18 Strategic Proposal for the Occupy Movement.
1. Repeal Glass-Steagall. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_steagall
The repeal of provisions of the Glass–Steagall Act by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act in 1999 effectively removed the separation that previously existed between investment banking which issued securities and commercial banks which accepted deposits. This repeal may have contributed to the severity of the financial crisis of 2007–2011 by allowing banks to become so large, complex, and intertwined that both they and their regulators failed to see the systemic risk that a failure in one part of one bank could lead to cascading failures across the global financial system.
2. Breakup Too Big To Fail Banks. Too Big To Fail is Too Big To Exist
Breakup Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, Morgan Stanley, Bank of New York Mellon, and State Street Bank
3. Prohibit Bankster bonuses for bank execs receiving TARP money
Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase will be paid a $17 million bonus in restricted stock and options for 2009
Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs received a $9 million bonus.
James Gorman of Morgan Stanley had stock-based compensation worth nearly $9 million plus his $800,000 salary for 2009. http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/02/05/bank-ceo-scorecard-whos-making-the-most-dough/
These villains who orchestrated the banking fraud that ruined the economies of the entire world. Maybe it’s legal, but take away their bonuses paid for with OUR TARP MONEY.
4. Confiscate bonuses for Freddie and Fannie execs http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/15/news/companies/fannie_freddie_executive_pay/index.htm
“Mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac received the biggest federal bailout of the financial crisis. And nearly $100 million of those tax dollars went to lucrative pay packages for top executives"
5. Jail Banksters, not Occupiers
Hold the Elite who started the banking crisis responsible. See “Occupy Wall Street a Counter to White-Collar Fraud” by former financial regulator William Black, author of the book “The Best Way to Rob A Bank Is to Own One” http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/19/former_financial_regulator_william_black_occupy
6. Disallow all lobbying.
“The U.S. financial industry spent $27 million on lobbying in the first quarter of 2011, the second-largest quarterly outlay ever.” This is intended to influence “rules concerning the $583 trillion derivatives market and stipulate where regulators draw the line on proprietary investments.” The derivatives market is one area that led to the 2008 financial meltdown, and the financial industry wants to be free to repeat their mistakes.
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2011/04/22/Bank-lobbyist-keep-busy-shaping-reform/UPI-75801303485399/
“As Washington regulators develop and finalize hundreds of regulations under the Dodd-Frank reform law, banks and other financial services companies are hiring more lobbyists to influence the process. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co., TD Bank and Fifth Third Bank are among the banks that have added Washington staff in the past year.”
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/07/28/5416/no-unemployment-worries-bank-lobbyists-washington-where-business-booming
“The more aggressively a bank lobbied before the financial crisis, the worse its loans performed during the economic downturn -- and the more bailout dollars it received.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/26/us-lobbying-imfreport-idUSTRE74P7AF20110526
“Justice Department Ends Investigation of Tom DeLay without Criminal Charges”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/16/tom-delay-investigation-e_n_683697.html
7. Disallow lobbyists and corporations from writing Federal Legislation
This is how the game has been rigged. This is how we've lost our democracy. “Lobbyists have influence (read: control) of 533 offices” in the House and Senate). “We crafted language (on bills), that was so obscure, so confusing, so uninformative, but so precise, to change the US reform code." “Turns out every new version of the bill was written by the Fed, who went to the banks and said can you write this? Every single version of the financial reform bill was written by bank lobbyists, and that is how we lost our money to the big banks.”
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13207361000A89700100&page=0
8. Disallow campaign contributions by Corporations
In early 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited pursuant to the right of these entities to free speech. John McCain was one of the two original sponsors of campaign finance reform that limited corporate campaign contribution. A February 2010 poll found that roughly 80% of Americans were opposed to the Supreme Court's ruling, with little difference of opinion among Democrats or Republicans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_reform_in_the_United_States
9. Restore Reagan Tax Brackets
Garrett Gruener of Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, a group of 200 millionaires who want their taxes raised said “the last time the upper 1% captured such a great share of national income was 1928.” He believes “that the Great Depression in 1929 and the great recession of 2008 were a direct result of that bias in the distribution of income.” Garrett has been involved "in the creation of lots of high-technology companies, companies in life sciences, in software and hardware, now in clean tech," and he assures us that "not a single one of those investments, not one was ever impacted by marginal tax rates." Gruener’s experience refutes Republican assertions that increasing taxes on the wealthy will stifle small business and job growth.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec11/millionaires_11-16.html
10. Set Term Limits for Congress
11. Disallow Congress from approving pay raises for themselves. Give them the same cost-of-living wages as Social Security recipients. http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/agencies/a/raise4congress.htm
12. Outlaw insider trading by members of Congress
“How one earth can we ever get fair outcomes of issues involving finance, healthcare, or energy when the members so personally have a monetary stake in an outcome they may or may not be in the public interest? Why aren’t these people in jail?”
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/11/top-favorite-stock-holdings-of-congress/
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-14/politics/30396448_1_stock-market-market-moving-information-trades
13. Retain the health care reform legislation passed in March 2010 which states “that Members of Congress and Congressional staff will ONLY have access to plans created by the health care bill.”
http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/28thamendment.asp
14. Give members of Congress retirement packages comparable to private enterprise. Make them contribute to their own 401K’s with limited matching by the government.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/socialsecurity/pensions.asp
As of 2007, the average annuities for retired members of Congress were $63,696 for those who retired under CSRS and $36,732 for those who retired under FERS. Those figures are 2-3 times more generous than what a similarly-salaried executive could expect to receive upon retiring from the private sector.
15. Prohibit CEOs on the Fed from voting on issues related to their companies.
The CEO of Lehman Brothers remained on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during a period in which his firm was getting maximum attention from the NY Fed. Is there not a conflict of interest between sitting on a board of a Federal Reserve Bank and managing a firm that is a beneficiary or a participant in transactions with that Federal Reserve Bank?
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/11/mf-global-ny-fed-%E2%80%93-part-3/
16. Tax outlandish Golden Parachutes at 90%.
“Former HP CEO Mark Hurd rewarded with a $40M severance after being forced to resign over fraudulent expense reports” “Hurd just got $12 million in cash for fraudulently filing expense reports to conceal his mistress”
Mark Hurd should go directly to jail.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/06/former-hp-ceo-mark-hurd-rewarded-with-a-12m-severance-after-bei/
“CEOs' Golden Parachutes Have Cost HP $80m since 2005” http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/ceos_golden_parachutes_have_cost_hp_80m_2005
17. Cut Defense Spending in half and fund programs that benefit ordinary Americans
“At least one-sixth of all U.S. spending in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade – more than $30 billion – has been squandered.” "Tens of billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted through poor planning, vague and shifting requirements, inadequate competition, substandard contract management and oversight, lax accountability, weak interagency coordination, and subpart performance or outright misconduct by some contractors and federal employees,"
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/178607-citing-waste-hoyer-wants-tougher-oversight-of-defense-spending
“Pentagon report shows defense firms over the last decade ripped off the military to the tune of $1.1 trillion”
http://thehill.com/news-by-subject/defense-homeland-security/189247-lawmakers-push-report-highlighting-11t-in-defense-spending-waste-fraud
“Racketeers and swindlers have used loopholes and laxity to amass fortunes, according to a report from the Wartime Contracting Commission” “bipartisan commission estimates that as much as $60 billion has been squandered in Iraq and Afghanistan in 10 years”
http://www.nj.com/times-opinion/index.ssf/2011/09/editorial_oversight_essential.html
“General Dynamics CEO Nicholas Chabraja tops the list of defense-contractor chiefs who have made the most money during the 2002-2006 defense buildup. Between 2002 and 2006, he pocketed $97.9 million, or an average of $19.6 million a year.” http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/WarMeansAWindfallForCEOs.aspx
18. Remove US troops from 75 of the 150 countries where now stationed
“The military of the United States is deployed in more than 150 countries around the world.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_deployments
