Forum Post: Political Ideas to be considered in the movement
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 10, 2011, 10:14 p.m. EST by larry80088
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This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Hello, I am writing to share ideas with those that may be able to help spread them. I gathered the following in a recent post I read in and on-line political forum:
Overturn The Community Reinvestment Act and bring about sane risk based banking, loan approvals based on ability to repay, and avoid the pitfall of approving loans only to create a future problem for the taxpayer.
Outlaw Political Action Committees Prosecute the current members of Congress for crimes already committed (Jefferson for taking bribes and others for tax evasion) and prosecute others if they took bribes in return for selling their vote to special interest in detriment to the well being of America (bribes from AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc. to vote for reckless banking and low credit standards, etc.)
Bring back Glass Steagle for any bank insured by government funds. If the government is going to insure your bank deposits, then the bank should not be allowed to speculate in risky derivatives and credit default swaps and ollateralized Debt obligations. And if a business fails, let it fail. Do not allow the government to step in and prop it up. Let it fail and let the well run businesses pick up the assets for cents on the dollar and become large, more competitive well run businesses.
Securities Ratings - Pass legislation that will require any rating agency that rates securities to be held financially accountable for the ratings given. Since the current rating system is one in which there is no accountability because the ratings are simply an opinion (this is the legal defense against being sued) , then stop allowing opinions to be attached to a security and start requiring an audited opinion to be attached to the security complete with exposure for liability if the security rating was negligent or inflated. Make it a criminal act to issue an opinion on a security without being licensed to do so, just like we have made it a criminal act to practice medicine and other professions without being licensed, and require special purpose liability insurance for ratings agencies as a requirement of being licensed. Require the Federal Reserve to hold all such insurance policies. And finally, change the rating metrics from AAA, AAB, etc. (a really goofy rating metric in a digital world) to a rating of 1-1 to 100-100 representing the percent probability that a debt will be repaid in full and on time. A rating of 98-70 would indicate a 98% probability of eventual full payment with a 70% probability that payment would occur on time. This is called transparency.
You want change, register Republican and vote Ron Paul in the primaries. Then vote for him in the national election. End crony capitalism.
cont...Cut the size of government by eliminating or downsizing drastically the Departments of: Labor, Energy, Commerce, Homeland Security, and Eliminate the Department of Education Cut taxes. Cut taxes. Cut taxes.
Cut Congressional Pay. Abolish all automatic pay raises for Congress and put in a pay system that adjusts pay to the trailing three year average wage of constituents, capped at 2 times the average wage of the congressman’s constituents. Want higher Congressional pay? Then raise the standard of living of the people you serve. Congress is using the argument of poor performance to knock down the compensation of private sector management based on poor performance. Since there is no body of management that has done a worse job then congress, we should adjust their pay accordingly. Why should Congress be any different?
Bring about Term limits of one term allowed and take away retirement plans and other special benefit plans from Congress. What is good enough for the people is good enough for the Congress. Do this retro-actively. After all, Congress has already set the example of retro-active legislation. Let’s use it effectively.
Dismantle the socialist programs that are destroying discretionary incomes once and for all, and create regional and local specialized welfare institutions to provide better care at lower cost while providing employment opportunities in construction and day to day operations of these institutions. If the government is going to take care of its citizens, then at least do it in an economically efficient manner.
Allow school vouchers which allow the parent to choose where the voucher is spent including at retail stores for supplies or anywhere else the parent wants to spend the voucher if the full voucher is not spent on the schooling itself. Yes, this will be the end of government dominated public school, but so what. It is not like the government has done a great job or anything. Let private schools flourish without the redundancy of expense and let everyone have access to a quality education and let competition bring up the standards.
Change the income tax code to a much simpler tax collection process by taxing spending, not earnings. Eliminate personal income taxes altogether other than the tax on spending. Eliminate the Tax code which is nothing more than a redistribution of wealth plan that has been codified. Eliminate Corporate Income taxes as well. Simply pay your tax when you buy something whether business or an individual.
The movement is One Term Allowed The mission is to fire congress entirely and replace it with a group elected for one term only. We must do this soon as the voting block is already so close to being controlled by government handouts that in a few more election cycles we may lose control for good.
Good luck,
Cont...Bring about voter reform – namely only registered voters in the jurisdiction (federal, state, or local) of the election can make campaign contributions to a candidate or to a political party. No more PAC funds from out of state mucking up the election results of a candidate in a different state. No more contributions from PAC’s (outlaw PAC’s altogether), unions, or corporations. They can’t vote, so they should not be allowed to make a campaign contribution. Only registered voters can make contributions. Failing to verify the contribution against an official "for election use" registered voter list and accepting the campaign funds will result in the disqualification of the candidate doing this. If you can’t vet your funds, you are not smart enough to serve in office, so you are disqualified for accepting improper funds. Any contributions that can not be reliably connected to the official "for election use" registered voter list will be immediately turned over to a special government fund used to reduce the debt of that jurisdiction whether federal, state, or local. This would include contributions made using prepaid credit cards (this one was for you Mr. Obama). All contributions that can not be traced to a legitimate registered voter will be used to curtail debt and will not be refundable to the contributor.
Eliminate the GSE’s of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac altogether. Create new GSE’s, one for each federal reserve bank, with each new GSE serving under the direction of and reporting to the federal reserve bank president. Every GSE would have a balance sheet limit of 400 billion dollars. Every federal reserve president would pledge his federal reserve bank to stand behind any security instruments created by the GSE he controlled. Credit practices, management practices, audit practices, etc. would be the responsibility of the federal reserve president, who would have total authority over the GSE including firing and hiring of anagement. Every federal reserve bank president would report to the chairman of the federal reserve and the chairman would report to congress. The Chairman of the federal reserve would be hired by the Senate, and approved by the Supreme Court – a body that is removed from the politics of the moment. The president would not be involved in the selection of the chairman at all.
You have some interesting points. Some of which I agree on. I posted my opinion here:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupy-wall-st-occupy-dc/#comment-58082
The government has definately failed us by making some poor choices.