Letter to my Congresspeople
I lay in bed last night and drafted a letter to my Congresswoman and two Senators on what Congress and the President are not dealing with:
1. Global warming. This is the big one. Failure to reduce greenhouse gases could lead to the planet being largely uninhabitable. This is not an exaggeration.
2. The financial system, which remains both crooked and fragile. Right now, there is good reason to believe most big banks are bankrupt. Only creative accounting makes them look solvent. We need to clean up this mess: take over the banks, determine what they are actually worth, break up the too-big-to-fail banks and create new banking regulations.
3. The economy. It looks as if we are sinking deeper into recession. Another Great Depression is possible, if the governments of the US and Europe do not intervene.
Intervening does not mean saving banks. It means saving people and countries.
4. Infrastructure. The basis of American society -- roads, bridges, water mains, sewer lines, buildings -- is falling apart. Everything needs to be repaired or replaced.
5. Health costs, which continue to rise and suck wealth out of the entire economy. The way to control costs (and provide health care to the nation) is a national health care system like Canada, the Western European countries, Medicare or the VA.
6. Sustainable energy. We need it.
7. Sustainable agriculture. We need it.
This is long enough list for now. All these problems can be solved. We have the resources. But we have to start soon.
1. Global warming. This is the big one. Failure to reduce greenhouse gases could lead to the planet being largely uninhabitable. This is not an exaggeration.
2. The financial system, which remains both crooked and fragile. Right now, there is good reason to believe most big banks are bankrupt. Only creative accounting makes them look solvent. We need to clean up this mess: take over the banks, determine what they are actually worth, break up the too-big-to-fail banks and create new banking regulations.
3. The economy. It looks as if we are sinking deeper into recession. Another Great Depression is possible, if the governments of the US and Europe do not intervene.
Intervening does not mean saving banks. It means saving people and countries.
4. Infrastructure. The basis of American society -- roads, bridges, water mains, sewer lines, buildings -- is falling apart. Everything needs to be repaired or replaced.
5. Health costs, which continue to rise and suck wealth out of the entire economy. The way to control costs (and provide health care to the nation) is a national health care system like Canada, the Western European countries, Medicare or the VA.
6. Sustainable energy. We need it.
7. Sustainable agriculture. We need it.
This is long enough list for now. All these problems can be solved. We have the resources. But we have to start soon.
posted by Eleanor at 6:33 AM
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