliminate corporate loopholes, unfair tax breaks, exemptions and deductions, subsidies, end offshore tax haven abuse. Expatriation of capital should be subject to a maximum tax-rate penalty with violation considered a felony act.
Social Fairness - The fast-growing occupations in America are lower-paying service jobs, like home health care and food service, in which it’s all but impossible to make a living. To lift wages requires generous tax credits for low earners, a higher minimum wage, and guaranteed health care so that wages are not consumed by medical costs. Job training efforts must also focus on the service sector, helping to build so-called career ladders, say, from home health aid to licensed vocational nurse.
Better Schools - Copy Finland. Finland draws its teachers from the top 10 percent of college graduates, and teaching regularly beats out finance, law or medicine as a top career choice among high performers. It doesn't hurt that Finland's teachers study education at government expense and receive strong professional support throughout their careers. Properly compensate effective teachers. End tenure and LIFO for k-12 teachers nationwide and weed out the bottom 10%.
Protect The Environment - STRICTLY enforce the Clean Air Act.
If you really want to get Wall Street and the banks attention, stop paying your mortgage. Most people are afraid to do this because the bank will foreclose on them and their credit will be trashed. But if all (many) people stop paying, the banks can't foreclose on all the properties and they don't want to, either. They are not in the real estate business, they are in the money business. As for the credit reporting companies they will not be able to report on all the delinquencies as it would be too overwhelming to do so. There has to be an organized grassroots movement to recruit lots of mortgagee's do this and a target date for action. Just think if all people stopped paying their mortgage that would hit the banks where it hurts and you will really get the attention of Wall Street!
a lot of people are already doing that because their mortgage is underwater
These are all important issues to be bringing to candidates for Congress, the White House and state legislatures. The most effective way that OWS can move its agenda of social and economic change forward is to confront all incumbents and candidates with these issues. Hit them with letters faxed to their offices. Hit them on the campaign trail. At every campaign stop.
Equally important is to know which incumbent members of congress actually voted for the repeal of Glass-Steagall causing the financial collapse of America.
SEE: The Congress that Crashed America
http://home.ptd.net/~aahpat/aandc/congcrash.html
184 current members of Congress who gave Wall Street the ways and means to pillage America. And who have since protected Wall Street at the expense of the American people.
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Noam Chomsky says “it's time to move on to the next stage” in our tactics. What is that?
Occupy has three clear accomplishments: (1) it captured America's attention and focused us on the crisis we are in; (2) it pointed to the corrupting impact of big money as the root cause of the failure of our governing institutions; and (3) it avoided liberal/conservative and D/R labels.
In 2012, we in Occupy need to build a strategy around these three accomplishments.
To be specific, we should organize a national boycott of the 2012 general election (local races excepted). This will get lots of attention (it’s never been done before), will create many opportunities to discuss the corrupting impact of big money on our institutions, and will continue our unaligned status.
Aside from money, the main asset of the ruling elite is legitimacy. Nothing legitimates an elite more effectively than an election. Thus, if we want to be a catalyst for change (including constitutional amendments and laws that restructure the role of money in political campaigns), we must delegitimize the existing regime.
We can do that with a nation-wide boycott of the 2012 election.
it might be smarter to vote everyone out and start over