Posted on 10/19/2011 6:09:31 AM PDT by randita
An OWS Working Group Committed to Elect a Non-Partisan National General Assembly
BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
WE, THE NINETY-NINE PERCENT OF THE PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in order to form a more perfect Union, by, for and of the PEOPLE, shall elect and convene a NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY beginning on July 4, 2012 in the City Of Philadelphia.
1. Implementing an immediate ban on all private contributions of money and gifts, to all politicians in federal office, from Individuals, Corporations, Political Action Committees, Super Political Action Committees, Lobbyists, Unions and all other private sources of money to be replaced by the fair and equal public financing of all federal political campaigns. We categorically REJECT the concept that money is equal to free speech because if that were so, then only the wealthiest would have a voice. These actions must be taken because it has become clear that politicians in the United States cannot regulate themselves and have become the exclusive representatives of corporations, unions and the very wealthy who spend vast sums of money on political campaigns to influence the candidates’ decisions and ensure their reelection year after year.
2. The immediate reversal, even if it requires a Constitutional Amendment, of the outrageous and anti-democratic holding in the "Citizens United" case by the Supreme Court, which equates the payment of money by corporations, wealthy individuals and unions to politicians with free speech. We, the People, demand that institutional bribery and corruption not be deemed protected speech.
3. Prohibiting all federal public officials and their immediate family members, whether elected or appointed, from EVER being employed by any corporation they regulate while in office and/or holding any stock or shares in any corporation they regulate while in office until a full 5 years after their term is completed.
4. A complete lifetime ban on accepting all gifts, services, money, directly or indirectly, to any elected or appointed federal officials or their immediate family members, from any person, corporation, union or other entity that the public official was charged to regulate while in office.
5. A complete reformation of the United States Tax Code to require ALL citizens to pay a fair share of a progressive, graduated income tax by eliminating loopholes, unfair tax breaks, exemptions and deductions, subsidies (e.g. oil, gas and farm) and ending all other methods of evading taxes. The current system of taxation favors the wealthiest Americans, many of whom, pay fewer taxes to the United States Treasury than citizens who earn much less and pay a much higher percentage of income in taxes to the United States Treasury. We, like Warren Buffet, find this income tax disparity to be fundamentally unjust.
6. Medicare for all American citizens or other single-payer healthcare system, adjusted by a means test (i.e. citizens who can afford it may opt-out and pay their own health insurance or opt-in and pay a means tested premium). The Medicaid program, fraught with corruption and fraud, will be eliminated except for the purpose of providing emergency room care to indigent non-citizens who will not be covered by the single-payer program.
7. New comprehensive regulations to give the Environmental Protection Agency expanded powers to shut down corporations, businesses or any entities that intentionally or recklessly damage the environment and/or criminally prosecute individuals who intentionally damage the environment. We also demand the immediate adoption of the most recent international protocols, including the "Washington Declaration" to cap carbon emissions and implement new and existing programs to transition away from fossil fuels to reusable or carbon neutral sources of power.
8. Adoption of an immediate plan to reduce the national debt to a sustainable percentage of GDP by 2020. Reduction of the national debt to be achieved by BOTH a cut in spending to corporations engaged in perpetual war for profit, the "healthcare" industry, the pharmaceutical industry and all other sectors that use the federal budget as their income stream AND a truly progressive income tax code that does not allow the wealthy and corporations to evade taxes through excessive deductions, subsidies and loopholes. We agree that spending cuts are necessary but those cuts must be made to facilitate what is best for the People of the United States of America, not multinational and domestic corporations.
9. Passage of a comprehensive job and job-training act like the American Jobs Act to employ our citizens in jobs that are available with specialized training and by putting People to work now by repairing America's crumbling infrastructure. We also recommend the establishment of an online international job exchange to match employers with skilled workers or employers willing to train workers in 21st century skills.
10. Student loan debt relief. Our young People and students are more than $830 billion in debt from education loans alone. Payment and interest on these debts should be deferred for periods of unemployment and the principal on these loans reduced using a corporate tax surcharge.
11. Immediate passage of the Dream Act and comprehensive immigration and border security reform including offering visas, lawful permanent resident status and citizenship to the world’s brightest People to stay and work in our industries and schools after they obtain their education and training in the United States.
12. Recalling all military personnel at all non-essential bases and refocusing national defense goals to address threats posed by the geopolitics of the 21st century, including terrorism and limiting the large scale deployment of military forces to instances where Congressional approval has been granted to counter the Military Industrial Complex's goal of perpetual war for profit.
13. Mandating new educational goals to train the American public to perform jobs in a 21st Century economy, [particularly in the areas of technology and green energy, taking into consideration the redundancy caused by technology and the inexpensive cost of labor in China, India and other countries and paying our teachers a salary that is competitive with the private sector. Paying our teachers a competitive salary commensurate with the salaries of People in the private sector with similar skills.
14. Subject to the elimination of corporate tax loopholes and exploited exemptions and deductions stated above, offering tax incentives to businesses to remain in the United States and hire its citizens rather than outsource jobs and reconstruct the manufacturing capacity of the United States. In conjunction with a new jobs act, reinstitution of the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps and a similar emergency governmental agency tasked with creating new public works projects to provide jobs to the 46 million People living in poverty, the 9.1% unemployed and 10% underemployed.
15. Implementing of immediate legislation to encourage China and our other trading partners to end currency manipulation and reduce the trade deficit.
16. Immediate reenactment of the Glass-Steagall Act and increased regulation of Wall Street and the financial industry by the SEC, FINRA and the other financial regulators, and the commencement of a Justice Department criminal investigations into the Securities and Banking industries practices that led to the collapse of markets, $700 billion bail-out, and financial firm failures in 2007-2008.
17. Adoption of a plan similar to President Clinton’s proposal to end the mortgage crisis and instead of the Federal Reserve continuing to lower interest rates for loans to banks who are refusing to loan to small businesses and consumers, the Federal Reserve shall buy all underwater or foreclosed mortgages and refinance these debts at 1% or less to be managed by the newly established Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (and foreclosure task force described below) because 1% or less is the interest rate the Federal Reserve loans to the banks directly who hoard the cash rather than loan it to the People and small businesses.
18. An immediate one year freeze on all foreclosures to be reviewed by an independent foreclosure task force appointed by Congress and the Executive Branch to (in conjunction with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ) determine, on a case by case basis, whether foreclosure proceedings should continue based on the circumstances of each homeowner and propriety of the financial institution's conduct.
19. Subject to the above ban on all private money and gifts in politics, to enact additional campaign finance reform requiring free air time and public campaign finances to all candidates who obtain sufficient petition signatures and/or votes to participate in the primaries and/or electoral process, to shorten the campaign season and to allow voting on weekends and holidays.
20. An immediate withdrawal of all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and a substantial increase in the amount of funding needed for veteran job placement and the treatment of the physical and emotional injuries sustained by veterans in these wars. Our veterans are committing suicide at an unprecedented rate and we must help now.
Hey! Free gourmet food too!
http://newyorkpost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/occu_pie_the_kitchen_PIZ7EsDJEZqzPgzzEWKX7I
Followed by:
“13.... Paying our teachers a competitive salary commensurate with the salaries of People in the private sector with similar skills. “
Where I went to University - the Education department had the lowest entrance requirements to Uni-and the lowest average GPA. Thus - this implies that they should be paid at or below the average liberal arts major is worth after graduation. Hmmm - most of them went to work as store clerks...so that would be...minimum wage?
Heck - think of all the money we would save in education!
Me thinks they will be hoisted by their own petard.
Hey - don’t let a little detail like the first amendment get in the way! If we’re gonna make silly asinine demands - we might as go for the full monti!
Yep - so in CA - their union spends all THEIR money trying to defeat Meg Whitman. Brilliant!
Yes, this list of demands is different than the prior ones.
It is more polished, more coherent. Political pros no doubt were involved in writing this one.
I think that David Axelrod and the AFL-CIO are directing OWS, whether the protesters realize that fact or not. And they are being aligned for use in conjunction with Obama’s re-elect strategy.
But I still think planks like “getting the money out of politics” and “easing the student debt burden” will have broad appeal amongst the great mushy middle out there.
Domain Name: OCCUPYWALLSTREET.ORG
Created on: 09-Jun-11
Michael Parsons, Facilitator of the OWS Working Group on the 99% Declaration
Need some research into who this guy is.
All I can find is:
http://www.skgf.com/professionals.php?PeopleID=353
Fits the profile of someone who could write this. Obviously the writing is drawing in a lot of people with a libertarian bent - esp. the first four points.
I’m anxious to see when the reference to union campaign funding in I. is removed. Unless that’s removed, this document is dead in the water.
Bits of red meat for those on the left/middle/right of the political spectrum are being tossed out as bait. That’s not a coincidence.
I can't believe you would post such an uninformed and demeaning comment on a serious subject. It's obvious that any chinchilla coat amendment that does not require an accompanying badazz hat would be a travesty.
Their twentyfirst demand was that all lending institutions and corporations be put on double-secret probation.
Ha! I didn’t want to seem greedy!
It’s not greed if it’s for the good of the Republic, sir.
And, this reminds me of the joke about the lady going through the airport wearing a mink coat. Animal rights activists were there demonstrating.
“Do you know how many animals had to die for you to have your coat?”!!!!!
She said: ‘Do you know how many animals I had to $#@ew to get this coat?”!!!!
Why don’t we just call this “Directive 10-289”?
I’m finding it a bit bizarre that this document was crafted by an “OWS Working Group”, yet there’s not one mention of Wall Street in the entire piece.
The movement thus far has been about punishing rich people like Wall Street bankers. That’s what most of the protestors THINK their complaint is.
But now that the crowd is all riled up and in place, the focus shifts off Wall Street and to the Obama re-election agenda. The Wall Street rabble, as was suspected, is being used as pawns in a media campaign.
Clever, but not clever enough not to see through.
Indeed.
Great thread.
Among the first four and elsewhere are prohibitions that extend to a member of the governments immediate family. Should I have a child I disagree with politically and that child gets elected to congress, how is it fair that I cannot work for a company that child regulates in congress?
"But the answer I gave the young radicals seemed to me the only realistic one: “Do one of three things. One, go find a wailing wall and feel sorry for yourselves. Two, go psycho and start bombing — but this only swings people to the right. Three, learn a lesson. Go home, organize, build power and at the next convention, you be the delegates.” — xxiii"
With that, you could add another year to the "lost decade". Our economy relies on a healthy real estate market, and a freeze on foreclosures merely delays the point where the market bottoms out.
BTW, I've been reviewing HAMP. With their latest revisions, it's now a relatively simple process for the borrowers. For a typical borrower that qualifies, all they need to produce is a 3 page standard form, copy of tax returns and two current pay stubs.
No, I don't work for Fannie or Freddie... lol
I don’t know when “giving money to politicians” became “free speech.” But then, I don’t know when pole-dancing and crosses-in-urine became “free speech” either.
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