Do ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION for the United States of America Do ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION

for the United States of America

We The People of the United States in Order to form a more perfect Union
The 21st Century and Common Sense: A Path to A Second Constitutional Convention

Establish Justice insure domestic Tranquility provide for the common defence Establish Justice insure domestic Tranquility provide for the common defence

Addressing The Looming Crises of the United States Economy and Party Politics Through A Peoples Convention to Revise Its Most Sacred Document

Secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity

The 21st Century and Common Sense: A Path to A Second Constitutional Convention

(Pictures: The Signing of The Constitution of The United States, National Geographic Society)

Addressing The Looming Crises of the United States Economy and Party Politics Through A Peoples Convention to Revise Its Most Sacred Document

Jason T. Powers

2011 Deep Center Field Press

Table of Contents
Preamble

I
Amendments A Brief History of the U.S. Constitution and Amendments

II
The Urgent Problems in America Today

The Degradation of An American Life A Once Healthy Life Deteriorating An Angry Sea of Debt and Unfair Trade Wars Not So Free Trade Finance, Money, and The Banks Revisiting the Past Rivals to Prosperity and Freedom Natural Resources and Energy Policy Wars Abroad Internal Conflict and Course Correction

4 8 9 15 17 23 24 26 28 30

Table of Contents III

Plan The Founding Fathers and The Framers Action Plan

30
Visionaries 30

IV
The Proposed Solution: A Constitutional Convention

31

Bait n Switch and The Media The Common Mans Place

31 33

V
Initial Debate, Structure of Convention, Delegates, Support & Constitutional Sample of Proposed Constitutional Amendments

34
Amendments Delegates Elder Statesmen Committees 34 37 39 40

Support from Other Branches of Government

40

Delegates Role, Responsibility and Venue for Convention Amendments A Sample of 21st Century Amendments for Discussion 41 A 4th Branch to Constitution: The Councilor Branch 41

VI
Concluding Thought on Americas Problems

45

Bibliography & Appendix

48 49

Preamble During the Course of human events, it has been necessary to reexamine the foundations of Governance, and to measure the plights and ploys of the powerful, and their lauded places, to those they rule via The Law. This exists whether they be: democratic, monarchial, or theocratic in design, or other purposes, less distinguished, and often, more distressing. What they all have in common is: the People under their rule. To see what ends work, and which ideas will endure, the People must self-determine, at some fortuitous point, whether they will comply and concede to the idea of any such rule, or whether a new path is to be hewn from the rock of Freedom; and what necessary part will the People play as its rock Shaper. Even the oldest of Kingdoms and Democracies alike must relent to reasoned looks at new ideas of law and reordering of economic plights. To see when the faltering is near; even while their may be legitimate efforts to stop the wheel of fate from crushing the hearts and minds of the People, some efforts are better left to the auspices of an entire Nation, than the Will of long entrenched rulers, whether they be King, or Senator, in operation. This task is not without risks or jeopardy to the way of those it will most affect. Stability is a staple to be desired and preserved at a jealous price. But such stable avenues mean little if they no longer exist; corrupted by decay, decadence, and vice; handle ineffectively the changing landscapes before them; and are futile to the majority that can make better roads and realities for All when they listen to All via vibrant Compacts and Constitutions. Such is the present state of the United States of America once founded on the principles of Equality, Liberty, and Prosperity. These ideals were fired tested for two centuries and one score through war and strife and pioneering treks. And while a Nation is not without its ebbs and natural resurrection from dire affairs, the answers to such perils all came with great change. Sometimes only to an issue that created a noxious divide and others as they threatened the permanent schism for which a rejoining shall be impossible to achieve.

It is to ponder what can be achieved if the noble notions again of Equality, Liberty, and Prosperity hold steadfast in the present tense. And up to the People to put to task the forthright effort to achieve again what The Founders fought vigorously for and designed adeptly to keep safe and sacred: A Nation United against all Foes, Foreign and Domestic.

History I. A Brief History of the U.S. Constitution and Amendments In the summer of 1787, a prestigious group of men, whose fame and foresight and fighting instincts brought forth a nation for and of the Common Man, sat in Philadelphia to hammer out the Ten Commandments of the United States of America, the U.S. Constitution. Theirs was a seemingly insurmountable task; to draw upon the successes of previous empires while avoiding the misdeeds of those same nation-states, given, that many who fomented and espoused ideals of Equality and Freedom, often could not live up to their own stated designs in their own personal actions and deeds. As is always the case, the men involved became heated on particular subject matters, and the division of powers to be held by the fledgling government. Compromises were made; and future questions of the State were left to be Amended. Meanwhile, after such a beautiful design, John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton carried further those discussions of what these Framers had designed at the Constitutional Convention, via the newspapers of America in The Federalist Papers as all States were asked to adopt and ratify this Earth-shaking document. It will soon be 225 years since this monumental task was engaged in to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity (Preamble to the United States Constitution.) At many junctures in our nations history, we have corrected course via internal and external threats to our nations Posterity. Seven-five years 2

after New Hampshire was the ninth state to ratify the Law of the Land (June 21, 1788), the Civil War raged on. The bloody battle at Gettysburg set the stage for Abraham Lincoln to speak to the existence of our Union: The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work [for] which they fought (Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863.) With the outcome of the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were amended to the Constitution to firmly establish the Rights of African-American citizens. Yet, this battle was hardly won: as our History has proven in the years of racial turmoil that raged on thereafter. Again, seven-five seasons of time would pass before we faced another threat on the horizon: the inauspicious regime of Nazi Germany and its satellites. The next turn of the calendar the Axis launched World War II and the forces of Freedom were pitied against this powerful, unrelenting drive of a deranged enemy to rule, unasked, all those not considered Equal. But the United States of America, again, had an Insurmountable Might; and an Indomitable Will. Late in the war, President Franklin Roosevelt said in 1944: True individual Freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made. (Address to a Joint Session of Congress.) After Roosevelts death in April 1945, the 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951. This amendment limited the election to the office of President to two elections and no more than 10 years total in office. It was felt by his opponents that Roosevelts four elected terms had installed too much permanency; and dangers lied in prolonged rule by one political party, or leader.

II. The Urgent Problems in America Today Now, as we move into the fourth act of our nations illustrious history, we face threats across many fronts internal and external that must be addressed immediately. In the past quarter century, much of what America has become is being done without a rudder, leadership, or the ruling spirit of a guiding hand. The President of the United States, Barack Obama, spoke to this dilemma during a 2009 White House news conference, saying that America was similar to a gigantic ship that is not, easily course corrected, and that it responds, slowly to the policies installed. U.S. Court of Appeals judge Richard A. Posner in A Failure of Capitalism used yet another ship analogy: that of a capsized ship being very difficult to rock back from its Poseidon dwelling once upended by an economic tidal wave. These sea and tsunami metaphors do not end there with regard to this American Crisis. A Perfect Storm, A Financial Hurricane, A Tsunami of Debt, A Frozen Sea of Credit, all flooded the front pages of the newspapers at the outset of the Great Recession. Unfortunately, it took such sea metaphors to awaken the sleeping captains of households and companies alike to the dangers lurking in the deep global sea of economics and finance. I. Life. Section I The Degradation of An American Life The recent financial collapses of 2007-2010 left Americans trillions of dollars poorer. Two of the largest and most venerable manufacturing companies, GM and Chrysler, were put in the process of bankruptcy; 1000s of small and medium businesses saw their doors shut permanently; and any job suits if one is looking for a place to make poverty line work count. As Americans went into the ranks of the unemployed for prolonged stays, the psychological toll was reminiscent of stories painted in Studs Terkels Hard Times. Internal blaming phrases like: Im dying offstaying up too late and sleeping too longstaring at the computer screen, the window, your mirrored imagewith suicidal thoughts. I feel so behindperhaps [you] are just not good enough. I feel worthless. I feel like Im pulling my family into a hole with me.1
1

Zachary Roth. The Lookout. Yahoo! News Blog: July 14, 2011.

The present day is about survival by nearly any means. And trying to see positives where very little of them exist. But the story of a decaying feeling and the eroding nation itself started long ago. The sobering statistics of the past thirty years reflects most Americans work longer hours; for a shrinking piece of the American Dream; while consistently leveraging their futures on the consumption of present day disposable, even if durable, consumer goods. Personal savings (if any existed) were sunk into bigger homes and investment bubbles that popped to only reinforce these economic stressors faced by Americans from coast to coast. A strong middle class America existed only in the far off memories of the past; and such looks remind us of the reasons we often struggle today: income stagnation and Globalization. From 1973 to 2006, the U.S. economy tripled in size in terms of its GDP. 1973 personal income (adjusted to 2007 dollars) of the bottom 90% was $32,135. But by 2006, ones pay was cut to $31, 528. The top 10% saw their paychecks double from $138,738 to $276,140 during the same period.2 Meanwhile, the gap between the ber-rich and the middle class is no longer just a zero or two, but a clutch of zeros in one hand, often used to exploit an ever-hastening Global Game. To quote President Obama again, In 1980 the average CEO made forty-two times what an average hourly worker took home. By 2005, the ratio was 262 to 1. Conservative outlets like The Wall Street Journal editorial page try to justify outlandish salaries and stock options as necessary to attract top talent, and suggest that the economy actually performs better when Americas corporate leaders are fat and happy. But the explosion in CEO pay has little to do with improved performance.3 Yet, the case was made happily for this global shift of wealth from lower to upper class and from America to outside its borders. The argument for Globalizations benefits depends entirely on where one is; how old one is; what industry one inhabits; and the transformational urges one can uniquely accomplish in a quickening and unstable world. During the past sixty-five years, the United States has put together several economic reclamation projects, some as massive as China,

2 3

Joshua Holland. The Fifteen Biggest Lies About the Economy. Barack Obama. The Audacity of Hope.

others as small as the Israeli state. These projects pumped trillions into the war torn, the nascent, and the communist realms with the hope democratic ideals, open markets, and trading partners would come about using this economic strategy. Industries rebounded in Japan and Germany post war. Central and South America saw interventions by the U.S. to stave off state disintegration. Europe was buttressed from an Iron Curtain falling. Southeast Asia reflected the best and the worst of this strategy. Often, the greater good was served as allies were remade and reborn. However, at some point, the ideal of improving weaker states lost sight of homeland realities, and the capitalist giver became the one in restructuring need and necessity. Tied to this march of globalization and forming trading partners via exporting industries deem to labor costly and unworthy of reinvention at home, a population grows mature in America. These older citizens must hold on to hopes of rebounds in the stock market in the funds and companies they invested in; the solvency of Social Security remains Sacrosanct; and the Youth can create the next boom (read: growth) in America and find employment and contribute forthwith to Social Security. Such is the dice roll for millions of people over age 55: the ultimate leveraged pyramid of money that must remain solvent for them to partake. Many of these Elderly have pushed off retirement, usually not by choice thus putting additional strain on the employment market, geared primarily to technology and the youth and consequently, the job hunt is more competitive (and for less pay) than ever. Industries once trained for are now: offshored, outsourced, redistributed, or outmoded. If one is without savings or a solid nest egg, going back to school to quickly acquire skills for the possibility of a job and not an assured career for a decade, or more, is a risky, debt-laden proposition. (Not to discount the ageism too of hiring employers are not looking for near retirement employees at a premium health and salary cost they may desire, or require. Part-time or consulting work is a more likely option for persons over 55.) But this is not the American Dream sold to the sons and daughters of the Greatest Generation. It is a nightmare; a physical and psychological burden to work well beyond sixty-five, to seventy or seventy-two, hoping 6

and praying a pink slip does not appear, or ones health, does not fall into sudden and catastrophic disrepair. Not all are in crisis, but the fear is indeed real enough. These further workplace trends are indeed happening worldwide. As laid out in the 2010 book, The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and Keep Tomorrows Employees Today, five generations (Traditional, Boomer, Gen X, Millennial, and Gen 2020) will be in intense competition for a share of the knowledge economy, loosely defined as tacit careers versus the 20th century transactional jobs. These tacit jobs involve increasingly more mental diversification quantitative analysis and judgment, social media skills, massive data collections and transfers, collaborating long distance and a coherent worldview understanding and ones place in it whereas, transactional holds to the dominate 20th century model of assembly line interaction, passing the widget, with minimal interaction and regulated collaboration held in just the top tiers of the company. But this change of skill sets has reached a tipping point. Since the late 1990s, over two-thirds of jobs created in the United States have been the tacit jobs. Which sounds encouraging until it is realized that the replacement jobs are far, far less numerous4 than the total U.S. employment pool and the remaining pool of job applicants lack the necessary skills to take on this growing complexity of a tacit job. (As the pace of technology follows Moores Law: half smaller and twice quick technology is around the corner in a mere eighteen months. And the less adaptable people are left further behind unless they resolve to keep up or make the quantum leap ahead.) Additionally, the Globalization factor has turned the Fortune 500 companies over substantially in since 1980, as other countries are indeed surpassing the United States in all avenues of talent creation, company innovation, and attractive salaries or just importing in the U.S. corporations willing to forego human rights concerns, on the hunt for cheap labor, and lax (no) tax regimes. While there are obvious benefits for the host country, and their economy, the United States loses
4

Paul Wiseman. A Boom in Corporate ProfitsAssociated Press; July 23, 2011. 2.4 million jobs transferred to foreign lands with 2.9 million lost in America according to U.S. Commerce Department. Wages stagnate during 2009-2011 recovery, accounting for only 1% of economic gain as compared to 50% in the 1991-1992 recession.

out. (Whitecollar jobs legal and financial sectors have migrated to English-speaking India. Soon, the $3,000 tailor-made suit club will feel the real pains of outsourcing and recession, and change their tunes on this trend too. Or as Ben Stein, former Nixon speechwriter lately noted: When recessions happened, they happened to people in Ohio or Illinois or Michigan. Now, they have hit hard in California and in the law field where so many of my friends work and in Washington5) Arguments again to what caused this can be bantered around, but what to do about it is the more salient question to be answered. Massive and decisive change will be at the heart of the approach if this nation is to own its problems and forge a solution. 21st century Globalization expert Thomas L. Friedman put it this way: The crisis is already hereThe flattening of the world is moving ahead apace, and barring war or some catastrophic terrorist event, nothing is going to stop it. But what can happen is a decline in our standard of living, if Americans are not empowered and educated to participate in a world where all the knowledge centers are being connected.6 Such declines predated the Great Recession, only the mildly ignorant, or naively political, refused to see the movements of capital outflow, savings lost, deteriorating infrastructure, staples costing much more, and Americans growing ire at all things, rationally and irrationally tied to this failing reality. Our connectedness to a sinking ship was all too apparent. And everyone is looking for an oar, or better yet: safe harbor. II. Deteriorating. Section II A Once Healthy Life Deteriorating Tied to this loss of the American Dream is the American Health Care system continues to escalate in cost, while nearly 20% cannot afford or lack adequate coverage. By 2017, nearly one in five dollars in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) will be spent on the systems maintenance as the Boomer Generation (1946-1964) expands costs via their health conditions deteriorating. (Source NPR, 2008.) Add to that, the conditions of people Source: Source under 35: obesity rates are climbing; type II diabetes is a national epidemic; and the uninsured weighing the system down, often with no

5 6

Ben Stein.The End of Wishful Thinking. The American Spectator. July 19,2010. Thomas L. Friedman. The World is Flat.

financial ability to purchase complex insurance plans or fall under the pre-existing conditions category that makes it a nearly hopeless fight. A measure was passed into law in 2010 to provide universal health care, termed ObamaCare, yet no one seems to have an adequate handle on the costs, the application, or the allowances to be made to and from many parties involved (doctors, insurers, patients, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, etc). The Law currently faces legal challenges around the country, (state by state), adding to the confusion and costs to be shouldered going forward. Repeal of ObamaCare will only add chaos to the economic malaise yet to be righted from its Neptunian depths. Yet getting persons who ideological gulfs are wider that the Pacific Ocean to agree on health care that of who is responsible (individualism vs. collectivism), what government role is applicable (private hospitals or a public system), why such insurance gaps (the worst off are the least likely to get covered), or how to prescribe the medicines (preventative, maintenance, natural, outsourced, foreign) assures any compromise is seen as utter defeat. A scorch earth mentality is employed often on this topic. With trillions at stake, no side is ever going to agree. And an election looms large in 2012 to repeal or reinforce ObamaCare. III. Sea Wars. Section III An Angry Sea of Debt and Unfair Trade Wars Our National Debt has surpassed $14.3 Trillion dollars. For a sobering example, if our Government would save $1 Billion per day, every day, it would take 38 years and 330 days to eliminate the balance. However, if interest accrues at the same rate daily on that $14 Trillion, the net effort would be a zero change to our Debt. (This interest payment will be the usual case by 2012: $383 Billion in interest outlays are projected in A New Era of Responsibility: Renewing Americas Promise, 2009, Office of Management and Budget, www.budget.gov, pg. 125.) Table 1. U.S. Government Debt
U.S. Government Debt National Debt (April 2011) Projected ND Interest (2.5%) 2011 Deficit Estimate De Projected Interest (2.5%) National Debt (April 2012) Interest Payments In Billions 14,200 355 1,100 27.5 15,682.5 382.5

Additionally, at least $55 Trillion in Debt chokes America from households to the states to private debts of corporations. These debts will continue to exist for a lifetime, or more. As it will take much more responsibility than seen in many a budgetary programs currently devised and executed across the spectrum of politics or policy. By 2014, this egregious total could well eclipse $87 Trillion. (Kevin Phillips, Bad Money.) Much of the yearly federal deficit can be tied to taxation shortfalls. Where in the 1950s one in four tax dollars came from corporations, the present sees only one in ten federal receipts coming directly from the business sector. Corporate profits have risen dramatically and have federal subsidies piggybacked into the mix specifically in the energy7, food, and utility sectors; capital gains taxes are low; inheritance taxes (as most wealthy people know) are easily avoided via trusts and foundations; individual tax cuts from 2001 forward for the toptier earners (and coinciding war machinates) has left the federal budget groaning perpetually from debt and interest payments. It would be tolerable if only one or two of these situation existed capital gains and inheritance, for example but to have all of these in operation while the United States spirals into insolvency, leaves one to wonder why policy has not altered much in the last decade. This Long-Term Debt Crisis was only acerbated by the prolonged Great Recession, which required even more deficit spending to spur growth, as $787 Billion in outlays were approved in February 2009 on top of $700 Billion doled out to Wall Street in the fall of 2008 to keep the Capitalistic System functioning, albeit in tatters. The Federal Reserve too made numerous credit facilities available to spur lending on buying collateral from these ailing banks which ballooned its balance sheet from $900
7

In May 2011, this issue of subsidizing came to an oil head as the century-old sisters of the Standard Oil trust (1907) came before a congressional committee to argue for keeping $21 billion in subsidies over a decade while they are racking up the largest profits of any company in America today. Subsidies for nascent industries are not an unusual course for most countries in the world. Most governments attempt to support any new innovation where possible. However, oil has long been a mature industry and has pocketed these billions for the most part, reinvesting little. Shifting these subsidies to the termed green economy would at least be a defensible course of action and just might create competition the oil companies fear is inevitably coming. (The subsidies were left in place in spite of loud arguments made about debt ceilings and defaulting on debt. Meanwhile, billion dollar ethanol subsidies for defending corn ethanol, a substantially weaker product compared to Brazilian sugar cane ethanol, was to be scrapped. Other methods, involving cellulose-based or garbage-infused ethanol are still in their infancy, and are being ignored (lack sufficient subsidies) as alternatives. Again reflecting a total disregarding of a major concern: energy independency.)

10

Billion in 2007 to $2.4 Trillion by summer 2009.8 All this was meant to replace a multi-trillion dollar hole blown into the 21st century quicksand foundation of the American Economy: homebuilding and consumerism. The revitalization and recovery of jobs lost has been slow, if meaningfully positive, since losing 750,000 in January 2009 alone, and eight million over the course of the last days of Bush administration and the first 100 days of Obamas term. Yet, as we averted that spiraling crisis (for the present) a rationale is needed to maintain Fiscal Responsibility in the decades to come. (Debts do matter contrary to economists drinking too liberally the free market punch of the 1980s.) Else, We will see unimaginable debt loads, and harder economic choices, than has befallen any generation(s) of Americans before. Seemingly deaf to the magnitude of the problem, politicians on both sides of the spectrum refuse any pragmatic and innovative ideas to solve the debt crisis. Progressives (or Democrats) work often for researchdepleting military cuts, tax hikes on the wealthy, quasi health care reform, and energy independency as a way to make reductions, with scarcely a thought on certain waste in the government safety net and social platforms. Not to be outdone, Conservatives (or Republicans) see any FDR and LBJ entitlements as their bane to be axed away; the wealthy person tax cut as the cure all to growth in the economy, and (by extension via the Laffer curve), increased tax revenues; and free market (lax regulations) as the hallmark of a countrys wealth and prosperity engine, ignoring obvious social costs generated at a private beneficiarys faux obliviousness. Libertarians (to match) would do away with all governance (except local), keep a strong international military (in theory) and put the country back on some form of a gold standard or basket of trinkets to measure economic value. Other extremists have their pet projects and one-bullet cure alls. These oft-deranged and haughty moralistic battles leave the economy and government in a state of a never-ending tennis match as the ball goes back and forth across the net of public opinion. Endless love it is not. This battle heated up to a broil in the summer of 2011 as the debt ceiling was reached. For years on end, no mention of a debt ceiling was
8

Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm. Crisis Economics.

11

ever broached. And it was an automatic that it would be raised during the authors two-score life. Now, it is tied to a range of talks that included much of the prior analysis: no tax increases (Republicans), cuts in social programs (Obama), and does not matter (Libertarians and quacks.) Even talk of a constitutional amendment (imagine) to balance the budget has moved through the House of Representatives, but is assured to fail in the Senate. The timing of these useful long-term talks is poisoned by short-term necessities as the deadline looms as of this writing: August 2, 2011. The inevitable result of such inaction or ignorance or haphazard constitutional amendments: Interest rates will rise precipitously; Dollars applied to Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, Interest Payments and Military Spending once assured to remain large, and quite permanent, now could be at jeopardy. Meanwhile, the remaining Social Safety Net will shrink accordingly, because: we will refuse to tackle those other big dollar issues with any logic. The needed investments of Government will be deferred, decimated, or completely ignored; Private Capital will seek shelter elsewhere abroad in booming markets, like Brazil, Russia, India, or China and Our National Assets will be sold (privatized) to the most forceful owner of our Trillions in Debts; and the United States standard of living will indeed become a shadow of a once great and proud nation. Debt will consume us if we refuse to swallow our medicine, sacrifice (at all levels of wealth), and make hard choices like all do in their lives. Such shadows looming are all ready here. In late April 2011, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised its projections on the sizes of economies and their growth. It is foreseen that China, termed still an emerging market, will surpass the United States in terms of GDP by as early as 2016, given their nearly 10% yearly growth. (To measure just how fast such a rise took place: In Power Rules, Leslie Gelb, posited: For example, Chinas GDP was roughly half of Americas by 2008 estimates) Chinas rapid ascent economically in the past thirty years is tied directly to the widening trade deficit between its borders and the United States. 12

Between 1978 and 2005, for example, the amount of goods traded grew by a factor of over 400. (Chinas yearly exports in 1978 were compressed down to a daily export rate by the mid-2000s.) Supporting Tables. Trade with China from 1985 to 2008
Source: U.S. Census: www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance Year Exports Imports Trade Deficit President 1985 3,855 3,861 -6 Reagan 1986 3,106 4,771 -1,665 Reagan 1987 3,497 6,293 -2,796 Reagan 1988 5,021 8,510 -3,489 Reagan 1989 5,755 11,989 -6,234 Bush I 1990 4,806 15,237 -10,431 Bush I 1991 6,278 18,969 -12,691 Bush I 1992 7,418 25,727 -18,309 Bush I 1993 8,762 31,539 -22,777 Clinton 1994 9,281 38,786 -29,505 Clinton 1995 11,753 45,543 -33,790 Clinton 1996 11,992 51,512 -39,520 Clinton 1997 12,862 62,557 -49,695 Clinton 1998 14,241 71,168 -56,927 Clinton 1999 13,111 81,788 -68,677 Clinton 2000 16,185 100,018 -83,833 Clinton 2001 19,182 102,278 -83,096 Bush II 2002 22,127 125,192 -103,065 Bush II 2003 28,367 152,436 -124,069 Bush II 2004 34,744 196,682 -161,938 Bush II 2005 41,925 243,470 -201,545 Bush II 2006 55,185 287,774 -232,589 Bush II 2007 65,236 321,442 -256,206 Bush II 2008 71,457 337,789 -266,332 Bush II -1,869,185 Total 476,146 2,345,331 Overall Trade Deficit by China Pres. President (Millions) Reagan -7,956 Bush I -47,665 Clinton -384,724 -1,428,840 Bush II

Even more telling is the power shift in the corporate headquarters of the Financial Times Global 500 amongst the top economies of the world. In 2005, the United States held 219 corporate behemoths while China had only 8 such corporate HQs. By just 2009, the decline to the U.S. numbered 181, a 17% drop. Meanwhile, China quintupled its number to 43, an enormous shift, and nearly, onetoone. Other countries on this list made modest gains and losses, but this was the most distinct change to the balance of power of the corporate world. (The 2020 Workplace, pg. 22.)

13

Because of this persistent and growing trade deficit, China holds considerably more than a $1 Trillion of our debt. Much of this problem amassed just between 2005 and 2008, at the nexus of the financial dooms day and the corporate reshuffle. While housing prices fell, Americans borrowed more and more from China to maintain a stagnating standard of living. Meanwhile, much closer allies, such as Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Germany, also hold their fair share of Treasury Notes in America. Luckily, the U.S. has diplomatic relationships with them on much better terms, as none has made curious statements like China has. Yet, Chinas remarkable economic activity has come without Democracy or enhanced freedoms; rather, as United States Republicans or Conservatives would compare it to the rise of Americas economic primacy during the post-Civil War era without the need of civil war. And modern Democrats would liken it to laissez-faire polices run amok which vigorously promoted outsourcing and transplantation of America corporations to Chinas Eastern seaboard where inland Chinese migrated happily to take a very low wage (2-10%) of any American worker. That final statement includes the linchpin of the beginning of the end for the U.S. economy: while we could get very lost cost goods electronics for cheap, furnishings and clothes for little coin we did it while printing money in hordes and exporting our now faltering manufacturing and knowledge base, the backbone of the American Dream for decades, away. A Nation that makes tangible things and ideas controls its own destiny; or as Benjamin Franklin once surmised: the riches of a country are to be valued by the quantity of labor its inhabitants are able to purchase, and not the quantity of silver and gold they possess. The United States has squandered the advantage of the former labor and innovation at home and monetized through masses of pulp and paper the latter. We allowed the printing presses of Franklins trade to outstrip the labor we once had in spades over the World while dispossessing our children of their greatest Inheritance. No greater example of this exists than the U.S. position at the climax of World War II. The armada that laid in wait for a siege of Japan in the closing moments of that war was made in the factories and shipyards 14

and the Midwest stirrings of fields. It was unmatched in size, strength, and mission. Yet, in an August month, named for a Roman Emperor, we shook the Earth more than all the ships and planes at our disposal could in a single bomb from a single plane. And Japan took note of that power and spared millions the cruelty of further warring. Their proud and industrious nation was not wrong in stopping the fight, nor wrong in rebuilding with our help. It may have been the truest measure of our nations strength: to put aside our rightful vengeance for Pearl Harbor and to support the endeavors of the Rising Sun post-war. Our own rise from the depths of the Great Depression to the benchmark of a strong and vital Nation-Empire was in a mere blink of Human History. Yet it happened. (See Appendix 1945 U.S. Military Strength) See Appendix: Japan, for its part, seeded in a fair amount of its auto industry in the United States starting in the Reagan administration. Mainly as a response to a then call for fair trade, and did so, without legacy costs of union employee benefits that came to hamstring the Big Three automotive. (Or more plausibly, the short sightedness with regards to fuel efficiency and well-designed vehicles. An automotive argument for another time.) Section IV. Not So Free Trade. The United States has made itself the ardent supporter of most economies since the end of WWII. Enlivening the innovative spirit and spiriting democracy around the world were dual objectives. The capitalism pillar rebuilt (West) Germany and Japan into post-atomic friends. Successes in South Korea place that nation among the most connected places on Earth with a strong manufacturing base. Taiwan, again, has emerged as a vigorous nation-state. However, failures in Vietnam (military), Central America (political) and the Middle East (historical) doggedly pursue us. (The Middle East got billions in financing and arms and tacit support of anti-Communist dictatorships.) It is usual that failures greatly outshine the successes in Americas remembrance, as loss is unacceptable; political bungling unpalatable; and ideals distorted unconscionable. China, too, became our pet project. Just since the turn of the 20th century, the battle to influence (or exploit or takeover) China has been waged by many nations. Great Britain, Japan, the USSR, and the United 15

States, each took turns via military, political, or economic tactics to bend the dragon to a tamable end. Britain carved out a niche in Hong Kong interests, but agreeably let go as its power ebbed in the 20th Century wars. The USSR attempted to exploit internal politics in China supporting Mao Tse Tung who defeated Chiang Kai-Shek (the nominal U.S. ally in WWII) in 1948. Japan invaded, dominated, then surrendered at the close of WWII and now, remains uncomfortable with a growing, power-hungry Dragon. But the United States broke through via the way all countries (initially) like: money. Such a breakthrough comes with a price as the nation grows stronger, it forgets the seed investments and sees its plight as self-created, not externally driven. From the moment President Nixon opened up a locked trade door ostensibly to put the once-mighty USSR on notice that money has its benefits too the China boom was destined, as too was the roiling up of Globalization. Because of the great trade pairing with the United States, present day finds China has over forty high-speed rail projects on the board and is buying up natural resource companies from Brazil to Australia to the African continent. It keeps its currency pegged to the U.S. dollar at a ratio of roughly 6.5 Yuan to a Dollar. (www.x-rates.com: May 10, 2011) When this Great Recession took hold, the Chinese government invested over $600 Billion towards public projects to advert a recession in their country. (Or more accurately, to keep GDP growth at or above 8% so as to support the flood of workers from the poor inland farms.) The Chinese utilize distinct advantages in size of population willing to work for less, a huge trade (dollar) surplus that is unlikely to reset to a an equilibrium, and a single party system, that while restrictive to personal freedoms, is advantageous to a coherent and forceful economic policy. China likely sees itself as a nation of engineers, whereas, the U.S. became a nation of lawyers. Chinas internal engine growth model will be continuously fueled by imported U.S. capital. And if they can maintain such a spurt, China will surpass all expectations of this politicaleconomic model. In short, the China dragon is a flame-throwing economic machine. And more ominously, it indeed knows its power and is using it accordingly, if tepidly, to date.

16

To reinforce this growth model, one could also argue that China has embraced a happy medium between government private partnerships as much of their success has come through a non-dogmatic, practical and engineering way of operating an economy. Large private businesses (from the United States, for example) bring know-how, a checkbook, and eagerness to convert poor Chinese to capitalists, while the usual strict government has a great tolerance for creating jobs with minimal employee rights or environmental controls. Just jobs, baby, might be the overriding credo for this nation of 1.4 billion plus souls. As such, it has not seeded much in the way of its homegrown business back to America. And likely wont as the United States created most of them via Walmart and other big-box outlets; tech giant Apple employs a million Chinese versus 50,000 in America9; and we have directly fueled the homegrown that the Chinese government will not allow to move back to a U.S. market. (Overtures made aside nothing substantive has relocated to American shores to date.) Economic analysts project that soon this flow of U.S. (and foreign capital) will run dry because someone, somewhere else in the Globalization spin-the-bottle game will refuse to kiss their homegrown industries goodbye. Overt trade battles will then ensue. And the victors are yet to be decided. Straightforwardly, Our Eagle has flown too close to the stoking fire of this Dragon, allowing its Communist leadership, inevitably, to dictate how the United States operates in all trade markets, projects military power, and crafts foreign policy. Such fierce competition came via the one score and ten vampiric bleeding of our countrys assets, both inherent in our People, and tangibly, in our Lands. But it is time to remember why we are The Eagle and meant to soar. V. Banks. Section V Finance, Money, and The Banks As stated, current households are getting by on less; with no way to accurately predict the designs of their companies, or if they will exist in the future global economy. In 1950, manufacturing made up over 25% of Americas GDP.
9

Fareed Zachari. Restoring The American Dream: How to Innovate. CNN; June 11, 2011. 7PM CST.

17

Now, this slice is less than 10%. And blue-collar workers have seen their jobs disappear, not just once, but several times. The money chase for a good salary or hourly position is increasing in complexity, and often, tearing families apart in the hunt, with the ending being no better than the beginning during this dollar trek. Replacing this downward fall of industry, the financial sector has grown to be over one-quarter of Americas economy in just the last half century. Creating numerous instruments of finance far removed from the days of Alexander Hamilton, J.P. Morgan, or the dandified financial titans of the early 20th century. Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs), Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs), Credit Default Swaps (CDS), NINJA (No Income, No Job, No Assets) Loans and Structured Investment Vehicles (SIVs), alphabetically came to represent the soup to the booming banking business of the early 21st century. But within these here to fore unfathomable growth spurts and billions in record profits percolating across Wall Street, came such complexity and opaqueness that it took quantitative analysis and models to the razors edge of their usefulness. Creatively determining what Main Street could pay for their American Dream often meant playing a reverse game of blink. The problem was that the Common Man blinked too quickly (and much too often) for the cumbersome, eyes-wide-shut banks once the unraveling began. Models had no downside predictor for when the tsunami of credit issuance stalled or froze; their shaky mortgagers stopped paying on 2/28 interest-only ARMS; or when ordinarily conservative folks (now spending liberally their meager equity) were abandoning their homes in the hundreds of thousands while the trillion dollar banks had their too meager default departments suddenly doing a booming business of work out plans for losing money as slowly as possible via the paperwork reshuffle and re-reappearing act. Innovative though these quants of The Street are, the self-reinforcing rational exuberance and predictable turbulence of packaging up debts, obfuscatingly hedging bets, removing credit lending standards, over priming the cash pump, slicing and dicing now homogeneously toxic assets for a public at-large, and a private buyer living in largesse was 18

Ayn Randian; self-indulgent; overrating a libertarian ideology to a market fatalistic conclusion. These top-down approved policies might be tragic to a rich mans bets; assuredly dooming to a $35,000 a year meat packer in a Chicago warehouse tripping on down LSD from the inception of such monetarist economic models. Our span of green pastures are now weeded with the corporate death knells, thousands of homes abandoned, and a sense we have little to own, but much to pay for in regard to quantified qualifications of the octo-yearly Fed meetings. Sub-prime was called the trigger; and the American Dream was the chalk outline. And no one could ever blink again. Or so it was thought. (Much akin to 1929.) As the expanding financial derivatives market and the multi-trillion dollar do-it-all financial firms lent easy credit to stagnant income earners (without the preferred prerequisites to paying back the balances), enormous entities such as AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Countrywide Financial, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, IndyMac, Wachovia, GMAC, GE Capital, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorganChase came either prostrate to the beggars table of the United States Government for immediate assistance and intervention, or were scared to the point of bank runs, demanding collateral from weaker-positioned financial players, or engaged in panicked selling of securities to stave off angry investors or the closures of their doors permanently. Some did succumb to the financial wheel of fate: Washington Mutual, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman were forced to close or were badly digested by larger interests; Countrywide merged shakily into Bank of America while Wachovia married Wells Fargo after spurning Citigroups shotgun overtures; AIG, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac were taken over by the U.S. Government, diluting shareholders en masse. As a financial wheel of fate escapee, Citigroups share price broke the buck ($1) while it held over $2 Trillion in Assets. At one point, the FDIC 19

head (guarantor of deposits up to $250,00010) suggested the umbrella company should fail. The Treasury Secretary was beyond himself of this suggested idea of Citigroup going through receivership.11 It would have been the largest bankruptcy (by a wide margin) in U.S. history. And at that moment, would have assuredly ruined the confidence and the plans installed (via TARP) to deal with this financial domino effect. (That of shaky confidence in banks once one massive entity fails, the others look more suspect whether they are, or not.) (Economic and Historical Note A few banks were used as conduits for Economic Note: government intervention even though free market ideology states such intervention is strictly taboo. Moral hazard is used as the key argument against such abandonment of free market principles. Yet, the consequences of the hands off approach were seen as catastrophically worse than no intervention, even by the ardent free market adherents, namely the Fed Reserve, Treasury Secretary, and The Banks themselves. Adverting a Great Depression II was seen as the higher motivation. Yet, historically, it has been noted that the Great Depression was brought to life by too much easy credit (consumer debt) and borrowing on margin (for the stock traders) during the run up to October 1929. The nation-state responses to that crisis aggravated the problem as beggarthy-neighbor approaches took place around the world. And the Fed sat on their hands doing very little to stimulate economic activity in the early 1930s via monetary policy they could control. (Print money.) In this case, the easy credit regime from risky mortgage applicants to fragile industrially-employed workers and the leverage level of investment banks (30 plus to 1 debt/asset ratios existed at Credit Suisse, ING, Barclays, and Lehman12), insurance companies, and their hedging ilk, certainly mirrored certain excesses of the 1920s run up to the October 1929 crash. Furthermore, such epic collapses were seen and warned against before. 19th century economist Alfred Marshall, who worshipped at the altar of
10

From the Great Depression Era until 2008, this guarantee was set much lower. $100,000 for each account was the amount prior to the Great Recession of 2007-2010. 11 Roger Lowenstein. The End of Wall Street. New York: Penguin Press; 2010. p 278. 12 Nouriel Roubini, Stephen Mihm. Crisis Economics. New York: Penguin Press; 2010. p 127.

20

Adam Smith and mimicked John Stuart Mills ideas, felt reckless inflations of credit were the chief cause of economic malaise and championed monetary authorities to prevent them with a robust policy.13)

T he Chain of Blame M odel: U .S. Lending 2000-2007

Sub Prime Home Buyer: FIC O avg. 590-620, redlined by lenders prior to 1990
Advice & D irect Relationship
L oa n: High Interest, B et H om e V alue A ppreciates Q uickly 2/28 A R M , interest only, Justified only b y H om e P rice R ises, Speculators and A verag e Bad C redit R isks alike Joined M ark et

M ortgage Brokers: Brokers Incentives to push products, gave selfserving advice

M ortgage Lenders: H uge Lenders

profits initially, grow th m odel
Fees & B onuses & Q uotas

2005-7, Countrywide: 97.2B A meriquest: 80.7B N ew Century: 76B First Franklin: 68B Long Beach M ort: 65.2B

L oa ns: M on ey plentiful in low interest (1% ) en vironm ent

M or tgages: Bundled up b y th e 1000s($1.3 Trillion ) to b e securitized for incom e stream s

R ating A gency S& P Fitch M oodys Assigned A AA T o BBB Subprim e tranches

W .S. Investment Banks & Old D epositor Banks: U sed Ranieri/ Depositor Banks
Salom on Bro. M ortgage M odel of 80s Bought Countrywide Bank of Am erica or shopped First Franklin M errill Lynch for AA A Long Beach M ort W aM u Ratings From 2 nd M ortgages Rate M BA-educated investm ent bank w annabes T o Package

(Tranch pays in proportion to risk: junk, m ezz, senior)

W arehouse/C onduits
Investors
Cash for AB CP CD S CDS CDS US Econom y

RM B S CD O

Interest via hom e ow ners Cash flow to supply som e Funding for m ore loans
Sliced Tranches: C om bin ed Insured P yram id O f R isk

Bet M arket Insure B onds

Insurers: A IG M BIA
13

SIV
Shadow Banks

John Cassidy. How Markets Fail. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2009. 36.

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The above model is hardly self-explanatory. Homebuyers FICO scores were glossed over due to a necessity to keep the line moving, to build houses and the boom, and to provide The Street with product to slice and dice and pass on to investors, insurers, and other entities around the world. Barriers once too strict redlining whole neighborhoods were now, too liberal, assuring some very bad risks received loans. Speculators too were all too willing to join the fray. Yet, no one seem to mind the store. Bankers just rolled eyes; and passed the bucks literally to their borrowers. Mortgage Lenders/Brokers were poised to jump into the sub-prime lending model because: money was available to lend at record low rates (2002-2005); financial modernization act (Gramm-Leach Bliley Act of 1999) removed barriers to cross-pollinating banking activities; newly innovative markets for securitizing debts were unregulated and illmodeled based on only 20 years of historical data; rating agencies had extreme conflicts of interests as fees for rates were shopped to best rater for the best fees. Blue chip firms, as discussed, molded and manipulated lenders to their most useful end. They pressured S&P and Moodys for quick ratings of subprime tranches taking the best slices of the worst loan pies, recombining them into a smells-different-because-I-say-so pizza ate by a gluttonous and ravenous market only to sometimes swallow their own slices, thus getting sick from their own home cooking. (Credit Default Swaps (squared and cubed) and SIVs were a broiling haven for this little dilemma.) Investors swallowed the punch of the boom early on. Then, as doomsday struck, credit froze, tranches triggered insurers like AIG (London) to pony up for the casino bets made with Goldman Sachs, the chain snapped, the pizza was poisoned, and no one knew who held what. SubAnalogy: Authors Sub-21st Century Blackjack Analogy For years, the mortgage bond market played the house where they held 20 on the deal and investors rarely beat the house (via betting defaults) for more than a marginal win. It was boring for both sides as they knew the outcome, pre-deal. Enter a new deck of cards where the aces and faces are 22

doubled, tripled in number, but the mortgage bond market holds only a 19 on the deal out. Suddenly, payouts are regular and enormous under the blackjacks double down rules. The casino could (and did) go bust. Instead of caution, they make more special decks, open more casinos with money from the government, investors, and homebuyers in this ponzi-styled finance. The financial system teetered on a flip on these cards. Blackjack! was yelled across the world and the chips have yet to fall neatly in place. VI. Past. Section VI Revisiting the Past As this Mortgage Market declined drastically in 2007-2010, the number of households upside-down on their homes (and debts) increased to levels not seen since the Great Depression. The Credit Markets tighten to the point where even credit worthy Americans were hard-pressed to receive access to their credit, or were made to pay unusual high fees after years of loyalty. Inter-bank lending (LIBOR) and other lending ceased to function properly in late September/early October 2008. And the World expected dire consequences and responded via their Stock Markets. Trillions of dollars were pledged to buttress this Financial System in flux, and often, in frail circumstances, around the world. Developed countries such as England, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Spain were hit with austerity measures; riots and demonstrations, election swings to the fringe, and xenophobic attitudes pervaded many of these locales as a frustration response to losing prosperity, real or imagined. This populist trend found roots in the United States during the 2010 elections, and thereafter. The Tea Party gained a sizeable foothold in governance; Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and other states engaged in labor union bashing and austerity-by-threat tactics; and protests came from in the minority legislatures, teachers, police, and other governmental servants. Islamic worshipers mosque near ground zero (9-11) was made into a hot button issue shortly before the 2010 mid-term elections. Even the President found persistent attacks on his legitimacy to be the president due to his Hawaiian birth certificate or certificate of live birth.

23

In April 2011, the United States Government was brought to the brink of a possible shutdown over amounts that a single investment bank of the genre outlined above routinely traded in a day. (And one French trader lost $7 Billion back at the height of the doomsday machine.) This financial pittance came after six months of stalling to make the necessary cuts, and six different deadlines for the completion of this less-than-onerous task: that of creating a fiscal year budget. And the debt ceiling fight supplanted this minor fiscal topic soon after. Reflecting, at minimum, that concentration on important issues has become too difficult for the people in charge; and we are replaying parts of the 1930s in many ways giving a podium to fringe ideas while not addressing the real and critical concerns of our country. Historical precedence tells us this time is no different. VII. Freedom. Section VII Rivals to Prosperity and Freedom The American competitive advantage of Education, Infrastructure, and Manufacturing has evaporated and exported as developing and developed regimes are exploiting weaknesses and offering American multinational corporations access to cheap, unencumbered, and pliant labor forces that can not or will not stand up for better working conditions. Their enormous profits are kept, often tax-free14; and America grows more complacent, and less able to catch up when our dollars stay in the hands of never-friendly, duplicitous regimes, who, reinvest by buying American assets (our debts) with little regard for the American peoples way of life. Thus, we are trapped in a cycle that has to be reversed. These Rivals in this Global Marketplace were once the bane of our Existence, not for their economy, education, infrastructure, or political ideas, but because they held Freedom in prison, and ignored their people forthwith. They still do; but forcefully supplant their peoples emerging industriousness, and desires for a political voice, with the economic strip mining of natural resources and pay lip service to improving their peoples lots and the fact the resources are indeed, limited, makes it

14

Reports in 2011 suggested that GE and several banks listed above would not pay any U.S. Federal Income Tax.

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more beneficial to ignore the struggling population while amassing wealth for the selected few. As our once proud manufacturing economy needed an overhaul replacing 20th century assembly lines with advanced systems and a superior infrastructure lattice befitting of a world power we have spun our wheels in the doldrums while our once economic inferiors have gone ahead on many fronts, building massive dams, towers, and highway and rail systems, often at the urging of the very American corporations the U.S. fueled to prosperity in the past century. And these benefits came primarily to an elite few; and the countries that do gain such victories spared no gratitude towards the executives that have made their presence uniquely felt in the Mumbais, Shanghais, and Dubais of the planet. A recent example of degradation: The Society of Civil Engineers graded degradation the nations Infrastructure at a D . Roads are spread far and wide while urban planning systems are miserable failing. The spreading out of society from cities to suburbs has resulted in too much highway, too far from primary economic activity, and too few dollars to maintain them. The efficiencies of cities (the stacking of services utility, communication, logistics of food and transit) counters what logic is put forth by those who like large lots in the far off areas that pay low taxes, use enormous amounts of resources, but stress not just the local towns but their neighbors as well. Education is leaving behind our kids because it no longer is designed to work towards a collective end. Even Adam Smith believed in universal public education,15 by far, no Socialist. While we advocate towards all measures of getting young people to know their ABCs, I23s, and Do-ReMes, we have stalled progress by focusing on testing instead of learning. Students in America can have all the access to tools (iPads, laptops, etc.) but if the teachers are hamstrung by politics and procedural edicts handed down from a school board biting their nails over budgets and funding, the kids are likely just playing parlor games. (And, of course, some students will come through just fine but the competition is

15

Mark Skousen. The Making of Modern Economics. 33.

25

surpassing us. As China now turns out more patents and produces more graduate level college students than the United States does.16) VIII. Section VIII Natural Resources and Energy Policy. Energy, Environment, Economics and Existence are intertwined with the ignoring of One, or more, to come with the vicious Human price (at some point) in the response of (and to) the Others. Such Human costs come today only with daily, personal aggravations, and the slow, brutal destruction of the Middle Class and Middle America. Such Dependence has become a way of life for many, many millions. In mid-2008, oil prices recorded an all-time record north of $140 per barrel. By January 2009, the price shuddered in at $35 per Middle East barrel. Oils rise by March 2011 to over $100 again, may indeed, stall an economic recovery to a woefully gas-dependent America. Yet, as of this writing, the killing of the number one terrorist in the world, has caused a dramatic (if short-lived) fall in the price. (Reflecting intense volatility to the world oil market based less often on the fundamentals of production and consumption, more on rumor, events, and speculation.) Since the 1970s, America has become more and more dependent on oil imports reaching nearly 70% of our Nations usage as we stagnated at 6.5 million barrels produced per day, while using 20 million to maintain our travel needs and desires. (See U.S. Crude Oil Production, below) See: See This significantly addictive usage is hamstrung by our foes, and our frienemies Venezuela, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Angola, et. al. who are the controllers of Our Oil Tab. As stated, competition from our new economic rival China is dawning, causing geo-political forces that we react to, more than shape. (China has surpassed the U.S. in total energy resource usage (2010) 20.3% to 19% leaving the remaining five billion plus souls to fight for 60% of the energy pie.) It is convenient to maintain the happy illusion that as long as we can pay for the oil that is pumped, the relationships we maintain with Saudi Arabia, Libya, or Sudan, for example, are not disconcerting. However, it is a fools position to believe such oil dependence is a healthy gamut to continue in volatile times. For it is highly unlikely that as China
16

Fareed Zachari. Restoring The American Dream: How to Innovate. CNN; June 11, 2011. 7PM CST.

26

increases its consumption to far surpass the United States, that all OPEC and non-OPEC nations can increase production in lock step. (And many countries have sought an alternative way out of this energy squeeze. Or befriended the nations most likely to produce and sell oil directly in a tight market to come. Cutting deals offmarket is becoming more and more prevalent and reflects self-interest that will become more destabilizing.)

U.S. Crude Oil Production

Forecast

6 5 Lower 48 Production Million 4 barrels per day 3 2 1 0

-0.2%

35% 30% 25% 20% Alaska Production 15% 10% U.S. Annual Growth
-0.3% -1.0% -1.0% -1.1% -4.6% -4.4% -1.5% 2.5% 0.0% 0.8%

5%

-1 -2 -3
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 -3.1% -5.9%

Change from 0% Prior Year -5% -10%

Short-Term Energy Outlook, July 2008

As such, alternative energy outlets are sought, ethanol, for example. We (among other nations) began to trade food essentials for fuel security. Prices for corn skyrocketed. World food markets were dangerously depleted. Either an alternative fuel has to be designed, or else, we pit our nations need for fuels against other nations right to eat. Even as an alternative hope, electric cars and plug-ins have not taken off yet as most Americans were hard pressed to afford $30,000 plus debt loads in a stingy credit market for a new car with a limited range (100 27

miles) and the lack of charging stations nationwide. (And at least 50% of Americans were considered to have bad or sub-optimal credit.17) (World Crisis 2011 As this oil-ethanol-food triad took place, Egypt, Libya, World 2011: Tunisia, Yemen, Syria, and Iran, have all seen populist uprisings due to lack of freedoms, stagnate economies, and scarce food stuffs that pressure cook these largely 3rd world or petrodollar-dependent countries to a revolutionary boil that will take years to sort out. This happens against the backdrop of other world players taking sides, exploiting neighbor countries, or these revolutions for political or economic ends.) As more and more people plow to create fuel, drill for oil in offshore deeps, and hunt for anyway to make their machinery go farther on less, it should bring us to a foregone conclusion: the day of cheap natural resource exploitation is coming to an end; and the remaining resources must be harnessed efficiently and effectively. Regardless of belief in climate change, the access to food, energy, and life staples must be designed with the interconnection to our Earth seen and respected. Else, We do our progeny a severe disservice, and possibly, an ultimate demise, if we selfishly and callously use up what is now available, without reasonable and adaptable alternatives to replace what God put here for Humanity to use to Grow, to Adapt, and to Maintain Our Existence until such time is deemed right for His call for an End. (Mother Nature v. Man The March 11, 2011 triple crisis in Japan reminds Mother Man: us of this all too well. An enormous earthquake, an epic tsunami, and a far-reaching nuclear accident resulted in thousands dead or missing and unmistakable reminder that the Earth holds more cards than we do.)

IX. Abroad. Section IX Wars Abroad We are still engaged in war. While we attempt to extricate ourselves completely from one country (Iraq), two close neighbors are taxing our military resources (Afghanistan and Pakistan) while Libya and Yemen have recently added to our military forays on the unstable globe. The costs in lives and coin are greater than we seem able to justify, or maintain, yet, we do it, nonetheless.
17

Author lacks source but read this in a credit repair and resource book release in the last two years.

28

Others regimes are revisiting the Cold War with their nuclear ambitions and not-so-veiled threats. Iran, for example, is getting old Russia advice on the nuclear options, $50 Billion monetary support from China for their oil, and has rarely spoken highly of freedom while also in pursuit of Israels demise directly, or indirectly. The Middle East roils as it has during the last Millennia the so-called Arab Spring presenting more headaches and establishment choosing for the U.S. administration at hand. Our friends and foes worry alike: Which quasi-democratic model is to be installed? What will the religious preferences mean to this model? What resources inputted and outputted will determine the status of the new nations future? What dictators will be left? How will they respond to the change in the chess game? And while the tragic story of 9/11 got a near-term ending, with the killing of Osama bin Laden, the war on terrorism is never going to be won out simply by the death of a so-called leader. The problem will transmute into a new threat. (The Cold War lasted nearly 50 years for a logical comparison. And it took a decade to kill bin Laden. And now Pakistan may be part and parcel to the terrorism pyramid. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, comes to mind.) Our military spending contributes greatly to the Budget Deficit. It has been a policy for nearly 60 years to grossly overpay for weapon systems and deploy and maintain bases in far-flung lands. While it is Patriotic to serve in the Armed Services, it is increasingly difficult to justify these outlays given the track record since Vietnam and our crisis debt loads. The scales of finance are tipping greater against a large and wellmaintained militia, at least under the current paradigms under which it operates. The worlds policing power comes with a cost a very definable outlay and it is appropriate that the United States either recoup such costs, or do a better job of assessing which battles it will fight, and with clearer ends to such engagements designed. How this particular action is addressed will ultimately define us in the annals of history.

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X. Section X Internal Conflict and Course Correction. Our government has been severely taxed to function properly; as the divide over social ills, economic philosophies, foreign policy, and domestic design have been a source of bitter feuding without a significant altering of the direction of the country in a manner that speaks of the deeper understanding and the absolute necessity to embark on a drastic course correction. Instead, we list to port; then to starboard; and back, while seemingly cast adrift by the efforts of this process. And no one man is able to reset this course alone. The Problems are vast; multi-trillion in nature, and currently are addressed with only piece-meal and hen-pecked legislation. Meager victories are attainable but never go to the root cause and so, the time is ripe for amending what it is to be under Constitutional Rule.

III. The Founding Fathers and The Framers Action Plan Facts are stubborn things. ~ John Adams Section I. Visionaries. The Framers to Our Constitution and the Founding Fathers were not idle people. No one accused Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, Jay, Jefferson, Madison, Morris, Sherman, or Washington of inaction or paralysis in an arena of battle. They did not just sit by and wait for things to happen. They made things happen. They were builders; doers; dreamers; entrepreneurs; inventors; leaders; opinion makers; philosophers; revolutionaries, scholars, and visionaries. After winning the Revolution, these visionaries continued to work under the existing Articles of Confederation, which was a firm league of friendship. (The Ground on Which We Stand, Kay, 1969.) However, the Articles were limited by taxing powers, commerce regulation, and a unicameral legislature that needed 9 states out of 13 to approve bills. The Articles proved unfit to run a nation that was all ready the size of France in territory, and could expand quickly to the size of Western 30

Europe. And many European foes were willing to bet that our young Nation would falter under that exact strain. Action was needed. The Framers went to work, in secret, and to that end, achieved a lasting document that molded well into Americas Manifest Destiny. What has transpired in the last 224 years is a testament to its beauty and foresight, while its flaws are only all too human. But We are responsible for continuation of the Founders Vision.

IV. The Proposed Solution: A Constitutional Convention Section I. Bait n Switch and The Media. As we have seen in the past century, the advancement of technology has given us a way of life that many would never cede to any foe. With such a vast and inescapable interdependence on the function of technology within the framework of Society, it is discouraging that we cannot count as quickly amongst our Strengths the ability to utilize this advantage immediately to improve upon our current state of Affairs, as they stand, across the wide spectrum of previously stated ills. While our nation does have such immense problems, many fellow Americans are, at the present moment, happy and content. They may feel that they made superior choices, and therefore, are not at any advantage to change or assist in the moving forward of this 225-year old journey from the infant Democratic Republic to a teetering and faltering American Empire as contended in the first part of this pamphlet. They may not even see the problems (or a problem) as one of debt, or trade, employment, natural resources, education, infrastructure, financial responsibility and regulation, or military foolhardiness abroad. The eroding of the nation may be solely of a socially driven nature: the laziness and mollycoddling of youth; the spendthrift thirty something; the obscenity-laced society with a lack of God and morality be damned; the migration of foreign people into the fold; or the lack of individual responsibility from youth to old age; or the obsession with stuff. 31

The resulting media wars and commentaries from the big screen to the blogosphere makes the current technology no better than the old ones pen, paper, newspapers, and books in having a reasonable discussion if reasonable people are not in the fray, and also, a driving force in these grown up discussions. Ideological and political platforms are just as entrenched across the spectrum of technology as they have always been. (Pulitzer v. Hearst would be a 20th century example.) To take a most recent debate, and as discussed, the right to be president is, under the U.S. Constitution, tied to being a natural-born Citizen of the United States of America. That can be conferred by: being born in a United States state or recognized U.S. territory, such as Guam, for example. (Article II, Section I, Paragraph V.) After two and a half years, Barack Obama produced again a certified copy of his birth certification in Hawaii. The issue is not his birth; rather, it is the fact we are still discussing his locality after more than half his term in office is completed. What if he was found to be not an American citizen? What would that say of not just the Democratic Party but the Republican Party too? What does it say about our politics or governance that such a simple task to determine birthplace is brought around again and again via the media wars some three years later? But the more pressing and urgent Crises are dilemmas we face in our economy daily. Americans potentially shelling out $5 to $6 or more per gallon gasoline while driving miles from suburbia; the state of emergencies in weather destructed places all over the Midwest and South; the foreign wars we waged for a decade; the slow replacement of millions of jobs, by often, lesser paying ones; the real competition from abroad as those countries ramp up a 21st century infrastructure and technology-laden burgeoning empire while we rest on our 20th century laurels in hopes we will be remembered as an entertaining lot to our fellow citizens of the world. And a list could be generated to include: overcrowded and costly prisons, endangered wildlife, homeless people, domestic violence, civil discourse online, white collar crime, political corruption, health care, food safety, and so on. 32

As a result, we are indeed hamstrung by our inability to use such technological wonders as a guiding and assisting force in directing our country in the future: That of Constitutional Amendments to address the Rights and Responsibilities and Privileges vested in our 21st Century American Society and beyond. We have sputtered around tired and media-driven issues that serve no purpose or pose a direction or solve any great needs but ratings for the media mavens. Instead, We dither, as America burns up its Capital and Credit worldwide. Our Founders must spin in their graves from this detestable waste of time and country. We, indeed, lack focus on the matters at hand. Table. TrillionTable The Trillion-Dollar Club of Catastrophe Policies Oft Ignored Bush Era Tax Breaks (2001-2011) $1.0 Trillion plus China Trade Deficit (2005-2010) $1.46 Trillion Wars Abroad (Iraq & Afghanistan) $1.5 Trillion plus Sub-prime Loan Origination Debacle $1.5 Trillion plus War on Drugs (1988-2010) $1.0 Trillion plus Section II. The Common Mans Place. Our Framers allowed for Amendments to make clearer, and usually unambiguous, the language and rights ceded to the Individual, and the Government. Each is dependent on the other; cooperation and compromise is the hallmark result of our ebb and flow during bitter conflicts and the paramount concerns over the others intrusions into Rights the other has. The State remains Supreme; but only by the Graces of those under Its Auspices. A 2011 2012 Constitutional Convention to address our Nations problems would be a vast improvement on innovating the future of America over the piece-meal, penny-wise, but pound-foolish approach that much of our U.S. legislation attempts futilely. And its time for the Common Man and the Elite Minds in various arenas to dutifully attempt to pull together to create a more perfect Union to last another 225 years. As of this writing, nothing is off the table. The point is to suggest, and offer avenues, and Framework for a Second Convention to take place.

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V. Initial Debate, Structure of Convention, Delegates, Support & Sample of Proposed Constitutional Amendments Section I. Amendments. Before any Amendment can be added, The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress (Article V) The U.S. Congress of the past decade (2001-2011) has shown a firm inability to act and promotes the personal and vested interests of its members to create disorder that borders on sedition; it realizes it is truly powerless to solve any tangible problem without undermining the position almost immediately, if they, being self-interested, are to stay in power, and receive the blessings of low information voters. They appeal to labels; answer questions circularly; defy logic and ignore facts; and often, seem more flawed personally than the people imprisoned on the taxpayers dimes. State legislatures are the minor league breeding grounds for the Federal government positions, whether they be Legislative, Judicial, or Agencyrelated. The State you occupy has its own local interests and dominators of the agenda, and is tied often to the very politicians in the big leagues. So, it is difficult to opine what amount of headway can be made to call forth a Convention to make such Amendments on the order and magnitude this pamphlet will suggest. (See Section VII and VIII.) See: See Only through rhetoric and assembly can we impose the Will of the People on these bodies to affect the future of our governance by Article Fives writ. Alternative to this action: this constitution, is a key phrase legally. In order to adopt a completely new constitution we need not be beholden to the prior one. A new constitution worked on by 21st century scholars; the innovators; the scientists; the educators; the community leaders; the 34

businessperson; and the common man is indeed, feasible. As We cannot invest too much hope or time in the legislators residing in Washington or the state capitols. The American Crisis exists almost solely due to their actions and their vociferously expressed inactions. Some will argue flatly that no change is needed; that the Constitution allows for all things and interprets all things well enough. When the Founders wrote and thought of things yet to come, they would be indeed impressed, and yet profoundly disturbed, by our trailblazing paths, and yet, our glaring holes in logic during these last two centuries. The last significant ratified Amendment was on July 1, 1971 pertaining to the right and age of voting. (The 27th Amendment relating to Congressional pay increases was passed in the early 1990s, reflecting a gross preoccupation with money earned instead of money spent.) Since that time, satellite linking, the Internet, personal computers, cellular phones, email, faxes, video games, video systems, the human genome, test tube fertilization, artificial human organs, cloning, DNA mapping, CDs, DVDs and MP3s, have gone through an infancy, and are starting, adulthood. Social networking has taken on a whole new meaning. This evolution of science and technology begs to be viewed through a prism of our greatest legal concern: Our Constitution. And no doubt, the altering of this historic document in Mankind is a grave and sanctified responsibility which is why the most influential, intelligent, creative, innovative, wise, spiritual, logical, and grounded individuals will be called to this Second Constitutional Convention of the United States by their representative States. However, the calling for a United States Constitution Convention is up to the American People, who, must debate the choices, and alternatives, of doing nothing versus addressing those important concerns to each and every American. It should be obvious where the author stands. A debate started now in the waning summer days of 2011 could be resolved by the 2012 election cycle, but forging ahead quickly to a 2012 Second Constitutional Convention depends on us, the People.

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Such a National conversation will spur outcry and false assumptions such as a takeover by special interest groups, and the promoting of the destruction of law and order. Or, that we have to be fearful of the outcome in such a time; and in this politically-heated arena. Nothing could be further removed from the truth. James Madison spoke of this complaint in The Federalist No. 10: Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of the public and private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority. Which is why the amending of the Constitution is still a multi-tiered process: to have such a Constitutional Convention; the organization of the committees; the drafting of Amendments; the submission to the sitting U.S. Congress; and/or to the ratification by the State legislatures. The prolonged time needed to express the absolute Will of the People negates the frivolity of an opportune party in exploiting a momentary lapse in listening to reasoned arguments by an opposing electorate. And while representation follows the peoples whims and the ability to express their voices and shape the discussion via their representatives is often just a matter one election it still takes years to cement a path toward a unifying plan. This complexity was done to avoid any domination based on the slimmest of majorities. Such Constitutional Reformation is not a new idea. In the mid-1980s, James L. Sundquist from The Brookings Institution wrote on the subject in Constitutional Reform and Effective Government (1986). Then, no mention was ever made of the Environment, Climate Change (Global Warming), Genetics, Technology, the Internet, or 36

Reproductive Rights. Only in passing was the term Energy Policies or Abortion mentioned. Thus, the need for an updated discussion to determine what should be the role of our Modern Government; and what are the Rights and Responsibilities of each branch; and the operation as it is directed toward the Individual; and is their a better way to solve our various problems through better, leaner, and a more focused government. If indeed, a quorum develops to execute a Second Convention a supermajority of 34 states, for example then we can proceed to selection of new leaders to be sent, and the importance of equality of representation based on expertise, and commonality, and flexibility of action. Section II. Delegates. It is a hope that with a large contingent that a wide array of opinions can be brought to bear on the problems. And that discussion in Americas newspapers, online sites, blogs, podcasts, talk radio, TV, and social media platforms will engage Americans in a Civics discussion of unparallel proportions in Human History. It is a desire to get the best each state has to offer in agriculture, art, business, economics, education, engineering, legal, medical, natural science, political science, and technology sectors, to name only select few categories of expertise. Representation in each state should be robust, but delegations should be reasonably sized based on economic interests, population in the 2010 Census, and any other legitimately arguable reason to have a large delegation, or a specific member(s). (California, for example, could be seen as needing up to 65 delegates based on their electorate, and 10 additional members due to economic and social complexities.) However, since issues affect all States, any subcommittee representative may be instituted to bring voices from all corners. (The Convention should iron out the structure and size this paper is only a draft document on the complex issues.)

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The biggest caveat to delegation representation is that the currently sitting Congressional members of the United States cannot be apart of this discussion. They have plenty to handle in the daily oversight and operation of the Country. (They could testify or provide information on drafting amendments.) They can resign their post to join the discussion, but cannot be apart of these two bodies simultaneously. The point of the delegation is not to just bring elite minds to the table either. At least 10% of the representatives need to be lay community leaders who represent urban, suburban, and rural areas successfully, and uniquely. Their intimate connection is as important as the ivory tower scientist, or tempered-glass, high-rise, Wall Street-minded executive who will be as much apart of the discussion as his State deems necessary. Section III. Elder Statesmen. The hopeful addition of a special oversight committee comes from the nature of the Framers in all our respective minds: The Elder Statesmen. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) last hurrah was both in his urging that the Constitution receive unanimous support, and the Great Compromise, the bicameral U.S. Congress. His life was one of practicality and compromise where needed because it served him best through eightyfour years of 18th century living. He learned from mistakes he made, early and often, and varied his life to touch on a wide array of people, places, and ideas for his, and any day. It can be posited that without his tactful efforts in France, the United States does not form in the plural form. Thus, it may be worthwhile to note his appearance on a $100 Bill is a credit to which he richly deserved. While the author does not feel that such a light exists today, it is a hope that many retired experts in the U.S. legislature, Executive branch, U.S. Agencies, judges, and legal scholars should be assembled as a unique body. They should be assigned to committees (below, discussion) in their expertise as a non-voting delegate, but with the ability to draw on their own unique experiences to guide in rhetoric a committee in drafting any Amendments. 38

They should carry through on the final oversight of the completed document which must pass through the necessary iterations before final submission to the Sitting Congress, and later, the States. The number of Elder Statesmen should number no more than the number of Committees. Plenty of voices will be involved, so limitation is needed, where possible. But this should be a special appointment, and not to satisfy some political end or ends. Section IV. Committees. Without specific numbers, but using 538 representatives as a theoretical base, approximately 12 committees (with further breakdown as they deem necessary) to attempt to handle the intertwined policies and desires of the People. (A cross-functional committee would make 13 total.) This is a process that should not be rushed; as it is a hope that in 18 months of debate, analysis, counterarguments, ratification process, and the establishment into law we can reform the U.S. Constitution. (Assuming the discussion will last until at least the 2012 Election cycle.) Our vision of the future should guide how we design the prospects of the country. Categorization should reflect how such ideas tie together and where they may lead. Possible Committees 21st century and Beyond Business & Economics Agriculture, Conservation & Natural Resources Arts & Education Development Disaster Management & Policy Efficiency & Effective Governmental Systems Engineering, Energy, Infrastructure & Climate Change Federal Budget Reform & Analysis Medicine, Science & Technology Military, Security, Terrorism, and Foreign Policy Legal Reform (Criminal & Civil) Political Reform (Federal & State, Funding of Elections) Trade & Domestic Employment Unified Committee to Resolve Conflicting Amendments 39

It could be also organized similar to Congressional Committees in terms of titling however, it should be left to the Conventions discretion to define leadership structure, who is championing the issues (essentially all delegates should, but some will hold more sway as in all human endeavors), assign them by expertise (and some philosophical bent) to those that can also grasp the interconnected nature, and bring forth logical and understandable rights, and modifications to the great rule of Law, if possible, or if desired. Section V. Support from Other Branches of Government. Assistance from the Agencies of the U.S. Government should be without barriers. The committees work should be held in secret like a jurys decision, or with a top secret design, until the necessary release to public for ample debates and revisions, as justified. The United States Supreme Court could assist in the legal language and interconnections to other arenas not that delegates Amendment work can be undermined by their interpretations but that, information and background is the key to such determinations of how to proceed. (This could be done in concert with Elder Statesmen delegates.) The U.S. Legislatures and State legislatures should be involved as seen fit by the committees and subcommittees. Whatever is necessary and proper to achieve the highest ideal should be allowed. Convention. Section VI. Delegates Role, Responsibility and Venue for Convention. This should be a no payment job. (Room & Board to be provided along with necessary work materials and access to technology for overnight work for the duration of the convention. Projected Time: 2 years. years.) The delegation should see this as the ultimate expression of love to their country as it will define the future in ways to be yet determined. Their devotion to the job at hand and Posterity of America should be payment enough.

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The Convention should take place in Philadelphia with either a state-ofthe-art facility, or access to a very functional historic place (such as Independence Hall) being the goal. Our History should lead us back to our roots; and Philadelphia and Ben Franklin are both firmly rooted in the American constitutional process. Section VII. A Sample of 21st Century Amendments for Discussion. These are only a sample of the Amendments the author feels should be taken up by no means the best titling of each however, it provides a raw look at what this author frames as a whole new era of American history. Healthcare Rights Amendment Social Security Restructuring and Restitution Amendment Conservation Rights & Land Use Responsibilities Amendment Energy Exploration & Innovation Amendment Infrastructure & Utilities Amendment Education Rights Amendment Balanced Budget Amendment Internet Speech Amendment Equal Rights Amendment Term Limits & Length of Service Amendment Confidence Vote Amendment Cabinet Sub Cabinet Re-Organization Amendment Innovation & Technology Protection Amendment Financial Organizations & Systemic Risks Amendment Legislature Veto Amendment Political Action Groups Amendment Necessary & Proper Amendment Electoral College Amendment International Labor & Trade Amendment Coordinating Action of Branches of Government Amendment Branch. Section VIII. A 4th Branch to Constitution: The Councilor Branch This is by far the most constitutionally experimental suggestion to the current state of affairs. It will instantly be seen as more red tape; or confusing to operate; or unwieldy to an all ready magpie of malfunctioning parts. But this addition may unclog a pressure laden 41

system of political ideologies that must account for a 3rd equation: that of 13 men and women whose job it is to move the wheels of governance when they are clogged and review tortured laws and legislation for the economic and effective benefit to the people of the land.

The Councilor Branch Members. Six regional directors will sit on this economic council. These members will not come from any federal agency, executive, judicial, or legislative service. Private citizens who maintain a residence to their specific regions for fifteen years minimum. This will be a 5-year appointment made by popular vote in their respective regions. Maximum of two elected terms in total, no more than 12 years aggregated. Six Regions 1- California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada 2- Idaho, Montana, Utah, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado 3- Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri 4- Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas 5- Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia 6- Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Rhode Island Experience from the halls of the federal government can be easily found. As a result, creating agency posts that reflect that experience should be a profound departure from assuming that much of governance is somehow by accident, or without a design, political or otherwise. These agency posts are assigned for a 3-year term by the President but with the approval of the Senate. (But cannot be a former cabinet member under the current elected President.) With a maximum of 2 terms, consecutively, eight years total service.

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Seven Agency Posts (Examples) 1- Executive Post Governors 2- Legislative Post U.S. House or U.S. Senator 3- Judicial Post Federal Judge (retired) 4- Agency (Domestic) Department of Labor, Commerce, Energy 5- Agency (Foreign) Secretary of State, CIA Director, Military CIC 6- Economic (Public Sector) Treasury, HUDD 7- Economic (Private Sector) CEO of Fortune 500 company Reordering of Executive Branch, Legislative Powers and Judicial Review. The major thrust of this new body is economic review of policy prescriptions proposed and carried forth by the current two-party system and the laws that are truly not in the best interests of the people as the Supreme Court rules. As such, this body will hold definitive review of matters of utmost importance, though limited in its discretion to reapply them. Only a (8/13 vote) can approve measures broached in this branch. The Councilor Branch will receive detail reports and agency access to Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Ways and Means committee, and Budgetary committees of Congress will report and hold all major discussions with the Councilor Branch presiding. New Councilor powers 1 Can reform recently passed budgetary legislation without any formal judicial review (alter financing, balance tax versus expenditures, etc.) 2 Can pass through laws stalemated by a split Congress (only twice per calendar year) 3 Can override a Presidential veto, budgetary in nature only Checks of Power The other three branches can bring any decision made by the councilor branch under question through a two of three branches overriding vote where: 1) The President of the United States votes against 2) A super majority of both houses of Congress (60%) vote against 3) The Supreme Court casts its decision by at least a 2/3 majority (no formal written decision however thus it is unable to formulate new precedence via judicial review)

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This new branch will operate most efficiently when it limits its purpose to the most vital and pressing concerns facing our country. It is not an expansion of power to a superior branch, nor is it a reduction of the other three branches, but rather, the Councilor branch should be based on effective analysis of what is a guiding light or vision of what the Country should be at its best.

New Checks of The Four Branches of the United States Government

Can override vetoes Of President (9/13, special case)

Councilor
Can override ruling Without judicial review

Can override with 1 additional branch

Executive

Can pass laws that Congress will not vote on or refuses to push out of committee (2) per legislative session

6-3 vote along with one add. branch

Super majority (60-40) And 1 add. Branch Can override Councilor

Judicial

Legislative

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VI. Concluding Thought on Americas Problems If, at the very least, this triggers an intelligent discussion, and the search for information and analysis of the issues to put into play by the hopeful Designers of the 21st Century Amendments to Our Hallowed Constitution, then the work of a Convention should be called a success. Quality, not quantity, is the Experiment that is Good Governance. If we should ignore this, then the problems will persist. Innovative democratic governance tied together the Enlightenment ideas of Locke, Smith, Voltaire, Paine, and the Founders to guide our economics, religious freedoms to our humanity, equality, and ultimately, the Rights of Man. These men had yet to build the industrialized society, but set free Man from the ground to gather the air around them for the ideas unseen, or such powers seemingly insurmountable in daily life. Yet today, as discussed, marvelous advances and pressing world problems too are often solved via old methodologies. Such ties to the past are expected, but we should begin again accords from a greater knowledge of our world, and envisage better tomorrows. Old constitutions treasured should be evolved to meet their peoples concerns. In 1790, only 3.9 million inhabitants were counted American. As of the 2010 census, 320 million plus are here and seek a government that allows great personal freedom, strong security, and ample opportunity for their advancement and their childrens children success. The impetus for such a drastic alteration should be to suppress and eliminate a much greater and fundamentally destructive dynamic: The internal and external forces that are waging war against America. Some by accident; some by design; but all are a linchpin to a catastrophic collapse in our Freedoms and Choices as American Citizens. But as Physicist Albert Einstein stated: We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

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As a broad corollary, We cannot address our nations current Health Care crisis, Financial Dilemmas, Manufacturing shortcomings, National Debt service, Energy Conundrums, Political Calcifications, and name-yourcountry-in-need Crises with the same sort of policies we used to get into these particular messes, or perpetually find ourselves discussing ways to get out of without addressing the problem differently. Another proposal that of zero-base thinking is, to say: knowing what we know now, how would we start over again from scratch? And what is the efficient and effective path to a revamp much of what is holding us back given that proposed starting point? And by also taking this hard tack to stern to revisit what made America great is the best alternative to solving what ills, and curing, what ails. No matter the side of the spectrum you represent politically or philosophically, Our Nation, Our Constitution, requires: Our Assistance. But 320,000,000 plus voices, organized 1,000,000 different ways, and going 250,000 directions does not solve the problem. One course - many voices on that auspicious heading. What is proposed is fair, logical, and non-partisan. It means more than just about anything else - the continuation of the United States as the bastion of Freedom and Hope and Vitality and Prosperity. Our Posterity requires it. Enduring change is done through the process of Law and Order. This Proposed Convention for adapting the U.S. Constitution for the 21st century is not about any singular argument, or advancement. It is about trusting that We, The People, can respectfully and uniformly agree on the Necessities of our Modern Life. It is about setting examples for a World that is often amiss. 46

That Change and Adaptation can happen quickly and with great human benefits. And with Duty, Honor, Courage and Commitment, This Shall Be the Case.

Jason T. Powers

Draft Draft Draft Draft Draft Draft Draft Draft Draft Draft Draft Draft Draft

#1: June 15, 2009 #2: June 17, 2009 #3: June 21, 2009 #4: June 23, 2009 #5: April 9, 2011 #6: April 16, 2011 #7: April 30, 2011 #8: May 10, 2011 #9: May 18, 2011 #10: June 11, 2011 #11: July 9, 2011 #12: July 18, 2011 #13: July 24, 2011

Biography (Subtitles omitted for brevity) (Note While this by no means is an entirely definitive or authoritative Note: Note group of selected reading, it did shape or add to the authors feeling that some mechanism beyond what is going on now, needs to be used to right Americas ship from a collision of much greater consequence.) John Cassidy. How Markets Fail. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2009. Richard Duncan. The Dollar Crisis. 2003. Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison. The Federalist. 1789.

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Joshua Holland. The Fifteen Biggest Lies About the Economy. Walter Isaacson. Benjamin Franklin. New York. Simon & Schuster; 2003. John Kao. Innovation Nation. Paul Krugman. The Return to Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008. Michael Lewis. The Big Short. 2010. Roger Lowenstein. The End of Wall Street. New York: Penguin Group; 2010. Barry C. Lynn. Cornered. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc; 2010. Jeanne C. Meister, Karie Willyerd. The 2020 Workplace. New York: HarperCollins; 2010. Robyn Meredith. The Elephant and the Dragon. Laton McCartney. Friends in High Places. New York: Ballantine Books; 1989. Barack Obama. The Audacity of Hope. New York: Crown Publishers; 2006. David Owen. Green Metropolis. 2009. Kevin Phillips. Bad Money. New York: Viking Press; 2008. Richard Posner. A Failure of Capitalism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 2009. Nouriel Roubini, Stephen Mihm. Crisis Economics. New York: Penguin Press; 2010. Barry Schwartz, Kenneth Sharpe. Practical Wisdom. New York: Penguin Press; 2010. 48

Matthew R. Simmons. Twilight in the Desert. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc; 2005. Mark Skousen. The Making of Modern Economics. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe; 2001. David M. Smick. The World Is Curved. New York: Penguin Group; 2009. James L. Sundquist. Constitutional Reform and Effective Government. 1986.

Additional Materials 2006 2009 U.S. Census Data. 2011 Trade Data from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Suze Orman. The Money Class. WTTW Broadcast; June 8, 2011. 9PM CST. Fareed Zachari. Restoring The American Dream: How to Innovate. CNN; June 11, 2011. 7PM CST.

Appendix U.S. Military Strength in 1945 The Pacific Fleet alone numbered 23 battleships, 26 full-size aircraft carriers, 64 escort size
carriers, 52 cruisers, 323 destroyers, 181 submarines, 91,000 auxiliary vessels of various sizes and more than 14,847 combat planes 8,300,000 men in the United States Army 150,000 Air Force planes existed with 2,000,000 men dedicated to its service The use of the atomic bomb

(Source: Think Magazines Diary of U.S. participation in WWII, IBM, 1950)

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