email your congressmen and email the president, er obama. an acquaintance worked for a congressmen, and their responsibility was to make sure every piece of mail was read and cataloged. they really do read their mail.
these people really are just ignorant, and it's not that difficult to put forth a narrative argument that would make such a tax sound like a positive thing.
company executives have the press' attention and are blaming short sellers for their own horrific decisions and risk management.
that's what these congressman hear all day. they need to hear the other side in a simple manner.
"This is with regard to the proposed 1/4 of 1 percent transaction tax to pay for the bailout. The overwhelming number of shareholders, such as mutual fund holders and hedge fund Managers, traders, were victims of the poor decision making and risk management of some investment banking and mortgage banking institution, only a very insightful few were able to hedge their losses in other companies by short selling. Bear Stearns went bankrupt because they were leveraged 40-1, not because of short sellers. The short sellers were invaluable in sending price signals to the market, that "we've been duped and there is something really wrong with this company." those that heeded the markets signals could have exited with a portion of their investment in the days leading up to the bankruptcy. Many in the free market investment community believe these firms should not have been bailed out, and should have been let to fail, weeding out these executives and letting new start ups replace them.
The unintended consequence of the 1/4 of 1 percent transaction tax, would be less liquidity, and a 6500% increase in the cost of doing business. Volume would dry up to a halt, leading to widened spreads, leaving Tom the inability to buy shares in his beloved Apple. Every mutual fund holder would suffer by paying higher fees. Companies would not be able to raise money from the public to invest in their ideas, their equipment, and hire workers because there would be a much smaller pool to invest in their share. It would cost these startups more.
Quite possibly, this transaction tax is so large, that existing Electronic Communications Networks (ECNS) would supply the nyse and nasdaq as the world's leading stock exchange, located in some computer room outside of the United States.
The heads of the banks made horrific risk management decisions, and are shifting the blame to speculators. Don't let them dupe you. "
anything to add?
