AFT Resolution

FIGHTING A SERIOUS RECESSION

WHEREAS, the U.S. economy is in serious trouble; and

WHEREAS, real wages haven’t increased for workers since the late 1970s while CEO compensation has gone through the roof; and

WHEREAS, manufacturing jobs have been off-shored by the hundreds of thousands; and

WHEREAS, Americans are drowning under a sea of sub-prime mortgages, home equity lines of credit, second mortgages and explosions in credit card debt; and

WHEREAS, Wall Street has taken trillions of dollars of wealth and put it in a crazy quilt of speculative investments that are collapsing all around us; and

WHEREAS, the response by the current administration is basically to put the Federal Reserve at the service of those investment banks and stock brokers whose greed has brought on the collapse:

RESOLVED, that the federal government should take the following emergency measures:

Establish a healthcare system giving every American free high-quality, affordable and accessible healthcare paid for by taxes (paid for through a combination of individual and employers contributions and taxes). Get rid of our massively expensive health insurance and save money through sharply reduced administrative overhead, lowered medicine costs because of the government’s bargaining power with drug companies, and other economies of scale.
Rebuild infrastructure and refit foreclosed property into affordable housing. This will re-employ millions displaced from the construction, engineering, architectural and other trades. Rebuild the core of a U.S. economy that was once the envy of the world.
The government should assist Americans who have lost their homes and employment due to natural disasters.
The U.S. government should refocus our resources to repair our economy and aid American citizens in coming out from under the massive debt that unemployment, expensive utility and fuel costs and high interest rates have fostered.

(2009)