Humility and Skepticism are in order (again) (Score 1)

The general tone here is something like: "high-frequency trading destroys small business and jobs, it games the system, it was a cause of the collapse; ergo, this tax will both raise revenue and help solve the HFT problem (volatility, etc...)".

First off: beware a tax that is so oversold. A tiny transaction tax is going to either do nothing or slow the flow of capital. It comes with a compliance cost for everyone (plus a large cost of auditing). It makes capital more expensive and decreases investment (we'd prefer the opposite).

Secondly, a little more humility is in order. It is trite to assume that all traders are gaming the system. Sure, they work in tiny spreads, but by in large, trading facilitates capital flow *to the companies/governments/etc* that can use it effectively.

See Kenneth Rogoff's response to the Tobin Tax here and then hit me with a riposte:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/should-we-tax-financial-transactions/246188/#

-Andrew