ten commandments for an economic resurrection

(P) A couple weeks ago, I wrote a detailed post emphasizing that we have options in restoring our financial system and our broader economy. We don't have to panic or accept bailouts of the very corporations that are responsible for our mess.

This morning, I'm posting a concise version that boils it down to the solutions. If you are interested in a more thorough discussion, here are the thoughts behind this.

Ten Commandments

for an

Economic Resurrection

"Human destiny will be what we make of it."

-- President Barack Obama in Prague

There’s a lot of concern about the current status of our economy. It leads to natural questions like

What, exactly, should we do about it?
Don’t we have to bail out these companies?
What alternatives do we really have?

These steps can be taken immediately to address our present situation:

1. Take over failed firms that are 'too big to fail'.
2. Break up non-failed firms that are 'too big to fail'.
3. Provide direct assistance to stimulate the economy.
4. Make the jump from a minimum wage to a living wage.
5. Use our public policy to save communities, not companies.

After these initial coping mechanisms, we can start addressing some of the broader challenges we face:

6. Re-connect wages and productivity.
7. Re-regulate industries like financial services.
8. Re-invest in our public commons.
9. Re-write our tax code.
10. Re-think our social and military policies.

Call your Senators and Representative to see what they think about bailing out people instead of companies.