What Does Occupy Want? Part 2 - They Still Want Back What Was Stolen, And Not Just The Dream

While riding in the carpool I was subjected to Ronn Owens on KGO radio criticizing the Occupy movement for not having clear short-term demands, such as calling for specific legislation, or backing a specific presidential candidate.

This is a classic misleading argument - change the other side's position into something that is easier to attack than its real position. Owens is right that Occupy is not asking Congress to pass a bill - but that is because the goal of the Occupy movement is much broader. It is after a fundamental shift in our society's values, to refocus on human needs instead of accommodating corporate greed. Our elected government needs to be a part of that systematic change, so while passing a bill might be good (if it helps people instead of corporations), it is only a little piece of what is needed, a small step in the right direction.

The erosion of human values for the benefit of corporate interests has gone on for years, and is embodied in numerous laws enacted over the last 30-odd years. But those laws are not the disease - they are just a few of the symptoms. The disease is deeper, and more pervasive. So passing a bill or two, no matter how good, won't do it. Repairing the damage will be a longer term, ongoing process. Symbolic gestures are not enough - we need real change.

Changing some laws is part of the process, but how those laws are changed is important. It cannot be a corporate-whore Congress and President grudgingly giving in to a list of demands forced on them by public protest. Congress and the President must be on board, acting willingly and positively to treat our current corporate parasite infestation. If they did that, then passing some bills would be a sign that we might be on the road to recovery.

If Congress and the President took the following steps, I would take it as a positive sign that they are heading in the right direction. This is just my list of things that would relieve some of the symptoms of our malaise. It is not the cure, or the whole treatment, but even so it should make us feel better.

1) Enforce the the anti-trust laws. This would help keep businesses from becoming "too big to fail."

2) Undo the recent changes to bankruptcy that make it easier for corporations to duck out of labor agreements, and that make it harder for people to get relief from credit card debt.

3) Encourage the production of food that is healthy for us to eat, rather than encouraging the industrialization of the food industry. Heavy pesticide use, high fructose corn syrup, and genetically modified crops benefit big agribusiness at the expense of the small family farmer and those of us that eat (last I checked that was everyone).

4) Bring back something like the Glass-Steagall Act (enacted after the last big crash caused by banks getting out of control) that kept banks from becoming too big and engaging in overly speculative practices.

5) Require banks and other mortgage lenders to hold the loans they make, instead of foisting them off on others. Lending practices would suddenly become a lot more conservative - no "liar loans" and other speculative products, and lenders would not want to push people into loans they could not afford.

6) If we won't do #5, then we need effective regulation of derivatives markets (where the mortgages end up after being sliced and diced), which was quashed by the Clinton administration. The meltdown of the derivatives markets based on crappy mortgages was a major cause of our current financial crisis.

7) Stop the vilification of public employees and their pensions. They don't make that much money, and they did not cause our current problems. Wall Street hates the California public employees pension system since it has billions of dollars that Wall Street wants and it demands good corporate behavior.

8) Undo some of the recent limitations on class actions that prevent the thousands of people ripped off by corporations for $5 or $50 or even $500 at a time from having any effective recourse. You can't get a lawyer to help you sue a big corporation for $500.

9) Rein in corporate tax shelters. GE and other big multinationals can avail themselves of tax schemes that allow them to legally pay little or no tax on billions of dollars of income. You and I can't do that.

10) Make health care and higher education accessible and affordable. This should be a no-brainer, and would provide far more benefit to Americans (and our economy) than two wars, and at a lower cost. But no, we chose the wars instead. Something is seriously wrong here.

There are more, but that is a start. Occupy has not specifically asked for these things, but these steps would show that our society is moving in the right direction. Ronn Owens asked for legislation, so here is a sampling. But it is not enough.