- 1. Stop all foreclosures immediately for at least
five years and for the duration of the depression by means of a compulsory
federal law carrying criminal penalties. No foreclosures on homes, family
farms, factories, public utilities, hospitals, transportation and other
infrastructure. Outlaw adjustable rate mortgages.
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- 2. Raise the federal minimum wage immediately to
a living wage of at least $15 per hour, with the short-term goal of attaining
a federal minimum wage of at least $20 per hour.
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- 3. Immediate enactment of a securities transfer tax
(STT) or Tobin tax of 1% to be imposed on all financial turnover in all
financial markets to include the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ, the
Amex, the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the market in federal securities, the foreign
exchange market, the New York Mercantile Exchange, and all other financial
markets. This tax will be paid by the seller. This tax will be extended
to the notional value of all derivatives, including over-the-counter derivatives,
exchange traded derivatives, structured notes, designer derivatives and
all other financial paper. Derivatives will become reportable under penalty
of law. It is conservatively estimated that the securities transfer tax
will yield approximately $5 trillion of new revenue in its first year of
application. This new revenue will permit a stabilization and consolidation
of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and will permit the expansion
of Head Start, the Food Stamps program, WIC, the Veterans Administration
hospitals, while extending unemployment insurance up to an initial total
of at least 52 weeks, to be prolonged as needed. Provide revenue sharing
to deal with the looming deficits of states, counties, and municipalities.
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- 4. Using the new revenue obtained from the securities
transfer tax on Wall Street financiers, provide comprehensive tax relief
for all small businesses, thus permitting them to pay the new living wage.
Small business will also be aided by the provision of national single-payer
health care, as described below.
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- 5. Implement Medicare for all in the form of a single
payer, universal coverage, publicly administered system to provide healthcare
for all. No rationing of care will be permitted under any circumstances.
Cost-cutting will be achieved through eliminating exorbitant corporate
profits, through administrative reform, and above all through a federally-funded
crash program, on the scale of the Manhattan Project, of biomedical research
designed to discover new and more effective treatments and cures for the
principal diseases currently afflicting humanity.
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- 6. Simultaneously, enact comprehensive income tax
relief for working families, raising the standard deduction for married
filing jointly and the personal exemption to at least $25,000 each. This
would mean that a family of four would pay no federal income tax on their
first $125,000 of income. Expand the earned income tax credit (EITC) to
approximately 4 times its current level, with at least $150 billion paid
out. Increase EITC payments to persons living alone as well as to families
with children. Make all college tuition and fees expenses deductible, and
remove the limits on the Hope and Lifetime Learning tax credits. Return
to the FDR-Ike-JFK 90% top marginal rate for unearned income capital
gains, interest, dividends, royalties, etc., not wages or self-employment
-- of taxpayers with federal adjusted gross income over $25 million. Roll
back the scandalous Bush tax cuts for the rich. Favor progressive taxation
over proportional and regressive taxation at every level. Phase out the
most regressive taxes, like the poll tax and the sales tax.
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- 7. Nationalize the Federal Reserve System and establish
it as a bureau of the United States Treasury. The current privatized status
of the Federal Reserve System constitutes a violation of the United States
Constitution. The size of the money supply and interest rates will henceforward
be decided not by cliques of private bankers meeting in secret, but rather
by public laws passed by the House and Senate, and signed by the president.
Use this authority to immediately issue an initial tranche of $1 trillion
of new federal credits at 1% yearly interest rates and maturities up to
30 years, to be repeated as needed. Consider credit as a public utility.
Make this initial credit issue available on a priority basis to states,
counties and local governments for the purpose of infrastructure modernization.
Distribute credit to the private sector for high-technology re-industrialization
in plant, equipment and jobs, manufacturing, mining, farming, construction,
and other production of tangible physical wealth and commodities only.
Aim at the creation of 5 to 7 million new productive jobs at union pay
scales per year to achieve full employment for the first time in decades.
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- 8. Federally-sponsored infrastructure projects will
include a new nationwide network of magnetic levitation railways, as well
as light rail systems to facilitate commuting in all urban centers. These
economical and attractive light rail systems will allow a large portion
of the vehicle miles by private automobile using internal combustion engines
to be phased out of use in daily commuting. Launch a public works program
of highway and bridge reconstruction, water management systems, electrical
grids, hospitals, schools, cultural facilities, and public libraries.
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- 9. Comprehensive re-regulation of the entire financial
and banking system. Regulate the current non-bank banks. Bring all the
hedge funds under the oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission,
thus effectively ending their special outlaw status as hedge funds. Begin
aggressive enforcement of all applicable antitrust and securities fraud
laws, as well as all existing labor legislation, including child labor,
wages and hours, etc. Repeal the Taft-Hartley law with its anti-union
"right to work" provisions, re-affirm the inalienable right to
collective bargaining, and revive the National Labor Relations Board as
an effective ally of working people. Full Davis-Bacon Act enforcement for
all federal contracts, without exception. Tax leveraged buyouts and private
capital deals, including all profits deriving from them, in whatever form.
End corporate welfare, and establish consumer protection. Revive Glass-Steagall
to prevent nationwide banking oligopolies combining commercial banking
with investment banking.
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- 10. Free college for all qualified students. Any
student earning a high school diploma will be entitled to free tuition
and fees at a community college or state university. High quality remedial
courses to give high-school dropouts a second chance, no matter what their
age. Without investment in the human capital of a highly trained work force,
there can be no economic survival in the 21st century. Federal aid to raise
teacher salaries through revenue sharing.
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- 11. Announce the intention of the United States
to abrogate NAFTA, WTO, and all other international free trade agreements
which have destroyed employment in this country, while increasing the poverty
levels of the third world. Introduce a low protective tariff, starting
at 10% ad valorem on manufactured commodities to prevent reckless dumping.
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- 12. Investment tax credit for purchase modern technology
in the form of new physical tangible capital goods. Tax breaks for the
creation of new jobs in physical commodity production. Severe tax penalties
for the export of jobs to third world sweatshops.
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- 13. Immediately impeach and remove from office
both Bush and Cheney, since otherwise all effective measures to deal with
the Bush economic depression will be crippled by presidential vetoes. Prepare
the impeachment of the RATS (Roberts-Alito-Thomas-Scalia) cabal of the
Supreme Court, if they should attempt to sabotage this emergency economic
recovery program under the color of judicial review.
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- 14. Protect the family farm by a program of debt
moratorium for farmers, no foreclosures, 1% long-term federal credit for
spring planting needs and capital improvements, Restore parity prices at
125% of parity. Rebuild farm surpluses and food stockpiles. Food for Peace
for famine relief abroad.
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- 15. Keep open the options of capital controls and exchange
controls if required by further deterioration of the crisis. Prepare to
freeze most categories of financial debt (debt moratorium) for the duration
of the crisis. Revive Defense Production Act powers to mandate production
of needed commodities by private sector, as needed.
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- 16. Call an international economic conference of
sovereign states to deal with this unprecedented world economic depression.
The United States should take the lead in proposing a new world monetary
system based on the alienable right of all nations and peoples to modern
economic development and to the enjoyment of the fullest fruits of science,
technology, industry, progress, and rising standards of living. The new
monetary system should be based on fixed parities with narrow bands of
fluctuation among the euro, the dollar, the yen, the ruble, and other world
currencies, including emerging Latin American and Middle East regional
currencies, with periodic settlement of balance of payments discrepancies
in gold among national authorities. The goal of the new system is to promote
world economic recovery through large-scale export of the most modern high-technology
capital goods from the US, EU, and Japan to the developing countries. Create
a Multilateral Development Bank with an initial capital of 1 trillion euros
from US, UK, Japan, and other exporters to finance investment in the poorest
countries with 1%, revolving loans with maturities up to thirty years.
Immediate, permanent, and unconditional cancellation of all international
financial debts of the poorest countries.
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- 17. Revive international humanitarian, scientific and
technological cooperation for the benefit of all nations. Roll back epidemic,
tropical, and endemic diseases with an international program of biomedical
research. Join with all interested nations in a joint international effort
to develop new energy resources in the field of high-energy physics. Fund
and expand an international cooperative commitment to the exploration,
permanent colonization, and economic development of the moon and nearby
planets. The spin-offs from these three science drivers will provide the
new technologies for the next wave of economic modernization.
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- 18. Revive the Franklin D. Roosevelt "freedom
from want" provision of the Atlantic Charter as elaborated in the
Economic Bill of Rights from the State of the Union Address of January
1944 and incorporate these economic rights of all persons as amendments
to the US Constitution: "The right to a useful and remunerative job
in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation; the right to
earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation; the right
of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give
him and his family a decent living; the right of every businessman, large
and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition
and domination by monopolies at home or abroad; the right of every family
to a decent home; the right to adequate medical care and the opportunity
to achieve and enjoy good health; the right to adequate protection from
the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment; the
right to a good education."
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- Webster G. Tarpley
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- 21 January 2008
- Washington DC, USA
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