Here are some ideas of what Michael Moore would do. (I like them.)
Friends,

The richest 400 Americans -- that's right, just four hundred people -- own MORE than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. 400 rich Americans have got more stashed away than half the entire country! Their combined net worth is $1.6 trillion. During the eight years of the Bush Administration, their wealth has increased by nearly $700 billion -- the same amount that they are now demanding we give to them for the "bailout." Why don't they just spend the money they made under Bush to bail themselves out? They'd still have nearly a trillion dollars left over to spread amongst themselves!

Of course, they are not going to do that -- at least not voluntarily. George W. Bush was handed a $127 billion surplus when Bill Clinton left office. Because that money was OUR money and not his, he did what the rich prefer to do -- spend it and never look back. Now we have a $9.5 trillion debt. Why on earth would we even think of giving these robber barons any more of our money?

I would like to propose my own bailout plan. My suggestions, listed below, are predicated on the singular and simple belief that the rich must pull themselves up by their own platinum bootstraps. Sorry, fellows, but you drilled it into our heads one too many times: There... is... no... free... lunch. And thank you for encouraging us to hate people on welfare! So, there will be no handouts from us to you. The Senate, tonight, is going to try to rush their version of a "bailout" bill to a vote. They must be stopped. We did it on Monday with the House, and we can do it again today with the Senate.

It is clear, though, that we cannot simply keep protesting without proposing exactly what it is we think Congress should do. So, after consulting with a number of people smarter than Phil Gramm, here is my proposal, now known as "Mike's Rescue Plan." It has 10 simple, straightforward points. They are:

1. APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO CRIMINALLY INDICT ANYONE ON WALL STREET WHO KNOWINGLY CONTRIBUTED TO THIS COLLAPSE. Before any new money is expended, Congress must commit, by resolution, to criminally prosecute anyone who had anything to do with the attempted sacking of our economy. This means that anyone who committed insider trading, securities fraud or any action that helped bring about this collapse must go to jail. This Congress must call for a Special Prosecutor who will vigorously go after everyone who created the mess, and anyone else who attempts to scam the public in the future.

2. THE RICH MUST PAY FOR THEIR OWN BAILOUT. They may have to live in 5 houses instead of 7. They may have to drive 9 cars instead of 13. The chef for their mini-terriers may have to be reassigned. But there is no way in hell, after forcing family incomes to go down more than $2,000 dollars during the Bush years, that working people and the middle class are going to fork over one dime to underwrite the next yacht purchase.

If they truly need the $700 billion they say they need, well, here is an easy way they can raise it:

a) Every couple who makes over a million dollars a year and every single taxpayer who makes over $500,000 a year will pay a 10% surcharge tax for five years. (It's the Senator Sanders plan. He's like Colonel Sanders, only he's out to fry the right chickens.) That means the rich will still be paying less income tax than when Carter was president. This will raise a total of $300 billion.

b) Like nearly every other democracy, charge a 0.25% tax on every stock transaction. This will raise more than $200 billion in a year.

c) Because every stockholder is a patriotic American, stockholders will forgo receiving a dividend check for one quarter and instead this money will go the treasury to help pay for the bailout.

d) 25% of major U.S. corporations currently pay NO federal income tax. Federal corporate tax revenues currently amount to 1.7% of the GDP compared to 5% in the 1950s. If we raise the corporate income tax back to the level of the 1950s, that gives us an extra $500 billion.

All of this combined should be enough to end the calamity. The rich will get to keep their mansions and their servants, and our United States government ("COUNTRY FIRST!") will have a little leftover to repair some roads, bridges and schools.

3. BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE LOSING THEIR HOMES, NOT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BUILD AN EIGHTH HOME. There are 1.3 million homes in foreclosure right now. That is what is at the heart of this problem. So instead of giving the money to the banks as a gift, pay down each of these mortgages by $100,000. Force the banks to renegotiate the mortgage so the homeowner can pay on its current value. To insure that this help does no go to speculators and those who have tried to make money by flipping houses, this bailout is only for people's primary residence. And in return for the $100K paydown on the existing mortgage, the government gets to share in the holding of the mortgage so that it can get some of its money back. Thus, the total initial cost of fixing the mortgage crisis at its roots (instead of with the greedy lenders) is $150 billion, not $700 billion.

And let's set the record straight. People who have defaulted on their mortgages are not "bad risks." They are our fellow Americans, and all they wanted was what we all want and most of us still get: a home to call their own. But during the Bush years, millions of them lost the decent paying jobs they had. Six million fell into poverty. Seven million lost their health insurance. And every one of them saw their real wages go down by $2,000. Those who dare to look down on these Americans who got hit with one bad break after another should be ashamed. We are a better, stronger, safer and happier society when all of our citizens can afford to live in a home that they own.

4. IF YOUR BANK OR COMPANY GETS ANY OF OUR MONEY IN A "BAILOUT," THEN WE OWN YOU. Sorry, that's how it's done. If the bank gives me money so I can buy a house, the bank "owns" that house until I pay it all back -- with interest. Same deal for Wall Street. Whatever money you need to stay afloat, if our government considers you a safe risk -- and necessary for the good of the country -- then you can get a loan, but we will own you. If you default, we will sell you. This is how the Swedish government did it and it worked.

5. ALL REGULATIONS MUST BE RESTORED. THE REAGAN REVOLUTION IS DEAD. This catastrophe happened because we let the fox have the keys to the henhouse. In 1999, Phil Gramm authored a bill to remove all the regulations that governed Wall Street and our banking system. The bill passed and Clinton signed it. Here's what Sen. Phil Gramm, McCain's chief economic advisor, said at the bill signing:

"In the 1930s ... it was believed that government was the answer. It was believed that stability and growth came from government overriding the functioning of free markets.

"We are here today to repeal [that] because we have learned that government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we promote economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom.

"I am proud to be here because this is an important bill; it is a deregulatory bill. I believe that that is the wave of the future, and I am awfully proud to have been a part of making it a reality."

This bill must be repealed. Bill Clinton can help by leading the effort for the repeal of the Gramm bill and the reinstating of even tougher regulations regarding our financial institutions. And when they're done with that, they can restore the regulations for the airlines, the inspection of our food, the oil industry, OSHA, and every other entity that affects our daily lives. All oversight provisions for any "bailout" must have enforcement monies attached to them and criminal penalties for all offenders.

6. IF IT'S TOO BIG TO FAIL, THEN THAT MEANS IT'S TOO BIG TO EXIST. Allowing the creation of these mega-mergers and not enforcing the monopoly and anti-trust laws has allowed a number of financial institutions and corporations to become so large, the very thought of their collapse means an even bigger collapse across the entire economy. No one or two companies should have this kind of power. The so-called "economic Pearl Harbor" can't happen when you have hundreds -- thousands -- of institutions where people have their money. When you have a dozen auto companies, if one goes belly-up, we don't face a national disaster. If you have three separately-owned daily newspapers in your town, then one media company can't call all the shots (I know... What am I thinking?! Who reads a paper anymore? Sure glad all those mergers and buyouts left us with a strong and free press!). Laws must be enacted to prevent companies from being so large and dominant that with one slingshot to the eye, the giant falls and dies. And no institution should be allowed to set up money schemes that no one can understand. If you can't explain it in two sentences, you shouldn't be taking anyone's money.

7. NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD BE PAID MORE THAN 40 TIMES THEIR AVERAGE EMPLOYEE, AND NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD RECEIVE ANY KIND OF "PARACHUTE" OTHER THAN THE VERY GENEROUS SALARY HE OR SHE MADE WHILE WORKING FOR THE COMPANY. In 1980, the average American CEO made 45 times what their employees made. By 2003, they were making 254 times what their workers made. After 8 years of Bush, they now make over 400 times what their average employee makes. How this can happen at publicly held companies is beyond reason. In Britain, the average CEO makes 28 times what their average employee makes. In Japan, it's only 17 times! The last I heard, the CEO of Toyota was living the high life in Tokyo. How does he do it on so little money? Seriously, this is an outrage. We have created the mess we're in by letting the people at the top become bloated beyond belief with millions of dollars. This has to stop. Not only should no executive who receives help out of this mess profit from it, but any executive who was in charge of running his company into the ground should be fired before the company receives any help.

8. STRENGTHEN THE FDIC AND MAKE IT A MODEL FOR PROTECTING NOT ONLY PEOPLE'S SAVINGS, BUT ALSO THEIR PENSIONS AND THEIR HOMES. Obama was correct yesterday to propose expanding FDIC protection of people's savings in their banks to $250,000. But this same sort of government insurance must be given to our nation's pension funds. People should never have to worry about whether or not the money they've put away for their old age will be there. This will mean strict government oversight of companies who manage their employees' funds -- or perhaps it means that the companies will have to turn over those funds and their management to the government. People's private retirement funds must also be protected, but perhaps it's time to consider not having one's retirement invested in the casino known as the stock market. Our government should have a solemn duty to guarantee that no one who grows old in this country has to worry about ending up destitute.

9. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH, CALM DOWN, AND NOT LET FEAR RULE THE DAY. Turn off the TV! We are not in the Second Great Depression. The sky is not falling. Pundits and politicians are lying to us so fast and furious it's hard not to be affected by all the fear mongering. Even I, yesterday, wrote to you and repeated what I heard on the news, that the Dow had the biggest one day drop in its history. Well, that's true in terms of points, but its 7% drop came nowhere close to Black Monday in 1987 when the stock market in one day lost 23% of its value. In the '80s, 3,000 banks closed, but America didn't go out of business. These institutions have always had their ups and downs and eventually it works out. It has to, because the rich do not like their wealth being disrupted! They have a vested interest in calming things down and getting back into the Jacuzzi.

As crazy as things are right now, tens of thousands of people got a car loan this week. Thousands went to the bank and got a mortgage to buy a home. Students just back to college found banks more than happy to put them into hock for the next 15 years with a student loan. Life has gone on. Not a single person has lost any of their money if it's in a bank or a treasury note or a CD. And the most amazing thing is that the American public hasn't bought the scare campaign. The citizens didn't blink, and instead told Congress to take that bailout and shove it. THAT was impressive. Why didn't the population succumb to the fright-filled warnings from their president and his cronies? Well, you can only say 'Saddam has da bomb' so many times before the people realize you're a lying sack of shite. After eight long years, the nation is worn out and simply can't take it any longer.

10. CREATE A NATIONAL BANK, A "PEOPLE'S BANK." If we really are itching to print up a trillion dollars, instead of giving it to a few rich people, why don't we give it to ourselves? Now that we own Freddie and Fannie, why not set up a people's bank? One that can provide low-interest loans for all sorts of people who want to own a home, start a small business, go to school, come up with the cure for cancer or create the next great invention. And now that we own AIG, the country's largest insurance company, let's take the next step and provide health insurance for everyone. Medicare for all. It will save us so much money in the long run. And we won't be 12th on the life expectancy list. We'll be able to have a longer life, enjoying our government-protected pension, and living to see the day when the corporate criminals who caused so much misery are let out of prison so that we can help reacclimate them to civilian life -- a life with one nice home and a gas-free car that was invented with help from the People's Bank.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

(Then there was an Article on the huffpost about this being the 160th birthday of Marxism. Maybe next.)

I love the Michael Moore proposals. I hope Senator Obama reads and takes them to heart as he (please, Universe!) plans his agenda for January 21 and beyond.

Well, we proved that voting doesn't change the system.
Even if our votes are counted correctly, no candidate of the two-party
system will bring about the necessary root-level change.
We proved that truth-speaking candidates cannot participate
when Ron Paul was excluded from mainstream media coverage.
And now we proved that "contacting your Congressman" doesn't work.
Diane Feinstein boasted that she received 91,000 telephone calls,
85,000 of which asked her to vote against the bailout,
yet she boldly announced that she would be voting for it.

And, get this:


Senator Pete Domenici thinks that the people
attempting to communicate with their elected representatives
is akin to a violent felony!
He thinks they are being "held hostage"
because we want them to fulfill their mandates!

{The Man who wrote this New Declaration claims to be the son of man. I'm not so concerned about that. For he is right that it is all going to happen in the flesh this time too}

What we need is government that is truly representative, and truly of, by and for the people.

A nation and its people can be great only when it is indivisable and the people stand united. But, partisan politics divides us, and divided we have fallen.

We cannot unite and rise to our potential greatness unless and until we face facts, recognize the truth, and do what needs to be done.

An Updated Declaration of Independence,

And Establishment of True Democracy

America is at a crossroads, and Americans have a big choice to make, because their choice will affect the whole world.

I urge all Americans to learn how Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln and other founding fathers felt about religion. As I discussed on the page titled Little Known American History, they all would be appalled at what has happened to America.

I urge Americans to not allow themselves to be pushed backwards by those who still wish to virtually rule the world in the name of Christianity and/or patriotism and/or "global free market economy."

That is essentially the misleading, self-serving rationale that has been used for the last sixteen centuries by rich emperors, kings, heads of state, and their wealthy loyalist supporters, who lived by the sword, gun and bomb. They too believed they were doing the "right thing," but they killed innocent peoples all over the world, all to gain and maintain material power, wealth and domain, plunder natural resources and rule the world, while claiming it was their "divine right and duty" and all in the name of "saving souls and converting the heathen to the one and only true religion."

Whether they were well-meaning or not, the truth is that they justified themselves with an erroneous, man-made doctrine of preeminence and superiority that was created by military imperialists who wanted to rule their world living by the sword. And it's wrong.

I urge Americans to instead progress forward now, toward the day when ALL human beings, all nations, all religions, all races and all cultures are respected and treated as equal.

It is the choice of the people, and I hope the people choose wisely.

But, you should know I’m not talking about merely choosing a Democrat for president. In fact, as I discuss on the page titled Partisan Politics, even though that would certainly be better than what we have now, it would not really fix things. It would only keep the partisan political pendulum swinging, and it would only perpetuate the partisan, conflict, division, polarization, and instability.

No, I’m talking about a much bigger choice, a choice that will actually change and improve our nation, establish government that is really of, by and for the people, and make it a truly good example to the whole world.

Even though our fathers or grandfathers paid dearly for the peace and freedom they fought and died for during World War II, we are now denied peace, and freedom has been eroding due to the greed and folly of spiritually blind men who deceptively claim to serve God and Country. That’s the hard reality. But, fighting and killing in war is not now the way to establish lasting peace and freedom. In fact, it is now ours to achieve and establish peacefully, together. All we need is the wisdom to acknowledge the way to save and improve our world, and the courage and faith to make it so.

You see, whether evil masquerades as good in the public eye, or whether evil is cowardly and sneaky in its murderous ways, it has been and still is very powerful in its ability to denigrate or even kill those who would deny it power to rule over the people. That is the main problem in the world today, and it’s why there is so much conflict, division and violence. But, there is a way that we can finally prevent them from dividing us and ruling over us, and it is a way that will enable us to peacefully establish government that is truly of, by and for the people.

First we must recognize how and why we have been misled and deceived, because we cannot progress forward unless and until we understand how and why we got into this mess. That's why the message on this site discusses the past and present, to explain and clarify what the future will be. It turns the key and opens the door, so we can go through.

You see, we should hold these truths to be self-evident: that all human beings are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are the rights to: life; liberty; equal rights; equal opportunity; justice; safety; universal health care; complete public education from universal preschool-child care to post-graduate school; fair and adequate compensation for your labor; adequate social security income (if and when needed, so that no one suffers from hunger, poverty, or homelessness); and real freedom in the pursuit of happiness.

We do not have any of those rights now. Not really. In fact, our rights have been diminishing, and there is no politician in our country right now who will establish those rights. They may say they will, but that would be impossible as long as we perpetuate the present partisan political-economic system. We would only continue to be either winners or losers in the competition for power and control, and the conflict and division would continue.

I believe that to establish and secure our God-given universal rights, even while ensuring that government is secular with a wall of separation between religion and government, the people should adopt an Updated Declaration of Independence based on the real truth, and demand a Constitutional Convention to adopt constitutional amendments that will ensure those rights.

After all, Article V of the Constitution of the United States provides that "on the application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, Congress shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments..."

The Founding Fathers of the nation recognized the importance of providing this means by which We, The People, could initiate amendments to change and/or clarify the Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land.

For a long time most politicians have felt they would not profit from doing that, because they like the status quo whether they are Republicans or Democrats. And even though the Constitution has been ignored and essentially brushed aside in certain instances by the Bush Regime, and even though political and corporate corruption has become rampant and very damaging to our national well being and our reputation in the world, no Republican or Democrat wants any amendments to the Constitution to correct the situation.

But, many good politicians in the past have favored a Constitutional Convention, including such notables as Republican Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In his first inaugural address, March 4, 1861, Lincoln said: "Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself..." "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." And Lincoln added that "to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by others..."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower also supported an Article V Convention saying: "Through their state legislatures and without regard to the federal government, the people can demand a convention to propose amendments that can and will reverse any trends they see as fatal to true representative government."

President Eisenhower warned against the growing power of the Military-Industrial Complex when he left office. But, as I have said on the page titled Little Known American History, Eisenhower’s warning was not heeded. In fact, the Military-Industrial Complex not only grew and became more corrupt, it became the Religious-Military-Industrial Complex in 1980, and has become even more so in the last seven years. But it is religious in name only, and does not serve God or humanity. It serves Mammon and the wealthiest few, and it has proven fatal to truly representative government.

Therefore, I advocate a Constitutional Convention, and I advocate this Updated Declaration of Independence, which is a revised update of Thomas Jefferson's work, which I last revised on July 28, 2008.

looks like a good article, Leo.
I liked the article on White Privilege, too.