In my previous blogs I said that when any society's middle class starts to shrink and the disparity between rich and poor begins to widen, it brings upheaval to the society.
Americans look at Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, UK, Spain, Greece, Israel, etc. and tell themselves it can't happen here.
Right now there are groups in dozens of American cities going under the blanket name of "99%" who are gathering and marching to protest what they feel are unfair economic conditions in the US.
We have already seen police violence in New York and Boston, with arrests in New York numbering in the 100's.
We have seen no response from elected officials that would give these marchers hope that change might be on the way. We have seen instead business as usual, with pronouncements from elected officials warning of blocking traffic, disrupting business, etc. This will lead to the kind of random violence where windows get broken, cars get set on fire and the jerks come out and use political protest as an excuse to start looting.
That will lead to increase violence with the police and perhaps the National Guard gets called out and we resemble the news footage we see from Egypt and other places.
We see our President running around trying to sell a program that he knows will not pass the Senate or the House. We see Congress digging in their heels with a "no new taxes response," and not much else.
Th fact that Cain is beginning to lead in the Republican polls tells me that the public will elect anyone that is not currently in office.
I watched the BET Hip Hop Awards last night and was struck by the number of artists wearing t-shirts supporting the Wall Street protestors. Many of the artists mentioned their support when they came to the podium and LL Cool J, who was the main honoree of the night, read a poem that reinforced our need to change.
I am currently seeking support in finding a way to expand my message to a wider audience.
I would like to meet with people who are protesting and help formulate a real plan of action and get them focused on what the real problems are and help devise solutions.
Going after billionaires' homes and ranting against "the rich" is not an answer.
The answers are deeper than that yet simple to understand.
1: March on Washington and DEMAND a complete overhaul of our tax structure so that it is transparent and easily understandable by everybody. I don't know if Mr. Cain's 9-9-9 plan works but it is a start. We must not let a single lobbyist anywhere near the remaking of our tax structure. Maybe George Bush, Sr. and Bill Clinton sit down, with 5 people each chooses and starts the process.
2: We must end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan immediately and not wait until 2014. That date is pure bullshit because if we haven't accomplished anything meaningful in the past decade, it won't change by waiting 2 1/2 more years. All we will accomplish is more dead young Americans and more wasting of money we desperately need for the rebuilding of our own infrastructure, which is getting worse all the time.
3: We must look at the so-called war on drugs and see that it is even less effective than prohibition was. It is insane that we have over two million people incarcerated in this country, spending over $50,000 per year on each inmate not counting court costs, impact on families, on communities and our economy. We have 74% of those inmates incarcerated for non-violent drug related crimes. Free them and put them to work in a WPA-type program and make them citizens again that are productive to our society. Tax the drugs instead of having the Justice Department looking to overrule California law regarding marijuana.
4: Instead of prosecuting the internet poker games, tax them. Tax the betting on Sunday football even if it is only a 5% tax.
5: Call a truce between the Tea Party people and the 99% people and have them sit down and find a center to agree on that benefits everybody.
6: Totally take religion out of politics. It has never worked when you mix the two.
7: Find a way to bring jobs back from overseas. I don't want to speak to someone in India regarding my credit card.
8: Force Wall Street to eliminate the trading of stocks using the super computers who trade stocks in milliseconds, making the playing field unequal for everyone else. Eliminate derivatives and every other esoteric financial instrument that no one really understands.
9: We have gone from a 50 to 1 ratio of CEO pay to over 400 to 1 CEO pay as opposed to their employees. There must be a cap placed on CEO pay as compared to employees unless the CEO is a founder or a majority owner of the company. Steve Jobs was worth every penny of the $8.3 billion net worth he accumulated. Why does Exxon have a $40 billion profit and we are being gauged at the gas pump?
We must get rid of those regulations that inhibit business and keep the ones that protect the health and welfare of the whole public.
The FDA wants to eliminate menthol cigarettes. I can't wait to see how they enforce that regulation. Do police stop smokers and taste their cigarettes and if they are menthol we prosecute them? If we force the companies to stop producing menthol, then they will be produced offshore costing more jobs and creating a whole new group of smugglers.
We must have common sense and stop the bullshit.
I will write more frequently now.
We can take back our country and lead the rest of the world by example and not by force.