General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Eliot Spitzer: Tax the Traders! It Would Solve Economic Crisis and Stop Reckless Activity [View all]Vox Populi
(40 posts)After reading the ravings of someone obsessed with italics and boldface, it's nice to come across a sane person.
As i have said (but not well enough), I am not opposed to the idea that those that caused the global financial crisis should be made to repay the public for their unconstrained rapaciousness. But, the FTT as proposed (a tax basd on the value of the asset traded) is a really stupid idea. This would primarily hurt the general public and miss the big financial institutions. Thee are many better ways to force the banks to pay for their greed. A simple solution is to change the FTT so that the tax would be levied on the transaction and not on the value of the asset. This is workable and wouldn't have the deleterious consequences of the idea championed by Spitzer (which btw has been around for a while, has little support, and has zero chance of being enacted).
Thanks for the kind words.