Policy Prescriptions For A Sick America Part IV

A continuation of Policy Prescriptions For A Sick America Part III:

31. Wired Public Buildings

Every inch of every government building must be wired for video and sound and streamed online. No more secret meetings or top-secret confidential papers. Complete transparency equals prosperity.

32. Outlaw Derivatives And Default Swaps

I will give a billion dollars in Monopoly money to anyone that can explain what either of these are and what they do. They serve no purpose and have done trillions of dollars of damage, hence they should be outlawed.

33. Standard Mortgage Terms

The more limited choice of mortgage options the public has, the better. A 15 or 30 year mortgage with 10%-20%  on a fixed rate should be the only acceptable terms.

34. Concrete Leverage And Capital Standards

This should be an easy one, but for some reason Wall Street manages to keep this reform at bay. Banks must have better asset-to-debt ratios. It is a no-brainer, and the easiest reform to accomplish.

35. Impose Tariffs

Recently, President Obama imposed tariffs on Chinese tires. The Chinese deliberately attempted to flood our market with crappy tires. We cannot allow this. The quality of their goods is terrible, we lose jobs, and increase debt. It is a no-win situation. We must impose tariffs where necessary to curb their deliberate attempts to sabotage whole American industries.

36. Unionize The Service Sector

The Walton's of Wal-Mart fame are one of the richest families in this country. Their employees, on the other hand, are among the poorest. There is no reason for this to be the case. The corporations that run the service sector are making record profits. We must unionize the employees in this area of the economy. There is absolutely no chance that these industries would suffer from paying higher wages and benefits. The argument that it would be the end of these companies is bullshit. Unions built this country and now we need them to save it. If we truly believe in a free market we should give the workers the freedom to organize.

37. Guarantee A Living Wage

Twelve dollars an hour should be the bare minimum hourly wage for anyone legally working in the United States. This is not crazy. Henry Ford envisioned a company where all employees were paid enough to afford the products that they produced. It is time to spread this vision to all sectors.

38. Revamp The EPA

The EPA was a huge accomplishment for this nation. Even the reviled Richard Nixon understood its importance. It needs revamped for a new set of environmental challenges, including broader authority and funding to deal with climate change and punishing corporations for their malfeasance.

39. Laptop For Every Child

Educational funding must be expanded to allow for the purchase of a laptop for every child entering school. No more pencils and paper. A child who is not computer literate is at as much of a disadvantage as a child who can't read.

40. Caps On Mergers & Acquisitions

Our anti-trust laws must be reexamined. We have allowed far too many consolidations between massive corporate entities. There should be monetary caps on the size of M&A's to prevent monolithic companies from getting bigger.