A couple of days ago, I posted a summary about David Sirota's book, "Hostile Takeover: How Big Money & Corruption Conquered Our Government - and How We Take It Back". The more I get involved in political activism, the more I realize that too many decisions are being made by too few people that control very large sums of money. Part of me is disappointed that politicians are corrupted by the allure of trips to resorts, the oiling of their election campaigns by big money interests, etc. I guess that reflects my lack of understanding of how that world works.

I feel that corporations have too much control over what happens in my everyday life. In order to change that, I've decided to try to do something about it. Sirota has compiled a good list of issues that we all face and matches those issues up with some pragmatic, populist solutions. Today, I'd like to address taxes.

Sirota lists the following:

1. Roll back the Bush tax cuts immediately.
2. Stop letting companies rip off American taxpayers by using offshore tax havens.
3. Stop doing business with tax cheats and start punishing them.
4. Force CEOs to certify corporate tax returns.
5. Give the IRS back its teeth and start making it do its real job.
6. When cutting taxes, give everyone the same tax cut … literally.
7. Fix the regressive payroll tax.
8. Start taxing wealth instead of just work.
9. Limit the home mortgage deduction.
10. Bring back the estate tax.

After acknowledging that these solutions aren't a complete list, I'm curious to read what other solutions folks have. I think these are a good start, but I also recognize who's sitting in the White House for two more years. And it's a given that the same corporations that have stolen us blind will fight any progressive solutions tooth and nail. What can be done about that?

So this is food for thought. As I run across other potential solutions, I'll add them to this list.