National Program for Economic Reconstruction

The following is an attempt to propose a national program of economic reconstruction. Its purpose is to propose an interrelated set of solutions to our social problems. The requirement is that these solutions actually solve the problem; they are not designed to start to solve the problem, or point in the direction of solving the problem, they must actually go all the way and solve the problem. The problem of how to implement these solutions in the current political environment is addressed as well, but the political environment should not be a factor in formulating political solutions.

The following are the problems being addressed, categories:

Economic

1) High unemployment
2) Poverty
3) Slow or nonexistent growth
4) Peak oil and rising energy prices
5) Infrastructure that is falling apart
6) Decline of manufacturing and rise of trade defict
7) Financial system out of control
8) Consumer debt levels out of control
9) Federal deficit (lower priority)

Environmental

1) Global warming
2) Pollution, particular from extreme extraction (e.g., fracking, nuclear waste)
3) Soil and water depletion
4) Deforestation
5) Overfishing and dead zones

Social

1) A health care system that is too expensive
2) An inadequate education system, including child care
3) Inadequate retirement system, including low social security payments
4) Racism, sexism, homophobia

Political

1) Political system dominated by money
2) Undemocratic structures (e.g., electoral college)
3) Military budget out of control

A program for solving these problems:

Economic and environmental

1) Guaranteed job for everyone
2) Green infrastructure program, consisting of the following:
a) half million 1.5MW wind turbines, sited to serve as base load for electricity
b) 20,000 mile high-speed rail system
c) electric freight rail system
d) transit system for all city regions
e) apartment buildings/townhouses for dense, walkable suburban, town, and city centers
f) 100% recycling system
g) Solar panels for all buildings
h) geothermal heat pumps for most buildings
i) electric cars
j) rebuilt water systems, including ecological services of restored ecosystems
k) Local organic food/gardening system
l) zero-waste manufacturing with re-usable/recycled products

3) Public banking system
4) Debt jubilee
5) fair trade, including managed currency exchange with China
6) Replace national debt with government-issued debt
7) Tax top 5% 33% more, yielding 1.5 trillion per year
8) Plug corporate loopholes, subsidies
9) Cut military budget 90% over 10 years

Social

1) Medicare for all
2) Lift ceiling on social security tax, increase payouts by 50%, use realistic COLA
3) Federal government supplies half of local educational funding
4) Free public colleges
5) Various measures to fight racism, sexism, homophobia

Political

1) Full funding of general election campaigns by Federal government
2) Dismantle national security state
3) Eliminate electoral college