G-20 World Economic Summit should endorse the Global Marshall Plan

Leaders from the 20 top national economic powers, called the G-20, are meeting this weekend in Washington, DC, to develop a new world strategy for dealing with the current global financial breakdown. Rather than seeking ways to restore the former status quo, however, they instead should be talking about how to implement a Global Marshall Plan.

Proposed by such internationally respected sources as Al Gore, Rabbi Michael Lerner, and Jeffrey Sachs, the concept of a Global Marshall Plan has received thousands of endorsements wordwide, including such U.S. Congressional Representatives as John Conyers, Barbara Lee, Dennis Kucinich, Barney Frank, James Moran, Emmanuel Cleaver, Raul Grijalva, and Donald Payne. U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison himself introduced House Resolution 1078, calling for the United States to support implementation of the Global Marshall Plan.

In a nutshell, the Global Marshall Plan in its several variations calls for the leading economic nations (that is, the G-20) to dedicate from 1 to 5 percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to addressing the worldwide problems of economic injustice in world trade and the associated issues of illiteracy, poverty, hunger, disease, and climate change.

The Global Marshall Plan would address the chief causes of war by restoring the original vision of Adam Smith for the free enterprise system, which was creating widespread prosperity among the common people instead of concetrating wealth in monopolies owned by an aristocratic few.

The Global Marshall Plan advocates a bottom-up approach of empowering indiviudals and small businesses rather than the top-down approach of the European Marshal Plan after WWII. That initial plan restored power to the same large corporations that existed prior to the war. They generally were the financial backers of the Nazis and Fascists as a way to repress workers rights. 

Philosophically, the Global Marshall Plan promotes a strategy of generostiy rather than a strategy of domination. We need this change in our hearts and minds to produce a lasting change in the world.

Below is a fast description of the plan by David, a private citizen in Phladelphia.

Below are diverse speakers talking about the Gobal Marshall Plan during the public conference presented by the Network of Spiritual Progressives at the start of the Democratic National Convention in Denver last Auguust.

Below is an informal interview in May 2007 with Rabbi Lerner talking in greater detail about the strategy of generosity behind the Global Marshall Plan.

Sen. Barack Obama told Rabbi Lerner last year that if he became president, he would endorse the Global Marshall Plan providing there is enough public support for the proposal (so he has political cover, I presume). Therefore, I encourage you to contact the president-elect's transition team at www.Change.gov and urge our new president to support the Global Marshall Plan.

And when you send that email, invite President-elect Obama to instruct his representatives at the G-20 conference (former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Republican Congressman Jim Leach) to sound out world leaders about the Gobal Marshall Plan, which already is gathering momentum worldwide. Because time critical, please send your email to Obama today. 

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