An Offer to the President 14DEZ11

I wish the gop and tea-baggers were offering a credible slate of candidates and had a serious front runner to challenge Pres Obama for the presidency. Unfortunately their primary choices are creeps or clowns, some both, and so Obama may not feel enough pressure to listen to the majority of Americans who want the rich to pay more in taxes on their income and capital gains, who want corporate tax loopholes closed, who want the government to be more involved in reviving the American economy and ending this recession. Yet the opposition's candidates may be more of a threat than Obama's campaign wants to admit because if the President doesn't heed the advise of people like Robert Reich in this article then enough good people may not vote to reelect him next November, or may cast protest votes for third party candidates or for the gop/teabagger candidate. The American people don't just need the President to commit to the principles and policies offered in this article if he is elected for a second term, we need concrete action on them starting now to prove he represents the entire nation and not just the 1%.

Mr. President, we heard what you said last week in Kansas -- about the dangers to our economy and democracy of the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the top.
We agree. And many of us are prepared to work our hearts out to get you reelected -- as long as you commit to doing what needs to be done in your second term:
-- Raise the tax rate on the rich to what it was before 1981. The top 1 percent has an almost unprecedented share of the nation's wealth and income yet the lowest tax rate in 30 years. Meanwhile, America faces colossal budget deficits that have already meant devastating cuts in education, infrastructure, and the safety nets we depend on. The rich must pay their fair share. Income in excess of $1 million should be taxed at 70 percent -- the same rate as before 1981.
-- Raise capital gains taxes to the same level. It's absurd that the 400 richest Americans -- whose wealth exceeds the wealth of the bottom 150 million Americans put together -- should pay an average 17 percent tax on their incomes, the rate day laborers and child-care workers pay. That's because so much of the income of the super-rich is considered capital gains, now taxed at only 15 percent. Close this loophole.
-- Tax financial transactions. A tiny tax on every financial deal would yield billions of dollars more. It would also slow speculators and reduce the wild gyrations of financial markets.
-- Use the bulk of this money to create good schools, give our kids access to a college education, and build a world-class infrastructure, so all our children have a chance to get ahead.
-- Resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act, that used to separate commercial from investment banking. It was put in place after the Great Crash of 1929 to prevent financiers from gambling with peoples' bank deposits. But it was repealed in 1999 -- and its repeal contributed to the Crash of 2008. Wall Street lobbyists have made sure the new Dodd-Frank law has enough loopholes to allow financiers to continue to gamble with other peoples' money. The only way to stop this is to bring Glass-Steagall back.
-- Cap the size of Wall Street's biggest banks and break up the biggest. They were too big to fail before the bailout. They're even bigger now. And because of their huge size they get preferential treatment from the Fed, giving them an even greater competitive advantage over smaller banks. Cap their size and break them up before we have to bail them out again.
-- Require the big banks that got bailed out to modify the mortgages of millions of Americans now under water, who owe more than their homes are worth. It's not their fault the banks created a housing bubble that burst, causing home values to plummet.
Mr. President, we know nothing good happens in Washington unless good people outside Washington are organized and mobilized to make it happen.
So here's the deal: We'll reelect you. We'll stand behind you. We'll give you a mandate to do all this -- and more -- in your second term.
As long as you stand behind us.
Deal?
Robert Reich is the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, now in bookstores. This post originally appeared at RobertReich.org.