Marketplace

May be it is my slow brain, but what exactly are we looking for here? It is not clear for me.

1. The current thinking by policy setters (FED, Treasury) is to reward bad behavior at wall street. If you reward bad behavior why will they change?

2. Because the bad behavior by banks is encouraged i think public(people) expect their bad behavior also to be rewared. They want get loans from banks which they cant afford. They want spend money using credit cards which public can not sustain paying back. They want first class health coverage and SOMEBODY else pay for it.

With this premise the only idea I have is “SOCIALISM”.

If politicians didn’t have anything for sale, they wouldn’t be bought and paid for.

We need a separation between state and economics, just as - and for the same reason as - the separation of church and state

Our culture places the individual above the community. Bush’s “Ownership Society” never paid attention to the fraud that underpinned its growth, because that was someone else’s problem. As it turns out, that systemic fraud, and the great recession it spawned, is everyone’s problem.

Our culture must change before our economy or government will. Right now, the society has the government and economy it deserves.

Since we haven’t fixed any of the systemic problems that brought about the last downturn, those problems are likely to bring about another downturn. Rather than bailouts, and borrowing, and monetary policy, we should demand that those that are TBTF be allowed to fail. We will suffer in the short term, but we will arise in better position to thrive (having gotten rid of the outmoded, inefficient giants that ran for the sake of their executives’ bonuses).

We cannot have a renaissance until the slate is wiped clean.

Just throw some ideas out?

OK, not much deep thought in these but a simple start.

Politicians - No campaign contributions what-so-ever. The argument that giving money or gifts is a form of free speeches seems to be stretching it a bit.

People running for office can only have a one-page website under one big “Who’s running for office” website. That way voters can go to the main website and locate the web pages of the people running for office at various levels of government. This way money, radio spots and tv air time aren’t a factor. If the politician wants to speak to the people then the politician has to go out to the people, stand before them and speaks to them directly.

We the voters have to get off our duffs and exercise our right to vote. Start at the local town council meetings. Elect people at the local level who will elect people at the state level who will elect people at the national level.

Get rid of the lobbyists, shortened, limited terms for everyone in D.C. The only way a person could be a career politician is to start at the local level and work their way through the system to state and then national levels through years of working and being elected one level higher. Once they’ve reached the top, the national level, their political careers have peaked, their terms limited to only two and the term years limited to two. After that they can’t be a politician anymore.

Health care - A single payer system that covers the basics (scrapes, sprains, broken bones, strep throat, flu, nutrition and exercise, etc.) Bigger things like surgery, MRI scans would be paid out of pocket through health insurance.

The Banksters - All investments involving money drawn from this country have to be re-invested into industries and communities of this country. Any investments outside of this country have to be made from their own personal funds with now backing or bailout from this country.

Instead of investing in Wall Street, we, the people, perhaps need to invest in ourselves, our communities and our country instead.

the fundamental problem is that the system - and many laws, or even the entire legal system - has been bent to protect those who are destroying all aspects of this country. in order to solve some inequities laws or their enforcement have to be changed or abrogated. for example, corporate financial wrong doers do not need a trial, they need confiscation and exile, not possible under the current system. a less draconian measure would be the market and social boycott of politicians and businesses that do not support the fundamental working class of this country, although social boycott is also probably illegal

How about a simple list that shows what campaign promises politicians have made, and what their actual congressional actions were? And circulate that thing around. Oh, and no one should be immune, neither Democrat, Republican, or Libertarian. And, maybe this can be an Anti-Vote list? Obama, after all, got into office on this concept. Of course, his current track record begs his consideration for the list.

Otherwise, how about starting a new political party? The Where’s My Bailout Party? Only persons who have not been bailed out can join.

Sorry, I’m just as lost for any clear action as everyone else is. It seems that there is not enough anger in this country at the greed and corruption in our government to cause a revolt, which is what is probably needed to really institute changes. All we can do is hope that President Obama grows a conscience and starts to deliver on what Candidate Obama promised.