Mr Hart, your seriousness and passion should only be taken one way: that the war on the middleclass and the casualties inflicted thereof have finally struck a chord in the American people. And while I applaud your courage, I must admonish your list of demands, or at least your reasoning behind the GOAL(s) of this list. It would seem that these demands are exactly that, demands. Traditionally demands are made from a Victorious side in a conflict, and imposed unto one or more defeated parties. Well Mr Hart the “movement” has just started to receive national attention, think of it more as a BIRTH than a Victory…in other words the battle has JUST STARTED. However I do not believe that a “battle” should be NOT our first option, but rather viewed as a consequence of a failed negotiation. Why the very word Democracy implies Negotiation, and as I previously mentioned there is very little room for negotiation in the term “Demand”. However having worked extensively for Fortune 500 companies in my career I would recall what one Senior Partner told me that I feel is appropriate for this situation. Having reviewed internal processes of the company and finding the flaws in them, I brought these to his attention feeling so very accomplished indeed. Before I could leave his office however he said to me, “Cliff…what good is this?? So, you told me what’s wrong…but you didn’t tell me how to FIX it!” Well I never forgot that moment and I shall try in Ernest to do the same for your(our) manifesto. Again Mr Hart please remember my friend that this is done in the very spirit of Democracy and negotiation, and as such is MEANT for critiquing and debate. However I simply hope it can perhaps serve as a suitable base-line for our cause. By the way, feel free to contact me so that I can tell you a little as to why I am so motivated to your cause(our J) on a personal level. Shall we begin, and for simplicity I have included my Manifesto in Outline form addressing your original line items in my own.
Manifesto of Establishment of the General Majority(because after all, that’s what we are):
- I. Restoration and Protection of the Domestic Worker
- Tariffs – Since there is an allowance for tariffs within the guidelines of the WTO membership, congress should adopt and enforce these for ALL imported NON-defensive market products.
- Tariff Import Exemption – To encourage the RE-migration of the current trend of companies relocating facilities outside of the U.S.(due to higher profit potential), an exemption should be created which would allow any company to claim exempt status to these new Tariffs if they currently own, have owned(within a certain time frame), or have proposed a VIABLE business plan to own facilities located within the United States. As this would help to offset any of the additional expenses or even loss of sales from line I. A. Dually it would also help open additional dialogue at least of these new facilities creating jobs within the U.S.
- Minimum Wage Increases – To increase the minimum wage drastically would DIS-courage the very idea of companies both Domestic and Foreign re-migrating back to the U.S. There should be no drastic or immediate increase on minimum wage, or at least be not the focus of this conversation.
- II. HealthCare
- Government Privatized HealthCare Oversight Agency – EVERY American should have access to fair and decent Medical treatment, surgeries-no matter how Preventative or Invasive, medicines, alternative procedures, etc. And to Insure this happens, there should come to pass the creation of a new Government Sponsored(preferably Federal AND State, as this would help with Logistics and Fluidity in time management) Healthcare Oversight Agency. This Agency would respond to, investigate, adjudicate, and represent if necessary any Citizen that felt as though they had legitimate grievance with said HealthCare Provider, be it a Private or Public Institution.
- Medical Facilities Draw Fund – To assist and with Medical Institutions undoubtedly increased cost due to the compliance of Policies from the formation of this new Agency, there should be the creation and allowance of a Government backed NON-repayable Fund for the Facilities Operations. However in order to access this Fund the Facility among other requirements MUST be able to show the following:
- That the service provided was done so in good faith by the Institution and was absolutely necessary in order for them to be in compliance with the new Agency’s Policies and regulations.
- That the service could have/would have jeopardized the Institution’s ability to operate in a profitable manner.
- There should be a limit to the amount of draws an Institution can access in a year based upon the AMOUNT of citizens that the Institution serves in that particular community.
- III. Guaranteed Wages
- There should be NO changes or modifications to the existing Wage/Unemployment claim system in place now.
- IV. College Education
- Corporate Chosen-Government Backed, Tuition Assistance Program – To reconnect corporations to the “grass roots” American Student/Employee/Prospect there should be the Creation of a new Tuition Assistance Program that would allow “Qualified” companies to canvass, court, be reimbursed for travel compensation associated thereof, and even reimbursed paid internship of “Qualified” college students. These should be students at least in second-year or further and considering a career in the same industry as the company.
Corporate Contributions – Companies that choose to contribute to the above-mentioned Program should be given
- Tax Allowance considerations for their Good-Will and contributions. These considerations should be directly proportionate to the size of their contributions up to a certain amount in a Three-year period.
- I. Energy Options
- This should NOT be a topic discussed in this Manifesto as it in itself would require its own no doubt LENGTHY proposal.
- II. Budget Increase
- Again this is not a topic that should be included in this document.
- III. Ecology Budget Appropriations
- This should NOT be a topic discussed in this Manifesto, as it does nothing but serve to Distract from the Focus of THIS conversation.
- IV. Equality for the American Worker
- Corporations and the American Worker – At NO point in time should an American-based company’s employee base EVER be enlisted with greater than 50% of NON-Citizen workers. There can be a mixture of Temporary Residents with PROPER permits; however this number can NEVER be EQUAL to, or GREATER than 50% of the Corporation’s total number of Employees.
- American Worker Acquisition act – If there is an opening within an American-based Company and that company chooses to fill the position with an American Worker(American Citizen), then there should be a Tax Allowance for said company for whatever additional cost the company may have absorbed for the employee’s acquisition.
- V. NON-American Worker Socio-Economics and Employment
- Money Transfer Surcharges – There should be the creation of Government-imposed surcharge(to increase programmatically) of ALL money Transfers originating within the U.S. and terminating outside of the U.S. This Surcharge would be imposed upon the Third Party Entity at the source(i.e. Western Union, Money Gram, etc.) and should be encouraged to be passed on the customers.
- Money Transfer Surcharges Exemptions – There should be the allowance of exemptions made if the money is being transferred from one American-based location to another outside of the U.S. provided it is owned by an American-based company.(i.e. from one bank within the U.S. to another outside of the U.S.)
- VI. Banking Institutions Restitutions to the American People
- Ideas anyone… J
