A Short History of Fast Times on Wall Street

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/opinion/18silver.html

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 7:04 PM
Subject: re: A Short History of Fast Times on Wall Street
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

    It is the mandate of each stock exchange to provide a level playing field on which investors trade. Someone will always be maneuvering for advantage, and the regulators will always be lagging. There is a general fix that will end the arms race on speed trading. It is a more steeply graduated capital gains tax. It is proper that capital gains tax on long term investments should be low; these are the investments on which publicly traded companies run. That might be left at 15% for assets held over two years. Assets held less than an hour are more game than investment. Tax them at 100%. Ramp the rate in between.

Barry Levine