“21st
Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity”
Mandatory full employment---
make the president and Congress legislatively responsible for
attaining and maintaining full employment like what was called for in
the “Full Employment Act of 1945” which was authored by liberal
Texas Democrat Wright Patman.
Put America to work creating jobs
solving the problems of our people and society. This
is what was envisaged by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his
Vice-president, Henry A. Wallace, his Secretary of Labor, Frances
Perkins and his trusted adviser Harry Hopkins, the architect of job
creating public works programs.
What we are advocating is nothing
new. We
don't have to “re-invent the wheel.” We
are advocating restoring the New Deal to what it was intended to be
and completing its unfinished agenda cut short by vicious Wall Street
attacks on the working class.
Elanor
Roosevelt worked to assure that all of this was included in the
United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Winning this legislation will take
re-creating the historic coalition of liberals, progressives and
leftists who struggled for, and won, the New Deal together with a new
working class based progressive people's party.
Raise the Minimum Wage based on cost of
living factors indexed to inflation with regular increases to improve
standard of living.
Jobs programs...
Universal health care--- 15 million
jobs
universal child care--- 5 million jobs
WPA--- infrastructure, schools,
community centers, high speed rail and affordable mass transit
CCC--- reforestation, flood control,
dams and levees and environmental safeguards and clean-up
CETA--- training for WPA, CCC, green
technology, computer training for all, etc.
Build homes for the homeless based on
the Habitat for Humanity model as a government program
Build and Repair infrastructure
Retirement age reduced to 55.
More vacation time--- 3 weeks minimum
with pay for everyone.
Reduced work week 32hrs with 40hrs pay.
Social Security, increase benefits and
expand programs.
The right to a job is the most
fundamental and basic human right; workers without jobs are going to
be poor.
Increase Food Stamp benefits and pay
farmers to produce instead of paying farmers not to produce.
Increase unemployment compensation from
time of unemployment to back to work with unemployment compensation a
real living income based on cost of living.
Enforce Affirmative Action until a
level playing field is achieved for people of color, women and the
handicapped.
Pay for it all with:
“Peace dividends” derived from
ending militarism and wars.
A hefty tax on the rich.
A tax on Wall Street transactions.
Double the employer portion of the
Social Security tax.
A tax on natural resource extraction:
taconite tax, stumpage fees, oil, gas, etc.
All funding processed through a federal
public bank like the State Bank of North Dakota.
Picking up where the New Deal left off.
In addition to the “21st
Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity” there is
going to have to be additional legislation to:
* Place a moratorium on home
foreclosures and evictions.
* Create no-interest student loans and
forgive all interest debt on existing student loans.
* Roll back prices and initiate price
controls on food, electricity, gas and home heating fuels.
* Remove all sales taxes on food and
clothing.
