The 99% Act claims it would create 5 million new jobs in two years, raise taxes on Wall Street and millionaires, add a public option to the Affordable Care Act, and much more. I've been looking for the full text of the bill, but no luck so far...but http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/uploads/4OnePagerRAD99.pdf has more details. Probably a good thing as the actual text is probably painfully long and obfuscating - like any legislation.
It hits most of the items I'd put down in a "note to self" over the last few months:
The solution to reduce the national debt is pretty simple and straightforward, but not easy given entrenched interests. I appeal to the sense of patriotism I hear shouted out by many - but that really means "Give Me what I want out of My country, and give back My 1950's style Andy Griffith all white country."
Here's what I'd do if I were El Rey:
Remove enough $$ from the pockets of the 1% to pull the country that built them into billionaires out of the hole they dug for it, and enable a new start for everyone.
Unfair you say? Not hardly, I say it's more like their patriotic duty.
Leave the poor and middle class enough of a safety net they need not fear personal bankruptcy and ruin from medical emergencies or other personal disasters, by having access to basic preventative healthcare and
Higher education for young students either in university or the trades, and continuing education/retraining for existing laid off workers.
Remove the "money is free speech" rights from any corporation that is not wholly American owned and American based and paying full tax rate with no subsidies -- those that qualify in that way will have an interest in America, as well as their stockholders (only Americans can hold stock in the company). Huge multinationals would never qualify under this plan, but small and medium sized American corporations would - the real job creators.
Get the money out of politics. Corporations are not people. Money is not speech.
Reform (radically simplify) the tax code (keeps tax lawyers from finding loopholes & makes auditing easier)
Remove corporate tax loopholes and lower corporate rate as they'd like, but resulting in more net tax income.
Have everyone pay some amount on their income so they have some "skin in the game" - but keep a progressive tax structure.
Get for-profit corporations out of the role of basic care for everyone, use the VA as a model for how to provide care. It's done well enough for our veterans - I guess government can do some things. We're the richest country in the world - for now - we CAN afford it - especially if it's not handcuffed - allow that system to negotiate drug costs based on volume - the WalMart model.
Yes, "Single Payer" health care, "Medicare for all" if you wish -- that provides basic preventative, emergency and long term care to everyone - from prenatal to the grave. And yes, man up, you are going to die - and at some point replacing everything in your body when it wears out isn't going to be affordable for that kind of system. Enter - the role for private insurance: Let for profit insurance companies shift gears to provide 'gold plated' insurance for those that want/can afford it.
To dig out of the current hole - call on/require/tax the 1% to provide financing (perhaps in exchange for low-return or negative return bonds - again, it's their patriotic and moral duty)
Allow repatriation of foreign corporate funds at a low tax rate - but not without tax and only IF THAT $ IS USED TO GENERATE JOBS - allow some low multiplier for $ per job.
Impose tariffs on imports in line with our foreign competitors.
No tax breaks for companies that shift jobs out of the US, and tariffs on the products they return to the US.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, as always, said it best:
"The deficit was caused by two wars not paid for, huge tax breaks for the wealthiest people in this country, and a recession as a result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street. And if those are the causes of the deficit and the national debt I will be damned if we’re going to balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, the sick, children, and the poor. That's wrong."
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The 99% bill is based on the contract to rebuild the American Dream: http://contract.rebuildthedream.com/
Go hit the link for more info, but here's an introduction...from the website:
To produce this Contract for the American Dream, 131,203 Americans came together online and in their communities. We wrote and rated 25,904 ideas. Together, we identified the 10 most critical steps to get our economy back on track and restore the American Dream:
10 CRITICAL STEPS TO GET OUR ECONOMY BACK ON TRACK
- I. Invest in America's InfrastructureII. Create 21st Century Energy Jobs
- II. Create 21st Century Energy Jobs
- III. Invest in Public Education
- IV. Offer Medicare for All
- V. Make Work Pay
- VI. Secure Social Security
- VII. Return to Fairer Tax Rates
- VIII. End the Wars and Invest at Home
- IX. Tax Wall Street Speculation
- X. Strengthen Democracy
Here's the graphic they've put out about the act; note the top marginal income tax rate graph -- we did pretty good as a country from Eisenhower through LBJ - Carter was left with the fallout of the Vietnam war, tried to get us pointed in an energy independent route - and was derided constantly for his efforts. Reagan cut taxes, then raised them something like 5 times to make up for the mistake...and the '80s were on...Wall Street's fictional Gordon Gecco (Michael Douglas) showed us how it was done. Mergers and Acquisitions reigned, corporations grew like cancers until they now, unregulated threaten to kill the host -- the U.S. We need a dose of some chemo-therapy and radiation to drive the cancerous rot of huge, too-big-to-fail multinational corporations out, so we can have decent "mom and pop" medium sized, and even huge, but all-American companies.
