• Deficit
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• On the Anniversary of ObamaCare Tell Congress We Need Real Reform
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The power of concentrated corporate capital was on display in Washington last week, as it has been all year. The incoming Chair of the Congressional committee responsible for banking regulation, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) says “my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks.” And, President Obama sat down with the CEOs of 20 large corporations to talk about how he could help Big Business increase their already record profits. And, in the Supreme Court, 13 of 16 business cases were ruled in favor of business interests.

Corporate capital dominates our government and prevents the changes urgently needed in so many crisis issues for the nation and the world.

In the last year, Prosperity Agenda worked on many of these critical issues including the impact of corporate power on elections, providing health care to all Americans, restructuring finance regulation to prevent another economic collapse and reigning in spending on weapons and war. In all of these areas we had some impact, but in 2011 and beyond, much more will be needed.

Shifting power from concentrated corporate interests to the people is no easy task. It has taken years of work by those interests to gain the power that they have. It will take years of work to weaken the corporate stranglehold. The growing crises remind us of the urgency of our work and the need for a commitment to sustain and increase our efforts.

In preparing this letter I looked back at a memo written by Lewis Powell two months before he was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Nixon. The memo was written in 1971 at a time when the business community felt it was rapidly losing power and that the capitalist system was under severe attack. Powell, a lawyer for the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, described as “the fundamental premise” of his paper that “business and the enterprise system are in deep trouble, and the hour is late.” They saw attacks coming in the colleges, in the media, on the streets, in bookstores and from politicians. Everywhere they looked they were under attack and on the verge of total defeat – the end of free markets and crony capitalism.

The purpose of the Powell memo, written to the head of the Chamber of Commerce, was to lay out a plan to restore and build corporate power. Powell laid out a plan that is instructive for those of us who want to shift power from concentrated capital to the people, who want to see a democratized economy in which people have greater control of their economic lives and are more represented in both the economy and government.

Powell’s plan was a long-term one built primarily on education and organization. In response to a “broadly based and consistently pursued” attack on corporate power, Powell wrote “independent and uncoordinated activity by individual corporations, as important as this is, will not be sufficient. Strength lies in organization, in careful long-range planning and implementation, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations.” He urged action in universities, with speaker’s bureaus, in publishing, influencing the media and working in the courts, as well as in electoral politics.

We also have a long term plan to educate, organize and unite our efforts:

1. We’ve used education in writing, media and video. We strive for but do not rely on the corporate media, which is also part of the problem, to cover our work. We also recognize that too often they are part of the problem. We make our own media and work with the independent media.

2. We’ve reached out to allied organizations and allied movements in order to help develop consistent and coordinated actions. And we’ve asked you to take actions in unison so our voices are multiplied.

3. We’ve used the courts and instruments of government to challenge the illegal actions of the Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove’s American Crossroads seeking investigation and prosecution of their abuses in the 2010 elections. We’ve done the same when we seek corporate responsibility for companies like Massey Energy and their CEO Don Blankenship when 29 miners were killed in West Virginia.

While education and organization are critical ingredients to bringing change, this is a slow process and many of the issues the nation faces are urgent. This is why we also pursue acts of protest and resistance. We did this in the health care debate and most recently in the anti-war movement. Resistance has always been an ingredient for bringing change whether it was people sitting in at segregated lunch counters, or blacks sitting in the white section of the bus, or Cindy Sheehan camping outside of George Bush’s ranch. In the next year we will see a growing culture of resistance in the United States.

Other acts of resistance are seen around the release of documents by WikiLeaks. The reaction demonstrated corporations and the government working together to block the American people from knowing what is being done in our name. VISA, Mastercard, PayPal, Amazon and various financial institutions stopped processing funds for WikiLeaks at the request of the government. But we now know what the government is doing in our name and must take action to stop it. Knowing the truth and not acting is complicity. More and more Americans are acting. We see resistance in the more than 1,000 mirror sites of WikiLeaks, in the more than 100,000 people who downloaded the WikiLeaks "insurance policy" and were prepared to release documents if Julian Assange were harmed. It is seen in Americans organizing for their right to know, and to reaffirm Freedom of the Press. We are organizing under the banner WikiLeaksIsDemocracy.org, with a petition signed by notables and now by thousands. Join us and urge others to as well.

There is a growing movement for real paradigm shifting change. It is a slow process that is accelerating and 2011 promises to be a milestone year. Thank you for your support over the last year, please contribute now so we can continue our work. Click here to donate.

I look forward to working with you in the future and hope you will share your ideas about how we can bring the type of change needed with me.

Kevin Zeese
Executive Director
Prosperity Agenda

Some good news central to our campaign for corporate accountability, the CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship, is resigning. This is another victory for Prosperity Agenda and the coalition of organizations we work with.

Last April, after the accident that killed 29 miners in West Virginia, we were the first organization to urge the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute Blankenship and other Massey Coal executives for their gross negligence that led to the deaths. In the letter that I signed on behalf of a coalition we reviewed the long history of mine safety violations and abuse and told Attorney General Holder "that absent a criminal investigation, Mr. Blankenship will continue his criminal conduct and more people will be killed."

As I wrote in a column, published widely on the Internet:

"Were it not for the deliberate actions of Don Blankenship and Massey Energy the deaths of 29 miners in West Virginia would not have occurred. These deaths were foreseeable, even predicted, and this is not the first time Massey has caused the deaths of miners.

This was not the first time Blankenship's company had killed miners for profit. Massey Energy had been fined millions of dollars for violations of mine safety and had already settled one case where miners were killed with criminal and civil fines totaling more than $4 million - the largest fine ever in coal history. As I result we urged that it was time to stop coddling corporate criminals like Blankenship and hold them accountable for their actions.

The article got the attention of Massey Energy officials and one of the publications that published my article received a letter from a high powered DC lawyer, the same lawyer that represented Karl Rove when he was being investigated in the Valerie Plame case, and threatened them. I'm pleased to report that no publication pulled the article in the face of their threats.

We continued to keep the pressure on and other organizations joined in, a movement was developing. We joined with others and attended a large protest in Richmond at the annual board meeting of Massey Energy. See videos of the event here, here and here. We highlighted the growing movement for accountability and criminal prosecution and were rewarded when state and federal officials announced criminal and civil investigations. We reported on those investigations here.

And, now as the year draws to an end, we are pleased to report that Don Blankenship is resigning. The problems of Massey Energy are growing and the company may be sold or merge with another company. And, the criminal and civil probes are continuing.

The last few days have shown us that citizens can make a difference if they are organized and refuse to compromise. We saw the Deficit Commission recommendations go down to defeat last week and now we see Blankenship forced to resign. All these battles continue, but we are having an impact, we are making a difference.

I know times are tough, they are tough for us as well, but if you can make an end of the year contribution it would make a tremendous difference in allowing us to continue our work. To donate now, click here.

Whether you donate or not, thank you for caring about the direction of the country and joining in our actions. Your participation is really appreciated.

Sincerely,

Kevin Zeese
Executive Director

Take action: Deficit Commission Defeated, Now Tell Congress Do The Right Thing

By Kevin Zeese, Executive Director

Victory! Thanks to the efforts of many of you and allied organizations, the Obama Deficit Commission Plan fell short. It needed 14 votes to force the Congress to vote on it and only gained 11. This is great news as the Commission planned to deal with the deficit on the backs of poor, working and middle class while not challenging those who have profited as a result of policies that favor the wealthy.

While ridding the nation of a bad deficit reduction plan was good news, the bad news is the economy is continuing to falter, with unemployment rising to 9.8% and inadequate signs of an economic recovery. In fact, as the Washington Post describes the jobs report as "ugly" saying: "The economy created 39,000 jobs in November -- about 160,000 fewer than it'd need to begin cutting into unemployment, and about 100,000 less than it'd need to just keep up with population growth."

The need for economic stimulus and jobs creation is so evident that even the usually deficit concerned Federal Reserve is urging stimulus and not deficit reduction. As economist Dean Baker points out, job creation is the first priority, writing: "If the unemployment rate were at its pre-recession level of 4.5 percent, we would have, at most, a modest deficit." This economic collapse was caused by the housing bubble bursting. Sadly, that continues with rising foreclosures continuing to weaken the housing market.

Please write President Obama and your representatives in Congress today and tell them that the real way to deal with the deficit is to re-ignite the economy:

1. Focus on creating jobs through infrastructure spending, supporting state and local governments and transitioning to a new clean energy economy that creates green jobs, efficient jobs-producing mass transit and a carbon-free, nuclear-free energy economy.

2. Stabilize the housing market by requiring banks to rewrite mortgages at lower interest rates and based on the real economic value of homes.

3. Face up to health care costs. The U.S. is spending more than twice as much as other countries per person on health care, expanding and improving Medicare so it is available to all Americans is the only real reform that will control costs and provide health care to all.

4. Cut the military budget dramatically. Weapons and war now make up more than half of federal discretionary spending. For years the U.S. has spent as much as the rest of the world combined on the military. It is time to end the current wars and close many of the more than 700 bases the U.S. has overseas. A sustainable economic policy is not possible so long as the military dominates the budget.

5. Tax wealth instruments – stocks, bonds and derivatives – with a micro tax of less than 1% which will raise more money than the income tax on the first $100,000 in income on all Americans.

6. Re-institute the tax rate on wealthy Americans, the top 2% of income earners in the U.S. population to save $70 billion a year.

This is a path that will stimulate the economy, get the U.S. out of the recession and control deficit spending. These are the first steps to the paradigm shifts that are needed to shift power from concentrated corporate interests to the people. Please write your elected officials today and demand real action on the economy and deficit.

Dear Friend,

We took a major step on Thursday. We asked the Department of Justice to begin a criminal investigation of non-profits being used to take unlimited, anonymous donations in an attempt to influence the vote.

I am not a big fan of the government investigating non-profits so it was unusual for me to take the step we took today. Not only did we ask that the organizations be investigated but also that those who created the groups, raised money for them and donated money to them be investigated as well. If press reports are accurate, their actions seem to be a conspiracy to violate federal election laws as well as tax laws. You can read a copy of the letter to DOJ here.

In a complaint we filed yesterday with the FEC, we made the case that these non-profits are violating federal election laws because they have failed to register as political committees despite their record spending on political advertisements. And they are violating the tax laws because they are misusing their non-profit status for electioneering. You can read the complaint by clicking here.

I tend to agree with DNC Chair Tim Kaine that this may be the biggest election scandal since Watergate (and if you who know me, saying I agree with either party, including the Democrats, is unusual). Concentrated corporate power is using front group non-profits to collect massive, anonymous election contributions and thereby evade federal election law which requires disclosure of donors. This is a significant threat to American elections.

The only way to stop this is through the Department of Justice. We are seeing a crime being committed right before our eyes yet the only party that can stop it is silent. Our letter to DOJ gives the road map and jurisdiction for criminal action against these "threat to democracy" groups.

And, the other part of the story that has not gotten a lot of coverage is these anonymously funded advertisements are often false and misleading. In fact, television stations are going so far as to pull advertisements being submitted by Karl Rove and the Chamber of Commerce off the air.

We need your help in keeping the pressure on. Please write your representatives in Congress and the Department of Justice urging a criminal investigation. Click here to take action today.

Second, donate to our efforts. We need financial support to continue our efforts at challenging corporate power in U.S. democracy.

Thank you for taking action. We are making a difference.

Sincerely,

Kevin Zeese
Executive Director

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10/14/2010 UPDATE: COMPLAINT TO DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

I have some exciting updates to our effort to challenge corporate power in U.S. democracy.

We started our efforts to highlight corporate funding of elections before the summer. In recent weeks much of the mainstream media has caught on as have other advocacy groups. Today and tomorrow we escalate our efforts.

Today, along with Public Citizen, Protect Our Elections and American Crossroads Watch, Prosperity Agenda filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission. You can see the complaint here.

The complaint alleges that big business interests are using non-profit front groups to hide their donations in an effort to dominate the elections anonymously. They do not want voters to know they are working for private profit and not for the public good. This is a misuse of the tax law and violates federal elections laws. As you can see there is strong case law on our side as the actions of American Crossroads GPS are way over the legal line.

Prosperity Agenda is a non-partisan organization, personally I am not registered with either the Democratic or Republican parties, but we do recognize that concentrated corporate power is the central issue creating dysfunction in government. Concentrated corporate power prevented a real solution to the health care crisis in America because the insurance, pharmaceutical and for-profit hospitals would not allow real reform – a single payer system that expanded and improved Medicare for All. We recognize that the failure to face up to the financial crisis and put in the kinds of strong reforms that are needed was because Wall Street, the big banks and the Federal Reserve had to approve all the so-called reforms before they were enacted. We see the same thing when it comes to jobs, energy, the environment and militarism – on issue after issue, status quo corporate interests prevent America from facing up to urgent problems.

So, it is important that concentrated corporate power not be able to flout election laws to hide their personal financial interests and pretend to be non-profits working for the public good.

The FEC complaint is the first step. Tomorrow, we will go to the Department of Justice which also has jurisdiction to enforce federal election laws and ask them to immediately begin a criminal investigation of American Crossroads and similar non-profits that are shielding the identity of corporate power in elections. We are seeking criminal investigations of Karl Rove, Ed Gillespie and others who started these front groups, run them and raise money for them. And, we are urging that the donors also be investigated because if they colluded knowing that this was an effort to avoid election law reporting requirements then they are also criminally responsible. Justice should require these groups to preserve all documents so that a criminal investigation is not hindered by destruction of evidence. And, we are asking the Justice Department to immediately stop this democracy crime in progress by seeking to enjoin their operations.

We need your help! Please write your representatives in Congress and the Department of Justice urging a criminal investigation. Click here to take action today.

Second, donate to our efforts. We need financial support to continue our efforts at challenging corporate power in U.S. democracy.

Thank you for taking action. We are making a difference.

– Kevin Zeese, Executive Director

Rove Group Appears to Operate As a Political Committee But Is Not Registered As One, Says Prosperity Agenda, Public Citizen and Protect Our Elections

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Crossroads Grassroots Political Strategies, an organization created by Republican strategists Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie to influence the midterm elections with huge expenditures of money, appears to be violating federal campaign law, Public Citizen and Protect Our Elections told the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in a complaint filed today.

UPDATE: Download our FEC Complaint

By Kevin Zeese / Executive Director

A big victory yesterday as the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, heard our call for an investigation of corporate front groups and asked the Internal Revenue Service to conduct a full investigation not only of Karl Rove’s American Crossroads but all groups improperly using tax-exempt status to manipulate elections.

Six thousand people wrote Congress as part of our American Crossroads Watch campaign demanding an investigation of Karl Rove’s American Crossroads which is raising tens of millions in secret corporate donations to support big business candidates. Congress heard us and Sen. Baucus responded. Not only did he demand an investigation, he asked the IRS to identify what tax laws have been broken by these secretive organizations. Here is a full copy of his letter to the IRS.

Corporate control of elections affects every issue we work on including cutting the military budget, real health care reform, regulation of big finance, cleaning up the environment and creating a new economy that puts peoples necessities before the profits of corporate donors.

We need to keep the momentum going. Keep the pressure on. More needs to be done to stop the democracy crime of big business hiding their massive anonymous contributions behind front groups to deceive voters. We need to end big business domination of elections and this is only the beginning.

Please keep the pressure on to get the Department of Justice, Federal Elections Commission and the Congress to take action.

Sign a letter to DOJ urging them to investigate American Crossroads and other groups. Click here to write DOJ.

Send the letter to Congress urging they hold hearings on big business influence of elections and take action to correct the problems. Click here to write Congress.

And, here are other actions you can take to reign in corporate power. Click here to see our other actions.

Please make a donation to Prosperity Agenda by clicking here. This campaign against corporate abuse of elections is only one part of our program to democratize the country, take power back from the corporations and give people control over their economic lives.

Thank you again for taking action and supporting our efforts. Let’s build on this victory:

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If you want more information on the way big business is using front groups to deceive voters and take massive, anonymous contributions read my most recent article on the matter, Can Anyone Stop Rove's Crime Against Democracy While it is in Progress?, published widely on the Internet.

We want Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call a vote on the "Fair Elections Now Act". She has the power to do it, we think we have the votes to win it in Congress, we know she's on the edge...

Call (202) 225-0100 with your support. We want her to act today or tomorrow.

Although our focus at A New Way Forward is structural reform of the financial sector, our overall goal is democratic--the core problem with the banks is that they have too much political power. There are two ways to break up that power: changing how elections are financed, and breaking up the banks. The Fair Elections Now Act would allow candidates for office to get federal matching funds for low dollar contributions. To learn more about it the Act go here.

The Fair Elections Now Act is structural reform in the best sense. Think about how campaigns powered by low-dollar matching funds--instead of big pots of Wall Street money--would change the way Congress listens to citizens demanding serious financial regulation.

Thanks for all your work--lets politely jam her line! 202-225-0100.

Zephyr, Tiffiniy, Donny

A New Way Forward

The root cause of many of the problems in the U.S. economy and the inability of the government to respond is concentrated corporate power. That is why in the current election we are heavily focused on anonymous contributions being made to organizations that seek to influence the outcome of elections in violation of tax and election laws.

Today, an article I wrote, Can Anyone Stop Rove's Crime Against Democracy While it is in Progress?, has been published on Huffington Post, Fire Dog Lake, Op-Ed News and will be published in many other outlets. The article describes violations of tax and election laws by economic elites and corporations making massive, anonymous donations to influence the elections.

While I am a non-partisan who has been very critical of President Obama and the Democratic leadership for their corporatism on health care, finance reform, bailouts, energy and other issues, the article focuses on Karl Rove and the Republicans because that is where the corporations and economic elites are putting hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure the election of big business friendly legislators.

These violations of law that amount to a crime against democracy are happening right before our eyes. We've been highlighting these actions since July and the media has finally begun to report on them now the government needs to act. We've taken the following steps and need you to take action to stop these democracy crimes. Here's what we have done:

- Our watchdog campaign, Protect Our Elections, has put out rewards of $100,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Karl Rove and Tom Donohue, the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce.

- On August 4, 2010, we received a letter from a purported Chamber of Commerce insider who compares Tom Donohue to Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon and Bernie Maddoff, alleges fraud, campaign finance violations and financial impropriety. In a letter on behalf of our coalition I urged the FBI and DOJ to conduct an investigation of Tom Donohue and the Chamber based on this letter.

- We have also requested the Department of Justice investigate the "shadow RNC", American Crossroads. In a letter on behalf of the coalition, I suggest formation of a campaign finance task force that investigates these groups, sets up a tip line to encourage information on violations of law, requires preservation of records and monitors their activities.

- We have also urged the Federal Elections Commission to find that these groups are doing the work of a political party and issue an opinion that applies campaign finance limits to their actions.

These actions need your support. You can take action by joining others who have written the DOJ to investigate American Crossroads and similar groups as well as written their legislators urging an investigation. Please take action today.

We need your financial support to continue this work. Please make a donation today. You can make a donation now by clicking here.

Sincerely,

Kevin Zeese
Executive Director

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This is the first election after the Citizens United decision which gave corporations complete freedom to spend as much money as they want to influence the outcome of elections.

Citizens beware. Citizens get active. Our fragile democracy is at grave risk.

We’ve seen in Obama’s time and office (and before) how corporations dominate Washington, DC. The health care “reform” turned out to be no reform at all, merely a re-enforcement of the insurance company dominated health care industry. And we saw how finance reform had to get the approval of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve before moving forward. Corporate welfare to the weapons industry, coal, nuclear and oil have continued or even grown under Obama. Now, we are seeing that is not enough for the oligarchs who control concentrated corporate power. They want more and are using massive spending on elections to get it.

A coalition of organizations has come together to expose organizations spending hundreds of billions in secret, unlimited donations that avoid campaign finance laws on the mid-term elections.

The most aggressive post-Citizens United elections operator is Karl Rove’s American Crossroads working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber’s Chief Counsel, Steven Law, who is also a former chief of staff to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, was named CEO of American Crossroads. These groups take secret donations, sometimes create front groups to put out their views and are doing the work that political parties normally do – from advertising and data base management to getting out the vote – but without the restrictions on the size of donations or the need for transparency.

I wrote about how corporate power was creating deceptive elections on August 25, and now TIME Magazine is writing much the same story warning that several hundred billion will be spent by corporations and their executives in this election. In addition to mass advertising in at least six states they report that American Crossroads will be spending $10 million national get-out-the-vote campaign that will include 40 million pieces of political mail and 20 million phone calls to voters in key states. Essentially, Republican Party electoral operations have moved from the Republican Party to American Crossroads. Some have described this as a coup of Michael Steele’s Republican Party.

As a result, my organization, Prosperity Agenda, has joined, American Crossroads Watch, a sister group to Stop The Chamber. I serve as the spokesperson for both coalitions. We need your help in making this watchdog campaign effective. Please monitor your local media for actions being taken by American Crossroads and the Chamber of Commerce during these elections. If you see a suspicious new group – usually labeled “Citizens for . . .” or “Citizens against . . .” – that does not disclose who their donors are, you have probably found one of their front groups. Let us know about it. Write me at KBZeese@gmail.com so we can look into it and report it. Part of our job is to let voters know how corporations are trying to deceptively influence Americans – usually to vote against the voters own interests.

Our watchdog campaign has put out rewards of $100,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Karl Rove and Tom Donohue, the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce. On August 4, 2010, we received a letter from a purported Chamber of Commerce insider who compares Tom Donohue to Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon and Bernie Maddoff, alleges fraud, campaign finance violations and financial impropriety. In a letter on behalf of our coalition I urged the FBI and DOJ to conduct an investigation of Tom Donohue and the Chamber based on this letter.

We have also requested the Department of Justice investigate the “shadow RNC”, American Crossroads. In a letter on behalf of the coalition I suggest formation of a campaign finance task force that investigates these groups, sets up a tip line to encourage information on violations of law, requires preservation of records and monitors their activities. We’ve also urged the Federal Elections Commission to find that these groups are doing the work of a political party and issue an opinion that applies campaign finance limits to their actions.

You can assist our efforts by joining us in writing the Department of Justice urging a criminal investigation. You can do so by clicking here. In addition, please write your member of Congress and urge that they push the Department of Justice to investigate American Crossroads. You can do so by clicking here.

This is the first election after the Citizens United decision allowing unfettered corporate spending on campaigns. Citizens who want people to control government and not corporations need to be organized in challenging the abuses of corporate funding of elections. Please work with us to put a spotlight on those abuses so voters know they are being manipulated and in getting the government to act to restrict corporate domination of elections.

If you are able to make a contribution to Prosperity Agenda, your support will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Kevin Zeese
Executive Director

The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is sounding the alarm around deficit spending. While many economists are calling for more spending to energize the economy, this commission is using exaggerated rhetoric to heighten deficit fear. They are talking about cuts to Social Security, Medicare and middle class benefits like the home mortgage deduction.

The time is now to build opposition to these recommendations and urge Congress and the administration to cut programs that will not make the economy worse for most Americans.

Please write President Obama and Congress today