Mr. President, we heard what you said last week in Kansas -- about the dangers to our economy and democracy of the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the top.
We agree. And many of us are prepared to work our hearts out to get you reelected -- as long as you commit to doing what needs to be done in your second term:
-- Raise the tax rate on the rich to what it was before 1981. The top 1 percent has an almost unprecedented share of the nation's wealth and income yet the lowest tax rate in 30 years. Meanwhile, America faces colossal budget deficits that have already meant devastating cuts in education, infrastructure, and the safety nets we depend on. The rich must pay their fair share. Income in excess of $1 million should be taxed at 70 percent -- the same rate as before 1981.
-- Raise capital gains taxes to the same level. It's absurd that the 400 richest Americans -- whose wealth exceeds the wealth of the bottom 150 million Americans put together -- should pay an average 17 percent tax on their incomes, the rate day laborers and child-care workers pay. That's because so much of the income of the super-rich is considered capital gains, now taxed at only 15 percent. Close this loophole.
-- Tax financial transactions. A tiny tax on every financial deal would yield billions of dollars more. It would also slow speculators and reduce the wild gyrations of financial markets.
-- Use the bulk of this money to create good schools, give our kids access to a college education, and build a world-class infrastructure, so all our children have a chance to get ahead.
-- Resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act, that used to separate commercial from investment banking. It was put in place after the Great Crash of 1929 to prevent financiers from gambling with peoples' bank deposits. But it was repealed in 1999 -- and its repeal contributed to the Crash of 2008. Wall Street lobbyists have made sure the new Dodd-Frank law has enough loopholes to allow financiers to continue to gamble with other peoples' money. The only way to stop this is to bring Glass-Steagall back.
-- Cap the size of Wall Street's biggest banks and break up the biggest. They were too big to fail before the bailout. They're even bigger now. And because of their huge size they get preferential treatment from the Fed, giving them an even greater competitive advantage over smaller banks. Cap their size and break them up before we have to bail them out again.
-- Require the big banks that got bailed out to modify the mortgages of millions of Americans now under water, who owe more than their homes are worth. It's not their fault the banks created a housing bubble that burst, causing home values to plummet.
Mr. President, we know nothing good happens in Washington unless good people outside Washington are organized and mobilized to make it happen.
So here's the deal: We'll reelect you. We'll stand behind you. We'll give you a mandate to do all this -- and more -- in your second term.
As long as you stand behind us.
Deal?
Robert Reich is the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, now in bookstores. This post originally appeared at RobertReich.org.
Follow Robert Reich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RBReich
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If anyone else thinks a petition is a good idea, please mark my comment as a favorite. Thanks.
We must hold him to this. If we can hold him to this, then the Green Party threat won't be a threat either. But for now, I see the Green Party candidate as a good tool to push Obama to hold this line. If he does, people like me won't vote Green, we'll vote Obama.
Make sure the middle man gets a percentage.
Your remark is foolish. Wealthy people have a lifestlye that perpetuates itself because they can use their influence in Congress, with Presidents, with the heads of government agencies, with lobbiests and with corporate executives and corporate boards of directors.
In other words, the wealthy get preferential treatment. Also, the wealthy attempt to limit competition, "bend " laws to their advantage, use tax shelters, and sometimes even break laws in order to become more wealthy.
You should do some research on how many executives in the oil and gas industry make more than $1,000,000 per year. Do they deserve it? Does anyone deserve a million dollars a year in compensation?
The last few days of Obama's performance, I was beginning to believe perhaps he has learned and he is ready to stand up and lead with the bully pulpit. Peerhaps President Obama has a "fire in his belly" and will take on the Republicans.
Today, December 15, we learned that "1 in every 2 Americans live in poverty and low incomes'! The majority of these are children! Outrageous! On this same day, we learn that the Democrats have agreed to drop demands for a surtax on millionaires for the Republicans to support a $1500 payroll tax benefit and unemployment extension for 150 million middle class! It's just been about a week or 10 days since Kansas and they're back to "a movable line in the sand"!
Was Obama's speech just a good campaign speech? The President hasn't listened to his base of supporters for three years. If the Kansas speech was just campaigning, he'll miss a chance to right this boat and change his legacy. As one of the 99%, I know we're not walking away, we will turn it around with or without him!
You don't know anything about me. I am to the left of Marx on many issues, but it's my belief that those with extreme viewpoints have an obligation to keep one foot in reality. I don't believe our education budget is or ever will be bottomless.
I think a debate about publicly funded higher education is hopelessly out of place in a society where the school dropout rate is nearly 10% - closer to 20% for some minorities - and the public schools graduate the functionally illiterate. Reestablishment of a working public education system and a public system of trades education rank a lot higher on my list than free Philosophy degrees for all.
The amount of wealth the 1% control is truly formidable. They own and control most of the money, media, judges, congressmen, governors etc. As time goes by they will consolidate even more. It is like the last stages of a monopoly game.
Using your logic, if we raise the tax rate to 80% then the world would fall into a world war 3 like we had when rates were that high.
The Democrats in general - and President Obama in particular - would be foolish to try and capitalize on the rage of the national Occupy movement. If they had bothered to remember a long time ago that they are (or were) the party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and had had the guts to stand up to the right wing extremism of the last three decades, we probably wouldn't be brow-deep in the economic quagmire we find ourselves in today. That worthless party is within five years of finding themselves where the Republicans are today; beyond redemption. If they know what's good for them they'll clean up their act - pretty damned quick. They have got to stop nominating these pathetic, right wing Blue Dogs. Otherwise, within the next five years a new party will emerge from the wreckage of their incompetence and indifference.
This week the spokespersons for the plutocracy have been predicting the end of the movement which is now engulfing the world. The joke's on them. I really hate to be quoting the Carpenters here but Frank Zappa doesn't have anything apropos for this particular moment: "We've only just begun".
See you at the occupation, kiddies!
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Tom Degan