Foreclosures 101

There are complexities to offer r explanations for what has caused such a meltdown in the mortgage industry and steep declines in property values. Many of the reasonings offered are well thought out. Obviously it is the essence of vulture capitalism.
 
The most commonly cited cause among economic analysts is simply greed and corruption on the part of nearly everyone in the mortgage and real estate industries. And, of course, there were massive levels of greed among the lower level workers and participants in the market.  This is appearent with American Deamers who want home their way.

Appraisers over-valued homes, Realtors listed them for these unwarranted prices, and loan officers provided loans at higher values in order to reap higher commissions. Homeowners were also not innocent, as many of them lied on mortgage applications to increase their incomes and qualify for homes they knew they could not afford. Banks provided incomprehensible mortgages with low teaser interest rates, basing the qualifications on the applicant’s ability to pay the artificially low rate, not the reset payment even based on current market conditions. These circumstances all combined to create a highly over-valued real estate market and vast numbers of homes sold families who simply could not afford them. especially in NJ where people canot afford the home they grew up in. Others who amke a high income and insist on McMansions and rural development and destruction.

A another cause is the falling value of the dollar, decreasing the purchasing power of ordinary Americans. Devaluation of the dollar causes imported goods to increase in price, contributing to higher energy prices, food prices, and expenses for nearly every good sold by the largest retailers. Homeowners are also robbed of their money in the form of inflation caused by the federal government borrowing money and printing money to wage war and provide social programs, thereby devaluing the dollar further. Once Congress passes a budget and realizes it will not bring in enough money to pay for every program, they rely on borrowing money. When this does not make up the shortfall, they simply print the money and have the first use of it. This inflation takes away the wealth of citizens, as their once precious dollars become as common as confetti and worth about as much. Lets not forget low wage workers and people who have no empowerment to maintain their dreams of owning a home.

Again, the causes leading up to the declines in the real estate market can conclusively explain the effects. But, homeowners, whether they are in danger of losing their homes or not, would do well by researching some of the reasons their family and neighbors may be facing foreclosure. Only by learning from the mistakes of others, and the American Dream trap is designed to facilitate the loss of their homes,  this is not new, but it is more epidemic.

 

For information http://foreclosurefish.com

War and Money

What ever happened to World Peace, where we not seeking The War to End All Wars? Now we are a warrior nation. Eisenhower in his Cross of Gold speech SAID:” One day the military Industrial Complex and Oilmen will crucify the worker on a Cross of Gold.”

Here is what our Military Jumta is dong:

The hundreds of the records are missing.’ 29 Jan 2012 The U.S. Defense Department cannot account for about $2 billion it was given to cover Iraq-related expenses and is not providing Iraq with a complete list of U.S.-funded reconstruction [sic] projects, according to two new government audits. The reports come from the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The Iraqi government in 2004 gave the Department of Defense access to about $3 billion to pay bills for certain contracts, and the department can only show what happened to about a third of that, the inspector general says in an audit published Friday.

Navy sending commando ‘mothership’ to Middle East 27 Jan 2012 The Pentagon is rushing to send a large floating base for commando teams to the Middle East as tensions rise with Iran, ‘al-Qaeda’ in Yemen and Somali pirates, among other threats. In response to requests from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Navy is converting an aging warship it had planned to decommission into a makeshift staging base for the commandos. Unofficially dubbed a “mothership,” the floating base could accommodate smaller high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEALs, procurement documents show.

Pentagon Seeks Mightier Bomb vs. Iran 28 Jan 2012 Pentagon war planners have concluded that their largest conventional bomb isn’t yet capable of destroying Iran’s most heavily fortified underground facilities, and are stepping up efforts to make it more powerful, according to U.S. officials briefed on the plan. The 30,000-pound “bunker-buster” bomb, known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, was specifically designed to take out the hardened fortifications built by Iran and North Korea to cloak their [alleged] nuclear programs. Doubts about the MOP’s effectiveness prompted the Pentagon this month to secretly submit a request to Congress for funding to enhance the bomb’s ability to penetrate deeper into rock, concrete and steel before exploding, the officials said.

Fmr. Homeland Security Sec Ridge calls for Regime Change in Iran 28 Jan 2012 “Regime change, regime change, regime change.” That is what Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge (R-Bush/Home Depot wh*re) said Saturday in an interview with Fox News, referring to the Obama Administration’s need to take action against Iran. A United Nations nuclear agency team is traveling to Tehran to investigate the progress of the country’s uranium enrichment. Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania warned that inaction from the administration could be detrimental to our U.S. long term security, in recent Fox News op-ed.

Obama administration using loophole to quietly sell arms package to Bahrain 27 Jan 2012 President Barack Obama’s administration has been delaying its planned $53 million arms sale to Bahrain due to human rights concerns and congressional opposition, but this week administration officials told several congressional offices that they will move forward with a new and different package of arms sales —

20012 State of the Union Address

The State of the Union Speech delivered by Barack Obama Tuesday smatters as a further milestone in the decay of American hopes and dreams.
Mmedia pundits call this a “populist appeal” by the Democratic president, effectively kicking off his reelection campaign, there was virtually nothing in the speech that even acknowledged the severe social crisis in America, let alone offering no solution. Proving Obama is a imperialist,
the sickening appeals to national unity and militarism. More cheerleading
The new depression years offer the biggest financial collapse since the Great Depression, the US economy remains mired in slump and the world economy is rapidly approaching a new cataclysm. Yet neither Obama nor his Republican opponents can acknowledge the overriding fact being experienced by hundreds of millions of working people: the desperate crisis of the capitalist system.
The Wall Street crash of 2008 plunged the country into a social crisis: mass unemployment, increasing poverty, the collapse of local and state government budgets, the shutdown of public services, the spread of hunger and homelessness. Yet for both Obama and the Republicans, the only solution proposed is to increase the profits of American corporations at the expense of the working class. Every so-called “job-creation” measure proposed by Obama was, in reality, a tax break or government subsidy for corporate America.
Obama’s speech not only slciked over the causes and results of the 2008 collapse, but entirely avoided any mention of the bloating financial crisis in Europe, which threatens to break up the euro zone, with incalculable consequences for the EU.
White House demand that auto workers take a 50 percent pay cut, along with the destruction of tens of thousands of jobs, major cuts in pension and health benefits for retired workers, and a ban on strike action, solidified the role of the United Auto Workers union as the company police force inside the plants.
While auto workers paid the price, the auto bosses reaped the profits.

Obama Stated:

“Today, General Motors is back on top as the world’s number one automaker,” Obama boasted, “the American auto industry is back.”
He continued with the following extraordinary words: “What’s happening in Detroit can happen in other industries. It can happen in Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Raleigh.” This statement should be taken as a threat to the jobs, living standards and democratic rights of every worker in the United States.
He made a brief reference to the 2008 financial crash, admitting that the banks were to blame, mainly for the purpose of excusing himself and his administration of responsibility. The president then announced that he had just ordered the attorney general—four years after the fact—to “expand our investigations into the abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis.” This election-year stunt will likely send no Wall Street CEOs to jail. It will fool only those who want to be fooled.
Obama emphasized that his social policies on education and health care were based firmly on the capitalist market and reiterated his commitment to further drastic cuts in social spending. He cited the deal he reached last summer with House Speaker John Boehner to slash funding for Medicare and Social Security in return for slightly higher taxes on the wealthy, which was derailed by opposition from the House Republican caucus.
He forgets to mention how he threw us under a bus during National Single Payer Health Care and said’ You get Health Care, get hit by a bus, and go to the Hospital for a Free lunch“.
The president repeatedly beat the drums for economic nationalism, focusing particularly on China as an alleged practitioner of predatory trade practices.
In the course of a long paean to American military strength and foreign policy “successes” like the overthrow and murder of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, Obama cited “the enduring power of our moral example.” Actually, under Obama even more than Bush, America is identified with a policy of global bullying and Mafioso tactics with murder, carried out by drones, death squads and hired assassins.
In final analysis, he is no different from Reagan. The Bushes, or Clinton.

Corporate Work Place

In America the joke would be going to work is like leaving America for
8 hours. And Human Rights Watch determines most workers have no rights
in the work place.  We owe that to the Democrats and Republicans who
are in the back pockets of there owners who invest in their campaigns.
What the system does is make people atomized and fearful. Security is
out of the question because we live in a cold cruel capitalist dog eat
dog society with no respect for no one
It is determined that the happiest employees work for Co-operatives
and Democratic Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPS) That the Peace
Dividend never took effect and the better jobs where never created.
Teenagers should be doing many of these jobs, but adults should have
progressed for something better. This never happened.   Between
outsourcing, downsizing, and a future jobless society anyone lucky
enough to get 40 hours, is stuck where they are at low paying mindless
mind numbing jobs.
Hostile and negative work environments become the norm because the
employers know they have us where they want us and they have full
advantage. There are solutions. in one way we can create jobs with
justice for adults, with a living wage and guaranteed workers rights.
A Thirty Two Hour work week so jobs can be made buy anyone who wants,
perpetuate a  mixed economy, and introduce the livable, unconditional
Basic Income for all. I saw a sign at the occupied movement saying I
lost my job and gained an occupation, people do work they are not even
paid for. Ask any mother. People are creative enough to create their
own work.
We need to create a livable future and a real alternative. It would be
nice of the occupied movement had leadership, solidarity, and a way (a
Political Party). There are answers, we need the courage to perpetuate
them.

2011 worse year for the poor

2011 sees a society of mass poverty, and vast wealth on the other—tens of millions of people are impoverished and desperate, while a relative handful enjoy a quality life.
Government agencies and social service organizations document the tidal wave of human need in statistics that are increasingly mind-boggling: 50 million Americans live below the official poverty line, while another 100 million live in “near-poverty,” struggling to support themselves on incomes so low that they are one misfortune away from destitution.
Some 25 million workers are either unemployed or underemployed, 50 million live without health insurance, one out of every seven Americans receives food assistance. The number of self-employed Americans has fallen by two million over the past five years. Nearly six million of the jobless have been out of work for more than six months.
The jobs crisis has steadily worsened, not only year-to-year, but decade after decade. American capitalism continues to generate record corporate profits and wealth for the super-rich, but is less and less able to provide employment for working people.
According to a study by the McKinsey consulting firm, it took six months for the US economy to return to pre-recession job levels after the 1982 recession.
The duration of mass unemployment is the driving force of a social crisis that blights the future of young and old. One out of every four American children depends on food stamps. Some 1.6 million children were homeless at some point or other during this year. For young workers aged 18 to 24, jobless rates exceed the Depression level of 20 percent. Nearly 20 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 34 are now living with their parents.
The minimum wage is just as important now as it was in 1938, when the wage law was enacted as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act, with a promise of guaranteeing
workers “a standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general wellbeing.”
Now we must fight for a living wage

The federal rate was 25 cents an hour, with states and local governments free to set their own minimums, as long as they are above the federal rate. Today’s rates are much higher, of course, although barely adequate. The federal rate is $7.25 an hour,
only about $15,000 a year for full-time workers before taxes and other deductions. Eighteen states, more than 100 cities and counties and the District of Columbia
have higher rates, but their rates also are clearly inadequate.

During his 2008 election campaign, President Obama proposed raising the minimum to $9.50 an hour by 2011. But even though that would merely adjust the minimum
wage for inflation, Congress and the White House have and will done nothing to make it happen.

Some of Obama’s Republican and Libertarian opponents in Congress actually have called for the minimum wage to be abolished, largely because their big money backers in
the restaurant business, who employ about 60 percent of all minimum wage workers, are against it, as are many other business and corporate interests

Meanwhile, those nearer the end of their working life have little to look forward to: according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.
Four million American families have seen foreclosure since the sub-prime mortgage crisis first erupted in 2007. 54 Million children live in poverty and harmlessness.
Nearly 12 million families occupy homes that are under water, financially speaking—the mortgage debt is more than the dwellings are worth in the depressed housing market.
The entire political segment , the Obama White House and Congress alike, are callously indifferent to the suffering of the population. These wealthy people cannot even relate to us filling us with American Dream non-sense.
While the vast majority of the American people confront increasing difficulty in meeting their basic social and economic requirements, the financial oligarchy lives in a different universe. These people have no empathy or understanding or even a acre about the human condition.
We needed to get rid of the two party-(one with two wings for a long time. We must change now and have a good Democratic Socialist Party in Office. The new American Revolution and change can only come from electing new political representative. Think American Labor Party=http://go.to/amlabor

Tommy Douglas-Greatest Canadian

Douglas was born in Falkirk, Scotland, in 1904, the son of Annie (née Clement) and Thomas Douglas, an iron moulder who fought in the Boer War.[ In 1910, his family immigrated to Canada, where they settled in Winnipeg. Shortly before he left Scotland, Douglas fell and injured his right knee. Osteomyelitis set in and he underwent a number of operations in Scotland in an attempt to cure the condition. Later however, in Winnipeg, the osteomyelitis flared up again and Douglas was sent to hospital. Doctors there told his parents his leg would have to be amputated. Fortunately, a well-known orthopedic surgeon took an interest in his case and agreed to treat the boy for free if his parents would allow medical students to observe. After several operations, Douglas's leg was saved. This experience convinced him that health care should be free to all. "I felt that no boy should have to depend either for his leg or his life upon the ability of his parents to raise enough money to bring a first-class surgeon to his bedside", Douglas said in an interview.
During World War I, the family returned to Glasgow. They came back to Winnipeg in 1919, in time for Douglas to witness the Winnipeg General Strike. From a rooftop vantage point on Main Street, he witnessed the police charging the strikers with clubs and guns, a streetcar being overturned and set on fire. He also witnessed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police shoot and kill one of the workers.
At the age of fifteen, Douglas began an amateur career in boxing.[citation needed] Weighing 135 pounds, Douglas fought in 1922 for the Lightweight Championship of Manitoba; and after a six round fight won the title. Douglas sustained a broken nose, a loss of some teeth, and a strained hand and thumb. Douglas successfully held the title the following year.
In 1930 Douglas married Irma Dempsey, a music student at Brandon College. They had one daughter, actress Shirley Douglas, and they later adopted a second daughter Joan, who became a nurse. His son and grandson are the actors Donald and Kiefer Sutherland
Two months after Douglas graduated from Brandon College, he married Irma Dempsey and the two moved to the small town of Weyburn, Saskatchewan, where he became an ordained minister at the Calvary Baptist Church.[24] Irma was 19, while Douglas was With the onset of the Depression, Douglas became a social activist in Weyburn, and joined the new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) organization. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1935 federal election.[citation needed]
Douglas is widely hailed as the father of Medicare, and took the opportunity to take his cause to the federal stage. Thus, in 1961, he retired from his position as Saskatchewan’s premier and turned over this job Woodrow Lloyd, taking leadership of the federal New Democratic Party. Our sister party. (American Labor Party)
Douglas was voted “The Greatest Canadian” of all time in a nationally televised contest organized by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 2004.
Douglas Provincial Park near Saskatchewan’s Lake Diefenbaker and Qu’Appelle River Dam was named after him. A statue of him, created by Lea Vivot, was erected in his hometown of Weyburn in October 2010.
In the two CBC Television mini-series about Pierre Trudeau, Trudeau and Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making, Douglas is portrayed by Eric Peterson. In the biography mini-series, Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, which aired on 12 and 13 March 2006, also on CBC, Douglas was played by Michael Therriault. The movie was widely derided by critics as being historically inaccurate. Particularly, the movie’s portrayal of James Gardiner, premier of Saskatchewan from the late 1920s to mid-1930s, was objected to by political historians and the Gardiner family itself. In response, the CBC consulted a “third party historian” to review the film and pulled it from future broadcasts, including halting all home and educational sales. Prairie Giant was shown in Asia on the Hallmark Channel on 11 and 12 June 2007.

Douglas received honorary degrees from several universities, including:
University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (LL.D) in 1962
McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (LL.D) in May 1969
Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario (LL.D) on 27 May 1972
University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1978
Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario in 1980
University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia 27 May 1981
Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario (LL.D) in 1983

Trygve Martin Bratteli

Trygve Martin Bratteli (11 January 1910 – 20 November 1984) was a Norwegian politician from the Socialist Interntaional aligned Labour Party and Prime Minister of Norway in 1971–1972 and 1973–1976.

He was born in Nøtterøy, where he attended primary (grammar) school. He was unemployed for some time, he worked as a messenger, a whaler, and construction worker. Named as secretary of the Labor Party’s crisis committee during the Nazi invasion of Norway, he was arrested by the Germans in 1942, and was a Nacht und Nebel prisoner of various German concentration camps from 1943 to 1945>? Luckily he survived. He was liberated from Vaihingen an der Enz concentration camp on 5 April 1945 by the White Buses along with 15 other Norwegians who had survived..

After returning to Norway in 1945, he became chairman of the Workers’ Youth League, vice chairman of the party, served on the newly formed defense commission, and in 1965 he was made chairman of the Labor Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Oslo in 1950, and was re-elected on seven occasions.

He was appointed Minister of Finance in Oscar Torp’s cabinet, and from 1956 to 1960 in the third cabinet of Einar Gerhardsen. From 1960 to 1963, still during Gerhardsen’s third period as Prime Minister, he was Minister of Transport and Communications. He was also acting Minister of Finance from January to February 1962. In September 1963, when Gerhardsen’s fourth cabinet was formed, Bratteli was again made Minister of Transport and Communications, a post he held until 1964.

The centre-right cabinet of Borten held office from 1965 to 1971, but when it fell, Bratteli became Prime Minister. Central to his political career was the question of Norway’s membership of the European Union. Following the close rejection of membership in the 1972 referendum, his cabinet resigned. However, the successor cabinet Korvald only lasted one year, and the second cabinet Bratteli was formed following the Norwegian parliamentary election, 1973. It was succeeded by another Labor cabinet Nordli in 1976.

Trygve Bratteli wrote a number of autobiographical and political books. His memoirs about his time in German concentration camps – Prisoner in Night and Fog – became a bestseller in Norway.

Trygve Bratteli was married to Randi Bratteli. Their children are Ola Bratteli, professor of mathematics, and Marianne Bratteli, an artist.

　

Party Leaders:

Christopher Hornsrud (1928: 26 January – 15 February)

Johan Nygaardsvold (1935–1945)

Einar Gerhardsen (1945–1951)

Oscar Torp (1951–1955)

Einar Gerhardsen (1955–1963)

Einar Gerhardsen (1963–1965)

Trygve Bratteli (1971–1972, 1973–1976)

Odvar Nordli (1976–1981)

Gro Harlem Brundtland (4 February – 14 October 1981, 1986–1989, 1990–1996)

Thorbjørn Jagland (1996–1997)

Jens Stoltenberg (2000–2001, 2005 – present)

Party leaders

Votes to the Labor Party in the 2009 election, by county

The Labor Party’s number of seats in parliament by county after the 2009 election

Anders Andersen (1887–88)

Hans G. Jensen (1888–89)

Christian Holtermann Knudsen (1889–90)

Carl Jeppesen (1890–92)

Ole Georg Gjøsteen (1892–93)

Gustav A. Olsen-Berg (1893–94)

Carl Jeppesen (1894–97)

Ludvig Meyer (1897–1900)

Christian Holtermann Knudsen (1900–03)

Christopher Hornsrud (1903–06)

Oscar Nissen (1906–11)

Christian Holtermann Knudsen (1911–18)

Kyrre Grepp (1918–22)

Emil Stang jr. (1922–23)

Oscar Torp (1923–45)

Einar Gerhardsen (1945–65)

Trygve Bratteli (1965–75)

Reiulf Steen (1975–81)

Gro Harlem Brundtland (1981–92)

Thorbjørn Jagland (1992–2002)

Jens Stoltenberg (2002–present)

Socialists, Not Communists

The American Labor Party has attended the Occupy Wall St rallies in big ways. One assessment we made was that there is no solidarity amongst varied factions. That is the bad news, the good news is that we need to foster solidarity in a way hat these people will gravitate toward Socialism.
The big concern is the appearance of Communist groups. We are not Capitalists in the ALP, but we certainly oppose Communism also. We would like the 99%ers to adapt to the ALP. Democratic Socialism fights for Democracy.
The lecture we listened too on Communism told us that, the do not support open and free elections. That the Communist State, would deliver and be the only vehicle. I, disagree. Democratic Socialism fights for Democracy and free and open elections. We are not fighting for a socialist state as we are a better civilization and free choices.
The common chords would be national health care, a living wage, workers rights, jobs with justice, Universal Income, and a few others.
The idea of a Communist Revolution means that there would be a central committee. The “politbureau” would make all the decisions. It seem like a non democracy trading off masters, from Capitalism to Communism.
We disagree with Marx; it is not Democracy that’s leads to socialism, but socialism that leads to democracy. And what we aim for is a true democracy.
The American Labor Party is a party aligned with the Labor and Socialist International. 12 of the happiest countries in the world host governments that have elected a Social Democratic, Labor, Or Socialist Party to office.
Communists would argue we are bourgeois socialists. But than again Marx said Socialism would be fought for by the bourgeois.
The ALP believes in a radical democracy. Where people control there own lives and institutions are democratically controlled. Although we fight capitalism, we are not out to destroy it because trade, commerce and industry are hallmarks of civilization. We fight a Revolution for democratic change which excludes statist control.
The 99% needs a solidarity party that will fight poverty, bring jobs with justice and workers rights. A Universal Income with a sustainable livable future.
The old joke goes, during the revolution. ‘ Comrades, when the revolution is over we will all eat peach pie.” The man replies, Comrade, I do not like peach pie.” The Party Chief replies; “Comrade after the revolution we will all like peach pie.”
In the ALP and SI parties we pass on that. We fight for a Democratic Revolution, not a communist/so called socialist state where the government owns everything, even you. Capitalism is horrible, but Communism is even worse. Sorry to say, we see the world as a Democratic future, where you will be able to actuate the person you really are.

Occupy Wall Street/Share The Wealth

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City based in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district. The protests were initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters. They are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, corruption and influence over government—particularly from the financial services sector—and influencial lobbyists. The protesters’ slogan, “We are the 99%,” refers to the difference in wealth between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.
The initial protest started on September 17, 2011, and by October 9, similar demonstrations were either ongoing or had been held in 70 major cities and over 600 communities in the U.S. Internationally, other “Occupy” protests have modeled themselves after Occupy Wall Street, in over 900 cities worldwide. The inspiration of Lybia. Greek Austerity, and global poverty .
Several wealthy supporters have joined the protest, and have started a blog, west and with the 99percent in which they say, “I am the 1%. I stand with the 99%,” and give their stories. The granddaughter of oil tycoon H.L. Hunt, Leah Hunt-Hendrix, 28, was quoted as saying “We should acknowledge our privilege and claim the responsibilities that come with it.”[ Farhad Ebrahimi, 33, has been participating in the Occupy Boston protest wearing a T-shirt that says, “Tax me. I’m good for it.”
On September 19, Roseanne Barr, the first celebrity to endorse the protest, spoke to protesters calling for a combination of capitalism and socialism. With the destructive aspect of capitalism and alternative economy
There is a notion of sharing the wealth, since jobs are disappearing due to automation and quality jobs are rare. And the notion of Universal Income needs to spread.
1. No person would be allowed to accumulate a personal net worth of more than 300 times the average family fortune, which would limit personal assets to between $5 million and $8 million. A graduated capital levy tax would be assessed on all persons with a net worth exceeding $1 million.
2. Annual incomes would be limited to $1 million and inheritances would be capped at $5 million.
3. Every family was to be furnished with a homestead allowance of not less than one-third the average family wealth of the country. Every family was to be guaranteed an annual family income of at least $2,000 to $2,500, or not less than one-third of the average annual family income in the United States. Yearly income, however, cannot exceed more than 300 times the size of the average family income.
4. An old-age pension would be made available for all persons over 60.
5. To balance agricultural production, the government would preserve/store surplus goods, abolishing the practice of destroying surplus food and other necessities due to lack of purchasing power.
6. Veterans would be paid what they were owed (a pension and healthcare benefits).
7. Free education and training for all students to have equal opportunities in all schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions for training in the professions and vocations of life.
8. All people should receive a Universal Income of $30,000 annually. Teens should maybe get $4,000 a year.
9. The raising of revenue and taxes for the support of this program was to come from the reduction of swollen fortunes from the top, as well as for the support of public works to give employment whenever there may be any slackening necessary in private enterprise.
Enveloping a graduated progressive tax.

What the Occupy Wall street people need is a political party that will get them there. In States elected to change ballot access laws, nationally for a New Government. A Socialist one we hope.

Revolution

Not long ago, the idea of directly empowering the people through a system of “Fighting Capitalism with Capitalism.” It was a great consideration.

In fact, one of Eugene V. Deb’s favorite books was “The Co-operative Common Wealth by Norman Edward Gronlund. The Co-operative Movement his book helped encourage.

Unions have failed in the past because they did not directly empower the people. In fact, they became Capitalist entities themselves, more or less becoming plant managers.

Political parties of the past failed because they also didn’t become “One” with the people. Now is the time to change all that.

I had an idea not long ago. Some intellectual socialists in DSOC, now the DSA, hated the idea.
I even expressed it in Hammer and Tongs – and now it is being done in Brazil and in short form-England. Revolutionary co-operatives.
Empowering the people, so they can take control of their lives and build a Socialist Movement.

Scott Wallace is a person with whom I came into contact. I brought up the notion of starting an International Co-operative Union/Co-op Knights of Labor. Which would have been a labor union, co-op development agency, and co-op franchise.

Scott is assisting in Brazil is creating what I desire for what should be done in the USA. He says of the Militante di Luta Socialista:

“The MLS is quite interesting. It is only about a year old. It was formed by a group of people who were kicked out of the PSTU, a Trotskyist party, but they have distanced themselves from what is
usually thought of as Leninism.”

Here is an excerpt from their manifesto:

“The victorious proletarian revolutions of this century demonstrate the viability of toppling bourgeois power, and they leave us an immense
theoretical wealth for use in present and future struggles.’

That, in my assessment, is profound. The very heart and soul of the future change from a capitalist economy to a co-operative economy. The
MLS is set up for the very purpose of actively involving in, among other things, setting up revolutionary cooperatives.

It is clear that in the past there were almost insurmountable obstacles for the exercise of direct democracy by the masses, but improvements
in the means of communication, and the possibilities for the reduction of the amount of labor time necessary for human social production, create the conditions for a new and revolutionary configuration of power. Increased free time, the Internet, robots, etc, leave no
doubt as to the existence of the material preconditions necessary for the exercise of direct democracy by the workers.

For a person who wants to start something similar in the USA and would like the American Labor Party and possibly create the ICU/CKL to do the same, we could build a brighter future for Democratic Socialism. Of course this would take money and long term planning, but perhaps the MLS, even though Marxist would be worth studying for our
Own future.

Scott has related: “And this group is actively involved, among other things, in setting up revolutionary cooperatives. It is the first group
of Marxists I have ever encountered that was open minded enough to go that route. A route worth taking and something that should have been done 100 years ago.”

My assessment, as Scott’s, of these co-ops are:
* They would be democratic: Workers and
communities would control their workplaces; each affected person would have her rightful say.

* They would be equitable: All workers do their share of desirable and undesirable tasks, with pay in proportion to their effort and sacrifice.
Accidents of birth or luck are a fact of life. You may be helped or hurt by them, but, regardless, there is no good reason why they
should affect your pay, and in a just economy, they won’t.

* They would be pro-environment: Animals, plants, and the natural world would be protected, restored, and nurtured. The environment would get much better, not worse.

* They would be non-corporate: The wealthy elites and their private institutions of control -from their clubs and boardrooms, through their lobbyists and ad agencies, to the WTO, IMF and beyond – would lose their control of our working, civic, and personal lives.

* They would be compassionate: Those too young, old, disabled, or infirm to work would be supported like everyone else. Animals would be
cherished, not tortured and enslaved.

* They would be efficient: Goods and services that people need would be produced, in correct quantities, without the waste of alienated labor, advertising, overproduction, profiteering, and
induced consumption.

In the United Kingdom-England, there is a co-operative that builds affordable housing, etc. They are Called Radical Routes. Radical Routes
grew from a small group of independent co-operatives which developed in the 1980′s.
These housed unemployed people interested in buying properties in which they could start other projects. In 1988 the network took the
name Radical Routes and started holding quarterly Taking Control Events [seminars on how to take control of housing and work by setting up
co-operatives].

In 1991 we changed our status and became a secondary co-operative. This made it possible to raise investment centrally, through a national
investment scheme [previously each co-operative
had raised money itself and on a small scale]. By promoting the activities of all its member co-operatives Radical Routes became more
attractive to a larger number of investors.

Radical Routes is a network of independent primary co-operatives forming an independent secondary. No Radical Routes co-operative has been funded by

the state, so none were undermined when anti-co-operative policies took effect. While other primaries and secondary’s were being
dismantled, Radical Routes developed and grew.
The day to day operation of Radical Routes is funded by service payments from its member co-operatives and by donations. Money invested in Radical Routes is used to provide loans to its
members, the members being registered housing and worker co-operatives
actively working towards social change. Each co-operative participates in the running of the organization, each has one vote and is fully
involved in decision making.

Well, here we are — we can help people take control of their lives and be actively involved politically in their lives. Sounds like a way a
Party or Union can grow to me.