Occupy Wall Street: A List of Demands for Consideration
Posted by Michael A. Kamperman on October 14, 2011
The Occupy Wall Street movement is all about an economy that is unable to support the aspirations of the majority of its participants. If people had access to good jobs, they wouldn’t be sleeping on the streets to protest economic inequality. Unemployed college grads unable to pay their student loans would much rather have a good job than stay unemployed but see the rich lose a portion of their wealth. But the movement can get lost, or hijacked, if consensus on a common set of demands doesn’t emerge. For one thing, the movement needs to be about how to lift up the 99% rather than how to bring down the fortunate few. Therefore, items under consideration need to be about how to create the 25 million good paying full-time jobs needed that are missing from our economy. Here are seven actionable ideas that could turn the economy around in weeks and months, not years:
1. Demand the Federal Reserve fulfill its dual mandate of price stability and full employment. The Federal Reserve is refusing to take aggressive action on unemployment. The Federal Reserve should start quantitative easing III, which is buying back Treasury bonds, with an aim to repurchase $7 trillion dollars worth of U.S. debt. Then, along with the Treasuries it already holds, it should simply donate the Treasury bonds to the U.S. Treasury, thereby retiring half of the U.S. debt. This action would end the concept that the federal government cannot afford to combat the crisis. It would also take away a very low risk yet very lucrative trade from the banks, forcing them to start making reasonable loans on reasonable terms again.
2. Demand the federal government Federalize Medicaid by taking over 100% of the responsibility for funding the program, which is now jointly funded with the states. This would assure no more cutbacks in medical services for the poor. Importantly, it would also free up state budgets to put teachers back in the classroom. This idea was originally floated by Ronald Reagan, and there is no reason it cannot garner bi-partisan support.
3. Demand every mortgage in America be refinanced at 4% without a credit check or an appraisal. The federal government already guarantees over 90% of all existing mortgages, and the taxpayers are already at risk for losses on these mortgages. Half of all of the people with a mortgage cannot currently qualify to refinance at current market rates because either their home is worth less than the mortgage or they have too low of a credit score. Also, let those with under-water mortgages let a portion of their interest payments go towards principal reduction depending on how far their home has fallen in price. Everyone will still pay all that they owe. Large borrowers get terms like these all the time in debt restructurings. So why not the 99%? This would cost the federal government nothing.
4. Demand that the eligibility age for full Social Security and Medicare be reduced to age 62. This would create millions of new retirees, freeing up jobs for younger workers. Large companies have early retirement buy-outs all the time to reduce the size of their labor force. So why shouldn’t the federal government offer an incentive to people to retire early? The cost of this would be paid for by a combination of a reduction in unemployment claims and the interest savings on the federal debt donated back the Treasury by the Federal Reserve.
5. Demand the federal government fund a 21st century infrastructure program for America. We have millions of people who need jobs, and we have trillions of dollars worth of worthy projects from highways to water. At one time America had the best infrastructure in the world. It’s time to return to the best infrastructure in the world. This benefits 100% of the people, not just the 99%. It can be paid for by stimulating a growing economy and not by some pay-as-you-go offset that Congress has shackled itself to.
6. Demand that the U.S. strive to reach North American energy independence. The U.S. has an abundance of natural gas, and the technology already exists to run our entire transportation fleet on this fuel. The federal government could put forward the seed money to build out the fueling infrastructure required for a mass conversion to natural gas as the primary transportation fuel. Natural gas burns cleaner than oil and is less polluting. The federal government could also push for more wind, solar, and wave energy production. This would create millions of jobs and end our dependence on Mideast oil.
7. Demand an end to free trade and replace it with fair trade. We cannot expect U.S. workers to compete with people in China and elsewhere who work for $4,000 a year with no benefits and no workers’ rights. Our global companies are inventing things here that they then make there to be shipped back and sold here. These corporations supply the same tools and training to the workers there that they do here. How many American jobs have been lost because Apple makes all of its ipads, ipods, and iphones in China?
To have a movement with no demands is to leave the solutions in the hands of Washington. We have all seen how that has not worked out, and that is why Occupy Wall Street is spreading like wildfire. Our politicians come up with plans to create one million jobs. We need to demand they come up with plans to create 25 million good new jobs. The seven actionable ideas above are a starting point for demands for an economic revival. Everyone with an actionable idea should put it forward now.
