Moreover, Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Tyagi also chime in with the "suggest[ion of] the creation of a consumer product safety commission for financial products. . . [T]hey talk about how we've had these tremendous advances in consumer protection when you buy a toaster, but not when you buy a mortgage, so to speak, or a stock or a bond."-
That is, we have protections on physically produced products but none on bank, security, mortgage, and other financial notes
Finally, the most important thing continues to be now that America needs to think globally but act locally. One theorist of this old mantra is Bill McKibbens who notes that "relocalizing the economy"- is the key. McKibbens has explained, "We're wasting vast amounts of money using fossil fuels to transport--thanks to "-free trade,' quote-unquote--products all over the world, so that they can be made in 'cheap labor' locales and then sold in richer areas. The cost of fossil fuel is going to continue to go up. It's going to continue to diminish as a resource. We need to localize. We need to grow food close to where we eat it, for example."-
PROGRESSIVISM, WAKE UP!
The news is more than in the wind.
Americans are hot-under-the-collar about all the lack of responsibility by the nation's banking and business leaders from ENRON to Worldcom to CitiBank to Wall Street.
Americans want more fairness from our government--whether we are talking about income redistribution or whether we are talking about bad economic subsidies and bad laws that deform the economy. Those subsidies promote jobs going overseas. Those bad laws or lack of regulation allows companies and banks to flee from responsibility.
Naturally, we want fairness and better treatment from our financial and business sectors.
We also want legislation and government agencies--with a bite--to make certain that our government has oversight and the ability to regulate--and even arrest--dangerously bad business practices and malpractices.
Americans who have been picking up the tabs all these years to bad governance and lack of responsible businessmen are saying NOW "Enough is Enough!"
Progressivism is needed with a tinge of centralized planning--not soviet style planning--but good long-term planning and regulation of badly running parts of the economy. This could be in terms of housing and banking.
For example, Luigi Zingales, in The Economist's Voice writes that U.S. congress needs to target needy areas of the country where housing prices have dropped 20% or more in recent years. This new targeted regional planning would include as a first step the passage of fast-track renegotiation downwards of mortgages allowing, say up to 30% reduction in mortgages so (1) locals will be encouraged to keep their homes instead of bailing out and (2) leaving banks with even more losses in bankruptcies.
Zingales explains that economic research already provides good background on zip code by zipcode on housing prices. (We don't need to help, for example, zip codes with positive housing price growth or with small losses.) In turn, at the time the house is eventually resold--i.e. if resold for a good profit--, the mortgage lender could be partially reimbursed at a much later date for agreeing to the terms of providing mortgage relief of 30%.
To me, this is only a tepid response, but it indicates or typifies where thinking and acting locally can make a difference.
Similarly, targeted investment in local alternative power industries need to be done on a scale that the US did in the rural electrification sector in the 1930s and 1940s.
An aggressive government promoting progressive human needs is welcome and needed in America. Similarly, in the banking sector, the government could do more to promote local banks and credit unions over poorly run and managed mega-banks and finance houses, like Sallie Mae, Freddy Mac, and others.
LEVITICUS
In Leviticus 25 (and in Numbers), the Bible talks about redistribution of wealth. Redistribution of property and wealth is mentioned explicitly under the rules regarding Jubilee. Jubilee was a mechanism stemming from the All-Mighty's desire that communities live in harmony and enjoy social justice and prosperity.
http://www.jubileeusa.org/
Simple Bible research finds that the concept of biblical Jubilee is related not necessarily related to the concept of socialism but to key words such as justice, emancipation, liberty, freedom, fairness, and social or communal harmony""as well as respect for the commands of the Lord.
Similarly, today, worldwide movements--in no case necessarily socialist movements--who look for fair redistribution of goods and resources from both liberal and conservative religious agendas.
Initially, the evangelical right in America was mixed in its response to worldwide movements related to Jubilee.
However, by 2000, many of the extreme radical right had given in and had come to support the international Jubilee movement.
In short, Catholics, evangelicals, born again Christians, Jews, Muslims and peoples of many faiths respect the concept of Jubilee--and wealth or resource redistribution on behalf of development, redevelopment. They do so by following what the biblical scriptures say on these concepts:
(1) Fairness
(2) Justice
(3) Freedom
(4) Liberty
(5) Harmony
(6) Emancipation
I see no reason why America as of 2008 cannot talk about redistribution and some forms of central communal planning for communal development and improvements--without mudsling at one another, i.e. calling somebody a communist or Soviet style dictator or even fascist just for talking about these six virtues and America's need for redistribution of government's role in helping coordinating a badly run supposedly free market.
This understanding of justice, emancipation, liberty, freedom, fairness, and social or communal harmony should go for (a) the progressive religionists, (b) non-religionists, (c) evangelical religionists, (d) conservative religionists or (d) whatever religionist you are.
Dear America, if socialism is a bad word and central planning is anathema too you, at least, look to your religious and cultural heritage to see that progressive taxation, government regulation and good planning belongs here--along with communities working together for fairness, justice, freedom, liberty, emancipation and harmony is a great thing to stand for in 2008, 2009, 2010 and onwards!!!!
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10330
NOTES
Harper's Magazine, http://harpers.org/
Hudson, Michael, "Thinking the Unthinkable, A Debt Write Down and Jubilee Year", http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10330
"Jubilee"?, http://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=jubilee&qs_version=31
Jubilee Debt Campaign, http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/
Jubilee USA, http://www.jubileeusa.org/
Jubilee 2000, http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol4No1/jubilee_2000.htm
"McCain Calls Obama Socialist", h ttp://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/24/mccain_campaign_calls_obama_a_socialist
Zingales, Luigi, "Plan B", http://www.bepress.com/ev/vol5/iss6/art4/?sending=10381
ht http://www.bepress.com/ev/vol5/iss6/art4/?sending=10381tp://www.bepress.com/ev
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