Monthly Archives: October 2011

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AFR in the News: Protesters Rally Around Trading Tax

Eliza Newlin Carney (Roll Call)

“After weeks of waving signs and chanting with no clear policy objective, Occupy Wall Street protesters finally have an issue to rally around: a tax on Wall Street. Known in Occupy movement parlance as the ‘Robin Hood tax,’ taxes on trades of stocks, bonds and derivatives are getting a fresh look on Capitol Hill and may draw thousands of protesters to Washington, D.C., next week. Helping lead the charge are an unlikely breed of tax activist: registered nurses. … ‘There [are] people in the streets angry about economic inequality, and angry about what Wall Street has gotten away with,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, which supports both bills.

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AFR in the News: Analysis: Volcker pay curbs spark fears of Wall St. exodus

Dave Clarke (Reuters)

“The Volcker rule has created a new battlefield over Wall Street pay that banks fear will send their star traders and hedge fund advisers fleeing. … ‘The question is whether just saying that compensation arrangements cannot encourage proprietary risk taking is enough or whether they have to be more specific,’ said Marcus Stanley, policy director for the group Americans for Financial Reform.”

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AFR in the News: Transaction Tax On Financial Speculation Gets Boost From Occupy Wall Street

Ryan Grim (Huffington Post)

“Boosted by the Occupy Wall Street movement, two Democrats in the House and Senate are renewing a push for a transaction tax on speculative trades. … Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of progressive and labor organizations focused on reforming Wall Street, threw its weight behind the tax in a letter to the super committee:”

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AFR Press Statement: House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Regulatory Accountability Act and markup of the REINS Act

“Irresponsible deregulation of the financial industry – and the conduct it made possible – was a root cause of the financial crisis that has cost millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in home equity and retirement savings. The ‘Regulatory Accountability Act’ would further stack the deck towards Wall Street special interests, and make it impossible to put in place the common sense rules we need to demand transparency and accountability in financial markets, and prevent the financial industry from repeating the extraordinarily reckless practices for which most of us are paying so high a price.”