Economy 4.0 David Brancaccio on American Public Media, Marketplace 1-31-2010

Guess who French President Nicolas Sarkozy invited to dinner at the World Economic Forum in Davos? The take-from-the-rich, give-to-the-poor hero of the downtrodden, Mr. Robin Hood. Or, some might say, the legendary bandit, Robin Hood.

Sarkozy is making it clear to the high-powered gathering of business, economic, and policy personages in Switzerland that he is in favor of a global financial transactions tax. Some call it a “Robin Hood tax.” Buy or sell a financial instrument, perhaps any financial instrument, then there would be a tax applied. There are rather a lot of financial transactions every nanosecond of the day, so that could generate a lot of revenue. The Robin Hood part becomes clear when you hear Sarkozy’s idea for how to use the proceeds: take the cash and use it to develop the economies of poor countries…

Read more and watch the video of Sarkozy’s Presentation at the Davos World Economic Forum. Sarkozy as President of France, the G8 and the G20 this year has something to say on regulation of the Financial Sector and the proposal, applauded by the president of Oxfam, to put a very small tax on financial transactions and use the money to support the pledge from the Copenhagen Conference for the rich countries to give the poor countries about $120 Billion a year after 2020 to develop their economies and reduce carbon. The video is 1 hour and 12 minutes long, so if you only want to see the Robin Hood Tax section, start at 57 minutes.

Go to the Robin Hood Tax website and watch a 3 minute movie and vote YES or NO

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