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If capitalism can continue to make any sense in a democracy, then capitalism cannot be imperialistic. It is just not democratic to have CEOs behaving like kings.

Justice in the marketplace - fair wages, a decent standard of living for all americans - means that, yes, peole who accumulate money and invest it in enterprises to give people jobs, get to suceed, of course. But they don't get to act like crazed, rapacious, decadent royalty, and treat the rest of us like slaves, serfs, servants or peasants. (You've heard, of course, about the "Dead Peasant" insurance pl\olicies that nearly every major corportion in this country has taken out on its employees to profit from their deaths.) What more proof do we need that this is how they feel about us?

At least when Henry Ford created automobiles he paid his employees enough to own one. That was the goal then. If your labor force wasn't going to be your market, where could you sell you stuff? We're running out of Third Worlds, people!

Remember a few years ago (before Reagan) when above a certain level of profit, corporations paid a 90% tax, which then funded public works like roads, schools, medicare? They now pay half of that tax. Or the profit could get reinvested in the production through better wages, effiency and better products.

There is a reason why the abbreviation for corporations is corps (corpse). This currently a dead or dying wystem of production. We need to revitalize it or scrap it!

In the 60s, Carl Davidson said, "If the machine produces nothing but garbage, it doesn't matter who pushes the button." Let's fix the machine, people. Or invent another one. We're Americans, after all. We're inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs. We're human beings. There have been many sucessful examples of American cooperatives in the business arena. Is democracy so flimsy it won't work in the marketplace? Let's quit scaring ourselves with fear-labels of years ago, and just create something that works democratically. One person, one vote!

Let's stop voting to send representatives to Congress to be eaten by the corproate wolves and banks. Let's create a way in which the people we elect actually represent our wishes, and the corporations and banks are responsive to them and serve us, the people, not the other way around. Do you support runaway corporate greed because you truly believe you can have what they have? They should be ashamed. We should be ashamed if we envy that. Let's have less exploitation and more equality, even economically.

Is this a government of the corporations, by the peasants, for the CEOs? Let's take back our country. One person, one vote!

The current economic debacle has been brought about intentionally by design of powerful elites who dominate financial markets, public policy and "mainstream" media. Their plan is to destroy the middle class as an effective competitor against their rule of markets and governments. The upper middle class - the most productive and prosperous of all those who accept the ethic that work is the moral means of advancing the interests of one's self and one's family - are the most hated adversary of the dominant elite, because the upper middle class is the only effective competitor to arise against the dominant elite in the past millennium.

During the early 20th Century, H. G. Wells was a most influential theoretician of the dominant elite in America and elsewhere. He deplored democracy and capitalism, he said, because they enabled the middle class to impose a "dictatorship" upon the enlightened elite. In fact, democracy and capitalism are the tools essential for the middle class to compete with the elite in political and market arenas. In Wells' 1901 blockbuster non-fiction book Anticipations, he advised that nations wishing to be "ascendant" in the world ought to educate their most able and "poison their people of the abyss." American political leaders found most praise-worthy were Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt, each an aristocrat from New York, one a "progressive" Republican and the other a Democrat. Each Roosevelt invited Wells to the White House for extended audiences.

In 1934, the same year Wells visited with Franklin, Eleanor and the Brain Trust team, FDR wrote a personal letter to E. M. House, the man who was Wall Street's chief lobbyist who recruited Woodrow Wilson into politics and influenced creation of the Federal Reserve System and the federal income tax during Wilson's administration. FDR conceded to House "the truth, as you and I know," that every government since Andrew Jackson has been owned by a certain part of the financial sector (namely, Wall Street), including the Wilson administration. Roosevelt did not say that his own administration was included, but undoubtedly both he and House knew that to be the case.

FDR took the dominant elite to a new political home in the Democratic Party from the Republican Party. Republican Calvin Coolidge enabled the middle class to thrive during the 1920s by cutting income tax rates and refusing to sign higher tariff laws to provide monopoly markets. "Progressive" Republican Herbert Hoover reversed both policies in 1929 and did nothing to stop rampant fraud in financial markets. The Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression ensued. FDR was elected in a landslide to go back to low taxes and low tariffs, as Democrats were adamantly low tariff and free trade under Wilson. But FDR raised taxes throughout his four terms and torpedoed efforts of his own secretary of state to lower tariffs.

Indeed, FDR orchestrated the Great Depression with behind-the-scenes moves designed by the dominant elite to destroy the middle class and to acquire assets worldwide at depression prices.

Since 2000, the dominant elite in the U. S. have engaged in a historically aggressive campaign of robbing and pillaging capital of the middle class through fraud in financial markets and manipulation of prices for crude oil and energy. With captured federal regulators and legislators aiding their crimes, the dominant elite robbed trillions during 2008 in the destruction of major financial firms and many other publicly traded firms. By and large, corporations, their management and shareholders were the victims, not the predators, in the events of 2008 and 2009. Despite all evidence showing massive crimes in financial markets relating to destruction of Bear Stearns, IndyMac, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Bros., AIG, Merrill Lynch, Washington Mutual, Wachovia Bank, General Motors and many others, the Securities & Exchange Commission has acted precisely as when presented proof of Bernard Madoff's crimes - doing nothing other than aiding and abetting wrongdoers.

Having greatly depleted the capital resources of the American middle class, now the dominant elite are moving in for the kill. Cap-and-trade legislation passed by the House would give the dominant elite a strangle-hold on middle class prosperity, as it would enable complete control of all sources and uses of energy. Economical energy is essential to advancement of economic interests of the poor and middle class. Likewise, the dominant elite are insisting upon pushing through healthcare laws that would give them (through government) control over life and death issues of the middle class. That is a tool of immense utility to those with totalitarian aims.

Already environmental laws passed in 1972 during the term of another president dominated by the elite, Richard Nixon, are being used as pretext for cutting off fresh water for food production in the San Joaquin Valley, the most important source of food in the Western U. S. Such public policy is anti-social - indeed, are sociopathic. They must be turned aside and reversed.

FDR's "bill of rights" pretends to aspire to worthy goals for advancement of living standards, but conceal a hidden agenda. By stating each goal as a "right," FDR puts the government (and thus the dominant elite) in control of all efforts to move towards the stated aim. This is a fatal flaw. What must be preserved is individual liberty and opportunity to undertake and to achieve such ends.

Make no mistake. The ends described in FDR's "bill of rights" are not the ends sought by the dominant elite. H. G. Wells reflected the views and motives of the dominant elite when he insisted that prosperity causes higher birth rates among undesirable classes of people, and that population growth was the "greatest evil" in the world. See my discussion of this topic at http://www.classicalcapital.com/Paradigm_E.html

To overcome this relentless assault by the dominant elite, the middle class must identify and support political leaders who are able and willing to confront the elitist evil for what it is: a vast criminal enterprise which ought to be investigated, prosecuted and stripped of its ill-gotten assets and policy influence. Owing largely to elite domination of media, many middle class people are misled in political ideology. But all must look to the reality of where our interests lie and what we must do if we are to survive and prevail.

Short-term political objectives should include:

(1) ban enforcement of any "naked" credit default swap, in which the owner of the CDS is a party other than the owner of the underlying debt/bond;

(2) order the SEC to reinstate the "up-tick" rule immediately;

(3) ban all high frequency trading of corporate securities and all tactics utilizing incoming buy and sell orders data to enable any party to front-run those orders;

(4) repeal "discretion" granted to the SEC to ignore any substantial violation of federal securities laws, create a special financial crimes strike force in the Justice Department with authority and responsibility to investigate and prosecute fraudulent violation of federal securities laws, and to recover all assets acquired by such fraud;

(5) mandate immediate buy-in by the buyer's broker at the expense of the seller's broker of all corporate shares presently undelivered within three days of the date of the original transaction, and mandate prosecution as a federal felony of every intentional failure-to-deliver any security sold in U. S. financial markets;

(6) mandate reporting of all trading in derivative securities in any way related to crude oil, and place strictly enforced position limits upon purchase of such derivatives by any party if the product covered by the derivative is not to be consumed directly by that party, and require CFTC investigation and prosecution of all evidence of manipulation of crude oil prices, with recovery of ilicit gains;

(7) impose upon the Federal Reserve a hard money rule, prohibiting manipulation of interest rates and requiring management of dollar liquidity to achieve a stated target price of gold in the markets;

(8) audit the Federal Reserve, curtail its authority to issue currency used in the U. S., and move to a system of issuing currency directly from the U. S. Treasury;

(9) defeat imposition of government-controlled health care on the American people;

(10) defeat legislation and repeal laws directed against prosperity of the poor and middle class, including the Endangered Species Act and cap-and-trade legislation. ~

This is an ironclad law that no one at the pinnacle of power and wealth wants to speak about too loudly. But it is a truth that we dare not ignore or our way of life dies.

This is what is involved. If the finance sector achieves preeminence, the real economy declines. What is this “real economy”? It is the stuff of economic sustainability, of a strong middle class, of the wealth of nations – it is an economy that makes things. Making things uses a lot of people, who must be paid, thus spreading wealth to many.

How is the finance sector different? It is a paper shuffling – stocks, bonds, derivatives, hedges, etc. – market; it has its place as a facilitator to the real economy, not as the dominator of or stand in for the real economy. Finance, when it reaches a preeminent stage, steals resources from the real economy and distributes wealth to a very few.

“Wait a minute,” you may say. “If I invest in Company X’s stock or bonds, surely this puts assets in the hands of the company and makes new product development and expansion possible.” Sorry, but it does no such thing in almost every case. When you and I buy stock, a bond, or a mutual fund, we go to a firm such as Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Templeton, etc. They buy the paper for us from another gambler in the market. None of that money goes to Company X. After that piece of paper is sold to an investment bank in an initial public offering (IPO), all subsequent trades/purchases send Company X absolutely nothing. All that activity on the big exchanges that “analysts” and commentators so breathlessly yell and rant about does nothing to make better, newer or more products. It only makes (or loses) money for the former owner of that piece of paper. That wealth is not spread out; it goes to hiring no one; it builds no new factories; it produces no next big things.

What is that facilitator role for finance that is its proper role? That is primarily the role of the commercial bank and the role of futures for producers and distributors of the real economy’s products. The role of commercial banks is to provide loans for new and existing businesses, to make money available to those who can put it to use by creating new capacity and jobs to meet growing demand. In economics 101, this is referred to as “the multiplier effect”. Your deposit at the bank is divided into two pieces – a small reserve and the rest is loaned out to others; they deposit that loan in the bank, which is divided up; and the bank loans out the large remaining chunk again and again, etc. Hence a deposit of, say, $1000.00 becomes multiplied into economic activity of about $7,000.00.

Futures or puts and calls also have a place in the real economy. They are a way for a farmer, e.g. to make sure that his or her crop will pay the bills by selling some of it well before the harvest for a price that guarantees a decent return. In this way the farmer “hedges” his risk of the market for corn or wheat or whatever crashing by the time he can harvest it. On the other side of the transaction, a bread baker or corn canner guarantees that her price won’t go through the roof when she has to buy the crop some months down the road.

The problem with these useful financial tools is when we stop using them as originally intended. When banks stop loaning their deposits to others who build plants to make things but instead start using your deposits to buy currencies or stocks and bonds or already completed office towers for their own gain, nothing gets multiplied. Nothing gets spread around; no one gets hired; no new ideas get turned into new products; no new demand is created. When traders start trading futures among themselves, few farmers or oil well owners or miners end up protecting themselves. As is the case today, only a very small percentage of owners of futures contracts will ever take possession of any wheat or Texas sweet crude or gold ore. In fact the total value of all these pieces of paper exceeds the total value of the entire world economy many, many times over.

What we have now is a finance-strong economy based on speculation. A climate of speculation leaks over into other sectors of the economy like housing. Heavy speculation leads to bubbles. Bubbles burst unpredictably and usually suddenly. When that happens, as we have seen recently, people lose houses, college plans, all manner of savings and retirement dreams. Jobs disappear. Credit cards can no longer be paid off. Bankruptcies skyrocket.

When finance rules the day, the economy crashes and burns because we are speculating instead of investing.

Norm Conrad

Over the last few decades, the American economy has drastically changed. Wages for working people have not risen in 30 years, the vast majority of families need two incomes to get by, and after working for 40 years, few are assured a livable pension.

We have witnessed the once strong American economy and American worker become the most indebted in the world. The average American is in debt to a greater degree than any time in history, while in a half century the nation has gone from the greatest creditor nation in history to the largest debtor nation in history.

Most recently, a meltdown of Wall Street and the banking sector has seen 401ks drop in value and, most tellingly, a government deaf to the plight of average Americans and cries of economists immediately pour trillions of dollars in the coffers of Wall Street and the banks. At the same time, the floors of Congress are turned into a trading pit, with lobbyists of mega-corporations stacked outside in the halls fighting to fund reelection committees, so they can get the best deal.A financial crisis has quickly turned into a economic crisis with unemployment rising above double digits, local governments cutting services, and schools, the foundation of our future, closing.It has become obvious to all, our economy, our politics, and our government are not working for the benefit of the majority. We need A New Way Forward.The first step forward must be a rengagement of the American people with politics and their government. Our republic was formed over two centuries ago, with one essential understanding, it needed the goodwill and participation of the people to effectively function. When people are engaged in their society, their minds are engaged and they feel their own dignity and self-respect; when they come together we bring on greater thought and progressive change. Towards this end, we need to have democratic, constructive conversations so that we can command our own words and the change that brings dignity and fortune to many more. This is the way we can truly engage millions of people and come together to fight for ourselves. We need the American people to step up, educate themselves on the issues of the 21st century, conduct conversations with their family, friends, and co-workers, and then begin to assert an agenda for real change and reform of our economy and our government -- local, state, and national.We need to talk about why after so many years of hearing there was no money for health care, schools, new transit, just like that, overnight trillions were found for the banks and Wall Street.We need to talk about what the Federal Reserve is and how without approval from the Congress they can give the banks over 2 trillion dollars we don't have.We need to talk about the power of large corporations. Do we want entities in our society that are too big to fail, that assert so much power that laws are written every day for their benefit?We must reform our politics so that one dollar – one vote is replaced by one person - one vote.There is one common answer to all these questions. They all start with the American people educating ourselves, talking with each other, and beginning to participate in a new politics that doesn't benefit large corporations, incumbent elected officials, or Wall Street. The only way this is going to be done is the American way, and that is each of us, every citizen, gets involved in rejecting our the system of the few and replacing it for the many so that once again the next generation can have a better future than the previous.We demand real structural changeThe nation's biggest bankers created the present economic crisis and are now reaping the fruits of a political system that they gamed, profiting even more off the crisis they caused. They have done so because they rule the central bank that has the power to issue them money, they dictate our laws on money because we've been taught that they know best, they have created the largest profit-to-person debt ratio in history because they regulate themselves. The largest banks have created the strongest political and economic force our country has ever seen. To move forward, we can no longer believe in the wisdom of these bankers and no longer support their godly growth. It's time to address the problems the bankers have created head-on.The bankers' failure to see anything beyond short-term profit for themselves has torn this country apart and jeopardized our future and has made us a nation of trillions of dollars in debt. But the blame doesn't lie only with the banks; it also lies with the U.S. government that failed to protect its citizens through regulation and oversight.Through their blind and unconditional faith in the financial markets, the banks and the government have made us all into victims of greed gone out of control. It is estimated that there will be 8-9 million more foreclosures in the coming years as a result of the crisis. This crisis is an opportunity for move forward in a new direction; one that values economic growth, but protects the well-being of the public before the bank accounts of the world's financial elite.But, so far, the policies to deal with the crisis look too much like more bailouts. Instead, we want to see protections for those that have lost their jobs, then their homes because of the crisis. The Making Home Affordable Program has not done enough - we need more than a polite gesture of a program.At the personal level, we know that the smart thing to do with our money right now is generally the less flashy thing. Paying off our debts and saving for the future protects us from the risks we can't afford to take in the current market. The same rules apply to the banks. This is a time for a level-headed government to step in and steer unhealthy banks away from more risky bets, and to help them stabilize in the name of economic security for America. Nothing tells the bankers to keep on doing what they're doing more than an endless stream of free taxpayer money. The banks know that the government considers them too big to fail; if structural reform of the financial sector continues to be off the table, what incentive do they have to act in the public interest? Thus, we will stop foreclosures and push bankers to do the right thing in order to reform them now.In a basic sense, this is a fight against corruption. Not in the sense of a quid-pro-quo (though that may be there too), but in the sense of a corrupt ideology. For the most part, the world of economists, politicians and financiers is one elite web of influence. At some point, private profit took over as the only value to consider in building an economy, and it has never subsided. This is true of the thinking from both major parties.For example, Timothy Geithner, Obama's Treasury Secretary and a "liberal," was a key architect of Bush's original bank bailout plan in his former role as Chief of the New York Reserve Bank. Under Obama, Geithner has continued to propose what sounds like more blank-check bailouts (in various disguises) and has specifically ruled out other approaches, such as bankruptcy proceedings and reorganization of the failed banks, because, he says, "our system will be stronger if it remains in private hands." The necessary solutions to our economic crisis just don't compute in the minds of the financial elite.If our government is to take decisive action to rebuild the economy in a way that protects the public, it will require Americans to fight back against this corruption. We must organize ourselves around serious ideas to demand a new way forward or things simply will not change.Any bank that's "too big to fail" means that it's too big for a free market to function. The financial corporations that caused this mess must be broken up and regulated with strong, new regulatory and antitrust rules in place, so that their power and influence not take down the country again. An independent regulatory body must protect consumers from predatory practices.As Wall St. corporations grew bigger and bigger until they were “too big to fail,” they also became so politically powerful that they led to distorted and unfair policies that served companies, not citizens.BREAK UP THE BANKS: Bailed-out banks must be broken up and sold back to the private market with strong, new regulatory and antitrust rules in place-- new banks, managed by new people. Any bank that's "too big to fail" means that it's too big for a free market to function. It is not enough to patch up the current system. We need to restrict the ways that bankers can lobby and serve in the government and run the central bank. We need to prohibit compensation plans that encourages huge short-term risk. We have to break up any bank that's "too big to fail" so that we can have a functional free market. We need serious reform that fixes the root causes in our political and economic system: excessive influence of banks, dangerous compensation systems, and massive consolidation that does nothing to serve the public interest. We must have an independent regulatory body that protects consumers against usury and predatory lending and shuts down any industry behavior that poses a systemic risk to our financial system.In the same way that the bankers have manipulated politicians to act in their favor, we the people will educate ourselves and fight for economic policies that are good for the public. We uphold of FDR's Economic Bill of Rights - this document is a living proof of that.