Letters to the Editor
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Paying speculators is not like paying a carbon tax
While from the immediate perspective of the consumer, a higher price is a higher price whether due to a tax or market speculation, there is a fundamental difference between the two that gets to the heart of many of the problems which have developed over the past 6 years. Paying a carbon tax would create public revenue which could then be applied to reducing the deficit or, say, buying more bullets for Iraq or making sure little Johnny can afford to go to the doctor so he's healthy enough to join the army and go to Iraq when he turns 18 and we're still over there.
Making speculators even richer than they already are does none of these things.
Taxes are not about making individuals pay for things -- taxes are about making sure that we as a society have enough resources to solve our common problems, and fairly bear the burdens of providing the benefits we all enjoy.
Among those benefits, for the speculators, are maintaining the "freedom" of the markets they enjoy so much. Makes it a little hard to understand why they shouldn't have to pay taxes on the income they derive therefrom....