{news} FW: Six Green solutions to the economic meltdown
Clifford Thornton
efficacy at msn.com
Tue Dec 16 21:56:39 EST 2008
Efficacy
PO Box 1234
860 657 8438
Hartford, CT 06143
efficacy at msn.com
www.Efficacy-online.org
"THE DRUG WAR IS MEANT TO BE WAGED NOT WON"
Working to end race and class drug war injustice, Efficacy is a non profit
501 (c) 3 organization founded in 1997. Your gifts and donations are tax
deductible
From: Rbtfield at aol.com
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:59:20 -0500
Subject: Re: Six Green solutions to the economic meltdown
To: efficacy at msn.com; hmichaelgray at sbcglobal.net; zeese at csdp.org
CC: Korea92 at aol.com
Paint me Green from now on!
In a message dated 12/16/2008 3:49:20 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
efficacy at msn.com writes:
FYI
Check number six
Six Green solutions to the economic
meltdown
letters at TimesRecord.Com
12/13/2008
http://www.timesrecord.com/website/main.nsf/news.nsf/0/CA6E4BFEB4095D768525751E007618D1?Opendocument
By Scott McLarty
If we're serious about
reversing the economic crisis and ending the recession, we should
take a step back and examine how our taxpayer dollars are being
spent.
The sit-in at the Republican Windows and Doors plant
in Chicago over the past few days revealed how little the bailouts
are helping working Americans who face financial hardship. The
plant was shut down and workers were laid off with three days'
notice (the law requires 60 days) and told they had no assurance
of receiving severance and unused vacation pay.
The
company's creditor, Bank of America, received $25 billion from the
government's bailout package, none of which helped the Republican
employees, until a settlement was reached Wednesday evening that
met the employees' demands.
One of the contributions of
political parties outside the mainstream is that they provide a
fresh approach to problems, without the assumptions on which
decisions are made in the two-party paradigm. It's unlikely, for
example, that most Republican and Democratic politicians will
admit that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or our inefficient
health care system have aggravated the current crisis.
In
September, 2008 Green presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney
published a 10-point list of solutions and reforms in response to
the Wall Street meltdown titled "Seize the Time"
(http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=106). This week, the
Green Party published a list of six solutions to the deepening
crisis.
The solutions, if enacted, would restore financial
security for Americans, but they also address some of the other
challenges of the 21st century, including the need to curb global
warming. Here they are:
• 1.) Enact a massive Green public
works program, creating new living-wage jobs in conservation
(including weatherization and energy retro-fitting); clean and
safe energy technologies to replace fossil fuel and nuclear
sources and create a carbon-free economy; repair and improvement
of America's deteriorating infrastructure (especially water and
sewer systems); and improvement of public schools and Green job
training programs.
"The collapse of the I-35 bridge in
Minneapolis in 2007 was a result of the neglect and starvation of
funds for maintaining infrastructure that was built decades ago,"
said Rosa Clemente, the Green Party's 2008 candidate for vice
president (http://www.rosaclemente.com). "The ideology of
privatization and hostility to 'big government' is no longer
tenable during the financial crisis — the current White House and
Congress conceded as much when they began pushing for bailouts.
Public works programs built America, and public works, with
hundreds of thousands of new Green jobs, is what America needs now
for economic recovery."
"We're encouraged that
President-elect Obama intends to launch a public works program
along these basic lines, but we hope Congress and his own
administration don't undermine and dilute such a program out of
traditional Democratic and Republican loyalty to corporate
interests and fear of being labeled liberal or socialist. It's
time to follow the lead of the Green Jobs For All movement," Ms.
Clemente added.
• 2.) Bail out financially ailing towns,
cities, and states before bailing out private corporations:
millions of public sector and contractor jobs depend on the fiscal
security of municipal and state governments.
Greens noted
that municipalities and states are businesses that drive state and
local economies throughout the US. They also provide the social
safety net that millions of working people need during the current
crisis.
• 3.) Jumpstart our country's mass transit system,
giving people an alternative to cars while saving them money and
providing jobs.
"Making autos more efficient will only get
us part way toward solving our energy and climate challenges,"
said Wes Rolley, co-chair of the Green Party's EcoAction
Committee. "We need to get people out of their cars altogether.
Communities need the ability to provide local solutions for mass
transportation: new trains, subways, light rail wherever they
fit."
• 4.) Enact a single-payer/Medicare For All national
health plan, providing every American with coverage and removing
the burden of health care from small and large private
businesses.
"The skyrocketing cost of health care under our
private health care system has created much of the economic
instability as businesses struggle to provide workers health
benefits," said Sanda Everette, co-chair of the Green Party of the
United States. "If President Obama and Congress have the political
will to resist the power of the insurance, HMO, and pharmaceutical
industries that siphon their profits off America's need for health
care, the relief that single-payer will be a huge economic
boost."
Single-payer would cover all Americans regardless
of income, employment, residence, age, or prior medical condition,
allowing choice of health care provider, and costing working
people far less than they now pay for private coverage.
In
2003, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article
estimating that single-payer could cut health care costs by
$350 billion annually
(http://www.pnhp.org/publications/nejmadmin.pdf). Greens sharply
criticized Barack Obama during the election season for rejecting
single-payer out of concern for health insurance
companies.
• 5.) End the occupations of Iraq and
Afghanistan.
"The staggering expense of the Iraq and
Afghanistan invasions and occupations haven't only cost American,
Iraqi, and Afghan lives," said Starlene Rankin, co-chair of the
Lavender Green Caucus. "It also ate up trillions of dollars away
that could have been spent on human and environmental needs. If we
call home our troops right now, we can divert the money needed for
military occupations to Green public works and other programs to
jumpstart the economy — a new peace dividend."
The Green
Party opposed both wars from the beginning and has criticized Mr.
Obama's plans for delayed and partial troop withdrawal from Iraq
and for sending more troops to Afghanistan.
• 6.) End the
war on drugs, which wastes billions annually, hasn't curbed drug
use, and ruins lives by incarcerating nonviolent offenders (mostly
young, African American, Latino, and poor white) at further
government expense.
"The war on drugs is America's longest
and costliest war. With Afghanistan providing the world's biggest
poppy crop, it's one of the main reasons the U.S. is fighting a
war there," said Cliff Thornton, co-chair of the Green Party and
co-founder of Efficacy, Inc. (http://www.efficacy-online.org),
which promotes major reforms in drug policy.
Harvard
economist Jeffrey Miron has estimated that legalizing cannabis — a
drug far less harmful than alcohol — would save federal, state,
and local governments $44 billion a year in enforcement costs
(http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/mironreport.html). Governments
could collect another $33 billion in revenues by taxing cannabis
as heavily as alcohol and tobacco.
Scott McLarty serves
as Media coordinator for the Green Party of the United States
(http://www.gp.org). He lives in Washington,
D.C.
Top of Story
OTHER SECTIONS
ADVERTISEMENT
Six Green solutions to the economic
meltdown
letters at TimesRecord.Com
12/13/2008
By Scott McLarty
If we're serious about
reversing the economic crisis and ending the recession, we should
take a step back and examine how our taxpayer dollars are being
spent.
The sit-in at the Republican Windows and Doors plant
in Chicago over the past few days revealed how little the bailouts
are helping working Americans who face financial hardship. The
plant was shut down and workers were laid off with three days'
notice (the law requires 60 days) and told they had no assurance
of receiving severance and unused vacation pay.
The
company's creditor, Bank of America, received $25 billion from the
government's bailout package, none of which helped the Republican
employees, until a settlement was reached Wednesday evening that
met the employees' demands.
One of the contributions of
political parties outside the mainstream is that they provide a
fresh approach to problems, without the assumptions on which
decisions are made in the two-party paradigm. It's unlikely, for
example, that most Republican and Democratic politicians will
admit that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or our inefficient
health care system have aggravated the current crisis.
In
September, 2008 Green presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney
published a 10-point list of solutions and reforms in response to
the Wall Street meltdown titled "Seize the Time"
(http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=106). This week, the
Green Party published a list of six solutions to the deepening
crisis.
The solutions, if enacted, would restore financial
security for Americans, but they also address some of the other
challenges of the 21st century, including the need to curb global
warming. Here they are:
• 1.) Enact a massive Green public
works program, creating new living-wage jobs in conservation
(including weatherization and energy retro-fitting); clean and
safe energy technologies to replace fossil fuel and nuclear
sources and create a carbon-free economy; repair and improvement
of America's deteriorating infrastructure (especially water and
sewer systems); and improvement of public schools and Green job
training programs.
"The collapse of the I-35 bridge in
Minneapolis in 2007 was a result of the neglect and starvation of
funds for maintaining infrastructure that was built decades ago,"
said Rosa Clemente, the Green Party's 2008 candidate for vice
president (http://www.rosaclemente.com). "The ideology of
privatization and hostility to 'big government' is no longer
tenable during the financial crisis — the current White House and
Congress conceded as much when they began pushing for bailouts.
Public works programs built America, and public works, with
hundreds of thousands of new Green jobs, is what America needs now
for economic recovery."
"We're encouraged that
President-elect Obama intends to launch a public works program
along these basic lines, but we hope Congress and his own
administration don't undermine and dilute such a program out of
traditional Democratic and Republican loyalty to corporate
interests and fear of being labeled liberal or socialist. It's
time to follow the lead of the Green Jobs For All movement," Ms.
Clemente added.
• 2.) Bail out financially ailing towns,
cities, and states before bailing out private corporations:
millions of public sector and contractor jobs depend on the fiscal
security of municipal and state governments.
Greens noted
that municipalities and states are businesses that drive state and
local economies throughout the US. They also provide the social
safety net that millions of working people need during the current
crisis.
• 3.) Jumpstart our country's mass transit system,
giving people an alternative to cars while saving them money and
providing jobs.
"Making autos more efficient will only get
us part way toward solving our energy and climate challenges,"
said Wes Rolley, co-chair of the Green Party's EcoAction
Committee. "We need to get people out of their cars altogether.
Communities need the ability to provide local solutions for mass
transportation: new trains, subways, light rail wherever they
fit."
• 4.) Enact a single-payer/Medicare For All national
health plan, providing every American with coverage and removing
the burden of health care from small and large private
businesses.
"The skyrocketing cost of health care under our
private health care system has created much of the economic
instability as businesses struggle to provide workers health
benefits," said Sanda Everette, co-chair of the Green Party of the
United States. "If President Obama and Congress have the political
will to resist the power of the insurance, HMO, and pharmaceutical
industries that siphon their profits off America's need for health
care, the relief that single-payer will be a huge economic
boost."
Single-payer would cover all Americans regardless
of income, employment, residence, age, or prior medical condition,
allowing choice of health care provider, and costing working
people far less than they now pay for private coverage.
In
2003, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article
estimating that single-payer could cut health care costs by
$350 billion annually
(http://www.pnhp.org/publications/nejmadmin.pdf). Greens sharply
criticized Barack Obama during the election season for rejecting
single-payer out of concern for health insurance
companies.
• 5.) End the occupations of Iraq and
Afghanistan.
"The staggering expense of the Iraq and
Afghanistan invasions and occupations haven't only cost American,
Iraqi, and Afghan lives," said Starlene Rankin, co-chair of the
Lavender Green Caucus. "It also ate up trillions of dollars away
that could have been spent on human and environmental needs. If we
call home our troops right now, we can divert the money needed for
military occupations to Green public works and other programs to
jumpstart the economy — a new peace dividend."
The Green
Party opposed both wars from the beginning and has criticized Mr.
Obama's plans for delayed and partial troop withdrawal from Iraq
and for sending more troops to Afghanistan.
• 6.) End the
war on drugs, which wastes billions annually, hasn't curbed drug
use, and ruins lives by incarcerating nonviolent offenders (mostly
young, African American, Latino, and poor white) at further
government expense.
"The war on drugs is America's longest
and costliest war. With Afghanistan providing the world's biggest
poppy crop, it's one of the main reasons the U.S. is fighting a
war there," said Cliff Thornton, co-chair of the Green Party and
co-founder of Efficacy, Inc. (http://www.efficacy-online.org),
which promotes major reforms in drug policy.
Harvard
economist Jeffrey Miron has estimated that legalizing cannabis — a
drug far less harmful than alcohol — would save federal, state,
and local governments $44 billion a year in enforcement costs
(http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/mironreport.html). Governments
could collect another $33 billion in revenues by taxing cannabis
as heavily as alcohol and tobacco.
Scott McLarty serves
as Media coordinator for the Green Party of the United States
(http://www.gp.org). He lives in Washington,
D.C.
Top of Story
OTHER SECTIONS
ADVERTISEMENT
Efficacy PO
Box 1234 860 657 8438 Hartford, CT 06143 efficacy at msn.com
www.Efficacy-online.org "THE DRUG WAR IS MEANT TO BE WAGED NOT WON" Working to
end race and class drug war injustice, Efficacy is a non profit 501 (c) 3
organization founded in 1997. Your gifts and donations are tax
deductible
=
Make your life easier with all your friends, email, and favorite sites in one place. Try it now.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/private/ctgp-news/attachments/20081216/c512a4ed/attachment.html>
More information about the Ctgp-news
mailing list