Reich: a Tax on Wall Street Trades Is an Even Better Idea Than You Know

[Chimichurri]

One of Bernie Sanders’s most important proposals didn’t receive enough attention and should become a law even without a president Sanders. Hillary Clinton should adopt it for her campaign.

It’s a tax on financial transactions.
http://www.alternet.org/economy/reich-why-tax-wall-street-trades-even-better-idea-you-know-video

[Buckeye_Democrat]

1. I always liked Reich.

I hope he can work for another Clinton administration (if he wants it).

[think]

2. A stock transaction tax makes good sense. It makes high speed frequency trading less profitable

High speed frequency trading is basically a concept where savvy investors have created their OWN tax. It benefits only them and does nothing to add value to the market...

[mopinko]

3. if it is not implemented world wide all that will happen is that

tons of money will exit the country.
w high speed trading chasing pennies at a time, any penny sent elsewhere will send that trade to london, tokyo, hong kong, etc.

trading floors are drying up quickly w electronic trading. this would be their death knell. and a lot of the really good jobs at those exchanges will evaporate.
new york, chicago, atlanta will really suffer.

[Chimichurri]

4. Nonsense

My significant other and I are network architects and develop these platforms on a global scale. One client will pay 1.5 mill just to have a direct pipeline into these high frequency networks without blinking. Tax that access and each trade by pennies. It would generate billions in revenue and trust me, they wouldn't miss it

Also, the dark pools are something that must be regulated. That's the real menace

[mopinko]

6. my ex was the architect of a major trading system.

took his exchange from paper to handheld order system to desktop based. their floor is only still populated because they have proprietary products only traded there. most of the pits are nearly empty.

these people are greedy, and will gladly break old alliances to avoid those pennies.

i am sure london, tokyo and hong kong would be happy to get those pennies, too.
if the u.s. did it, and pushed them to do it too, they would probably be happy to go along. tho, one defector will spoil the whole thing. and make them very rich.

[Chimichurri]

7. Almost all the exchanges are in seacacus & weehawken nj

Just over the bridge from Wall Street. So the financial firms aren't moving. Basically all the exchanges aren't being taxed but the traders are. No one is gonna leave because the expenditures to do so are astronomical. Tax the exchanges. And get rid of carried interest

Your ex then works for a smaller firm. The heavy hitters are expanding their electronic trading. We have so much work we can't keep up

[mopinko]

8. yup.

ex built one of the fastest systems in the world, and it got to the point where the signal time between here and new york was the only fruit left to pick. so they put a data center in nj.

dont remember which exchange, but when they went digital the floor died practically the next day.
the exchanges arent moving, the traders are. they can go anywhere w a click. they count the pennies. and resent taxes particularly.

i'm not saying it is a bad idea. i totally agree that these assholes ought to pay a whole lot more taxes. (but dont forget that they do pay tax on that money already)
i'm just saying that you have to get all the exchanges on the bus at the same time.
it's not impossible, i dont think. but the practical fact is that it will be a heavy lift. and the money men would be all over it.

would just as soon they closed loopholes and found away to repatriate money from tax havens.
smaller lift.

qualify this w this scenario- elizabeth warren in a high office in the clinton administration. over 8 years, it might get done.

[Chimichurri]

9. Nobody cares about the trading floor anymore. They're

Dinosaurs. And the traders themselves, please. They're the minions - they come and go. And guess what, they'll pay the new taxes and still continue trading. If not, that new frat boy studying for his series seven will.

What we need is to implement a new Glass/Steagall by people (like Warren) who understand that the same shenanigans that caused the 2008 collapse are still going on but worse. The stock market is experiencing 'moral hazard' because they now know they will get bailed out once the next financial collapse rears its ugly head. You know who'll pay for that? Not them! You and I and the rest of the working class will. Just like last time.

Bottom line is we need an FDR type who understands that Wall Street is fine but must be watched over with laws that encompass modern technology or the next time Dog knows the catastrophe they can unleash with their greed

[Qutzupalotl]

5. Yet another reason to oppose the TPP:

If implemented, the TPP would BAN transaction taxes!

http://inthesetimes.com/article/18695/TPP_Free-Trade_Globalization_Obama

The TPP would prohibit capital controls, which permit countries to block destabilizing flights of “hot money” from investors who hope to take momentary advantage of speculative opportunities, then pull out of the country just before the bubble they create collapses. It would also stop enactment of financial transaction taxes, a means of dampening speculation and raising needed public revenue.