To Reclaim the Envy of the World, Wall Street Must Pay – David Weidner (WSJ – subscription required)
January 5, 2012

“Until the financial crisis, Western finance—led by Wall Street—was the envy of the world. The biggest reason for this, of course, was money. Big financial institutions generated more than one-third of U.S. corporate profits, and their work force was compensated commensurately. And there was another reason why the world looked to American finance: U.S. markets were considered the most open, fair and transparent in the world. More than three years later, Wall Street’s reputation is deeply wounded. Astounding losses suffered by the financial industry and the ensuing recession pulled back the curtain on a system corrupted by greed, excess and a lack of regulation. Here and abroad, central bankers have used bailouts and new rules to shore up banks. But it’s really a fiscal solution to a problem of confidence. People have lost faith, not only in the banking system, but in politicians and governments that are supposed to keep them in check. For all of the mistakes and foot dragging in Europe, leaders are considering something that actually might restore lost trust. It won’t happen immediately, and it isn’t a guaranteed fix, but it does leap a big hurdle that global regulators face: how to pay for it all. I’m speaking, of course, about a financial-transactions tax. Around the globe, it goes by different names. In Australia, where a tax went into effect Jan. 1, it is being called a ‘cost-recovery tax.’ In other places, it is known as a ‘Robin Hood Tax’ and ‘Tobin tax,’ named for Nobel laureate James Tobin, who proposed in the early 1970s a tax on currency conversions. First, a study by the Chicago Political Economy Group estimates a financial-transaction tax could raise as much as $537 billion a year. That’s more than regulators could possibly need, and the considerable excess could be used to pay down the deficit. A scaled-back tax of 1% would raise more than $200 billion, according to Americans For Financial Reform. “Click here for more.