Tell Congress to Tax Wall Street and get a free "I am the 99%" bumper sticker

[Scuba]

http://act.aflcio.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=9168


from my email...

Dear Scuba,


When Wall Street recklessness crashed the global economy, American taxpayers bailed out the Big Banks to the tune of $4.7 trillion. That’s trillion with a “T”.

Today, Wall Street is booming. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo executives are earning just as much as they did before the financial crisis. In 2010, the CEOs of these three banks made $52 million dollars combined.

Yet on Main Street, family incomes are tanking, job creation has stalled and 42 million people are living in poverty, more than at any other time in the past 50 years.

Working people have done our part. Now it’s time for Wall Street to do more. One way is through a tiny sales tax on each Wall Street trade—a financial speculation tax.

Click here to call your senators in support of a financial speculation tax. http://act.aflcio.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=9168

Known as the “Robin Hood tax,” this tiny tax would be felt primarily by high-volume, high-speed traders who deal in stocks, bonds, foreign currency bets, derivatives and other Wall Street financial products.

With a tax of only a fraction of a penny, we could raise billions to create jobs, lay the groundwork for long-term economic prosperity and help reduce the national debt. The financial speculation tax also would discourage risky Wall Street speculation and encourage longer-term investments that would strengthen rather than endanger the economy.

Urge your senators to pass a financial speculation tax. http://act.aflcio.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=9168

Economists, political leaders, religious leaders, business people and civil society groups around the world all support a financial speculation tax. Prominent supporters include Nobel Prize winners Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, President Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Zapatero of Spain, Warren Buffett, George Soros and the Catholic Church.

Now we have a chance to enact the financial speculation tax here in America—and if it passes here, the rest of the world will follow. Legislation introduced just yesterday by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), the “Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act,” puts a financial speculation tax on the congressional agenda. Now, we need to help strengthen it and build support in Congress.

Click here to tell your senators it’s time to put Wall Street to work rebuilding America for the 99%. http://act.aflcio.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=9168

We are the 99%. We bailed out Wall Street. Now, let’s demand that Wall Street pay its fair share to put America back to work and rebuild our economy.

In Solidarity,

Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

P.S. Yesterday, union members, Occupy protestors and AFL-CIO allies rallied for passage of a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street at Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C. Want to see a video? Click here. http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=aQes3WlF73QdBuFdpAqwFyqldwT65zb5