Atrial fibrillation refers to the state of the heart when it loses its proper rhythm. Something like that seemed to happen on Wall Street today. For a few minutes it was pure vertigo. Of course the market rebounded and only ended up losing a few hundred points. But still, when a person experiences severe atrial fibrillation they need to go to the hospital immediately. But which hospital can Wall Street go to? And what's wrong?
The pundits are saying it's the wrath in Greece. The streets of Athens are ablaze with the rage of the middle class who are being asked to sacrifice to make up for the excesses of the rich. Could this spread? Could Portugal and Spain go down? Oh, and what about America? Can't America just keep on printing trillions of dollars? Won't the middle class continue to let the rich grind them into hamburger? Or could the wrath be coming to America, too? Are Teabaggers and Arizona anti-immigration law and Sarah Palin signs of things to come?
And is there anything us progressives can still do to avert the wrath to come? I was very pleased to hear Keith Olberman today say that two-thirds of Americans think "progressive" is a positive word. How could we fill that word with meaning in a whole new way? I would like to make a few suggestions and ask whether you think they are of a sufficient magnitude to revive the real greatness of America.
Suggestion number one: OUTLAW USURY. For thousands of years usury has been considered a crime by almost every society in the world. When in 1980 the United States Congress saw fit to override state usury laws and allow national banks to essentially charge whatever interest the market would bear, it was the beginning of the end for the middle class. Thirty years later the middle class is drowning in debt. Before 1980 no bank could charge interest above 12%. Today the average credit card holder pays interest well over 20% and the poorest in our society get to go to the real loan sharks, the payday lenders, who charge an effective yearly interest rate of over 400%.
Suggestion number two: REINSTITUITE STEEPLY PROGRESSIVE INCOME TAX. During the greatest years for the American middle class, the years between say, 1945 and 1963, income over $250,000 was taxed at an average rate of 90%. Outrageous? Hardly. A steeply progressive income tax is absolutely essential if you want to have both capitalism AND democracy, because such a tax is the ONLY tool that will keep the gap between rich and poor within the "democratic range." In his great masterpiece, Democracy in America, Tocqueville warned as long ago as 1830 that democracy would not survive if the gap between rich and poor became too great. That is EXACTLY what has happened today, and we must reinstitute a progressive income tax not to raise revenue but to save democracy.
Suggestion number three: MAKE EX PARTE CONTACT UNETHICAL IN CONGRESS. Ex parte communication occurs when a decision-maker like a judge or a FCC commissioner talks privately with an interested party about a pending decision. Such contacts have long been unethical in the judiciary under the Appearness of Fairness doctrine. Furthermore, the injunction against ex parte contact has been extended in recent years to a vast region of the executive department including federal commissions, zoning boards, racing commissions, et cetera, again for the obvious reasons. It is equally obvious that senators and congressmen should not be allowed to have ex parte contact with businessmen interested in pending decisions -- yet that's what lobbying is, one big ex parte party. You do NOT have a constitutional right to "petition the government" ex parte. In the judicial and executive department you can petition the government, but it MUST BE ON THE RECORD. If we extended this one rule to Congress it would eliminate lobbying as we know it.
So I ask you: