Suggestions for the Occupy Wall Street 99ers

Update: Very pleased to see this video posted by a 99er supporter
End update:

A few things the 99ers should consider.

1.) Support Ron Paul's Competing Currency Bill HR 1098. "Legal money" has been eliminated in the U.S., the currency we have now is non-redeemable Federal Reserve Notes and coinage with no intrinsic value. A roll of pre-1965 silver dimes, in metallic value would buy 30 gallons of gasoline today.



2.) Eliminate Corporate Personhood, if a corporation must lobby the government, it should do so through its shareholders and employees who have U.S. voting rights.

3.) Audit the Federal Reserve (corporation). If the U.S. Treasury is no longer the primary shareholder of the Federal Reserve, remove the Federal Reserve’s privilege to print/create U.S. debt obligations.

4.) Restore Glass Steagall and Bankruptcy protection for primary residences, currently second home mortgages can be negotiated through bankruptcy courts, but primary residence mortgages may not.

5.) Robo-signing foreclosure fraud is not a victimless crime -- it is still fraud. State courts should entertain Adverse Possession cases against all banks that cannot provide clear title. If the bank cannot prove that the it had title at the time the homeowner stopped making payments, the homeowner should from his/her evidence of property tax and maintenance records have legal recourse against the banks who have forever clouded the title on their property.

The secret to a successful retirement is a home that is paid for.

6.) Eliminate the “Social Security Wage Base” which is capped at $106,800.00 per year. Social Security (and apparently Medicare) contributions are exempt on wages above the $106,800.00 threshold. This is clearly a subsidy for those who benefit the most from the U.S. infrastructure.

7.) Eliminate Temporary Worker visas, these visas are labor market interference. Wage stagnation caused by labor oversupply, coupled with U.S. currency devaluation has destroyed America's ability to save, purchase homes and prosper. In the first decade of the 2000’s, employment levels only rose by 1 million in the 16 through 64 age group, while the population grew by 22 million. Another 2.2 million jobs went to those in the 65 and older age group.

7.1) Businesses want open borders, except where the U.S. taxpayer funded U.S. Customs Department detects and confiscates counterfeit goods and illicit copies of Intellectual Property.

7.2) Colleges want open borders, except State borders where they are allowed to charge much higher “Out of State” tuition fees.

7.3) A full 20% of college degreed immigrants are underutilized, working as cab drivers, nannies and dishwashers. Meanwhile, we are asking our kids to assume $80,000 in basically non-dischargeable debt for an undergraduate degree, only to then be required to compete against foreign nationals whose first college loan is for a (U.S.) postgraduate degree.

7.4) There are 5 million college degreed Americans and permanent residents who are also underutilized.

8.) Eliminate the Second Home Mortgage Interest Deduction. Liberal immigration policy requires affordable housing for new immigrants and upward housing options for citizens, this tax subsidy reduces the available inventory of available housing, and combined with mass immigration, is a driving factor in creating housing bubbles. Additionally, these homes can be used as a tax dodge, i.e. rented out for Corporate Board meetings etc.

Lots of second-home buyers rent their property part of the year to get others to help pay the bills. Very different tax rules apply depending on the breakdown between personal and rental use. If you rent the place out for 14 or fewer days during the year, you can pocket the cash tax-free. Even if you're charging $10,000 a week, the IRS doesn't want to hear about it. The house is considered a personal residence, so you deduct mortgage interest and property taxes just as you do for your principal home.

The Housing Vacancy Permit: Vacant and blighted housing is a real problem that municipalities must address, destroying these homes would be an unconscionable waste of natural resources and withholding these houses from the market with taxpayer financing (TARP and other) is a moral hazard. The Housing Vacancy Permit would address municipal costs associated with vacant properties, inspections, policing, maintenance etc., before these homes become blighted.

There are 30 million renters in the United States, introducing the vacant housing inventory to the rental market could substantially reduce rental housing costs. A reduction of $200.00 per month, for each renter would introduce $6,000,000,000.00 discretionary spending into the economy each month. A reduction of $500.00 per month would equate to $180 Billion of redirected spending per year.

The goal of the Housing Vacancy Permit is to return vacant properties to the occupied inventory either through sale or rent. A short grace period for sale or rent would be allowed before Vacancy fees (double the property tax?) would commence, and if the property cannot be sold, it must be rented/occupied to avoid these Vacancy fees. Returning these homes to their useful purpose at the local level could defeat the Federal effort to keep these homes from being re-introduced into the for sale/rent inventory.

A reduction in housing costs would make U.S. workers more competitive globally, as rents and principal paid for housing is taxable at the State and Federal levels. Lower housing costs could also lower salary requirement and tax burden to U.S. workers.

The second best outcome for vacant housing today would be for the local municipalities to seize vacant homes through tax lien and reintroduce them into the for-sale or for-rent inventory at fire-sale bargains before they become blighted.

The Assault on the LAND of Liberty:

Economics is said to be the “The Study of Scarcity.” The Classic Economists were keenly aware of population’s effect on wages and rents; population is something neo-economists rarely acknowledge. For the last thirty years, economists like Greenspan have endorsed a policy of making labor plentiful and housing scarce.

As the U.S. currency has slowly been debased, moving away from gold and silver backed Securities, the smart money moved from Bonds and Currency to Real property; further, lobbyists and politicians found ways to inflate real property.  Ultimately, since the currency in neither backed by gold or silver, the U.S. Currency is now backed by land under our feet, we are witnessing the foreclosure upon the Land of Liberty.