Weekend Economists:Auld Acquaintance Should Be Forgot December 28-30, 2012

[bread_and_roses]

39. Robin Hood Rising: ... EU Parliament to Tax Financial Speculation

Our Xchrom posted this in GD today - it's orig from the 13th so was probably posted here on one of the days I was MIA - thought it worth cross-posting as a sort of harbinger of - dare I say it? - hope that things can change.

http://www.alternet.org/world/robin-hood-rising-grassroots-campaign-spurs-eu-parliament-tax-financial-speculation

YES! Magazine [1] / By Sarah Anderson [2]
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Robin Hood Rising: Grassroots Campaign Spurs EU Parliament to Tax Financial Speculation
December 13, 2012 |

Under pressure to address a massive deficit, legislators voted overwhelmingly this week in favor of a tax on financial speculation. This really happened, I swear.

OK, it was in Europe, not the United States. But it could happen here—and it should.

The vote in the European Parliament on December 10 was the latest in a series of victories by international campaigners for a tax on trades of stocks, bonds, and derivatives. Often called a “Robin Hood Tax,” the goal is to raise massive revenues for urgent needs, such as combating unemployment, global poverty, and climate change.

A financial transaction tax would also discourage the senseless high frequency trading that now dominates our financial markets. Recently, the chief economist of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the top U.S. derivatives regulator) found [3] that such trading practices are hurting traditional investors.

In reaction to the Parliamentary vote, David Hillman, of the U.K. Robin Hood Tax campaign, said that the tax “will raise at least 37 billion euros per year for the countries involved whilst reining in the worst excesses of the financial sector.”

Nicolas Mombrial, a Brussels-based policy adviser for Oxfam, added that “The European Parliament’s overwhelming support reflects the will of Europe’s people. In cash-strapped times, an financial transactions tax is a no-brainer that is morally right, technically feasible, and economically sound.”