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Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Boomer with Attitude Open Letter from 'Boomer': 5 goals for Occupy Charlotte
Posted By John Grooms on Tue, Oct 18, 2011 at 2:58 PM
The Occupy Charlotte organizers and protesters are hanging tough in their impromptu “campground,” exercising participatory democracy and drawing attention to the plight of “the 99%” of Americans who aren’t among the super-wealthy recipients of lavish federal tax breaks. Occupy Charlotte is in the process of defining goals in a way that should bring them even more support. Other Occupy groups around the country have come up with lists of goals, but each group is independent and creates its own list. I’m writing this as someone who has supported and worked for a litany of progressive causes for a long time. I think Occupy Charlotte is a reason for hope, and my hope is that the group will be able to make a big difference. In that spirit of support, I humbly suggest that the Occupy Charlotte folks include the following five issues among their goals:
* Begin a national discussion of debt forgiveness for ordinary Americans. Until that issue becomes front and center, a final resolution of the current crisis won’t be possible. Federal and state governments need to enter into negotiations with mega-banks with the purpose of convincing them to forgive a majority of the consumer debt they currently hold. Anything less is just puttering around the margins.
* Prosecution of leading investment bankers who caused the economic meltdown (start with Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein).
* Do away with the Bush-era tax cuts for the super-wealthy.
* Enact a UK-like 50% supertax on corporate bonuses of more than $1 million.
* Congressional overturn of the Supreme Court’s outrageous Citizens United decision, which allowed corporations and unions to contribute an unlimited amount of money to political campaigns.
OK, that's it for now. Keep up the good work. Now, take a look at this Occupy Charlotte video by FlesheaterFilms09
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