Jill Stein in 2012 State of the Union address
On Budget & Economy:
It's un-American that top 1% own 90% of wealth
Right now we are experiencing the worst economic inequality in our nation's history. The gap between the very rich and the many poor has never been so great. The wealthiest 1% in America now own as much wealth as 90% of all Americans. Those over
65 hold, on average, 47 times as much wealth as heads of households who are under 35. White families own, on average, twenty times as much as Black families. Such inequality is unacceptable, unconscionable, and un-American.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Budget & Economy:
Our economy is not working for our vast majority
As we speak tonight, our economy is not working for the vast majority of Americans. 146 million people--that's nearly one in every two Americans--is now living below or near the poverty level. The stress falls hardest on our most vulnerable and
disadvantaged, with the majority of children, half of our elders, 3/4 of Latinos, and 2/3 of African Americans living in or near poverty.Last year, one million Americans lost their health insurance, raising the numbers of the uninsured to almost
50 million of our people. Over 6 million Americans have lost their homes to foreclosure.
Overall, nearly 25 million Americans are unemployed or unable to find full time work. And even those who have jobs are struggling, because wages have been
declining for American workers, and are now lower on average than in 1996. Household income has fallen faster since the official end of the recession than during the recession itself, because the so-called "recovery" is made up of mostly low paying jobs.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Budget & Economy:
Austerity policies: harsh on YOU but easy for establishment
The political establishment in the White House, Congress, and state governments are making matters far worse, doing the opposite of what we need, by inflicting needless, harsh austerity policies on the country.This is bad for people, bad for the
economy, and completely unnecessary. When they say there's not enough money, they mean there's not enough money for YOU. Instead of austerity, we can end the Wall Street bailouts, cut the bloated military and tax the bloated rich.
These austerity cuts mean that Americans are losing jobs. The result of these austerity cuts is layoffs for teachers, nurses, child and eldercare workers, firefighters, janitors, bus drivers and all the people who keep our communities educated,
healthy, and moving forward. Worse, these austerity cuts are hurting the people who receive those services. Students, the disabled, the elderly, the ill, the unemployed, the hungry--these are the Americans who are suffering.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Budget & Economy:
90% tax on bonuses for bailed out bankers
The watered down Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform did not fix the massive problems with the deregulated financial status quo. Wall Street and the big banking interests continue to steer the economy just as they did before the Great Financial Crash of 2008.
It's time to really reform Wall Street so that working America has a chance. Here is what the financial reforms of the Green New Deal will do.- First, the debt overhang holding back the economy must be deleveraged by reducing homeowner and student
debt burdens, including an immediate halt to all foreclosures and evictions
- Democratize monetary policy. This means we'll nationalize the private bank-dominated Federal Reserve Banks
- We will break up the oversized banks that are "too big
to fail."
- We will end taxpayer-funded bailouts for banks, insurers, and other financial companies.
- We will establish a 90% tax on bonuses for bailed out bankers.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Corporations:
Corporate elite richer than ever, but pay less tax than ever
While the economy does not work for the vast majority, it does work for a few; at least for now. The owners of the big corporations are enjoying historic profits, with a record $2 trillion in cash reserves at home and $1.4 trillion overseas.
Though the corporate elite are richer than ever, they are contributing less than ever to the tax base that keeps the infrastructure going that their profits rely on--schools, transportation, clean air and water, safe food, the legal system, the police,
and the military. In fact, 30 major corporations paid no corporate income tax at all over the last three years, despite making $160 billion in profits.
And the big banks--whose fraud and greed crashed the economy to start with--are bigger than ever, with the six biggest banks now controlling capital equivalent* to 60% of all economic activity in this country.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Corporations:
Record profits-with politicians' help--caused the recession
To be clear: the greed for record profits is what got us into this mess in the first place. Of course it wasn't greed alone. It was the capture of both political parties by Wall Street and other powerful corporations that buy influence with campaign
contributions and lobbyists. Using this routine currency of American policy making, Democrats and Republicans alike dismantled protections against waste, fraud and abuse by Wall Street. This bipartisan cooperation enabled greed to crash the economy.
That not only killed jobs, it also depressed tax revenues--which has been one of the biggest drivers of the federal deficit. That deficit has also been made worse by unconscionable spending choices: notably the 4 trillion dollars spent on illegal wars
and bailouts for Wall Street. And now, the political establishment are making matters far worse, doing the opposite of what we need, by inflicting needless, harsh austerity policies on the country.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Corporations:
Make all corporate tax subsidies transparent
We will honor that oldest of American rights, the right to fair taxation that's distributed in proportion to ability to pay. And we will make any corporate tax subsidies transparent by putting these subsidies in public budgets where they can be
scrutinized, not hidden as tax breaks in complicated tax codes.
In honoring these rights we will create the basis for a new economy--an economy that is stable and not vulnerable to speculation--an economy that is prosperous and that pays for itself through the creation of real wealth that is distributed throughout
America--an economy that is no longer dragged down by big corporations preying on the elderly, the poor, the disabled, the unemployed, and the young, but which instead supports small business, individual liberty, and local, thriving communities.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Crime:
Incarcerating poor & minorities has become big business
Over seven million [Americans] are under "correctional supervision", 10 times greater than in 1965, as incarcerating poor people--disproportionately of color--has become big business with the failed war on drugs.
And more African American males are now locked up in US prisons than were slaves in 1850.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Education:
College loans trap students in financial prison of debt
Thirty million college students and recent graduates are trapped in the financial prison of student loan debt. Most students must take out costly loans to meet the skyrocketing cost of tuition.
Yet paying off those loans is almost impossible as young people face double-digit unemployment and much lower pay--40% less--than their parents' generation received for the same work.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Education:
Right to a tuition-free public education, pre-K thru college
The Green New Deal begins with an Economic Bill of Rights that recognizes our rights to an economy that serves people. This means all of us have the right to quality education, health care, housing and utilities. We will honor the right to a
tuition-free, quality public education from pre-school through college at public institutions. And we will forgive student loan debt left over from the current era of unaffordable college education .
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Energy & Oil:
Let states prevent nuclear power plants
Just last week, a federal court told the people of Vermont that they could not prevent a dangerous nuclear power plant from operating in their state. The court did this on the basis of a doctrine known as "field preemption." Basically, the State of
Vermont is barred--or "preempted"--from regulating the nuclear power industry because a federal judge says that the industry is the concern of the federal government only. Over the past 30 years, we have seen other reforms "preempted" in the same way.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Energy & Oil:
World War II-scale mobilization to reduce carbon burden
At the recent UN climate conference in South Africa, the Obama administration worked to delay international agreements on carbon emissions until 2020. This delay will allow critical climate tipping points to be passed that will accelerate warming to
the point it cannot be controlled. As renowned NASA scientist James Hanson puts it, delaying action to aggressively lower carbon would mean game over for the climate and therefore for civilization as we know it.For that reason the
Green New Deal will address these problems with a World War II-scale mobilization to transform the way we produce and use energy. We will provide leadership along the way to binding international agreements that will return the carbon burden in
our atmosphere to safe levels. We will proceed with utmost urgency, and put the United States 30 years ahead of the global curve. Let the rest of the world catch up with us!
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Environment:
Green Transition Program: convert gray economy to green
The second priority of the Green New Deal is a Green Transition Program that will convert the old, gray economy into the new green economy. We will do this by shifting to green technologies and sustainable ways of making things. We must do this right now
because the environment is the foundation for our economy--and for life itself. And that environment is deeply imperiled. The benefits we get from the environment dwarf those that come to us from human economic activity--even when measured strictly in
dollar terms. What we usually call "the environment" is really another word for Mother Nature's economy. A business model that destroys our forests, our fisheries, our topsoil, our water supplies, our health, and our climate--is a business model that
will inevitably collapse upon itself. And an economy that is addicted to ever-increasing supplies of oil is not only doomed, it is a national security disaster just waiting to happen.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Government Reform:
Voter Bill of Rights: full public financing; paper ballots
The Voter Bill of Rights is a 10-point platform: the calling card of the modern day voting rights movement:- Voter-marked paper ballot for all voting, and require that all votes are counted before election results are released.
- Replace partisan
oversight of elections with non-partisan election commissions.
- Celebrate our democratic aspirations by making Election Day a national holiday.
- Bring simplified, safe same-day voter registration to the nation so that no qualified voter is barred fro
the polls.
- Do away with so-called "winner take all" elections, and replace that system with instant runoff voting and proportional representation.
- Replace big money control of elections with full public financing and free and equal access to the
airwaves.
- Guarantee equal access to debates.
- Abolish the Electoral College and implement direct election of the President.
- Restore the vote to ex-offenders who've paid their debt to society.
- Enact Statehood for the District of Columbia
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Health Care:
Right to quality health care: Medicare for All
My administration will honor the right to quality health care through an improved Medicare for All program. This will provide comprehensive care for all. It will be free to consumers at the point of delivery, but will save money overall by reducing the
massive wasteful health insurance bureaucracy and by stabilizing medical inflation. And it restores freedom of choice so you pick your health care provider, and your care is decided by you and your provider- not by a profiteering insurance executive.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Homeland Security:
End Patriot Act; it surrenders freedoms in name of security
We must protect our liberty from those who would frighten us into surrendering our freedoms in the name of security. The Green New Deal will repeal the Patriot Act & those parts of the National Defense Authorization Act that violate our civil liberties.
It will prohibit the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI from conspiring with local police forces to suppress our freedoms of assembly and of speech.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Immigration:
End the war on immigrants; end "secure communities" cruelty
Over the past thirty years, courts [cited] a doctrine known as "field preemption." We have seen public safety, food labeling, human rights, immigrant rights, drug policy, and other reforms "preempted."The Green New Deal will end the war on
immigrants--including the cruel, so-called "secure communities" program-- which is terrorizing millions of Americans, both citizens and non-citizen immigrants, on no basis other than their perceived immigration status.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Jobs:
Economic Bill of Rights: unionize; fair taxation; fair trade
The Green New Deal begins with an Economic Bill of Rights that recognizes our rights to an economy that serves people. This means that everyone willing and able to work has the right to a job at a living wage. All of us have the right to quality
education, health care, utilities, and housing. Each of us has the right to unionize, to fair taxation, and to fair trade.This means that everyone willing and able to work has the right to a job at a living wage. All of us have the right to quality
education, health care, housing and utilities. Each of us has the right to unionize, to fair taxation, and to fair trade.
The promise of an Economic Bill of Rights came out of the last period of widespread, extreme economic hardship, the
Great Depression. In 1944, FDR said that "true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence." And 20 years later, Martin Luther King raised up the call for an Economic Bill of Rights once again.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Jobs:
Full Employment Program: green jobs and community needs
We will end unemployment in America once and for all by ensuring a job at a living wage for every American willing and able to work. This includes jobs that improve our environment, like clean manufacturing, organic agriculture, public transportation and
clean renewable energy. It also includes jobs that provide urgently needed social infrastructure--for public education, health care, child care, elder care, youth programs, and arts and culture.Our Full Employment Program will create 16 million jobs
through a community-based direct employment initiative that will be nationally funded, locally controlled, and democratically protected against conflicts of interest and pay-to-play influence peddling. The program will directly create jobs in the public
& the private sector. Instead of going to an unemployment office when you can't find work, you can simply go to the local employment office to find a public sector job. These 16 million jobs are 8 times the number sought in Obama's recent jobs proposal.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Principles & Values:
Dems & GOP blame each other while both support establishment
We're here to talk about the actual state of our nation, and how we can reclaim the promise of our democracy and the peaceful, just green future we deserve. We have heard President Obama deliver his State of the Union Address. And we heard the
Republican response. Each claims to have the answer, and that the other was an obstacle to progress.But the truth is both sides--despite the rhetoric--are responsible for the harsh policies driving our economy and our democracy into deep crisis.
Simply put, they place the interests of Wall Street ahead of the needs of everyday people and the long term welfare of our nation.
[I want] to talk about the major problems that are not being solved by the political establishment.
And focus on key game-changing solutions that have been kept off the table for too long.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Principles & Values:
Green New Deal: emergency 4-part anti-recession program
The political establishment is telling us there's little we can do to change our direction. I don't believe it and I suspect you don't either. It is time to break free from the old economy, and the old politics. It's time for a Green New Deal for
America.The Green New Deal is an emergency four part program of specific solutions for moving America quickly out of crisis into the secure green future.
- We will guarantee the economic rights of all Americans, beginning with the right to a job
at a living wage for every American willing and able to work.
- We will transition to a sustainable, green economy for the 21st century, by adopting green technologies and sustainable production.
- We will reboot and reprogram the financial sector so
that it serves everyday people and our communities, and not the other way around.
- We will protect these gains by expanding and strengthening our democracy so that our government and our economy finally serve We the People.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On War & Peace:
Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were illegal
The deficit has been made worse by unconscionable spending choices: notably the 4 trillion dollars spent on the illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and trillions more spent on the bloated Pentagon budget, tax giveaways for the wealthy, and bailouts for
Wall Street. Instead of austerity, we can end the Wall Street bailouts, cut the bloated military and tax the bloated rich.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
On Welfare & Poverty:
Right to affordable housing: expand rental & home assistance
We will honor the right to decent affordable housing, including an immediate halt to all foreclosures and evictions. We will create a federal bank with local branches to take over homes with distressed mortgages and either restructure the mortgages to
affordable levels, or if the occupants cannot afford a mortgage, rent homes to the occupants. We will expand rental and home ownership assistance, create ample public housing, and capital grants to non-profit developers of affordable housing until all
people can obtain decent housing at no more than 25% of their income.We will honor the right to accessible and affordable utilities--heat, electricity, phone, internet, and public transportation--which will be made available to all through
democratically run, publicly owned utilities that operate at cost, not for profit.
In honoring these rights we will create the basis for a new economy--an economy that is stable and not vulnerable to speculation.
Source: Green Party 2012 People's State of the Union speech
Jan 25, 2012
Page last updated: Feb 24, 2019