Elliot Spitzer Praises Protests and Supports Transaction Tax
Out of all the demands from the Occupy movement the "moderate financial transaction tax" is the most doable in the short term and targets exactly the right people. Basically it is a tax on stock transfers, they have this in the UK and it's called stamp duty.
Here's what Elliot has to say:
There are so many benefits to imposing [the stock transfer] tax. One, it generates a lot of revenue that we need for a jobs program, education, all the other things. Two, it would stop some of the high-speed trading that serves no good public purpose. Computer-driven trading, which is — according to some estimates — half to two-thirds of the volume, it’s all Goldman trading to Bank of America, buying it back. It does nothing for society, and yet, it is what is driving the market and the volatility, hurting the real investors like you and me or hundreds of thousands — millions of others. Taxing that would be good for the market on top of everything else.
A bit hard to imagine a focus on a policy that specific, or a chant about the transfer tax, perhaps. Spitzer was also enthusiastic about the protests:
This is organic, it is genuine, it is amassing more and more support day by day. It has touched a nerve and I think this could really begin to say to the Obama administration “Hey, you don’t understand what we, the public, are saying to you.” He’s off there — you know, he has been so flat on this issue of Wall Street and the economy. Maybe this will finally push the president to speak with a new, more aggressive, dynamic voice.
This is also covered on the Daily Kos with over 150 comments