{"id":415,"date":"2011-11-02T11:31:11","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T15:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jparnell.com\/blog\/?p=415"},"modified":"2011-11-02T11:31:11","modified_gmt":"2011-11-02T15:31:11","slug":"naders-proposed-tax-on-speculation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/?p=415","title":{"rendered":"Nader’s proposed tax on speculation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Self-proclaimed consumer advocate Ralph Nader posted an interesting op ed in today\u2019s (November 2) Wall Street Journal<\/em> calling for a \u201ctax on speculation.\u201d This is necessary, as he puts it, to \u201cbreak the corporate stranglehold on our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crux of his argument is that financial speculation is too risky and hence destructive to the U.S. economy. A tax in the neighborhood of 0.5% could raise billions while creating a disincentive to the fat cats\u2019 \u201cwheeling and dealing.\u201d But once the clich\u00e9s are removed and the facts are examined, we are left with another flawed proposal from the left.\u00a0 The reasons why are many, so I\u2019ll cover the most salient ones as briefly as I can.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Nader\u2019s definition of speculation includes all equity trades. Risk is a part of any private investment and is ultimately borne by the investor. Nader is\u2014by definition\u2014casting the entire private sector as destructive and in need of government oversight.<\/li>\n
  2. Nader is correct when he says that financially punishing a behavior will reduce its frequency. In other words, we get more of what the government rewards (subsidizes) and less of what the government taxes. So why isn\u2019t Nader calling for an end to the endless extensions of unemployment benefits or for reductions in welfare and social spending?<\/li>\n
  3. Nader\u2019s obsession with risk and speculation doesn\u2019t appear to extend to government<\/em> speculation, such as government-backed green energy or college student loans. Why is this form of speculation acceptable?<\/li>\n
  4. Nader infers that speculation is a losing proposition. He fails to acknowledge the obvious\u2014that every stock trade has both a winner and a loser.<\/li>\n
  5. Any tax revenues produced from such a tax would come directly from private investment, the engine of the economy. Proposing to transfer this investment to the government in the name of job creation or economic development demonstrates Nader\u2019s lack of understanding of economic growth.<\/li>\n
  6. Most importantly, the federal government has no right or duty to restrict private, legal transactions such as stock trades. Taxing the capital gains generated from income that has already been earned and taxed is bad enough, but taxing the transaction is a front to individual liberty.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Tucked deep inside Nader\u2019s argument is a fundamental flaw, the idea that government\u2014not the private sector\u2014has the moral authority and acumen to determine where the economy should \u201cinvest\u201d its resources. It\u2019s the same central planning argument that is constantly recycled to justify and leverage the ongoing class warfare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Self-proclaimed consumer advocate Ralph Nader posted an interesting op ed in today\u2019s (November 2) Wall Street Journal calling for a \u201ctax on speculation.\u201d This is necessary, as he puts it, to \u201cbreak the corporate stranglehold on our country.\u201d The crux of his argument is that financial speculation is too risky and hence destructive to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}