"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." Here are my wishes - what do you think?

[scarletwoman]

I'm copying my post from this thread: If You Had One Wish, Just One....What Would That Wish Be For

This is my reply:

"You have one wish. What do you want?"

Me: "More wishes."

"Okay. How many?"

Me: "Here's my list:

1. An immediate end to corporate personhood with an immediate return to the original conception of corporate charters.
   
   
2. A complete re-purposing of the "Defense" Department to actual defense only. No more funding of offense activities. Sole purpose of standing army and military spending confined to protection within our borders.
   
   
3. Outlawing of all private interest lobbyist groups. Lobbying confined to citizen advocates only.
   
   
4. Return of all FDR era financial regulations, expanded and updated where necessary.
   
   
5. A massive government program of infrastructure rebuilding and employment based on the models of the WPA and CCC.
   
   
6. A progressive tax on UNEARNED income -- all of it. Same tax rate applied to capital gains as is applied to income tax.
   
   
7. A tax and/or fee on all stock transactions. Every trade, every bet.
   
   
8. Make all obscure financial "products" and manipulations illegal. No more credit default swaps, no more bundled securities, no more derivatives, no more short selling.
   
   
9. A return of strict usary laws -- no interest charges allowed above a set base level. 8% should be good enough.
   
   
10. Outlaw the propagation of empirically false information by public media outlets. Opinion is free, but facts are facts.
    
    
11. Strict regulation of media ownership with vigorous anti-trust enforcement. Community-generated local media must be protected.
    
    
12. Universal single payer health care.
    
    
13. Heavy tax penalties on U.S. companies who outsource.
    
    
14. All international trade agreements must impose labor and environmental standards commesurate with U.S. standards. Products produced by violators not allowed to be imported into the U.S.
    
    
15. Return of tariffs to protect U.S. industry and agriculture.
    
    
16. An end to subsidies for Big Agribusiness. Agricultural subsidies/loans available to genuine family farms only.
    
    
17. An FDA completely divorced from Big Pharma. R&D done at public universities subsidized, for which any private company must pay a hefty fee for access. Subsequent profits must be shared with the universities from which the research was obtained.
    
    
18. Outlaw all pharmaceutical ads in the media. Full disclosure by all medical organizations of any collaberation with pharmaceutical companies.
    
    
19. An end to the 401K scam. If you want to play the stock market, fine, just don't call it "saving" for retirement. Institute a government run defined pension plan for all workers, paid into by all employers by assessing a fee based on a defined percentage of each employer's payroll.
    
    
20. Institute laws and policies that favor domestic production of finished, value-added products out of domestic resources -- thus creating jobs and local industry -- and discourage the export of raw resources -- i.e. no more cutting down forests to export logs that end up as pressed pulp produced in another country.
    
    
21. An end to ALL "privatizing profits and socializing risks/costs" by ALL corporate entities. If you pollute, you pay. If you screw up, you pay. If you won't pay, your corporation is dissolved and your individual officers are each assessed for their share of the damages or face prison time and garnishment of all personal assets.
    
    
22. Outlawing of all "SLAP" lawsuits.
    
    "Is that all?"
    
    Me: "No. That's just what I came up with off the top of my head. I reserve the right to continue to add to my list of wishes."
    
    sw

I'd most like to see additions to my list. I expect, of course, criticisms of it. Have at it.

sw