Jill Stein Talks About the First 100 Days of Her Administration

“The first thing I will do- and the easiest thing to do- is to cancel student debt,” Dr. Jill Stein said in an interview on June 11.

I asked Dr. Stein about the first 100 days of a Stein administration- what would it look like? What would the priorities be? How would Stein move the Green Party’s progressive agenda forward?

Liberating young people from student debt makes a lot of other things possible,” Stein continued. “You then have re-engaged a generation which is currently hung out to dry and not able to participate in social and community life and political life.”

With this message, Stein believes, she can energize and invigorate a movement. It’s a “rising tide lifts all boats” scenario. Stein’s electoral success will sweep in Congressional allies, who in turn will help her to effect systemic change. Think the kind of promise that Obama had in 2008- except Stein is real.

“The Greens are a national party- we have chapters in every state and we have people running for office in every state. So we would bring a substantial number of votes into the Congress. And we would hope to see principled Democrats and Republicans not only collaborate with us but potentially move over as well.”

It’s a tall order, and Stein realizes that. But without this kind of hope for the future, the point of running for office in the modern US is lost.

“There would definitely be intransigence to deal with,” Stein conceded. “Presidential power of appointment to the Federal Reserve would allow for quantitative easing for relief of debt.”

The president also has power over breaking up the big banks,” said Stein. “That can be done by imposing minimum capital requirements proportional to the risks the banks are taking.”

In other words: If you don’t have the money to cover your potential losses? You can’t make the bet. This would functionally restructure the US banking system, which has been a virtual federal-backed casino since the repeal of Glass-Steagal in 1999.

Stein believes that tightening up regulations on the banking industry will free up capital for communities and social programs, allowing reinvestment in municipalities and NGOs. And, of course, it will provide some consequences to the bad behavior of the banking industry.

“We need to restore law and order to Wall Street,” Stein said. “Which has no law and order.”

Finally, we need a Green New Deal,” explained Stein. “A massive jobs program that solves our economic crisis and the climate crisis.”

The plan is ambitious. Stein and the Green Party claim that their program will create 20 million new jobs in the renewable energy sector and for environmental cleanup. The project will “green up” the US’s infrastructural system.

“It puts lots of people to work,” Stein said. “It will be nationally funded and locally controlled, with certain guidelines around creating sustainable communities- ecologically, economically, socially sustainable.”

“The question is, how do you fund that?” she asked. “The Green New Deal pays for itself, based on health benefits” saved due to less pollution.

The program would face Congressional resistance, and Stein realizes that. But she has a plan.

“We would push hard, we would rely on the newly liberated millennials (above) to provide political pressure,” the candidate said. “We can do this.”

“It’s time to reject the lesser evil and stand up for the greater good.”