A very small group of (easily-identifiable) financial industry criminals committed fraud of unprecedented proportions in human history, plunging millions of people into unimaginable suffering, despair, and economic insecurity. These criminal actions caused millions of people to buckle under suffering and mental stress. Some of the consequences include rise in domestic violence that result in multiple deaths, physical abuse causing great bodily harm, rapid increase in child poverty, homelessness, and debilitating physical ailments caused by mental stress associated with the massive economic collapse as the result of thievery and fraud in our financial system.
The financial industry criminals had a group of easily-identifiable accomplices that aided and abated in the commission of the crimes, and afterward helped (and continue to help) to cover up those crimes. That group of criminal accomplices is comprised of most of the leaders of both major political parties (Democrats and Republicans).
These two groups are engaged in a sort of incestuous relation fueled by avarice and greed, and lust of power. Together, they have become a Plutocratic ruling class that has turned our economic system into a Kleptocracy, wherein they collude to manipulate, subjugate, and exploit the population for personal gain.
The statement above is a truism. It's clear, concise, and true. Regardless of any particular interest in different areas of social justice that members of the OWS movement may have, accepting this statement as a fact is essential in order to understand the causes that led to the uprising, and the expectations of people involved in the movement.
The following five objectives must be met if the movement is to be considered successful:
1. Restoration of the rule of law: A very sure sign of a Plutocratic kleptocracy is the ability of the ruling class to commit crimes with impunity, and under the protection of the authorities. The concept of equal justice under the law is one of the building blocks of a democratic society. One of the first things that need to happen to correct the current state of affairs (rampant thievery and corruption under the protection of a corrupt government), is to held the criminals who plunged the country into economic despair (with full knowledge and intention), accountable. In concrete terms, that means that at a minimum there should anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 criminal indictments that result in at least 3,000 to 5,000 convictions, with a number of those resulting in sentences of 20 years or more. Logic will tell you that those at the top of the criminal food chain should serve the longest sentences.
2. Break up the criminal banks: The behemoth financial institutions that participated in the massive thievery and fraud, are criminal enterprises that to this day continue to create havoc in people's lives, and continue to commit massive fraud and crimes (i.e., robosinging, forged documents used in foreclosures). These criminal enterprises must be raided by government agencies, they must be broken up, and their leaders should be fully investigated, prosecuted, and imprisoned (when proper prosecutions are held). Generous bounties and rewards (and in some cases, immunity) should be offered to whistle blowers who are willing to come forward to testify about crimes committed by their superiors, in order to address the issue of massive destruction of evidence in which even government agencies participated in.
3. End corporate personhood and repeal Citizen's United: The issue of corporate personhood, and the ability of corporations to essentially buy off sycophantic, money-grabbing, corrupt, selfish, and greedy politicians, with unlimited campaign finance contributions, cushy revolving door lucrative employment positions for themselves, close family members and friends, and all kinds of publicly-reported, and under-the-table inducements, privileges, gifts, vacations, etc., is at the very root of the corruption that has engulfed this country. Therefore, corporate personhood should be rescinded, and influence peddling and (legalized) bribing of politicians with corporate money should end.
4. Emergency social and economic measures: The system is not valid. The social contract has been broken. Therefore, the government must implement a set of emergency measures in order to stabilize society and avoid the onset of a massive uncontrolled uprising by the people. Those measures include: Allocate $15 trillion (let's start small, and see after that) for a massive work program and economic stimulus across the country; Reset all mortgages to current market prices; Forgiveness of all student loans, and making education free to all citizens (up to a Bachellor's degree); Nationalized single-payer health care system, and enactment into law that health care is a right.
5. Restoration of constitutional protections, and a proper regulatory framework: The draconian PATRIOT Act should be repealed in it's entirety. The Glass–Steagall Act should be restored. No president or government agent shall have the authority to order the assassination of a citizen extra-judicially. A robust regulatory framework shall be put into place focused on the prevention of the accumulation of monopoly power, and influence peddling. All media corporate conglomerates, which are used now as a propaganda machine of the criminal plutocractic class, shall be broken up so a true free press can be restored.
These modest and easily-achievable goals would help put the country back on the right course. They would strengthen the pillars of a society based on democracy, capitalism and free enterprise, and the rule of law (applied to all equally).
A very modest negotiating tactic would be to have 50,000 to 150,000 people flood New York City's Wall Street (the scene of one of the most serious crimes in history), and shut down the city, and do the same in Washington, D.C. When the authorities, forced to deal with the demonstrators ask what our demands are, I would print these five modes demands and give them to them and will inform them that we will stop the stand-off once all five demands are fully met.