Jobs Not Wars, People Not Greed
Jobs Not Wars: People Not Greed
This Friday marks the first Friday of September. All through the month of September the Friday night vigil on the corner of North First Street and Lincoln Highway from 5pm to 6pm will be focused on jobs and the war economy that is destroying the working people of America.
One reason we will have this focus every Friday night in September is because of the destruction to our economy the $1.2 trillion in borrowed money to pay for two wars is having on our society. Without the war debt our U.S. GDP today would be in the area of $16 trillion, $2 trillion more than its present $14 trillion. This difference would translate into roughly a 3% growth rate. With a growth rate of that amount unemployment would be lower and the deficit would be lower. In addition to the $1.2 trillion borrowed to fight the wars the Federal Reserve, as reported by Bloomberg, loaned out $1.2 trillion during the financial crisis; the largest borrower being Morgan Stanley which received $107.3 billion. Citigroup and Bank of America each received nearly $100 million. While all of this was being handed out by the Fed an additional $700 billion of our money, in the TARP, was given to the banks from the U.S. treasury.
This amount for the Wall Street banks is nearly $500 billion more than the stimulus bill for the working Americans who struggle to survive on main street USA. And now those same banks are reporting huge revenues and are sitting on over $1 trillion dollars.
At the same time:
1 out of 5 Americans is unemployed or underemployed. At the same time 1 in 8 mortgages are in foreclosure.
We have over 15% of the veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq unable to find work And over 250,000 veterans are homeless on any given night in America.
As Arianna Huffington has written, the American dream is turning into a nightmare.
If you are unemployed come and take a stand on Friday nights for one hour.
If you are underemployed or working two jobs to try and make ends meet come and stand with others who are doing the same.
If you are tired of the same old rhetoric that the problem is not enough tax cuts for the rich, then stand with the people.
If you have had enough of being told that if only the poor would pay more in taxes then stand with your neighbors who are also fed up.
If you believe we need to create a new American Dream, one that will allow all Americans to live a good decent life, a life free from fear of not being able to provide for yourself or your family, then you will want to be on the corner on Friday nights.
The wealthy power elite’s greatest fear is that the people will join together. They want to separate us with spinning ideological battles and detract us from the real problem which is the divide between the rich and the worker.
We cannot wait for the Democrats or the Republicans to lead us out of this, they and their million dollar donors got us into this ditch, the people will have to pull themselves out.
In a special Time report, “Poor vs. Rich: A New Global Conflict” details that a conflict of two worlds is developing, one rich the other poor and the battlefield is the globe itself. It is as a British official described a “time bomb for the human race” We had the Arab Spring and next may be the American Winter of Discontent.
It is time for the people to stand together. Time for them to meet on the public square and unite around what they have in common, which is the foot of the power elite grinding down on their backs.
Of course those in power want to break up unions. Of course they want to divide nonunion against union. Of course they want to do everything they can to keep the people separated and afraid of one another, or hateful toward one another; and if we go down that path it is just what they want, it is a dead end.
So come out of the echo chambers and stand with your neighbors. Share your stories, over and over. Listen to one another and forge together an alternative to the entrapment that has been created for us.
Let’s talk about forming cooperatives, work cooperatives, here in our own county. Pool what resources we have and begin to build solar panels. Work together to plant cooperative victory gardens, for this time it is not a war against a foreign enemy which unites us but a war against the powerful banks, corporations, and Wall Street investors within our own borders. It is a war of morals, greed or humanity.
Which side will you stand on.
Come out Friday night and make your stand.