From Ted & Anne-Marie Nordquist. Ted & Anne-Marie open with a personal message about their impressions of the meeting, and then outline the ideas that came out of it:
Summation of Our Meeting:
[We] deeply appreciate [Helaine] holding this meeting ... The following is my attempt to summarize our meeting and an attempt to encompass some of the ideas that were discussed:
1.We were impressed with the concern that all seem to have regarding education, community services such as firemen and police, and programs for the needy. It appears that everyone at the meeting felt that our government (our tax money) should be spent immediately to support existing employment rather than laying off employees in these areas. There are existing programs connected to improving the environment that employ youth that will help these youth toward employment opportunities in the future. Cutting these programs now will put these youth back on the streets and most likely increase the already growing crime rates.
2. Develop "child care" centers, day care and after school activity centers to help single parents and youth. This is an investment in future generations. There are already local boys and girls clubs that "if supported" can serve many more youth.
3. Extending unemployment insurance to the unemployed is a priority, but there are many unemployed who are victims of these times that are not on this list. The government must initiate programs to help these people also!
4. All seemed to agree that our government programs (tax money) must be spent without any discrimination for ethnicity/ race, religion, sexual preferences or physical handicaps. We must move towards a society that truly invests in fairness and distribution of our natural resources for all. It is time to end the corporate greed that has taken hold of our national and international markets. Corporate law that allows corporations to exploit employees throughout the world for the limited gain of shareholders must be regulated. Hiding behind "free market values" at the expense of "human dignity and fairness" must be addressed.
5. The banks are not helping the common citizen with home, car or business loans. We wonder why the banks (with our tax money) are charging high interest rates on loans when the federal interest rate is close to zero? The government should force a special loan program through the local banks that are tied to low interest rates when these loans are applied to energy efficient housing, cars and business.
6. Although the Obama campaign is tied to communications via the internet, email, etc., there are many American Citizens who do not have access to this technology and do not use this technology. How are you going to reach them? How do you include them in your communications and informational feedback?
7. It was pointed out that California already has senators "on track" and supportive of your recovery package. However, there are many "Red" communities that need to be reached. It was suggested that we all contact our governors, mayors, city council members and legislators and let them know that we support this recovery plan and also look forward to considerable change in how our resources are allocated going forward.
8. Just a note, although I am very supportive of the Obama Administration I am not a member of the Democratic Party. I am a member of the Green Party. I hope that you include all political parties, Green, Independent, Socialist, and Republican in your gathering of information. I would also strongly recommend that you contact indigenous tribal representatives still living on this land to get their opinions and ideas. Many of these ideas and values are much more "sustainable" than those we have developed from our European cultural values. After all, "we" are the ones destroying the earth, streams, rivers and oceans, not the indigenous people we supplanted.
9. Finally, this was not discussed in our meeting but I want to throw it out anyway. Europe experienced enormous "immigration" issues with many southern European citizens migrating to wealthier northern European countries. Europe finally formed a "European Union" where residence and work permits are open to all within the EU countries. Eventually, Canada, the USA, Mexico and South America will need to form such a union. It is just a matter of time. We should begin planning immigration laws, work permits and residence regulations towards this eventual Union to avoid excessive waste in the future. Building a Berlin wall between the USA and Mexico is such a waste of time and money.
Sincerely,
Ted & Anne-Marie Nordquist
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