In my back room are TWO copies of William Greider's Who Will Tell the People. Wayne thought it was important; Dennis and Howard thought so, too. Greider, from a rich-guy world, worked Rolling Stone as Foreign Correspondent, then Washington Post, now The Nation. He's still helping us sort the tough stuff out-

Like WHAT THE &*#! IS GOING ON WITH OUR ECONOMY? GLOBALLY?

Not simple stuff, but Greider makes sense of it so we can see a way to move. Following are my notes from his recent presentation at Praxis Peace, Sonoma, this event at the Sonoma Community Center, a first visit for Greider to the North Bay-

REPENT! He said. The End is Nigh! He said. Much has been written about what has come to pass... Greider's new book, Come Home, America, speaks to average Americans about the deeper financial crisis or recession. We're at a breaking point unlike all others, self-inflicted. Americans have many fine qualities; humility is not among them. New politics will open a very rare chance for re-imagining and deeper changes may produce America the Possible, but this will only happen if people engage in politics. People he sites Dennis Kuchinich, Mike Revil, Alaska, Larry Goodwin, as three who stand up and present "inoculated ideas" needed so we avoid sliding into a bitter mess. (OUCH, OUCH, OUCH! No bitter mess, please!)

"He wrote that the public rage has great potential for restoring democracy recently in an op-ed in the Washington Post." - Bill Moyers interview at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03272009/watch2.html

He asks way we would want to give more power to the Federal Reserve when they seem bent on rebuilding what just broke.

About the AIG bonuses: Media speaks of populist anger as "irrational/unruly" - people out of their cage. But Populists were a movement of farmers; the Populist Moment was a Farmers Alliance. There are a lot of bonfires coming up - April 11th demonstration against the bailouts. The New Deal was created by organized labor doing sit downs in factories - the Townsend Movement - and Social Security came along as something FDR hadn't planned for - but he was willing to be pushed when people showed they needed change.

Greider sincerely hopes we won't get to the desperation of the 1930's. The Old Order (Wall Street) has been deeply wounded - for the moment - with Obama on their side and Obama believes bailout will be responsible for recovery which Greider believes is WRONG. We have to teach the President he's on the wrong side of history, according to Greider. We should have LARGER aspirations and when the bills come due globalization, ecology, most Americans are going to experience a lower standard of living. We're not going to be fabulously wealthy - good times are not coming back - so what is our goal?
We can build a society that
1) gives longer lives to all and a self-directed sense of future
2) stands up to concentrated power in government so all can participate in decisions that affect our lives
3) The debate has barely begun - citizens can change this - kids are 1st to speak. Give them a list of solutions.
The core argument, according to Greider, is to create a banking and financial system that serves the society instead of the other way around. President's program does start to address this, but Obama is allied with big banks, Enron and practices of usury. On the other hand, there are thousands of small banks who didn't get into trouble - conservative Republicans, credit unions, community banks and he suggests we put money there and proceed with euthanasia for big banks. Paul Volker and Alan Greenspan had a list of banks "too big to fail" and Geitner's proposal leads to corporate state. Some banks ARE too big to save, Greider says and credit default swaps should be illegal. He asks that we talk this through - communicate that to others: why aren't we talking about this? THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS WORKS. An underground river of discontent. "I believe it CAN happen again."

He talks about the mystery of democracy, that people get power who believe they are entitled to power. "Outrage right now might just get the Congress to slow down and get it right."

Greider says our consumption society is doomed and oil scarcity and ecological crises call for industrial overhaul for which we need political consensus. We have to change our approach to globalization because it's a new negative creating a debt burden that makes us dependents. The demise of the dollar is approaching; tom toms are being sounded all around the world for something to replace the dollar, a BLOW TO OUR PRIDE.

Militarism drives foreign policy since end of Cold War but we punished the Cold War loser, Russia, offering them adoption of a free market system that caused the worst depression in 20th Century. After WWII, we insisted on NOT punishing losers. Military setting trip wires for next war. Deployments now are really dangerous; people are tired of our manipulations abroad. There is a war against Somalia: 2 years running with Ethiopian troups "to stamp out radical Islam". OUTRAGEOUS that African offices were created to hit Muslims and gain oil. We send Green Berets, the Chinese send money; we whack people quietly while running a positive PR campaign; we continue containment of Cold War, encircling Russia and China. Do you know we are picking a fight with our BANKER?

We need to create a new circle of banks, smaller banks and credit unions who will serve us. But Obama is subsidizing the leading banks, at the trough ahead of everybody else, they will have the means to institutionalize the corporate state.

"I want people to grab their pitchforks, yes, be unruly, be as non-violently present as possible. A lot of politicians need that to stand up; our president needs that to stand up."

The New Deal was made by people finding their voice and influencing Franklin Roosevelt to do what was needed. We need to do this again. Light bonfires for bigger changes we need now. Roosevelt let these forces roll him and Greider hopes Obama will listen when people bank on his door and say "we love you, Mr. President, but you don't have it right yet."