“If you owe the bank $100 dollars, that is your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million dollars, that’s the bank’s problem!”
This is a popular quote that has at various times been attributed to Donald Trump and J. Paul Getty.
I have thought a lot about this quote lately as the Occupy Wall Street movement has put a spotlight on income inequality and the collusion of government and transnational corporations (my picture when I think of the 1%).
For all the effectiveness that Occupy Wall Street has had in little more than 2 short months, I still hear comments of despair and helplessness from some. What can we do to bring about change, when the deck is stacked so unfairly against us?
Then I come back again to this quote, if you owe the bank $100 million dollars, that’s the bank’s problem!
And, I think to myself, what do we, the 99%, owe?
Well, for starters, we collectively hold $2.43 trillion in consumer debt. Debt from credit cards. Debt from auto loans. Debt from student loans. Debt from personal lines of credit.
U.S. Consumer Debt
That is a big number.
To put it in perspective, the number that has rattled financial markets, and called into question the viability of the European Union over a possible Greek default is in the $300 billion range.
We, the people of the United States, our own personal debt is 8 times that.
But wait, $2.43 trillion is just consumer debt, what about real estate mortgage debt? How about if we add on another $10 trillion!
U.S. Household Mortgage Debt
So, by my calculations, we, the people of the United States, are a $12.43 trillion dollar bank problem!
This brings me to tactics. What are the best tactics to bring change and reform to our country? Meaningful change and quickly. Certainly it is not coming from a Congress that can’t even bring a jobs bill to the floor to debate.
What if instead of waiting for Congress to pass a bill, we just stop paying our bills? Collectively? We, the People?
More after the fold.
What if we pick a month where we collectively as citizens pledge not to pay our credit card bills, our car payments, our student loans, our mortgage payments. Let’s say April 2012. It is far enough away to start generating a groundswell of support, and it's an easy enough month to remember, tax month, maybe some of us will actually get a little relief that month to pay our tax bills.
Wouldn’t that capture the attention of the powers that be and capture it quickly?
What about demands? Isn’t that what the MSM crows about? The 99%, they need actionable objectives.
I actually agree on this and I think we can have some very clear, actionable items. You pass these bills, we pay our bills, quid pro quo, right?
It has to be a short list, things a dysfunctional Congress, can actually accomplish, if they are scared shitless enough, and trust me, if the specter of a $12 trillion dollar debt default becomes real, they will be scared shitless.
What should those aims be?
A Stimulus Plan that includes Debt Forgiveness
Personally, I think there needs to be some immediate relief to those that are hurting the most. I think there should be some amount of debt forgiveness or restructuring based on need. There need to be reforms as well.
No one should ever pay 30% interest on a credit card. Nor should they be given a $20,000 credit limit when they don’t make near enough to be able to pay it off.
No student should have to go $120K into debt to get an education.
No one should have to pay $12K in medical insurance for their family. Or play Russian roulette as an uninsured.
Reinvestment in Manufacturing and Meaningful Jobs
This may put me in the protectionist camp, but I would like to see a thumb pressed down to help bring back industries that can create meaningful jobs. If the transnationals have to spend some money to invest in U.S. industry in order to protect the $12 trillion that is at stake here, well that is what they should have been doing all along. Not decimating our industries, and now threatening us by saying that if you are going to bite the hand of Wall Street, we’ll just relocate our financial services as well. What are they going to take away from us next, McDonalds?
Corporate Reform – A New Corporate Charter?
Corporations are just legal entities, conferred their status by government, mostly state government, mostly Delaware for the large ones. They have rights and responsibilities. I think certain rights, as they relate to lobbying government, and as they relate to maximizing shareholder profits above all else, need to be reevaluated. Maybe as a condition of doing business as a corporation in the United States, the corporation needs to be federally registered, subject to some new reasonable restrictions on these rights?
To wrap this up, I want to come back to what democracy is, at its essence. We, the People, gave our consent to be governed. At times it does not always end up in our best, personal interests, and that is okay. But when things get so out of whack, that our government no longer governs in the best interest of 99% of us, it is time to withhold that consent. How do you withhold your consent and do so democratically? Well, I think we have $12.43 trillion dollars to play with, and it would take the majority of us to withhold this money. If we do, that is democracy speaking, and our government and the 1% ought to listen (I don’t think they would have any other choice.)
I am putting this idea out there. I value the opinions of everyone on Daily Kos and I want to hear your thoughts.