Submitted by Illinoisnoki1 on Mon, 05/02/2011 - 09:22

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Roosevelt named them, and Naomi Klein, in her Disaster Capitalism, described their game.

“ These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America.  What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power.” Franklin Roosevelt, speech to the DNC, 1936

“…we are seeing right-wing ideologues across the country using the economic crisis as a pretext to really wage…a final battle in a 50-year war against trade unions,” Naomi Klein, Democracy Now, March 9th, 2011

The nation’s corporate elites and Wall Street oligarchs are inflating the US national debt into a crisis that requires, they say, immediate solutions.  Their solutions include slashing our economic safety net, smashing worker rights, privatizing public assets, while giving obscene tax cuts to themselves!

Their solutions completely ignore the major causes of the rising  budget deficits and reject increased taxes on the very rich. 

Let's fight for the power we need to re-establish our values and our agenda. 

Campaigns for Fighting the Economic Royalists:
Here are three champaigns that confront the neo-liberal solutions with bold new options for building an stronger economic democracy:

1. Main Street Contract:  http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/blog/entry/bargaining-for-the-usa-time-for-a-main-street-contract-for-the-american-peo/

In response to the attacks on government, the National Nurses Union (NNU) has launched the Main Street Contract campaign.  NNU Executive Director, Rose Ann DeMoro says, "There are two Americas. One where Wall Street gets bailouts, and another where public schools and safety net programs get slashed. 

"It's time for a Main Street Contract for the American People. Every American should be entitled to:"

• Jobs at living wages, with a new national policy based on re-investing in America.
• A good, affordable education.
• Guaranteed healthcare for all.
• A secure retirement, with dignity.
• Decent shelter and protection from hunger.
• The right to collectively organize.
• A just taxation system where corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.
• Restoring the promise of our founding - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.  

To read more about the Main Street click Here

2. “Move the Money" Townhall, Oct. 15th
Chicago Jobs with Justice and the New Priorities are launching a campaign to build popular support for moving the nation's funding from diasterous and wasteful war spending to funding human needs.

Eliminates the deficit in 10 years by ending the Bush tax cuts, eliminating corporate welfare, and redirecting the money to job creation.  Rebuild roads and bridges, and invest in renewable energy, broadband infrastructure, and R & D

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) has agreed to headline a townhall meeting here in Chicago to present the Move the Money alternative.  All the area's Congress representatives who are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are invited to attend and participate.  To learn more, click Here. 

3. A Single Payer System for Financing Health Care in Illinois, HB 311.  http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=311&GAID=11&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=56093&SessionID=84&GA=97

• Everyone in the U.S. has the right to high quality health care. HB 311, Illinois Universal Health Care Act ensures that right to the people of Illinois.
• The Act sets up a program that automatically covers everyone in the state. Everyone gets a health care card, they bring that card to the licensed provider of their choice, and they get the care you need. It’s as simple as that.
• Everyone is covered in full for all medically necessary care. There are no co-pays. No deductibles. No caps. No claim forms.
• The program would be paid for through existing government health care funds, supplemented by modest taxes on individuals and employers. For almost everyone, that will be less than what you’re now paying.
• Under this act, health care delivery will remain largely private—only the means of financing it changes. No insurance bureaucrat, corporation, or government agency stands between you and your provider. .
•  A single-payer approach is proven around the world to provide the highest quality care at a cost per person that is roughly half of we in the US spend.

Get involved in organizing events around these three campaigns.