So how did we get off on this tangent about Communism, on a thread about currencies and global capital markets? Oh yeah, the Tobin tax.
So the idea of this tax, as expressed by its proponents, is to beard the currency speculators. Anyone with an understanding of economics knows that the unpretty sort of folks make the system operate at maximum efficiency. The speculators, the corporate raiders, the short sellers, the bottom feeders, all make the world go round. Without these "scoundrels" inefficiencies develop. The sucker fish in my aquarium eats scum and fish poop, but without him the aquarium gets dirty and crappy.
I remember a bureaucrat on a news show once objecting to a workfare program which would have had able bodied welfare recipients doing janitorial work. He said that was demeaning. The reporter asked him who cleaned his office at night. He didn't have an answer. Most investors look down on short sellers, but you can't go long if someone's not willing to go short.
But I suspect that the proponents of the Tobin tax are more devious than that. They understand that speculators make the currency markets more efficient. They don't like the currency markets, or open markets generally. It's harder for a government to implement laws which make its economy less efficient (while perhaps serving some other goal), if there are open markets. Hence, the protests at WTO meetings always seem to come from the far left, which dislikes free trade and open markets.
Because, again, communism (or socialism, or social democratism, or welfare statism) can't thrive in an atmosphere of competition. So the Tobin tax slows things down, making it easier for the socialistic governments to do what they want to do. |
