One of my favorite reads is “The Hightower Lowdown” a newsletter written by Jim Hightower and full of REAL progressive MAIN STREET common sense.  I just finished the latest version and Mr. Hightower makes a compelling case (much better than I have done) for what is being termed a “Financial Transactions Tax” (FTT). This would be a miniscule (0.5%) “sales tax” on shares traded on Wall Street.  I was originally introduced to this idea by Peter DeFazio who suggested a more modest tax (honestly, I hope Wall Street lives to regret “panning” DeFazio’s proposal) of (I think) 0.25% back when the TARP bailouts were still fresh in everyone’s mind.  According to Hightower a FTT would net the American economy somewhere in the range of $350 – 400 BILLION each year – and, it would come essentially from the speculators who are using high powered computers to trade large amounts of stocks sometimes by the seconds (and, of course, the same people who are responsible for the TRILLIONS of taxpayer money spent to “bail out” Wall Street).  That is, they buy a huge volume of some stock and almost instantaneously resell it with a razor thin margin that nets them HUGE profits based on the quantity of the transaction.

The reality of all these “speculative” transactions is that they produce NOTHING of benefit to our economy.  And, as Hightower so expertly explains, while they are paying NO tax on their transactions, the rest of us are paying up to 8 to 10 percent on the things we purchase.  These “bankers” have become about as popular (or maybe even less popular) than the politicians they’ve purchased in Washington DC.  They are the ones who’ve been manipulating the political scene since the arrival in Washington of Ronald Reagan to the point where they’ve eliminated any discussion of “increased taxes” from the political arena.  They’re busy trying to “reduce the size of government to where it can be flushed down the bathtub drain” while, at the same time PILFERING BILLIONS if not TRILLIONS of dollars from MAIN STREET in America.  I don’t know about you, but I see something terribly wrong with this picture.

Just stop and think for a moment: why would they want to “shrink government to the size where it could be flushed down a bathtub drain?”  To me, the answer is easy.  Government is the ONLY  chance those of us on MAIN STREET have of keeping these people in “check.”  In reality, they want NO regulation of their business practices – even though they’re GAMBLING with, by some estimates I’ve seen, over 50% of America’s wealth.  To me, that’s ridiculous on its face, and after enduring the last “crash” it seems to me that it’s “high time” to “reel” these people in.  And the FTT seems as if it’s the logical first step on how to do it.  Kind of an easy way to ask these people to repay the money they’ve been pilfering from our economy for the past 30 years.

And, please, don’t give me the response that this would hurt everyone.  Even in the days when I was trading a small number of shares of stock (more than most people I know) a 0.5% tax would have been inconsequential.  The issue arises for the day (or minute) traders who are seriously GAMBLING in the market (which would include the large Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc. – the “too big to fail” monstrosities created via the deregulation boom started by Reagan) with money gleaned from Main Street.  It’s still hard to believe, in my mind, how “we the people” have allowed ourselves to buy into the so-called “trickle down” theory of economics.  How many “bubbles” need to burst, or how many downturns do we need to experience in order to “get it?”  Or, do we actually need another Great Depression to figure out that the Wall Street bankers (I liken them to the “Robber Barons” of the early 20th century) are incapable of social responsibility without a little “help?” (regulations)

There is a concept known as GREED.  It is a very real and powerful entity.  It was the cause of the great crash of 1929 and it will rear its ugly head again if we let it.  You might not be my age, but back in the 1950’s – with a republican president (Dwight Eisenhower) the top tax rate for people in the “1%” was something in the range of 90%.  It would be the same today as saying after your first MILLION in income, your tax rate will be 90%.  Now, I’m not even advocating going back to that (although, the republicans seem to want to turn the clock back in every way except tax rates  – do you find that curious at all?) rate of taxes, but I do believe there should be a disincentive for GREED and hoarding of cash.

During the days of Tom Delay in the House of Representatives, the “green light” was issued for the formation of all the tax “havens” in places like the Cayman Islands.  Corporations were almost encouraged to move their manufacturing facilities to overseas locations where they could find cheap labor and working conditions minus regulations.  They’re trying to reverse engineer the same situation (they want no taxes and no regulations for business) here in America.  Many people call it the “race to the bottom,” and I still know a large number of my own acquaintances who don’t even understand what is happening.  The stories about the greed and arrogance of the people on Wall Street are endless, yet “we the people” continue to vote in politicians who enable the “Robber Barons.”

Of course, we all know that virtually EVERY republican in Congress has taken a “no new taxes” pledge and they know they will be “primaried” if there’s even a hint they would vote for such a thing.  So, the question becomes, how do we get this Financial Transaction Tax past the roadblock that would be republicans in Congress?  Well, if you’ve been around here much you would know my answer;  vote out EVERY republican possible during the 2014 election and replace them with democrats (or republicans) who are committed to legislation that would make the FTT a reality.  And, that’s just a start – in my view.

The next step is to INCREASE taxes on the incomes in the upper realms of earners in America.  The stated purpose of the higher taxes on the higher earnings back in my youth was to encourage those with the high earnings to invest that money in areas that worked for the “common good.” (that was the basis for all the tax deductions which still exist today) In those days America was more of a “we” nation – I’ve stated many times that Ronald Reagan pushed us in the direction we find ourselves today – which is more of a “me” nation.  For example, corporations were encouraged to re-invest profits into their businesses to make them more efficient and also to invest in the backbone of their businesses – their workers.  Today, it seems the goal for CEO’s is to figure out how to gain higher levels of compensation and, clearly (or at least it seems to me), stockholders are more important than workers.  Through the rollback in “taxes on the rich” which was set in motion by Reagan, our corporations have become more focused on short term gain than the long term interest and health of their companies.

I don’t buy the argument that the possibility of huge incomes is the “motivator” of innovation.  Innovation was happening at a tremendous rate prior to Reagan’s assault on the American “fabric” created by the New Deal of FDR and carried on through the administrations of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson.  In reality, it was until Reagan hit the scene that America had a “bottom up” economy.  Yes, there were “bumps in the road,” but America’s work force was on a steady growth pattern until Reagan hit the scene and started cutting taxes for the wealthy (and, increasing them on the rest of us) and leading the anti-union crusade – which has existed until this day.  There was an old saying back in the day when I was part of a basketball team: “You’re no better than the last man on your bench.”  While I realize that is idealistic when related to society, it’s clear to me that the health of a nation begins at the bottom.  Government should be focused on helping those at the bottom – because that helps ALL of the rest of us.  When those at the bottom have jobs they have money – and, when they have money they spend it – which (obviously) fuels the economy.  Mitt Romney stashing a QUARTER BILLION (based on estimates I’ve read) in the Cayman Islands to avoid taxes is NOT stimulating the economy with that money – he’s hoarding it.

I could go on and on here (like, double the cut-off of payroll taxes for Social Security, create a “Medicare for all” health care “net” – repeal “Citizens United”) but I’ll leave this as a vote for what I read in Jim Hightower’s “Lowdown.”  Support congressional members who will help to enact a Financial Transaction Tax on every stock transaction on Wall Street.  A Financial Transaction Tax is a great way for Wall Street to begin repaying America’s taxpayers for the money they’ve pilfered from our economy.  As I write this, institutions like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley (and others) are still getting ZERO percent money from the Federal Reserve Bank and using it to make HUGE profits at the expense of the very taxpayers who are supplying it.  The Wall Street bankers believe in austerity for everyone but themselves.  The FTT is a great way to send them a CLEAR message from Main Street.  Enough Already!!!