1/4% Tax on all stock trades pushed in NY Times today

to show you my approach...an email I sent to Carl Rove via website
of course a reply is unlikely, but this is my direction
If I can attract one or two good sponsors, then I have a base to work from
================================================

Hello Carl,

I am US citizen and a Futures trader living in the Argentina Andes.

Traders desperately need help fighting the propaganda for a Financial Transaction Tax in the USA.

If Obama is reelected there is a good chance that a FTT could pass. There are at least two or more bills in Congress, now, with Defazio's bill having about 36 co sponsors at this point. And this time Obama will have new advisors, and likely will return fully to his populist roots.

I would like to start an organization, or participate in one, that is effective at countering the propaganda of the FTT proponents.

The best bet to me is to produce some good youtube videos, with humor, that rebut the propaganda on an emotional/unconscious level. Forget about rational arguments because the public has already made their minds up.

But, I need some assistance. The Traders are not well organized, and they don't know how to counter the emotional underpinnings of this propaganda.

If you are so inclined, please contact me, or have one of your staff. Time is short if Obama wins.

Perhaps you could put me in touch with parties with resources, technical and/or financial, to accomplish the videos and set a campaign.

If a FTT goes into place, we can kiss the financial jobs in Chicago and New York goodbye, and eventually destroy the United States' capacity to use its banking system as political leverage.

Best regards,
 
From The Art of War by Sun Tzu, a classic on military strategy:

Knowing the other and knowing myself,
in 100 battles [there is] no danger

Not knowing the other and knowing myself,
one victory for one loss

Not knowing the other and not knowing myself
in every battle [there is] certain defeat
 
Quote from tomdavis:

They guy I spoke to was just a mid-level congressional staffer, but he made it clear that his beliefs are shared by many including numerous members of congress.
More...


that's really amazing. in other words, they're hoping an industry that directly employs hundreds of thousands of people...just goes away?
 
Quote from tortoise:

that's really amazing. in other words, they're hoping an industry that directly employs hundreds of thousands of people...just goes away?
More...

For liberal progressive democrats...yes. They want it destroyed because it brings more power to the elitist lefties who want to remake America.

Sad thing is that a lot of the people who work in Congress have never had a real world, private job. They live in theories and lala land. Mainly the obamabots...err...democrats.
 
Quote from tortoise:

that's really amazing. in other words, they're hoping an industry that directly employs hundreds of thousands of people...just goes away?
More...

It was such a visceral response I don't believe he envisioned anything but hedge fund managers and Wall Street fat cats getting on their jets and flying away. When I tried to point out to him that most of the people employed in the financial industry are middle-income clerks, bookkeepers, IT techs, secretaries, etc. -- and they're the ones who would be losing their jobs -- he quickly ended the conversation by saying he had to go to a meeting.

This guy is representative of many who work in congress, and also the congressmen/women themselves. They have a hate-filled story directed at Wall Street that resonates with voters. Whether their story is true or not doesn't matter. Every time they attack Wall Street, their constituents cheer.

A friend of my wife who works for a political consulting firm told me that "politicians only care about two things: money and votes."

Attacking Wall Street by imposing the FTT is a sure-fire vote-getter in our current political climate.

The financial transaction tax reminds me of the "luxury tax" on Yachts back in the late 1980s. Remember that fiasco? The idea of a “luxury tax” on yachts had 80% support from the public. And, no surprise, college professors all across America clamored for the tax in the name of “fairness.”

Under sustained public pressure, Congress enacted the luxury tax in the fall of 1990. Within months the yachting industry tumbled into an irreversible decline. American boat sales fell by half. Over 25,000 middle-class boat-building workers, sales people, administrative staff and managers lost their jobs. An additional 50,000 people who worked for companies that supplied yacht parts and raw materials also found themselves in the unemployment lines. Factories that had been filled with American workers manufacturing high-quality products were suddenly empty. In less than two years, the luxury tax on yachts destroyed tens of thousands of middle-class jobs.

Adding insult to injury, the luxury tax also resulted in a net loss to the US Treasury. In other words, the lost income taxes from the workers and boat businesses plus the cost of unemployment benefits was tens of millions of dollars more than the amount of luxury tax collected. In 1993 the luxury tax was repealed, but not before it had done irreparable damage.

Politicians didn't give a damn if the luxury tax was a good idea or a bad idea. All they cared about was getting votes by attacking people with yachts and making them pay their "fair share." Sound familiar?
 
When discussing FTT one point that hits home is:

Exceptions and loopholes - bankers and market makers will be exempt and will not pay FTT.

Same may apply to the very exotic financial products that were at the roots of this financial mess.
 
Quote from tomdavis:

It was such a visceral response I don't believe he envisioned anything but hedge fund managers and Wall Street fat cats getting on their jets and flying away. When I tried to point out to him that most of the people employed in the financial industry are middle-income clerks, bookkeepers, IT techs, secretaries, etc. -- and they're the ones who would be losing their jobs -- he quickly ended the conversation by saying he had to go to a meeting.

This guy is representative of many who work in congress, and also the congressmen/women themselves. They have a hate-filled story directed at Wall Street that resonates with voters. Whether their story is true or not doesn't matter. Every time they attack Wall Street, their constituents cheer.

A friend of my wife who works for a political consulting firm told me that "politicians only care about two things: money and votes."

Attacking Wall Street by imposing the FTT is a sure-fire vote-getter in our current political climate.

The financial transaction tax reminds me of the "luxury tax" on Yachts back in the late 1980s. Remember that fiasco? The idea of a “luxury tax” on yachts had 80% support from the public. And, no surprise, college professors all across America clamored for the tax in the name of “fairness.”

Under sustained public pressure, Congress enacted the luxury tax in the fall of 1990. Within months the yachting industry tumbled into an irreversible decline. American boat sales fell by half. Over 25,000 middle-class boat-building workers, sales people, administrative staff and managers lost their jobs. An additional 50,000 people who worked for companies that supplied yacht parts and raw materials also found themselves in the unemployment lines. Factories that had been filled with American workers manufacturing high-quality products were suddenly empty. In less than two years, the luxury tax on yachts destroyed tens of thousands of middle-class jobs.

Adding insult to injury, the luxury tax also resulted in a net loss to the US Treasury. In other words, the lost income taxes from the workers and boat businesses plus the cost of unemployment benefits was tens of millions of dollars more than the amount of luxury tax collected. In 1993 the luxury tax was repealed, but not before it had done irreparable damage.

Politicians didn't give a damn if the luxury tax was a good idea or a bad idea. All they cared about was getting votes by attacking people with yachts and making them pay their "fair share." Sound familiar?
More...

I was right out of college, working on the Hill, when that luxury tax fiasco was adopted. If I remember correctly there was little organized opposition; no widespread foreshadowing of the toll on the boat-building industry. In fact, I believe George Mitchell (of boat-building Maine) co-sponsored the amendment.

I'd like to think this time it's different...
 
Portugal will introduce a FTT the Primeministers office said.
Startingdate 1 of January 2013, no further details known.
The Portugeese stockmarket is very small with more or less
5 companies traded actively, the derivatemarket is more or less
nil.
 
Perhaps he was being secretly paid off in carrots by the Amish to reverse American history ? More Jamestown than Jonestown.

:p :p
 
"About The Nation:

The Nation will not be the organ of any party, sect, or body. It will, on the contrary, make an earnest effort to bring to the discussion of political and social questions a really critical spirit, and to wage war upon the vices of violence, exaggeration, and misrepresentation by which so much of the political writing of the day is marred.

-- from The Nation's founding prospectus, 1865"
--------------------------------------

Yeah, right. They routinely delete anti-FTT comments.

Another one of the many of The Nation's FTT articles.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...-IHoCg&usg=AFQjCNHY6xDblIrEGlMQvwTqbE3TzgcnrQ
 
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