Not me, I am just your average greedy capitalist lowlife..

What we could invest SS funds in is The Worker Owned Cooperatives that are going to grow out of letting Farmers grow Hemp for the paper, plastics, cloths, and among other things, the bio-fuel we will be able to produce from hemp.

You could approve whatever retirement plan you want under my system. Though I doubt you would get much backing to have such a thing approved. Most retirement plans I would imagine would be widely diverse mutual fund type investments. Here is a working model:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pensions_i ... _1980.2F81

I think you are wrong. You have a message. Your average greedy capitalist lowlife is more like a honey badger.

John Lennon in Imagine sand well, for our times, and described how the first saints held all things in common. What I'm getting at, in investing S.S. into Worker Owned Cooperatives, is how we can invest in building a better way of life. The Mondragon Cooperative has its own Bank, which reinvests in itself. Am sure in times like these, that we could arrange mutual funds, from S.S. to invest in Coops for the Products we could produce from Hemp. There's little doubt in me, that we could build a sustainable economy that way.

Leooburg,

I have no idea if it would work or not, the only reason why I would stay away from just one venture, or one market, is the idea of keeping diversified investments and not having all your eggs in one basket. Any business that is profitable would be welcome to any mutual fund I would think..

As for legalizing marijuana as hemp or just to smoke, I am all for it. The drug wars are more destructive than all of the other wars in the last 40-50 years combined.

My thoughts are on keeping the Cooperative Movement, (They are popping up around the Country.) out of Wall Streets hands. In no way do we even want the Govt involved. But what is holding back an USW-Mondragon combo, is the funding. Look at the picture, of Communities investing SS in their Cities and Towns. With the paper, plastics cloths and bio-fuel, things would be diversified. Not that we have to settle for just investing in what we could produce from Hemp. Just trying to look for a way to get good jobs back in America. So that then, the people could take care of themselves.

I agree, though I think if something like that takes off, regulators will have a field day with it and once that happens, costs go up and then the model has to absorb that.

We only need 1 law today for any kind of business. ''Do no harm to your workers, consumers or mother earth.'' When this takes off from the grass-roots, we tell DC. ''Thanks for nothing, now stay out of our lives.'' Ya, how do we keep them, from regulating the life out of US? Do this don't do that, can't ya read the signs?

I would love it if that happens, but I can hear it now:

"How do we know you are not harming mother earth?" - we need the EPA and all its regulations to verify you are not an evil coop.

"How do we know you are not harming your workers?" - we need the NLRB, OSHA, etc., and all their regulations to verify you are not an evil coop

"How do we know you are not hurting the consumer?" - we need XYZ agency to regulate you and verify you are not an evil coop

"You can't grow hemp there! An endangered mold lives there!"

Just the way it is when everyone is so used to having government do everything for them. I hope you are right though, I hope people someday throw off the shackles!

Occupy USA Democracy is Coming Lyrics by Leonard Cohen

http://youtu.be/lBVaqrqb3bk

This clip is taken from the FULL DVD "Leonard Cohen Under Review 1934-1977".

http://youtu.be/qPMDeHg0z3g

''What do coffee growers in Ethiopia, hardware store owners in America, and Basque entrepreneurs have in common? For one thing, many of them belong to cooperatives. By pooling their money and resources, and voting democratically on how those resources will be used, they can compete in business and reinvest the benefits in their communities.''

http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/ ... ew+economy

''Why Cooperatives?''

''Cooperatives have been around in one form or another throughout human history, but modern models began popping up about 150 years ago. Today’s co-ops are collaboratively owned by their members, who also control the enterprise collaboratively by democratic vote. This means that decisions made in cooperatives are balanced between the pursuit of profit, and the needs of members and their communities. Most co-ops also follow the Seven Cooperative Principles, a unique set of guidelines that help maintain their member-driven nature.''

We are the many, they are the few.
http://youtu.be/tqtNvgzWsis

Nothing against coops mind you, but someone in my small town was just sent to prison for defrauding the coop she was a part of, for over a million dollars. It was pretty sad because it was a dairy farming coop.. Like those people don't suffer enough as it is.

As for the myth of the 19th century robber barons, here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmzZ8lCLhlk

A quote from a Steel Mill Robber Baron of the 1880s, ''I treat my workers like machines, and when they are old or sick, I throw them out in the streets.'' That attitude is still around today. If corporations would pay a living wage, Unions would not be needed. From the 1890s book, ''The Coming Battle,'' it states in details how the banking money power took over from the start, with the 1st (so called) Bank of America, which is not much different from our currant Fed. In 1870 the people were debt free, and the banking money power did not like that, and caused as great as a depression as the 1930s.

Citizens criticized by tightly wound media machinery are heroes. True heroes, sleeping in the park, taking on the dark, sleeping under plastic sheets, getting arrested in the streets, surrounding the houses of criminal elites - having the courage to Occupy Wall Street. THIS is the "Change We Need". Let the right wingers pound the table and the liberal hearts bleed. The two party system is a total scam indeed. America is waking up, seeing the forest through the trees. Agreed? WE are the ones we have been waiting for. OCCUPY TOGETHER - OCCUPY WITHIN. Peace!

Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhattan
http://youtu.be/7X0of1lL1V4