crossposted at Loaded Orygun, Oregon's Progressive Community...
"The bill lies at the feet of those who willfully, wantonly, and irresponsibly created this mess." --Congressman Peter DeFazio
I just received a release from Peter DeFazio's (OR-4) office, with a new proposal on rescuing Wall Street: let them pay for it, literally .25% at a time:
DeFazio's proposal would impose a modest one-quarter percent (0.25%) tax on financial transactions. This tax would fall most heavily where it belongs, on those who trade large quantities of stocks, day traders and speculators. The transfer tax would have a negligible impact on Americans who have retirement assets in 401-k plans.
{more from DeFazio, including a STINGING vid from the House floor, after the jump}
Since we all like pretty pictures, here's the video first, then the rest of the statement:
"The Administration's bailout proposal was written by and for Wall Street to skirt any consequences for its excesses." DeFazio said. "These people are out of touch with reality. Wall Street should pay to bailout itself, not hard working Americans who are already struggling to make ends meet. I voted against the Bush Administration's cowboy capitalism, markets know best, deregulation at all cost policies. And, we've just witnessed the stunning failure of those policies. The American public didn't create this problem, and they shouldn't be stuck with the tab. The bill lies at the feet of those who willfully, wantonly, and irresponsibly created this mess."
In the past, respected economists such as Larry Summers, John Maynard Keynes and Nobel prize winners Joseph Stiglitz and James Tobin have supported financial transaction taxes. Well known economist Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, estimates a transaction tax along the lines of DeFazio's proposal could generate up to $150 billion a year.
There is considerable precedent for a transfer tax. The United States had a similar tax from 1914 to 1966. The Revenue Act of 1914 levied a 0.2% tax on all sales or transfers of stock. In 1932, Congress more than doubled the tax to help plug the holes from the Great Depression. And today the United Kingdom has a modest financial transaction tax of 0.25 percent, a penny on every $4 invested.
Why the hell not? As many of us have been saying, the general public weren't the ones that removed oversight and ran 30-1 credit margins! DeFazio is one of the House's foremost bulldog populists, and I'd love to see his idea get a full hearing. It certainly appeals to the regular American, I'd say...