Thank you for Occupying a Cold Reality and Not Freezing My Ass Off While You Do the Right Thing.

 

 

 

How come I’m sitting here at my computer with a vicious cold while Wall Street Criminals are sitting at a fine dining establishment, enjoying some haughty conversation and relegating the Occupy Wall Street Movement to entertainment for Fox News zombies?

Okay,  I marched. I stood with my sign. I donated supplies from my meager camping gear and limited resources.  I moved my money out of Bank of America into a Credit Union two years ago. I drove to Seattle. I stood outside in my hometown. I went to a few General Assemblies. I learned new social skills. I laughed. I cried. I yelled. I sat silently and listened.

I caught a cold.

I am thrilled to see people taking to the streets. I am ecstatic that my fellow Americans are refusing to be pushed around by playground Bull-ies and greedy war mongers and Banksters. I admire the passion that is rising from those who, increasingly, have nothing left to lose and I am a big fan of having a big mouth.

Now.

Now I have a cold.

All my bravado, all my rage at the machine, all my righteous indignation has been funneled into a flesh bag of mucus and fever dreams.

The occupier’s creed is to occupy Wall St until change happens. I respect that fortitude and I will offer whatever I can to assist.

But sitting here with my box of tissues and my sudden revelation that I am a woman in her fifties with a low threshold to bad weather and a stressed immune system, I must explore options to pneumonia martyrdom. I must learn what that change looks like. I must figure out  how I will recognize the signal that it is time to go pick up my loaned tent from the local occupy camp.

I’m not an academic, not a politician, not an economist, or even an articulate speaker of observations. But I am a human being with eyes and ears (and a stuffy nose). I can see the devastation that has been ravaging through our democracy at the hands of those who have sold out their own children to a perilous future for instant gratification of their greed.

While I can’t head out to the occupation camp in my down comforter, all hopped up on cold medication, to support the movement, I do have a moment to reflect on why I think it is important and why I think the movement better get focused on what tangible change would send everybody back home before all those wonderful people camping in the snow and rain catch my cold.

Personally, I would settle for a little bit of simplification within the present system.

How about 3 simple steps that leaders can execute to prove they mean it when they say they are for the people and not the financiers of a toxic inequality?

3 Simple Steps:

(These are just the ideas of an under-educated and limited woman who talks to her cat and paints pretty pictures, but you smart politicians could have your writers put these 3 simple steps into more palatable words, I’m certain.

 

Step 1: Tax Reforms

Shred the incomprehensible, convoluted Tax Code and establish a simple, and clear process that allows us to support our nation in a way that justifies our participation.

Enact a new Tax Code in which *everyone pays the same percentage of income tax across the board.

*Everyone who derives income from employment, accrued interest, real estate rentals, exchange of goods or services, donations, or revenue within the United States of America, separate from retirement plans.

They are;

• Working Individuals and Sole Proprietors
• Small Businesses
• Corporations
• Dividend Traders and Moneychangers
• Trust Fund Beneficiaries (on previously untaxed interest only)
• Churches
• Foreign Contractors selling goods or services in the United States
• Politicians
• Landlords and Property Leasers
• All persons or bodies who receive monetary benefit using American infrastructure, services, commerce, employees, congregations, tenants, or clientele.

No double taxation on any transference of property, capital, or inheritances except toward a previously untaxed additional income generated by the recipient of such.

Eliminate those complicated tax credits and loopholes designed to benefit the few.

Tax credits will be limited to those who monetarily contribute to Public Services and Utilities (PSU defined below) in which they are not personally or financially associated.

Those tax credits shall be in direct proportion to contributions.

Add an individual tax credit stipend applied to every American who votes.

All American citizens shall hold the right and responsibility to vote, which cannot be revoked for any reason, no matter how many times they get arrested for smoking pot.

Election days shall be considered an American holiday and treated accordingly, with paid time off to workers so they can exercise voting rights and responsibility without financial reprisal.

Nonprofit and tax exempted 501c3 organizations shall be integrated into Public Services and Utilities if they’re really doing something for the public.

All religious or faith-based entities shall be considered private industry separate from Public Services and Utilities and shall be taxed according to income minus PSU contributions.

Step 2: Social Reforms and Establishing the Public Services and Utilities

There will be no privately owned Public Services and Utilities and all public services and utilities will be supported by tax dollars and individual donations with any profits derived to be reinvested into Public Services and Utilities.

Anything paid for with our tax dollars shall be owned by us.

 

All American citizens will have equal access to Public Services and Utilities and shall be charged a sliding scale fee determined by income at the time of service. This fee will be considered a public services and utilities contribution and be eligible for tax credit.

There will be no preferential treatment given to any American citizen for access to Public Services and Utilities for any reason.

All Patents affecting the well being of American citizens shall be publicly owned with awards and monetary incentives given to individual innovators for the public good.

Scientists, engineers, and innovators shall be considered contractors of Public Services and Utilities and paid the same as government officials.

PSU Divisions:

*Public Services and Utilities shall be defined as structures, services, and institutions established for the benefit of all American citizens and governed by public vote.

Pay scale for employment positions in PSU, as well as elected political representatives, shall be determined by public vote.

• Education
• Health and Medicine (to include medical patents, healthcare services, and medical institutions)
• Food and Environment (to include public parks and lands as well as sustainable food production, food safety, farming guidelines, and food manufacturing and enforcement of negative ecological impact fines)
• Transportation (to include infrastructure maintenance and development, efficient and sustainable modes of public transportation and travel)
• Public News Media and Broadcasting
• Utilities (to include Water and Sanitation, Energy Resources, Public Banking,)
• Public Safety
• Industry and Production Facilitations
• Other Divisions Determined By Someone Smarter Than Me

Step 3: Political Reforms

• Eliminate private or special interest lobbyists.

• Only publicly elected representatives shall approach other publicly elected officials to represent public interest.

• Election campaigns shall be publicly financed through tax exempt donations, not to exceed 100.00 per individual and shall be promoted by publicly owned news media only.

• Public news media coverage shall be free of charge to persons running for offices to represent the people.

• All campaign platforms shall be in accordance to issues submitted by American citizens.

• Taxes will no longer be an acceptable platform for political campaigns.

• All public officials are subject to the same laws and codes of the general public and in accordance with PSU shall be paid equally to all PSU employees and contractors.

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~ by leakelley on November 2, 2011.