POWER POINT ON MOVE THE MONEY 1. Introduction 2. We have been told that every level of government is broke and we must make drastic cuts that could mean life or death for the most vulnerable. BUT ARE WE REALLY BROKE, OR CAN WE MOVE THE MONEY?? Whenever we hear doomsday talk about our economic crisis—lack of jobs, cuts in public schools, budget shortfalls, critical deficits, taxes, and especially when we hear that the State, City, or Country is “broke”—it creates a lot of confusion. But we need to remember one thing: 3. There is an elephant in the room. Some of the same politicians who are crying broke, are the ones who are using the budget shortfalls as an excuse to cut from every program that helps people. But the politicians are looking for money from cash strapped programs that are needed by people—they are looking for money everyplace but where it is. The elephant in the room is the VERY RICH who have grown richer than ever in our country’s history. While the rest of us have stagnated or worse, many suffering loss of their jobs, their home, and their health care, the extremely rich have enjoyed gigantic tax cuts! We now have greater inequality in our country than we have ever had. And corporations enjoy greater power and wealth than ever. 4. FACT: The richest 1% now hold 1/3 of all the wealth in the US FACT: Many of America’s largest corporations, like GE and Exxon, pay no taxes at all. FACT: 43.6 million Americans now live in poverty To fix the economy, we need to MOVE THE MONEY from where it actually is (in the hands of the obscenely rich) to where it needs to be. But when we are talking about finding the money to fix our economy (jobs, schools, health care, veterans benefits, infrastructure) we run into something else besides that elephant 5. [Two elephants] There are two elephants in the room While they talk about cutting schools, health care and needed social programs--- Our tax dollars are being spent on endless wars, wars the public doesn’t want, and a huge, bloated military budget. 6. FACT: We spend more on the military budget than the next 14 largest countries—COMBINED! FACT: Military spending now consumes 58 cents of every discretionary tax dollar. 7. We need to MOVE THE MONEY from these disastrous wars and wasteful military spending to fund human needs. Consider this stunning fact: FACT: What we will spend on the war in Afghanistan alone in 2011 would balance the budgets of ALL the states. The federal budget actually can’t be fixed without facing this problem. Our city, and state, will lose federal money and our schools, health care and everything else will suffer unless we deal with this. It is time to MOVE THE MONEY. The program is very simple: 8. MOVE THE MONEY 1. End the wars 2. Make the rich and corporations pay their share of taxes 3. MOVE THE MONEY from wasteful military spending to human needs This concept is simple, and actually glaringly obvious, in spite of the fact that it’s been ignored for years. Even in government it is now gaining support. The Progressive Caucus in Congress, which includes most of our Chicago Representatives, has put out a Peoples Budget, a real alternative to both the Ryan budget and the Obama budget. The Peoples Budget deserves attention! 9. The Peoples Budget · Eliminates the deficit in 10 years by targeting its main drivers: the Bush Tax Cuts, the wars overseas, and the causes and effects of the recent recession 10. · Focuses on job creation · Protects Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid · Trains teachers and restores schools · Rebuilds roads and bridges · Invests in job creation, clean energy and broadband infrastructure, housing and R&D programs 11. BUT HOW WOULD WE PAY FOR ALL THAT? · Ends the recently passed upper-income tax cuts and lets Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of 2012 · Extends tax credits for the middle class, families, and students · Creates new tax brackets that range from 45% starting at $1 million to 49% for $1 billion or more · Eliminates corporate welfare for oil, gas, and coal companies; closes loopholes for multinational corporations Several national organizations have started an on-line poll to publicize the Peoples Budget. By simply putting a link on YOUR website to the poll, your members can read summaries of the three budgets and cast a vote by secret ballot on which one they prefer. This educates members on the Budget, and the results will be forwarded to all members of Congress and the media, resulting in much more exposure for the Peoples Budget. 12. The US Council of Mayors has just called for ending the wars and MOVING THE MONEY. ‘We've asked Congress to responsibly bring our troops home and dedicate the billions currently being spent in Iraq and Afghanistan to creating jobs, developing sustainable energy, and repairing our crumbling infrastructure.' Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, President of the US Council of Mayors Our new Mayor Rahm Emanuel very publicly took himself out of the room when the vote was cast. He needs to hear from his constituents that we need him to stand up for us! 13. This IS what the American people want. They want to end the wars. They want a REAL jobs program that will put people back to work. They want to protect Social Security and health care. 14. What is lacking is sufficient visible political pressure to force the issue. We need to show real popular pressure around MOVE THE MONEY. 15. What can WE do? In our regular work, we can make MOVE THE MONEY part of what we do. We are all busy and facing crises of our own; but this is not a new organization or coalition, it is a CAMPAIGN that everyone can fit into their organization. We can use this messaging in our work We can bring this information to our membership We can participate in the on-line poll on the Peoples Budget We can join together to push elected officials to support these demands 16. We are planning a Town Hall forum in August with Jan Schakowsky and other political figures: we can bring people there, and present OUR ISSUES in the forum: schools, housing, etc. We can use the forum to demand that our representatives support the Peoples Budget. The forum could lead to a City Council resolution to Congress, as they are doing in other cities around the country. And it could lead to action in the streets! 17. Let’s have a discussion about how we can relate to this campaign. Our future may depend on making this a success.