Forum Post: suggested list of demands from former Wall Street banker

Occupy Wall Street Suggested Policy Demands

1. Reinstate the Glass Steagal Act, which in 1933 separated commercial banks (conservative, FDIC insured banks) from investment banks (high-stakes investment and gambling operations). The repeal of this act contributed to the financial crises by giving banks the freedom to take far greater risks with taxpayer insured deposits.

2. Regulate credit default swaps as insurance, which they are. Warren Buffet called CDSs “financial weapons of mass destruction” because they multiply the effect of a major default ten, twenty, a hundred times and tie all financial markets together. CDSs are hugely profitable bets for banks and hedge funds. Regulating them will require that the institutions writing them have sufficient assets to cover their bets. Banks and hedge funds will not like this.

3. Tax hedge fund fees as ordinary income, which they are. The hedge fund managers have a special benefit (called carried interest), which reduces their taxes by over 50% totaling billions of dollars per year. There is no reason that these mega-billionaires, who create no real value or jobs, should get special benefits at our expense.

4. Reduce interest on student loans to 1% or less, forgive some percentage of student loans as an economic stimulus. The banks charge 7% and more for taxpayer guaranteed student loans where the banks have little or no risk. Student loans are just another way the banks suck money out of the economy and away from real people.

5. Enact universal, single payer health care creating a government financed, privately managed health care system. This is the fiscally conservative thing to do. We pay almost twice as much per capita for health care as other wealthy countries pay. The extra money goes to health insurance companies, drug companies, medical tech companies and lawyers. Our health care system is one half medical care and one half corporate welfare. We need to end all forms of corporate welfare, most of which are invisible to the average person.

6. End US imperialism, which is simply more corporate welfare that simultaneously feeds the fires of terrorism. Yes, our young men and women are getting blown up and killed for oil; that is, to benefit corporations, oil corporations and other corporations. We need to bring our troops home and put them to work on rebuilding our infrastructure instead of creating hatred in the world.

7. End or reduce globalization through tariffs and other import controls. Globalization is mostly corporate welfare at taxpayer expense. It’s true, we each save $100 per year in cheaper pants and shoes, but the corporations make trillions and pay billions in bonuses from profits made by moving jobs and manufacturing facilities overseas and out of reach of environmental and child labor laws. Reducing globalization will be good for our economy and the environment.

8. Create a tax policy that reduces income and wealth stratification. The United States is now worse than many third world countries in terms of concentration of wealth and income. This is one of the major causes of our deficit as the very rich shield their assets or buy their way out of paying taxes while the poor can’t afford to pay more and the great tax-paying middle class shrinks toward oblivion through the effects of globalization. Some suggestions. Remove the cap on social security taxes (currently on $105,000 income) and with one pen stroke, solve the social security problem forever. Also, pay for universal health care with a flat payroll and income tax on all income including dividends and capital gains and in this way pay for universal health care almost painlessly while reducing the concentration of wealth.

9. Stop bank bailouts. The Fed is once again bailing out US banks, this time by buying European sovereign debt (really!) with US taxpayer money. They are doing this to protect the US banks and hedge funds that wrote CDSs on sovereign debt and on European banks’ bonds. This is another covert bailout of our high risk-taking banks with taxpayer money. The crisis that is unfolding in Europe has little to do with bailing out the people of Greece or Portugal or Spain. The European bailout money doesn’t even slow down as it passes by Greece on the way to French and German (and US) banks.

10. Throw the cash-rich influence peddlers out of the halls of government so that legislators can legislate honestly and for the good of the people. This is the most important policy demand. Vote out any politician who signed a no-tax pledge. Limit and tightly monitor campaign contributions. Make laws that clearly state that corporations are not people and do not have the rights people have.