Jeffrey Sachs slams “shocking” Wall Street
Wall Street has become so “politically powerful that it has written its own ticket for the past 25 years in a way that’s shocking,” said Jeffrey Sachs, renowned economist and professor at Columbia University, New York.
“The results are shocking. The lack of political responsibility is shocking.
“Wall Street has had the most profitable year in its history. It made profits of $55 billion in the midst of the biggest downturn since the Great Depression,” Sachs said, adding the profits had only been possible because of taxpayer bailouts and the zero interest-rate policy pursued by the Federal Reserve, the US central bank.
“Bankers are brazenly smirking as they pocket large amounts of our money.”
Quoted in The Guardian newspaper, Sachs said the Robin Hood Tax was an attempt to fight back. “It would be a low tax harmonised across countries. It is a progressive and non-distortionary tax.”
To read the full article in The Guardian, click here.
