Tomorrow, nurses across America will visit the offices of their U.S. Representatives, carrying a simple message: Create a tax on unstable financial speculation by Wall Street firms in order to pay for Main Street programs to heal the damage created by the Wall Street meltdown.
The economic mess that America’s in was created by Wall Street, not by working Americans, who have continued to increase their productivity. Yet, it’s working Americans who are feeling the pain. Financial compensation for corporate executives is on the increase again, even as corporations eliminate huge numbers of jobs.
Tomorrow’s action won’t be just a typical effort to communicate with Congress. In many cities, the same nurses who go to the office of their U.S. Representatives will be holding soup kitchen events later. In California alone, the nurses will serve free food to the economic victims of Wall Street greed in Eureka, San Diego, San Bernadino, Modesto, Fresno, Bakersfield and San Francisco.
It shouldn’t be up to these nurses to serve the hunger of working Americans, of course. It’s the job of the government to help Americans in need – that’s what the General Welfare clause of the Constitution is all about. America has more than enough money to pay for better social services without increasing the federal budget deficit – but the money is being withheld by Wall Street financial firms.
The nurses are right. It’s for Wall Street to pitch in, through a new tax on risky financial speculation.
