Forum Post: How To Take America Back From The 1% That Own It! Step by Step.

OWS should put the Fair Elections Now Act at the top of the political agenda in 2012 while continuing to reach out and form alliances with other large constituencies. Enormous pressure from the 99% should be brought to bare on Congress to pass the Fair Elections Now Act and have the president sign it into law.

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 politicians to federal office who voluntarily refuse to take over $100.00 per campaign contribution and support a progressive agenda.

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.

Create a fair federal tax code. The marginal tax rate ought to 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 $1 million. Capital gains should be taxed at 35 percent. End the home mortgage deduction on all homes over $750,000. Keep the corporate tax at 35% and eliminate corporate loopholes, unfair tax breaks, exemptions and deductions, subsidies, end offshore tax haven abuse and balance the budget.

Break up the biggest banks. Reenact Glass-Steagall. Abolish credit default swaps. Derivatives must be traded on transparent exchanges. Tax all financial transactions on Wall St. at 1%. Damp down speculation and raise $400 billion a year.

Address the housing crisis where one in four mortgages are underwater in America. The Congress should give bankruptcy judges the right to amend mortgages in order to pressure lenders to reduce principle owed.

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.

A ten-year federal program that involves a New Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to create millions of jobs rebuilding America that includes infrastructure banks run by engineers, not politicians to extricate ourselves from the Great Recession now and increase productivity later.

To increase upward mobility in an increasingly stratified society, the federal government should pay tuition and fees for all students, part and full time, who are enrolled in two- and four-year public institutions in the United States. (Eighty-three percent of undergraduates now attend public institutions).