posted on Jun, 15 2009 @ 02:26 PM
Aye, there's the rub: what to do that is effective in bringing about the sort of change we want. Pretty much everyone I know is aware of the
situation and how screwed we all are, but no one can figure out what to do about it.
The problem, I think is sheer numbers: 340 or so million Americans. To get to 10% you need 34 million focussed on one thing. That's a lot of people.
Getting that many coordinated is a more than monumental task. It is a time-consuming task. And most Americans are smart enough to realize that in the
process, if anyone or any group became truly effective, they would be attacked in multiple ways and isolated, thus rendering them safe for TPTB. You
know the drill: financial, sexual, drug, and political allegations that destroy the reputation and consume all the resources, ultimately ending in
"suicide" or bancruptcy.
Who or what do you target? If you march in a commercial district the cops will arrest you and/or beat you. If you march in a wealthy neighborhood,
same, except the people you want to influence aren't there because this is just one of their residences. The corporate elite are remote and mobile,
with many layers of protection. They can safely ignore any sort protest if the people peacefully march.
So again: what can be done?
The only things I see as effective are difficult in the extreme to accomplish: a general strike might work, but what are you striking for?
Higher minimum wage? Affordable healthcare? Lower taxes? Higher taxes? Better schools? It's pretty frustrating...none of those things solves
anything, really. If you can't define and agree upon what you're striking for and provide a plan to get there, it's a pointless endeavor.
Here's my one thing, one idea to unite behind and strike for that might actually create the sorts of change that we all want:
Cap wealth.
Limit wealth to one billion dollars per individual, counting cash, stocks, bonds, cars, furs, jewelry, homes, boats, etc., in the total, no matter
where in the world it is located.
Tax everything above that at 100%. Give those currently over four years to disburse their excess wealth within a set of guidelines. Mandatory
commercial retirement when the cap is reached. Remember, the thing that most distinguishes the super-wealthy from the rest of us is not their
intellectual or business acumen superiority, but rather their callousness and ruthlessness. They are replaceable; quite easily, in fact. After a
billion dollars, they can work philanthropically or play or actually (god forbid) raise thier children and be with thier families.
That's my take: I've spent a great deal of time thinking about this and actually writing a law, the Maximum Individual Wealth Act, MIWA for short,
that explicitly defines what, who, and how. Penalties are genuine, too: loss of citizenship and the privelege of doing businessin or for the US, its
territories or possessions, visiting or living within the same, as well as economic sanctions.
Other than that, the only thing I see that will effectively change anything is collapse a la USSR, and who what sort of change we'll get then...