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AFL-CIO Proposes 5-Point Economic Stimulus Plan |
Unemployment is climbing. The stock market is dropping. The housing boom is bust. Corporate earnings are tanking. The nation’s economy is in the worst shape it’s been in years. Maybe even headed toward recession. Working families are worried.
The Bush administration today proposed a growth package of as much as $150 billion, which insiders familiar with the details say may include $800 tax rebates for individuals and $1,600 for households, along with business incentives. Although it is “encouraging” that President Bush recognizes the need to act quickly to stimulate the economy, Bush focuses too much emphasis on tax cuts—both business and personal, according to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. Bush’s plan does not address crucial problems facing working families or target tax benefits to those families who need them the most and will spend them the fastest.
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sweeney wrote:
In particular, we are concerned that the President’s income tax cut proposal would not be sufficiently stimulative because it fails to target lower-income and middle-income households who, as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) wrote last week, are likely to spend a larger share of any tax benefit they receive.
Today, the AFL-CIO outlined several proposals to develop a short-term stimulus package that “offers the biggest bang for the buck” and began to address the underlying causes of today’s economic anxiety.
In addition, with many state tax codes linked directly to federal tax rates, Sweeney warns the business tax cuts could lead to a reduction in state revenues, resulting in economically depressing budget cuts and tax increases by state governments.
Noting that compromise will be needed to quickly enact a stimulus package, Sweeney urges Reid and Pelosi to “insist on legislative measures” that will deliver the biggest boost to the economy and protect state and local budgets.
The five points the leaders are urged to include are:
- Extension of unemployment benefits.
- Increased food stamp benefits.
- Tax rebates targeted to middle-income and lower-income taxpayers.
- Fiscal relief for state and local governments to avoid the economically depressing effect of tax increases and budget cuts.
- Acceleration of ready-to-go public investment in school renovations and bridge repair.
For the long term, Congress also must address the deep and serious underlying causes of today’s economic woes. Says Sweeney:
While it is appropriate for Congress to focus on measures that have an immediate economic impact as it crafts a short-term stimulus package, this is no excuse to put our heads in the sand and do nothing about the underlying longer-term problems afflicting our economy.
Wage stagnation is at the heart of the economic problems facing today’s ordinary working families.
Wage stagnation, which began in the 1970s, has led to longer working hours, higher consumer debt, and increasing reliance on home equities. But today home values are plummeting, home foreclosures are on the rise, consumer debt is reaching unsustainable levels, and prices for energy, health care, and education are soaring out of reach for many working families.
Sweeney’s letter points to several solutions to solving the wage stagnation, including:
- Ensuring transparency and effective regulation of our housing and financial markets.
- Reactivating the historically successful fiscal and monetary policies that place a higher priority on full employment.
- Fixing our flawed trade policies.
- Investing in the high-paying green jobs of the future.
- Fixing our broken labor laws so that workers who want to form a union can bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits.
- Ensuring affordable health care and retirement security.
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In the past, any proposal that provided middle or low income families a tax rebate did nothing but add to the deficit. The money will not filter into the economy. To advance the economy and decrease the deficit requires a decrease in unemployment and secure jobs here in the United States.
Prior to the Bush administration there was a surplus, now there is a huge deficit. Big business tax breaks did nothing, but create unenployment and business take overs. Which caused unenployment, retirement fund raiding, large CEO salaries and perks, at the expence of the workers.
The United States is under the control of big businees and that relates to unenployment, which in return relates to a HUGH deficit. When people are working the government has money to pay the bills and that includes debet that other countries hold over the United States.
The purposal is a band-aid not a fix to the problem. The fix to the problem is employment and that is the job of big business and can be achieved by keeping business here in the United States and exporting the United States good to other countries.
If the United States is poor the world is poor.
Thank you.
Amen RodneyLee
[[[NOTE; I AM SORRY AND APPOLOGIZE FOR SUCH A LONG “COMMENT” but any short comment without an explanation behind the comment would be perhaps meaningless and incomprehensible. The AFL-CIO would ideally educate it’s members to these facts of life, and with this understanding develop new mass media and work to create a new political party to end the corporatist capitalist system that is destroying this country and the planet.)
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Band-aid solutions as proposed by the AFL-CIO will not fix the multiple and inter-related problems (crises!) that are symptoms of deeper systemic problems.
The “system” that is now failing for the vast majority of America’s working people is actually working magnificently for the wealthiest five percent, corporations and individuals, that are the “ruling elite” of this “capitalist system”.
Working people today in the U.S. are now “competing” with the poorest working people on the planet. Manufacturing has moved to China. Steel making long ago moved to South Korea. The jobs left over are often not “living wage” jobs thus families are often needing two and three sources of income. More often, families have gone into massive credit card debt to stay afloat.
There is only one concern of corporate capitalism: maximize profit. The pursuit of cheap labor has been one way our “ruling elite” has become wealthy. The working people in this country can never expect these jobs to return because it will simply mean a loss of profit to companies needing cheap labor (labor intensive work.)
What are the other ways that corporate capitalism continually finds ways to make a “fast buck”…..REGARDLESS OF IT’S EFFECT ON PEOPLE OR SOCIETY. These things Republican and now Democratic Party politicians are continually advocating policies and programs that continally make the “rich get richer and the poor get poorer”.
Tax Cuts: Tax “reform” inevitably means massive tax cuts for the wealthiest with hardly a token of effect for working people. Most importantly, this means less and less money for public schools, hospitals and health care, libraries, parks, etc. that are essential for working people to maintain a decent living standard for their families. Working people cannot “buy” all these things because they are increasingly too expensive, especially when they become privatized.
Privatization: To privatize a school, hospital, public utility (water,electricity) means that the basic function of the social service is changed and destroyed.
The purpose of a public school is to provide an education to all children without cost and for everyone (universal free public education). When the public school is “privatized” the purpose of universal free public education is ended. The public school is now a private business, designed again to maximize profit to the owners (investors) in the business. A fee is now charged to attend and the privatized school can reject children who cannot pay the fee or for any other reason (racial, religious, etc.) the owners wish. The nature and quality of the education, the quality of the teachers etc, are all controlled by the principle of maximization of profit that guides all business.
Privatization of the Federal Government: Under Cheney/Bush the federal government is being “privatized” Instead of a government operating in the interest “of the people, by the people, for the people” it is increasingly being operated “of, by and for” the interest of corporate profit. This privatization not only includes hiring about 100,000 “mercenaries” by companies such as Black Water to perform military duties, but it means even “outsourcing” to private companies agencies like the CIA (!)
WAR IS A PROFITABLE BUSINESS! When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 there was some hope of a “peace dividend”. Ronald Reagan massively increased the “defense” budget in the 1980s, and has continued and expanded since 1991.
The Project for the New American Century, seeing the collapse of the USSR, realized that now the US was the world military superpower. The U.S. was TWICE as powerful as all the rest of the world/s military COMBINED! Thus the U.S. could enforce it’s economic and political world on the rest of the world and military destroy any challengers. The signatories to the “Statement of Principles ” included Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Ellitot Abrams, and other “neo-cons” who agreed with this plan for world domination. NEARLY EVERY ONE OF THE SIGNATORIES (PLUS OTHERS) BECAME PART OF THE BUSH REGIME. The theories of the PNAC became the foreign policy of the United States.
Thus when the U.S. invaded IRAQ, all the babble about “Weapons of Mass Destruction” and “War on Terrorism” were pure lies! It was all about SEIZURE OF OIL RESOURCES… forget about “competition” this is pure imperialist war for profit, power and the implementation of the PNAC plan to rule the world!
MOST INCREDIBLY: THE WEALTHY ELITE, WITH ALL THEIR TAX CUTS AND MASSIVE INCREASE IN WEALTH, ARE NOT PAYING AT ALL FOR THE WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN! INSTEAD THE BUSH GANG HAS BORROWED BILLIONS (NOW OVER A TRILLION?) DOLLARS TO PAY FOR THE WARS (THE MONEY WHICH IN FACT GOES INTO THE POCKETS OF THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX PRIVATIZED OWNERS>)
ALL THIS RANTING ABOVE IS FOR A PURPOSE:
The “glorious” capitalist system has degenerated into an international war of greed. Our current Bush/Cheney regime does not give a damn about the people. We are to be exploited where it is profitable. Otherwise we are abandoned.
The corporatist elite are SHUTTING DOWN all “socialistic” schemes like free public education, Social Security, public health, etc. and will try desperately to privatize them ASAP. The sooner these institutions are shut down, the sooner they will start making a profit from these privatized institutions.
THIS IS NO LONGER QUESTION FOR THE LABOR MOVEMENT AND WORKING PEOPLE. BAND AID SOLUTIONS, BEGGING THE DEMOCRATS TO PLEASE DO SOMETHING, ETC. WILL NOT SOLVE THIS SYSTEMIC PROBLEM OF RUN-AMOK GANGSTER CAPITALISM.
WE MUST END THIS SYSTEM OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION FOR IT COMPLETELY ENDS US! We need need to end this economic system that is designed to enrich the few, to an economic system that promotes the economic interest of all the people.
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A link to further “comment”
Bush announces “stimulus” plan as recession fears grip Washington
By Patrick Martin
19 January 2008
ttp://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jan2008/econ-j19.shtml
What if this recession is different? If there isn’t any manufacturing in America any more, why would the Fed lowering interest rates help? Even if companies take the lower interest loans and invest in their businesses, their investments will be in overseas production. If we don’t stop the exporting of jobs, we won’t have the upturn part of the business cycle.
http://www.freedomsringmall.com
Several years ago I received a “tax rebate” of $300. It did zero to my spending pattern. Why? Because I did not need it! The people who needed it didn’t get it because they are too poor and did not qualify! Go figure!
History has shown us that the way to serve the people and revive the economy is through job-creation programs wherein workers can earn family-sustaining wages and receive decent benefits.
Luke warm, milk toast “stimulus” programs are akin to using a band aid to treat a heart attack.
Roosevelt forged his “New Deal” after progressive, militant labor leaders of yore demanded it! The nation recovered!
With corporate chieftains and future labor statesmen exiting through the same Ivy League college doors, it seems “old acquaintances” trump working class activism every time.
I understand the comments of Jerry Wells (above). He has hit it right on the head. We workers have to assert ourselves. One tool we must never put down is the power of a general strike until justice is won. That is our heritage! It is our heritage despite the fact that too many apologists would have us believe otherwise…as they go along to get along…while hobnobbing with old college chums.
Why is it that normal men and women can discuss the problems we, as a nation are headed for long before it happens and the big brains of the world don’t have a clue?? I don’t think so, they know just as we do.
It is no longer Corporate America, now they are global corporations and they do not care for any one country or people.
The comments on this page are right on! How do we come together as a nation and stop this greed that is destroying working people around the WORLD??
Jim the how is to get away from the two party system,there is no difference in them JerryWells is absolutely correct.Until we can put forth a labor/peoples candidate nothing will change.Some where the other day I read Sen, Clinton,Sen.Obama and Ex-Sen.Edwards where do you think this change they all talk about will come from they are all part of the problem and the republicans are no different, they got where they are by playing the game and playing us for the fools that we seem to be.This is not a ball game where we choose up sides and somebody wins this is about all the people of this country.Not one of them has taken up an issue except to give it lip service.I for one am really sick of the whole thing.We desperately need an Independent party,it is the only way to show that you have had enough.
***Listen*** The Five Point Plan suggested by Afl-Cio again gives tax credits. No one is allocating any portion to disabled/Seniors who don’t make enough to pay taxes. This portion needs some financial relief and in return will spend rather than save BECAUSE THEY CONSUME THE MOST, ESPECIALLY IN HEALTHCARE, AND CAN’T SAVE ANY BECAUSE MOST OF THEIR NEEDS ARE WAY UNDER MET! Therefore the only temporary relief package I/We should support is one that has a provision in it form these hundreds of thousands that contribute vastly to our economy throw products and services purchased.–Thank you.
Congress should stop the Bush giveaway to the rich “in the name of stimulating the economy. Hell. that’s what got this country in the tank in the first place. Stimulus aimed at middle and low income wage earners can better do the trick. But not if it conatins another big giveaway to corporate America and the rich with little or nothing for the middle and lower income earners.
Confessions of a Job Exporter
I am one of the people who decides to locate jobs outside of the U.S. Specifically, I am the head of tax for a U.S. multinational. It is my job to advise that high value manufacturing and research should, from a tax point of view, be located outside of this country. I advise that it is better to invest cash in foreign operations than in American ones. If the recent tax proposal of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rangel becomes law, I will advise that good administrative jobs should be moved out of the U.S. I don’t like giving that advice, but under current law that’s what the numbers dictate. I want to change that.
Of course tax isn’t the only thing that governs the decision on where to put operations. My company has a set of activities that we can afford to keep in the U.S. out of loyalty, but if we did too much of that we’d be acquired by another (probably foreign) company. For the rest of the operations, it’s just math - add up relative labor and transportation costs and the cost of materials, figure in tax, and that tells you where to locate, excluding places with homicidal or corrupt governments. For the highest tech, highest profit operations, though - the ones that involve the best jobs - tax becomes dominant.
U.S. law currently provides that most income earned abroad is only taxed by the U.S. when you bring the cash home. So, if you make $100 in America you only keep $65 after the U.S. 35% corporate tax, but you keep the full $100 if you earn it in the Dominican Republic. When you reinvest that $100 of D.R. cash you can use the full $100 if you invest abroad, but only $65 if you invest in America, due to the U.S. tax bite. So you invest in new foreign operations, not American ones.
Changing the law to tax the D.R. operations currently would not work. America is not the only economy that counts any more, and most countries do not tax foreign earnings at all. If the U.S. immediately taxed foreign earnings, our companies would get acquired or crushed by competitors, and we’d just lose our headquarters jobs. Like it or not, it is a global economy now, and this country does not control it.
But there is a simple solution that works. Give corporations a deduction for dividends they pay, and make up the tax revenue by getting rid of special rates for capital gains and by imposing a 7½% tax on individual income over $500,000 a year, which is all it takes to be revenue neutral. That would make the U.S. the best location in the world for high value operations. It would restore our economy and give middle class workers market power. Corporations would need to hire workers in this country. That need translate into employee market power.
There are plenty of proposals circulating for ways to stimulate our weak economy. The American people need to demand a real, long term solution. Change the rules so that I can tell my employer to put all the best jobs here.
Matt Lykken is a tax attorney and is Director of SharedEconomicGrowth.org. Details of the proposal can be found at www.sharedeconomicgrowth.org .
Below is a proposal, an idea, for a political party “of,by and for” the people and not conrolled by corporate profit interests. Briefly some ideas about this party:
* This would be an “umbrella party” in that it would bring together individuals and groups from many different organizations and interests. For example:
+ Global Warming (isn’t it incredible that NONE of the so-called “electable” candidates has mentioned this!) Scientists and engineers, urban planners, environmentals, urban planners, etc. need to prioritize the goals for society to transition to an ecologically sound economy away from a profit based and war based society.
* Transition away from war and militarism to peaceful. This is not “utopian” or idealistic….it is essential for the survival of the United States and the planet. The “wars of choice” by the Bush gang have slaughtered a million people. These wars are bankrupting the country and sucking money away from the needs of society and the people, putting the money instead into the Halliburtons and Exxons of this world. The economy is collapsing even as I write this!
* A massive and on-going program of training and education into the jobs needed to rebuild the nations’s infrastructure, to create new systems of public transportation, renewable energy jobs, rebuild our cities with affordable housing energy efficient. etc.
* A huge list could be made of essential needs of the people that must be attended to: public education system must be improved, expanded and free through college level and adult education. Prison system needs total overhaul.
Even the food production and distribution system has become so corrupted by profit, that we have national and international problems with obesity, diabetes, etc. with the food industry adament about their “freedom” to produce junk food.
WE HAVE SUCH VAST POTENTIAL TO MAKE LIFE WORTH LIVING AGAIN FOR ALL PEOPLE IF WE CAN JUST UNITE AND FOCUS OUR EFFORTS!
THE ORGANIZED LABOR MOVEMENT, WITH IT’S ORGANIZATION AND RESOURCES, SHOULD BE THE ORGANIZER AND LEADER IN THIS! WITHOUT THEM I DON’T THINK MUCH WILL HAPPEN
Dump the Democrats!
We Need a New People’s Peace Party
Independent of Corporate Money!
As both Democratic and Republican parties are now corporate funded, they both support corporate agendas. Both Obama and Clinton support a continuation of the war in Iraq, both support corporate “for-profit” health care agendas. On many issues essential to corporate profit there has been, for many years, bi-partisan support. We essentially have a corporate political establishment party with two branches. We need to establish a new party independent of corporate money that is free to represent the interests of the people.
We must go beyond looking for any one “candidate” or individual who can be trusted to become elected and then solve all our problems. Historically, these individuals end up being targets of assassination and corruption. Non-corporate third parties are typically very small, financially impoverished, and often committed to an ideology that is often incomprehensible to most people. We need to hold the people’s elected iofficials to account to a people’s platform and agenda. If they do not fulfill the promises, platforms, and needs of the people, they should be removed from office as soon as possible.
Now is the time to establish a new political party, a People’s Peace Party
The People’s Peace Party (PPP) shall be an “umbrella party” that will unite the millions of people now in opposition to the current corporate regime and it’s various foreign and domestic policies. Millions are opposed to the war in Iraq. Millions are of Americans are concerned about global warming, lack of affordable health care, lack of living wage jobs, the destruction of public education, etc. The massive shift in wealth to the benefit of a few is destroying the living standards of the vast majority of people.
There now exists a “virtual” People’s Peace Party among the tens of millions of people who are opposed to the on-going destruction of this country and it’s peoples. We are atomized and left powerless by the existing political situation. For many years we have joined single issue campaigns and have marched, protested, written letters, supported Pacifica Radio KPFK, listened to “Democracy Now!”, and tried to be as “activist” as personally possible. Despite all these efforts we remain collectively powerless and the needs of the people for peace go unfulfilled.
“Divide and conquer” has been used throughout history by ruling elites to maintain power and control over exploited populations. The existing corporate regime in the U.S. has constantly tried to destroy any natural alliances between oppressed peoples. Race, language, nationality, and class are constantly used to keep the people atomized and politically powerless. We the people of the United States, forever exploited and increasingly impoverished by these divisive tactics, understand how this has worked in the past. We must now seek a new way to unite our forces and energies to create an ecologically sustainable society that seeks to end the vast social in-equalities that are destroying us all.
Corporate control of government has meant that corporate agendas to maximize corporate profit have become federal policy. Or more simply put - the corporations are looting the federal government. War will continue as long as war is to make profit for oil companies and the military-industrial complex. Bush has stated that he would not endorse any environmental policy that threatens the profit of polluting business. No serious reconstruction aid for Katrina victims because there is essentially no profit to corporate business in helping poor people. Privatization of all social institutions is relentlessly pursued.
The principle of maximizing corporate profit now controls every aspect of social, economic and cultural life. This control and looting by the corporations of the government has led to massive federal debt, decline in the dollar, unending financial corruption, until the U.S. is now on the brink of economic collapse.
The People’s Peace Party (PPP) Founding Principles
* The PPP affirms the principle that the government of the United States is a government “of, by, and for the people”. In order to remain independent of corporate corruption, the PPP does not accept contributions from corporations or their individual representatives.
* The PPP seeks to prohibit corporate money (and thus agendas) in election campaigns by seeking government funding of elections at all levels of government, not just the federal level. The PPP seeks to end the “person hood” of corporations which grants them rights of citizenship without the responsibilities expected in society.
* The PPP seeks to end war. War will never end as long as war is waged for profit. Thus we will end the privatization of the federal government, especially privatization of the military (mercenaries, CIA outsourcing, etc.).
* The PPP seeks to end the corporate control of mass media. The corporate profit agendas has totally blocked accessible public discussion and dialog on the critical issues we are now facing. Public oversight and democratic local control of the mass media is essential for democracy to function. The vast potential of television to expand the cultural and intellectual life of the people has been subordinated and destroyed by corporate advertising and political agendas. Corporate advertising and control of mass media must be minimized and eliminated where possible.
* The PPP will create mass media programs of various types to educate the people on the PPP agenda, platforms, candidates to be widely distributed through existing non-profit networks. We would urge everyone in agreement to become active at what ever level is personally possible.
* The PPP would implement a program to transition to a peace economy. The proposal by Dennis Kucinich to establish a Department of Peace should be implemented. We would withdraw all U.S. troops for the Middle East. The PPP would reduce the military budget by 50%. Shut down the 700 plus foreign military bases. Shut down costly and failed military systems. (planes that don’t fly, “star wars” programs that don’t work, etc.) We would re-instate all tax cuts implemented by the Bush regime for corporations and wealthy individuals. A vigorous audit of corporations and wealthy indivuals would be undertaken to minimize tax fraud.
* The PPP works towards a humanistic immigration policy that uses the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as it’s guide. Nearly every article of the Declaration is continuously violated by the bi-partisan corporatist regime as it wages a global war of genocide (”collateral damage”) against unprofitable humanity. We would end all immigrant concentration camps, ICE raids that has incarcerated thousands and broken families. We would seek to examine and correct the conditions that have cause this mass migration into the U.S.
The PPP would end all “free-trade” treaties such as NAFTA, CAFTA that are destroying the economic life of millions of farmers and workers in Mexico. We would end subsidies to corporate agriculture that have dumped cheap corn into Mexico, causing subsistence farmers to leave the land.
The majority of people of Mexico are living in poverty. The PPP would insist that the Mexican government begin a vigorous program to upgrade the living standards of it’s citizens. Minimum wages, national health care, massively increase funding for schools and teacher salaries, etc. must be undertaken to stem the flow of immigration. Foreign and domestic corporations operating in Mexico, business and wealth in Mexico must be taxed in addition to massive foreign aid from the United States to remedy the massive inequality between the two countries.
By ending war and militarism, the “peace dividend” that was possible with the collapse of the Soviet Union would finally become a reality. The peace dividend would mean that the vast funds for war and destruction would become available to cope with the many crises humanity now faces.
The November 2008 election should be considered a starting point to establish the PPP, which would run candidates at federal, state, and local elections.
Millions of people know WHY we need to end the corporate control of government. We must create the MEANS to make this happen.
This 5-Point Economic Stimulus Plan really struck a nerve, and yes, it is a band-aid - but if our elected leaders are willing to add to it and take these ideas to better and more effective economic strategies to help the people who are struggling in this country, then it would be more than just a band-aid. The Democratic Governor of Maryland is attempting to do just that and already has a plan in place to put people back to work by fixing our schools, building new schools and using local companies to do the work. He is also proposing a new tax structure that is more fair and self-sustaining. These are good ideas that have significant merit for the entire state economy. So, why would there be a problem here? Simply because the Republicans are fighting him tooth and nail for every concession, and he has to continually defend his decisions against the onslaught of greedy capitalists who are looking for a twisted and insignificant negative for every positive and environmentally friendly idea the governor has. So progress, at least my interpretation of progress, is constantly being attacked and compromised because of the partisan fighting that goes on and on. I tend to agree with JerryWells that our two-party system is failing us, and I believe it is because neither party is either really looking at the problems we face from the perspective of the average, hardworking American, or they are prevented from addressing the issues to begin with, because of all the politicizing that has replaced true problem solving, such as what appears to be happening in this current presidential campaign. I think both parties are flawed in that they have reached a point in their evolutions where the hopes of real progress and real changes are nil. It is the slander and the conceptualizing and the ideologies that are preventing true leadership from emerging in a progressive, altruistic and democratic form. What a mess we’re in.
I wholeheartedly like the idea of a new party. The PPP Party that JerryWells proposes would have to start with the local elections and move up from there. With a strong platform, such as the one suggested, I truly believe most Americans are ready for this change. Suffice to say, it would take candidates that really are willing to serve the people and not be focused on their own agendas and greed. The problems with our two party system began when capitalism usurped common sense and decency, and power took control of leadership ethics.
There are many, many good people in this country with a wealth of knowledge and ideas. This country can be great once again if we have a government that taps into these kinds of resources and puts people above wealth and ego, and a government that basically understands that how we treat the smallest, the poorest the weakest within our society is really the kind of government we will end up with.
IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE…and a change that will ironically take us back to our country’s beginning, and reinforce why we have the Bill of Rights and the Constitution to begin with.
PS: Comment to Shared Growth. Thank you for the insight. I could really see the bind you’re in. It’s good to have that perspective.