3. Five Questions for the 99%
1. Why isn’t the economy working?
2. What makes the economy work?
4. Five Questions for the 99%
1. Why isn’t the economy working?
2. What makes the economy work?
3. How do we get our economy
moving forward again?
5. Five Questions for the 99%
1. Why isn’t the economy working?
2. What makes the economy work?
3. How do we get our economy
moving forward again?
4. What do we have to do together
for our country?
6. Five Questions for the 99%
1. Why isn’t the economy working?
2. What makes the economy work?
3. How do we get our economy
moving forward again?
4. What do we have to do together
for our country?
5. What are we asking our elected
officials?
14. 3. How do we get the economy
moving forward again?
Get people back to work
15. The middle class doesn’t prosper by
accident
INVEST
INNOVATE
Opportunity and
security for CREATE JOBS
Pave the way for
families businesses to Common sense
innovate meet rules that benefit
the future businesses and
communities
Decisionswe make together
16. 3. What do we – the 99% – have to
do together for our country?
Restore our
democracy
17. Our democracy
has been
robbed by
the 1%
It’s up to us to
organize, make
government work
for the 99%
18. Good jobs Make Wall Street and the Invest in families:
rich pay fair share education opportunities
for all
End corporate control of Protect Social Security,
Medicare, Medicaid
democracy
A platform for the 99%
19. 5. What are we want to know?
Which side are
you on?
20. 1. Why isn’t the economy working?
2. What makes the economy work?
3. How do we get our economy
moving forward again?
4. What do we have to do together
for our country?
5. What are we asking our elected
officials?
21. Building an America
that Works for the 99%
Prepared for the Progressive
Economic Narrative Group by
USAction Education Fund
Notes de l'éditeur
Hi. Today we’re going to talk about building an America that works for the 99%.
We’ll answer 5 questions:
So why isn’t the economy working?
The answer is pretty simple: for the past 30 years, the rich got richer while the middle-class and working families got squeezed and crushed.
Now the richest 400 families own more than 150 million Americans, half the country. And taxes on the richest were cut in half.
What did many of the biggest corporations do? They pushed up profits by pushing down wages and benefits and shipping our jobs overseas.Corporations are sitting on $2 trillion in cash – instead of creating jobs in America they are making CEOs and shareholders richer. Corporate taxes are at an historic low in terms of the economy and share of federal revenues.
It’s not like the economy didn’t move forward - If our nation’s economic growth had been shared fairly for the past 30 years, wages would be 60% higher. But the super rich and CEO campaign contributors got the government to slash their taxes. When the housing bubble burst, the government bailed out Wall Street but let homeowners go underwater, drowning the economy.
One thing we need to remember: The American middle-class is the engine of the economy. We all do better, when we all do better.
Deregulating Wall Street and trickle-down tax cuts for the rich didn’t create jobs. Workers who get decent wages and benefits, who can support their families, who shop on Main Street – that’s who create jobs. It’s simple really: Our economy works better when every American who wants a job is working.
A strong middle-class, the engine of the economy, is built by the decisions we make together. Decisions to invest in our people, expand opportunity and provide security - a world-leading education, quality affordable health care, protections at work, retirement security.
Decisions that will pave the way for businesses to innovate and meet the future: green jobs; fuel efficient cars and high speed rail; fixing our crumbling; bridges, roads, water and sewer lines; a modern, energy-saving electric grid. Writing rules that boost businesses that do the right thing: create good jobs here in America; make safe products; safeguard our food, water and air.
For the economy to work for the 99% - we’ll need our government to work for the 99%.
It’s up to us to organize together, in our communities across the country, to make our democracy and our government work for the 99%.
We are fighting for an America that works for the 99%, with liberty and justice for all. Our platform for the 99%:1) Good jobs for everyone in America. 2)Make Wall Street, corporate America and the super-rich pay. 3) Invest in our families: educational opportunities, from pre-school to affordable college. A guarantee of good affordable health care. Keeping Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid secure. And to do all this, we’ll need to make our government work for the 99% - Stop corporate funding of elections. And make it possible for candidates who refuse big money contributions to win with the support of contributions from the 99%.
The choice is clear. We stand with the 99% - the working families and the small businesses that create two-thirds of American jobs. They stand with the 1% - the Wall Street speculators and CEOs who cut our wages, crashed our economy and shipped our jobs overseas. The question we have to ask every member of Congress and every elected official is: which side are you on?
So let’s recap the answers to our 5 questions:The economy crashed because for 30 years, the 1% have got richer at the expense of the 99%.To get the economy moving again, we’ll need to make it work for the 99%.That won’t happen by accident – it will happen by decisions we make together. Decisions to invest in our families, in opportunity and to pave the way for businesses that will invest in America. The first decision we’ll need to make is to fight for a government that works for the 99%.
This year – we need to tell Congress and every candidate for President - stand up for the 99%.