Secondly, we need to disempower the corporate model, which would help environmental enforcement and open the possibility of co-operative and worker owned/managed business forms. The hybrid between corporate capitalism and socialism has been right under our nose. Strong federal regulation and government ownership of some utilities and vital industries (at least temporarily) should not be off the table either.
We are facing increased scarcity of strategic materials as well as climate change and an economic meltdown. The most drastic and revolutionary actions are now justified, but human rights should receive high priority. Living waged jobs, single payer health care and affordable housing are only a start. Lets save ourselves and help the world as a generous role model and not an empire. There will be a new egalitarian world or no civilization left at all.

There has been too much money leaking out of the country for a a long time. In fact that’s one of the top reasons for the meltdown.

That has to be reversed before we can prosper. A country with a few ultra rich and the majority getting less and less in income and benefits can’t survive. And as we have seen, the inevitable crash happened.

Joe Everyman is hired by the Fix-It-Up-Now [FIUN] company, at a $1, 000 a week plus overtime. Joe can expect about $1,400 a week gross. The Feds get their cut, income tax, SS tax, Medicare. Next comes the State, Income tax, Workers Comp, Sales tax and Joe buys a home, Real-estate tax and so on. Joe’s net is down to say $900 a week, not bad.

FIUN is building a much needed Light Rail system, and has many employees on many levels, Engineers down to Sweep-ups; everyone is working, really, really great.
Now FIUN needs supplies, Steel for Rails, Rebar, Buildings, Stations, Copper for wire Concrete, Screws, Nuts, Bolts. Construction equipment, earth movers, trucks, cars staff cars, and you get the picture.
Where do we get the steel from? Where’s the Steel Mills? Copper for wire? And how do we power it all?

Joe has $900 a week burning a hole in his pocket; he goes and buys a 50 inch flat screen TV, Surround Sound system, a PC with games for the kids.
Now go follow the money trail. Joe plunks down $800 for the 50 ‘ inch flat screen TV, the Salesman gets a $50 commission on the sale, the store profits $150 on the sale. The Warehouse-jobber profits $75; the trucking company is prayed for their services, moving the TV and so do all the workers along the way.

Keep following the money.
How did the TV arrive at the Warehouse-jobber? A trucker delivered it, from where?
A US factory, or was it off-loaded from a Container ship? Where did the Container ship come from? China, Korea, Japan. The point of all this is, we don’t make TV’s here any more and ultimately the stimulus money will find its way out of our economony to benefit another countries. The same holds true for the supplies FIUN uses, Train controls from Germany, Light Rail Cars from Japan, etc. There’s too much money leaking out of the country for this thing to work.