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 An interesting question here is how do the re-generation principles above match up with an actual emergency, such as the BP oil spill?  It provides an example of what how, if a re-generation plan had been in place, things would be different.

First we have a spill, the largest in American history which will contaminate over 1/3 of the Gulf of Mexico, is an environmental disaster, will affect the livelihood of thousands along the coast and inland as well, among some the poorest states in the Union. Unemployment, damaged tourism, and decay will be with the regions for years.

And to boot, we are treated to a scene where politicians parade across our TV screens promising relief but delivering none, in it mainly to get their faces on TV and hoping thereby to get re-elected; no FEMA programs spring into action, and payments have to come directly from BP and meantime how are people going to feed themselves, and make boat and house payments?
A mess.

Now under re-generation, first of all, BP would be required to click a computer screen and transfer a few billion dollars directly to local banks who where the individuals involved could draw upon. This would take a few minutes. Right now they are sending checks after a claims process.

But they have no local banks and few functioning. Besides the politicians want credit for relief because that means votes for them. Too quick relief and they become irrelevant.

Local banking structures who have the house note and the boat note could and would be in place under regeneration. There is no substitute for a local person who knows each individual in the community and their needs. If BP didn't transfer the money then the Federal Reserve or the Federal government should or under re-generation would be required to..
It is a down payment on ultimate claims but people in an emergency need money now, not later. Have I mentioned local co-ops? They are even better than local banks but many don't have the electronic transfer technology to handle some transactions and don't hold the mortgages and boat notes. Credit unions are also good choices, but same problem. We have to build these under re-generation.
Then we have the question of who is liable, aside from insurance companies for the disaster. Here we can identify BP but what about Harvey, and its disasterous spillage. No only the local and Federal government, and perhaps insurance companies. But what of the oil industry, those whose spills continue to this day threatening lives. Why don't they pay? A single tax would make this liable in specific amounts.

Second, given what is a slow moving disaster is that the livelihood for millions has now been destroyed. Where will they find work? Many, as was the case with Katrina and Harvey, will abandon the old jobs and livelihood and we will see decay, boarded up business and migration.

Under re-generation a self-sufficient plan would be in place to have those unemployed be employed locally in technology and small town enclaves and available for disaster relief. There would have been a plan B.

There is no plan B now in place in the Gulf and there was no plan B;  no plan B for Harvey's damage and there is no plan B even being planned for future Hurricane seasons.

When the winds arrive what hopes for a return to normalcy will be dashed and millions will be in need or at least on the move again.

Are we preparing? Nope.
The states say we have no money.
The Fed says BP is going to pay;
BP is going to say the people responsible for rig safety are registered in the Marshall Islands and can't be touched or held liable.
A court battle will take years and people will be long discouraged or gone and nobody will in the end  will take responsibility.

The moral of this tale is clear: Communities have to plan for self-sufficiency against man-made and natural disasters. Plan for food, energy, and the labor force to rebuild or sustain what is in place. The large entries, the government, BP etc. can't and don't have an interest in helping. It is not profitable for the oil company to give away too much money, and is useful to the politicians only in as much as they can get votes out of it for the next election. After that they move on to the next photo op.

We have to think that the self-sufficient frontier societies of 150 years ago have to be wedded to the techno innovations of today to keep this country going and for it to thrive. Be sure to write your congress person.

Update:
Now that BP has come up with 20 billion the first interesting point is that it could not deliver the funds directly or quickly to the people who need it. No, they gave the money to the US government. Be prepared for a long wait while the state and local politicians hop a plane to Washington to see if they can get their hands on that money and control of its distribution so as to dole it out to friends, supporters who can help them get re-elected while the people in the gulf deplete their life savings, go into debt, search for other work, prepare for cleanup which might last years, contemplate that 1/3 of the gulf being poisoned, while the marshlands affected by the spill die and make the land areas more vulnerable to hurricanes just months away.

 Things ain't going so swell.

So what to do?

First get the money out of the US hands to local banks and /or co-ops formed by the communities themselves, composed of the members of that community. (A pipe dream I know) But some people have formed communities and they ought to be encouraged.

Secondly, a regional disaster recovery plan ought to be instituted following the steps I have outlined above. (Has anyone heard from FEMA lately?)

We ought to be hiring the unemployed and the skilled to go down to institute the plan on a regional basis. First we need to implement the short term emergency plan I outlined about while simultaneously instituting the long term plans I identified. Note here the ability of residents in the area to earn a livelihood from the Gulf may be affected for many years. A new plan for the small towns in the area has to be created
So what is to be the new self-sustaining model for the area? Obviously the last plan of depending upon the sea and tourism did not prove viable.

I like the idea of desalination of the sea, solar power and water power from the Gulf. Make the hurricanes pay for themselves by harnessing the wind to produce electricity. Here would be cheap energy, cheap labor and we could introduce elements of cheap food.

Will this happen?  It should.

We created a score card on what is needed to turn America around, avoid disaster, and save our widows and orphans. So how are things going?

1- The Gulf: Not so good. We have delay  after delay and we have not only one disaster but many. The Hurricane season is now, to peak in September. Are we prepared?  No.

Citizens still don't have the money they need to survive not to mention repairs to their lives and cities and even if that hurdle was surpassed there is the matter of fishing and livelihoods all gone for the time being. BP is borrowing money and trying to sell assets because of the spill and that means no new or on-going help from them.

The marshlands are gone. This is a slow moving disaster, but, a sure one.

Are housing, disease, schools, state finances, re-building efforts kicking in or likely. Nope.

Score card F

2- The new Financial Reform bill coming through the Senate is a bust. It does not change much and the current wall-street depression will happen again. Why because the European Union has trillions is debt due in 2012 and no way to pay it  So do we. That means trouble for you and me because American banks and other central banks will pay themselves first, and bring us the bill. We, as taxpayers, are last in the que. So we are looking at no loans, likely inflation, and more austerity programs, lay- offs and unemployment. "You  folks," the mantra will go, "have to tighten your belts."

Who can afford a belt?

Score Card Financial: F

If you don't want to be cheered up any further, skip the next section because things get worse.

3-Unemployment: Millions are now on tender hooks waiting for Senators demanding payoffs for their states for supporting the unemployment extension, meantime the unemployed suffer, many times after having spent a life-time paying unemployment insurance. Someone please explain what happened to all the excess funds in the unemployment funds, both state and national? Spent-borrowed.

Now the cruel aspect this unemployment season is that Wall Street, and the banks take our money (remember we deposited unemployment uninsurance money in their banks every day and they took that money and gambled it, lost part of it, took the profits after hedging our funds, made millions, and greed upon greed, took 40% of the values of our middle class homes and 40% of our 401k and now benefit from this employment cycle because cheap labor is back--five applicants for each job, depressed wages, and those with jobs work long hours knowing that there are five people who will take that no- raise, reduced benefit, position they currently have.

Let’s be clear: Who does unemployment benefit and who has the money to buy up our de-valued assets at pennies on the dollar--the same folks who took those assets, and used our own money against us, and if there are any losses in all of this, they can simply use government funds to get paid for those losses--if you are a bank--getting paid with money that was/is our money again-essentially we are covering banking losses incurred using our money in the first place. The FDIC will collapse. No one can cover the trillions in losses there. 

Despite all of this we ask what can be done? Well there are some critical things, but now you should have a headache  

Here are some quick effective items. These are things which may seem unconnected but are not:

1- First the power of the banks and Wall Street derive directly from us citizens and the fact that each day we give them our money to play with and gamble with and if they lose, the send us taxpayers the bill via the FDIC.  

a. Move your money from the big four banks to a local bank, co-op or credit union. That keeps it local and denies the beast the money-food it uses against you.

b. Every day you give money to Wall Street through your 401k,m payroll deductions, unemployment uninsurance payments, you keep what you can. Keep yourself liquid; keep the cash. There is not going to be any interest on your money for years anyway. Keep it at home. It denies the beast the money it uses against you.

c Create your own local bank (that is what a coop is.) Your money stays home and is available for local investment. No Wells Fargo, No Bank America, No Citbank, No Chase. (Note all of our local banks are dying. Revive them and make them work for you. If you haven't guessed by now it is all about your money; put a lock on your wallet.

d. Make sure of your retirement money if it still there be sure it is not being used against you.
Insist the local union, or government change the Erisa laws so that you or your community keep the your funds local and your cash local. Better still insist that the people taking your money and investing it in wall street invest it locally to produce jobs and green technology locally.
Unions are also heavy investors in wall street. They should not be doing that. Tell the local union and city council they should  be investing that money at home.
There are no interest rates increases for the foreseeable future anyway. If they had done that at Katrina or in the BP Oil spill or Harvey the problems would have a solution, a local solution, local funds, money invested at home to directly benefit the communities where those funds came from in the first place. And don't forget to help local poor communities. If you don't the poor and formerly middle class will be on the streets knocking at your door looking to feed their families too in a chaotics situation.

These are actions you can do; you can control and would be effective.

So are things better yet?  Sadly, no. But if only a few hundred thousand Americans followed the above advice change would occur. Wall Street and the Banks would feel that pinch, so tight is the system, that a few billion would likely threaten their bloated money needs. And, they would scramble in the next year or two to get money from the Feds, like before, or they would up their fees. But, we would be gone local with our money.  So a trap can be laid and set.

Now, to be clear, this is the single best thing to do to change things--re-direct your money locally.

Secondly, I am asked are Republicans better than Democrats since the former support local control. (Big laughter here) These Republicans are not talking about local control and self-sufficiency in my meaning. They are talking about their local control over you and your money. They are the same folks in bed with the Banks and Wall street. Are the Democrats better? Nope. We have to stop drinking the cool aid which makes us fail to see that they are all in it together, spending our money and squandering the future of our children. Go to the mirror and slap yourself three times and say "I must not think that the future lies with giving my money to any politician, Banker, or Wall street."  (Yes Virginia Wall street counts on getting your unemployment check deposited regularly) So you are the golden goose.

Here at the brink of the next election, what to do you may ask. The answer is clear; talk to local townspeople about implementing the above. Start a local dollar pool and co-op (like an local investment club) and meet in homes to get it started. The election is important. I won't tell you who to vote for because all of that is less important than taking control of our own future.

So what you may ask is plan C?

The first step is to make an analysis of what resources are available in your community to do the things outlined above, available land for self-sufficiency uses, talk up the Single Tax outlined in our companion piece, identify local capital, technical investment capital, available labor pools, political strategies, union supports for withdrawing money from banks and Wall Street and insisting that it be invested locally.

Investigate the Community Reinvestment Act and apply for funds for your community--which is the purpose of that act in the first place and billions are available. (These funds come directly from the Federal Reserve.)

Identify the goal as "Local Investment with Local Funds" and call a meeting to discuss the problems and local steps for your community while also seeking outside funds to aid in the development of those local institutions which will be needed.

You want in the end local foodstuffs, locally grown, local financing, and local labor and energy sources. You can do it in a city, it is difficult. (We all should look at how successful Detroit is in this.) But movement toward self-sufficiency is a good goal for every town, no matter to what degree that might be possible.

You probably have some ideas of your own, if you think about it.

What can be done is to tell city hall to take the money out of the major banks and invest it locally or demand that the major banks invest it locally and that all mortgages be retained locally,
Sucessful we here are talking billions of dollars.
The same message should be told to the labor unions. What are they doing sending our money to Wall Street anyway? That worked our real well didn't  it? It's our money, we should take steps to control how it is spent.

Now, the State: Letters and emails should go out to state governments to add stipulations to Wall Street investment contracts that state funds be invested in the state or at least that state generated dollars have a portion reinvested in the state. You will have to fight those who invest your money, since they are beholden to Wall Street.

This is very doable. A companion piece ought to be to put in a referendum which places these ideas before the state and have them embe dded in law. If done, I guarantee you that the banks will do modifications and promote jobs and this country will move toward a sustainable recovery.  It is your money. Don't give it away every payroll deduction and check to those who can't be trusted to protect middle class interests.

This is possible.

Now I have several emails asking how this re-distribution of banking dollars will actually work. The answer, I think, lies in the German example. Germany will, this year, post a 3 percent growth in GNP (Gross National Product) and will likely loan 150 billion to bail out Greece. Germany has bounced back from the recession and is doing well.

Why is this?

The main reasons are, in my view, lies with the German community banking system where communities directly invest in local banks and in many cases, own them. A second factor is that German workers, their middle class, sit on the boards of many corporations. A third factor is that the Germans did not decimate their manufacturing base the way other countries did. Finally, Germans save and hoard cash. It is their cultural way.

Add these factors together and what we have seen is that despite the near collapse of the German National Banking system and a German TARP of billions paid out by German taxpayers to save the National Banks, Germany has come through that just fine.

The reason is, I believe, are the factors identified above. We can do this in this country. Community banking, local investment, aligned with some of the other suggestions I have made above will work, if perused vigorously, But that is a big if.