DSA Releases Economic Recovery Plan In keeping with our commitment to do more public education on the economic crisis DSA has proposed a stimulus plan of its own. The plan identifies a trillion dollars in stimulative spending that the federal government could implement simply by writing checks. The plan contains no business tax credits in keeping with our view that the stimulus bill is not large enough to reverse the economic decline and that the business tax credits included in the bill rewarded the banks and financial institutions that were largely responsible for causing the crisis. To read or download DSA's plan click HERE. The House of Representatives $819 billion stimulus bill—that no Republicans could be bothered to vote for it despite the tax cuts that were included to entice their support—is being significantly modified in the Senate. It will be larger, but so far the increases have not made the bill better. In fact the Senate defeated an amendment to add $25 billion in infrastructure spending yesterday. DSA prefers a bill with more job-creating infrastructure spending and no tax credits for business. And we would prefer that E-Verify and other noxious provisions be removed, but we are not opposed to the bill. The Senate may vote on the bill as soon as tomorrow. Congress hopes to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the bill and have it ready for President Obama to sign by the Presidents Day weekend. These issues demand a strong democratic socialist response. They were caused by gross, unregulated capitalist financial speculation. And as usual every modest response, good or bad, is being labeled as socialist. Earlier today I received a call from a reporter who wanted me to respond to a right wing Republican member of Congress's charge that we influenced the Democratic Party program. Would that the Democrats even stole our ideas and solutions! We need to let people know what socialists really believe. The recovery plan is very solid and should get as much exposure as possible. We have also updated the two-page flyer,Economic Recovery that Benefits Everyone, which we released last week. The new version is much more attractive. To read or download the updated flyer, click here. Both the flyer and the recovery plan focus on the origins of the crisis and our responses to it and connect it to the issues we raise in the Economic Justice Agenda. The stimulus bill is only the first political fight that will focus on the economy. A “bank rescue plan” will be issued soon, possibly before the stimulus bill is signed. There is every indication that the rescue plan will attempt to protect shareholders of the major banks by creating a “bad bank” that will spend trillions of taxpayer dollars to bailout those failing institutions. Analysts have put the cost of the "bad bank" plan at $2-$4 trillion. Nationalizing the banks would achieve the same result at much less cost to taxpayers. In fact, when the nationalized banks are resold to private investors, the government, instead of the speculators that caused all the damage in the first place, would make the profit. And there's more. In March the government must certify that the auto companies, post-bailout, have reorganization plans in place to make them competitive. The foreclosure crisis is ongoing, and, without a plan that resets mortgage values, keeps people in their homes, and restores stability to the housing market, it is unlikely that the economic crisis can be resolved at all. And, of course, the Employee Free Choice Act and the health care crisis remain issues. So, while the stimulus bill will probably be passed and signed in the next two weeks, the economic crisis will remain a focus of our activity. Any organizing you can do before the stimulus bill passes will be very important! |