He probably bought internet stocks in 1999 thinking that they were investments, and then when the crash came he lost a lot of money as they all plummeted. Instead of blaming the fact that he bought a bunch of overpriced crap, he blamed daytraders for the speculative crash, and hence started this bill to punish them. Or something along those lines. It doesn't sound too crazy to me, the guy obviously is an idiot who probably would do something like that, and the timing of it certainly works.
The bill was referred to committe back in february. So basically in house ways and means committee terms its being pigeonholed or "ignored" Thats the way they let it die in there. They have had no action on it, no hearings on it nothing at all, they are letting the bill die. Sure dems, I dont put anything past them but this is not going to happen. Yes Defazio is an idiot, and keeps pushing the bill, but each time it gains no traction and no further status other then referred to comittee , they never act on it. Defazio bascially sees know one is looking at his bill so he put another bill last week for taxes on oil future/options., he is an idiot! Of course hedgers are exempt but what about the retail investor who wants to hedge against rising energy costs of his house and vehicles. Everytime this comes up in an article people go crazy. Even in the bill Defazio quotes Lawerence Summers from 1989 saying he was for the Tax, but if you google Summers now, he is not for it anymore. So its very misleading. We shall see but I wouldnt worry to much about it. DeFazios bill will die automatically when this congressional session ends, and I am sure he will resubmit it like he does every year. He couldnt even get any further status on this thing during the meltdown last September when you figured the goverment would have done anything to help get some capital raised.
Sounds like DeFazio is Captain Ahab chasing the White Whale... he certainly is persistent. Hopefully it will end for him the same way that story did.
And even though todays article made a big deal of the Brit who said it was a good idea, the decision making part of his own goverment doesnt want it, and they distanced themselves from his comment! We know that UK already has a stamp tax anyways, but they still have other ways of trading like CFDS,and spread betting that get around it.
Actually, I think your "very' wrong on this. Although I agree that they won't win many seats in the Senate, they should do well enough in 2010 to bring the Democrat majority down to 57 or 58. At least below the number 60, where they cannot block a Republican filibuster. But in the House of Representatives, "every" seat is up for grabs in 2010, and the chance for the Republicans to not only win the majority of seats, but to have a high enough majority to where they can stop any piece of legislation Obama tries to put through, is very strong and highly likely. Many Americans, including those that voted for Obama are starting to regret ever voting for him, because they thought he would rule from the middle with his proposals. Now everyone can truly see what a far left radical he is, and they are very nervous about it. The best way to counter this is by having a system of checks and balances in Congress, where this dictator Obama will not be able to just put anything through at his leisure. I'm really excited about the 2010 elections, as this is where the Republicans will mount a huge comeback, and allow us to take our country back from this clueless, radical dictator who is masquerading as the president. Also, come 2012, Obama is toast!!!
Also, A Zogby poll released on 8/21/09 shows Obama's approval rating at 45%, down from 62% back in early July. This guy's approval numbers are sinking faster than the Titanic. I highly doubt that Obama, or the Democrats would approve a Stock Transaction Tax. Well, that is unless Obama wants to see his approval numbers go down into the 30's, which would be the quickest, sharpest presidential approval nosedive in history. By the time Bush's presidency was over, "8 years", his approval numbers were in the 30's, but Obama could be there in just one year if he keeps governing from the left.
At least this time, it's namely against the big boyz( HFT... ) that this tax would be enacted..No exemptions for the usual suspects. If one day I have to move my trading outside of the US because of a tax, I prefer it to be this way.
India is removing STT (securities transaction tax) and also lowering income tax rates drastically from 2011. http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/aug/12/new-direct-taxes-code-released.htm