Why it's time to tax Wall Street transactions
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGUGgIwnVPU]
Earlier this week, Public Citizen, along with the Center for Economic Policy Research and WallStreetWatch.org, hosted a panel debate on the pros and cons of a speculation tax on financial services. We’ve called for such a tax as an important reform needed to rein in Wall Street’s reckless behavior. Now, bills before Congress would create the tax as a way to raise as much as $100 billion a year in revenue, while also deterring the harmful churning of stocks and financial instruments.
In the video above, economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy Research, discusses why we need a speculation tax. To view the entire debate, which also included Public Citizen President Robert Weissman, University of Massachusetts economist Robert Pollin, Gerogetown University Professor Jim Angel and George Sauter, Vanguard Group’s managing director and chief investment officer, visit our Vimeo page.