The Robin Hood Tax On The Banksters

Once we might have wished...

Last night you may have watched Alan Grayson on MSNBC with Ed Schultz talking about Obama's latest big blunder-- you know, not begrudging the thieving, crooked, corrupt banksters who line the pockets of virtually every politician in DC their stolen loot. The White House is trying to take it back but if you missed it, by all means click the first link (above) and watch it. Grayson looks at it a little differently. He didn't exactly appreciate the analogy Obama made between Wall Street banksters making millions and ball players making millions:

I see his point. Ball players entertain us and Wall Street steals from us... I think what people are missing is this: we had a national tragedy, an economic disaster that took place barely a year ago. In the last 18 months of the Bush Administration America lost 12 trillion dollars of its net worth. That's forty-thousand dollars-- forty-thousand dollars-- for every man, woman and child in this country. and I cannot think of a single person who was held responsible for that-- nobody in government, nobody on Wall Street, nobody nowhere. That's the fundamental problem right now. And if people on Wall Street are going to continue to get great bonuses in good times and in bad times we can kiss this economy good-bye; it's not gonna work. In capitalism, winners have to win and losers have to lose-- and nobody's been held responsible for that enormous erosion. Twenty percent of our accumulated wealth over the course of two centuries gone in 18 months. Nobody's been punished for that; that's the problem.

...We're going to be doomed to repeat another Great Recession, another Great Depression if we don't begin to find out who's responsible and hold them accountable.

My idea of holding them accountable is probably a little different from most in the political class. Remember, these people are the paymasters for almost all these politicians (though not for Grayson, who refuses to touch their filthy lucre or dance to their bittersweet tunes). I do, however, recognize that no one is rolling out any guillotines in this country-- especially not to punish the bad guys. So... instead why not look towards what might conceivably be attainable. something they're calling the Robin Hood Tax in Britain. You remember him, right? Take from the rich and give to the poor, right?

Bill Nighy is a British actor, probably not as familiar to DWT readers as Alan Grayson. But I thought you might enjoy seeing a video he made-- he plays the friendly neighborhood bankster-- as a way of discussing this Robin Hood tax which, keep in mind, is only on certain financial transactions that don't include consumers. Take a look; something that could work here?