• Deficit
• Energy
• Federal Reserve
• Food
• Green Economy
• Healthcare
• Housing
• Jobs and Worker Rights
• Local Economy
• Military Spending
• Safety Net
• Taxes
• Trade
• Transit

The United States needs to build a new economic engine by building the clean energy and "green" economy that goes with it. This is the foundation of a 21st Century economy. The federal government should set clear goals to create a carbon-free/nuclear free energy economy by 2030. The collective resources of the United States should be used to achieve this goal, e.g. provide tax credits and other support for "green" projects that can be done quickly, such as retrofitting homes and businesses for increased energy efficiency. These investments will create millions of green jobs and businesses especially in long-neglected urban areas. The United States needs to stop corporate welfare to fossil fuel (oil, coal and gas), corn-based fuel, and nuclear energy as these are counterproductive to transforming the nation to a sustainable energy economy. These tens of billions in revenue should be redirected to spurring the clean energy economy and at the same time leveling the playing field between old energy sources and new. The U.S. should put forward long-term plans to invest in the creation of the new energy economy. This will add momentum to the already rapidly expanding investment in new energy products.

Individuals, state and local governments are in risky financial positions. Individuals are losing jobs, home values, facing bankruptcy and foreclosure. Stem the damage of the recession by extending unemployment benefits and food stamps. Extension of unemployment insurance will help minimize the negative impact of the recession on unemployed workers. And, making food stamps available will reduce the most devastating impact of the recession, poverty. Governments are at risk due to the failing economy, the reduction of property taxes, increases in the cost of health care and the loss of jobs. Support to state and local governments is needed. But, as noted in the previous point, the federal government should direct its support so that it helps to build the new economy. More than two dozen states have developed plans to respond to climate change and the need for new energy sources. They should be aided in putting in place these policies by providing funds directed toward them.

Democratize the workplace by encouraging employee-owned businesses. It is time to replace wage-slaves with employee owners. Employee-owned businesses perform better not only in providing wages and benefits to employees, but larger profits and less bankruptcy. Several studies show the greater the level of employee participation the greater the level of productivity. Democratization of the workplace - giving employees more power as employee-owners is the future - a future that is better for employees and corporations.

Democratize corporate power by increasing shareholder rights, expanding the rights of shareholders to choose directors of corporations and submit resolutions to set the direction and priorities of the corporation they invest in and of which they are part owners. End corporate personhood, so that corporations do not have the rights of human beings. And, national corporations need to be chartered nationally to allow them to be properly regulated.

Reduce the work week with no reduction in pay. Seventy percent of the U.S. GDP is based on consumer buying. Since the mid-1970s wages have been flat in the U.S. and the consumer economy has continued because of two-income families, increasing personal debt and cheap goods from abroad. This is unsustainable. In a time when millions are losing jobs, and tens of millions more are working overtime and two jobs just to make ends meet, we can't afford to be putting people out of work. A reduction in the work week with no reduction in pay would spread the work around, keep people working and equally important, allow 'the overworked American' some additional, much needed leisure time. After 2000, the United States overcame Japan as the country with the most overworked employees. That's not an accomplishment to be proud of, but rather, a problem to solved. A root cause of the downturn in the U.S. economy is insufficient buying power - the economy has doubled in size, productivity has dramatically increased but workers have had no increase in buying power. One remedy for this is the 32 hour work week and increase in over time pay to double-time.

Establish a national guaranteed income for all Americans . Governments are already paying a heavy cost for poverty and homelessness, much of that would disappear with an income guarantee. Indeed, currently nearly as much is spent on poverty bureaucracy as on poverty, by simply sending a check that bureaucracy is no longer needed. The guaranteed income is paid by government to its citizens on an individual basis, sufficient to meet basic needs. Poverty has been rising in the United States since 1999, the rate of poverty was six percent in 2006 and 7 percent last year, according to the Census Bureau with 37 million living in poverty, a majority of Americans (58.5 percent) will spend at least one year below the poverty line at some point between ages 25 and 75. The United States has one of the highest poverty rates in the developed world. Moreover, the standard of living for those in the bottom 10 percent was lower in the U.S. than other developed nations except the United Kingdom, which has the lowest standard of living for impoverished children in the developed world. Economist Milton Friedman proposed a variation of guaranteed income known as the "negative income tax." In this model, income subsidies would be given through the tax system to persons or families with employment or other income below the poverty line. Guaranteed income is meant to cover basic needs, not life's luxuries.

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