#Feared by the bad, loved by the gooooood,
Robin Hood,
Robin Hood,
Robin Hood.#

Ad astra per aspera

We could also point out to those at whom the Robin Hood Tax is aimed, that the only other option is the 100% Little John Tax, which will be beaten out of the offenders by constant thwacking around the head with a quarterstave - a treatment about which the only good thing than can be said is that it feels nice when it stops.

You can't be me, I'm taken

Has socialism become such a bad concept in Europe that it has to be covered up in terms like "Robin Hood?" I read this idea as a pejorative, the revenge of the wealthy classes who are tired of being stolen from.

I've read arguments in response to Krugman's column this morning that wage deflation in Europe achieves the same effect as devaluation. Of course, one must keep an eye on the relationship between wage deflation in some classes versus increase in others. It's no secret that the very rich have a much greater concentration of wealth than they used to, and one could easily imagine scenarios in which wage deflation make the rich richer. The only natural way to address any of these imbalances is to tax the rich.

Here's an anecdote from my brother on Wall Street: because of the pressure from the US gov't on Wall Street, upper management has reduced the percentage of bonuses for all workers. But they have also reduced salaries which provided the base for most workers at the lower end of the pay scale (i.e. $100k to $250k). These workers are making half of what they used to, and they comprise the majority of the workforce on Wall Street. The logic behind their wage reductions is the horrid job market but also the political pressure to reduce mortgages. Now, when you look at the quarterly report of the banks, they are not only increasing revenue, but their margins are expanding. This is why they are making more money than ever before. And paradoxically, a smaller bonus % for the whole company yields bigger bonuses than ever before because at the end of the day, the margins have expanded. They are taking a smaller % of a much, much bigger pie, a pie created by the 50%-75% income haircut at the bottom of the payscale.

Now, how would you address this dynamic?