A New Deal for the 21st Century™

Economic Security:

1. Since many of our citizens need more education or training in order to compete in our 21^st economy, we support adequate funding and support for our public Pre-K through 12th grade school systems, free tuition for public colleges, universities and vocational schools and the forgiveness of all public school tuition related loans.
2. Since many of our citizens are unable to maintain an adequate standard of living, we support a $15 per hour minimum wage and the right of all workers to organize and bargain collectively free of coercion or intimidation.
3. Since stock market based retirement plan proceeds are highly unstable due to market volatility we support a nationwide system of portable pensions that vest instantly for all categories of workers.
4. We also support the provision of tax incentives, financial resources and other reasonable forms of support for new and current businesses to be worker cooperatives and thereby provide jobs that will stay where the workers are while offering economic democracy in the workplace, giving workers a greater sense of control over their lives and allowing for a more equitable distribution of profits.
5. Since many of our citizens suffer great economic and personal pain when jobs are shipped overseas, we support tax policies that would discourage such actions and the resulting increased revenues should be used to support and train dislocated workers, and support and foster economic growth strategies here at home such as the worker cooperatives mentioned in #4 above.

Family Security:

1. Since only the United States and Lesotho do not provide paid family medical leave, we support a system in line with the benefits provided in other major industrialized countries.
2. Since parents require high quality infant and child care (as is provided in every other major industrialized country) to allow them to fully participate in the work force, we support tax incentives and government expenditures to support the provision of high-quality child care for parents working or in training.
3. Since homelessness, inadequate housing and children and adults suffering from food insecurity are a national disgrace, we support the provision of the needed housing and nutritional resources for every one of our citizens.

Medical Security:

1. Since health care is a right that is provided by every other major industrialized country and many smaller ones, we support a single payer system health care system that insures affordable health care for all.
2. Since US citizens are currently paying the highest prescription drug prices in the world, we support using price negotiation strategies and re-importation to bring US domestic drug prices in line with other major countries.

Financial Security:

1. Since too-big-to-fail businesses by their nature operate outside the rules and built-in controls of the capitalist marketplace and, as we have already seen, represent a clear and present danger to our country’s economic stability, we support breaking them up so they no longer represent a threat to our national economic security.
2. Since the least risk money for financial entities to use for risky speculative ventures is from the so-called retail side of banking (that’s us) this results in a, heads I win, tails you lose, game because the FDIC (that’s us) will pick up the tab if they lose, and this, obviously, makes this money incredibly irresistible to anyone making those kinds of decisions, so we support the reinstitution of the Glass-Steagall Act to end this financially dangerous scheme.
3. Since many “unbanked“ individuals in our country must rely on payday loan/check cashing outlets where they pay exorbitant rates, we support allowing the US Postal Service to offer low cost banking and financial services to all.

Election Security:

1. Since both political parties use political gerrymandering to gain an unfair advantage and unrepresentative outcomes in elections, we support taking politics out of it, including through constitutional amendment, if needed.
2. Since there are very many examples of political contributions having a corrupting influence on office holders at all levels, we support public funding of campaigns and limiting any private contributions to small individual amounts by constitutional amendment(s), if needed, to overturn the Citizen’s United decision and effectively eliminate the “money chase” that corrupts our political system at all levels and allows huge money to get huge results.

Social Security:

1. To insure the long term health of Social Security we support the removal of the income cap on contributions.

Environmental Security:

1. We support the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) concept for the protection of present and future generations from environmental degradation by internalizing the public costs of private actions, transitioning away from our reliance on fossil fuels and committing to building a sustainable future while promoting social justice.

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   Send inquiries about this 21^st Century New Deal™ to brunanfm@gmail.com 

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