National Nurses United, a union representing nearly 170,000 nurses across the United States, launched a new video this week in support of legislation to create a financial transaction tax. The video is a Twilight Zone-style parody wherein a Wall Street banker keeps running into more and more victims of the crimes he committed that cost people their jobs and homes. Several of the victims call for a financial transaction tax to be implemented, which is the ultimate message of the stylish and humorous video.

As previously reported, a financial transaction tax...

is a tiny pinch that would be felt primarily by high-volume, high-speed traders who deal in stocks, bonds, foreign currency bets, derivatives and other Wall Street financial products.

...

With a tax of only a fraction of a penny, we could raise billions to create jobs, lay the groundwork for long-term economic prosperity and help reduce the national debt. The Robin Hood tax also would discourage risky Wall Street speculation and encourage longer-term investments that would strengthen rather than endanger the economy.

NNU is one of many organizations calling for the tax to be passed. Supporters of the campaign can sign the NNU petition or contribute to help air the video on television.

This would be a very progressive move, and would be very popular with voters. I wonder if Obama will actually do it? You never know. Dan Froomkin at Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON -- Advocates of a tiny but lucrative tax on financial transactions are increasingly hopeful that President Barack Obama's need to more firmly establish himself as the Main Street candidate in 2012 will lead him to back the measure.

The tax -- though nearly inconsequential on a per-trade basis -- would reap billions in revenue from Wall Street's most rapacious institutions while also cutting down on their incentive to engage in the high-stakes, lightning-fast gambling that has proven particularly lucrative for them, at the expense of others.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced legislation last month that would impose a 0.03 percent fee on financial transactions, an amount so small that its sting would only be felt by speculators who rapidly move vast sums in and out of trading positions.

But because of the enormous volume of transactions, the new tax would still raise $350 billion in next 10 years, according to nonpartisan congressional scorekeepers.

The bill is "generating some interest in the White House, and I'm hopeful that the president will pick up on this," said Harkin, a fifth-term senator.

"I think there's interest in the White House at looking at sources of revenue, and I think this is one that's got their interest," Harkin said. "They haven't said yes, they haven't said no."

Mike Lux, a progressive strategist, said he thinks that despite some internal opposition within the administration -- most notably from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner -- the tax may be an idea whose time has come.

"I know that Geithner remains adamantly opposed to it, but I also get the sense that the political folks in the White House understand that Geithner's positioning isn't always the right thing for the president to do politically," Lux said. "There is sort of a growing awareness of that."

Imagine that. They're starting to realize that handing everything to Wall Street isn't all that popular with the voters. Will wonders never cease?

Rallies were held in Washington, D.C., and across the globe in support of financial transaction taxes, also called Robin Hood taxes. These taxes work as follows:

The Robin Hood (financial speculation) tax is a tiny pinch that would be felt primarily by high-volume, high-speed traders who deal in stocks, bonds, foreign currency bets, derivatives and other Wall Street financial products.

...

With a tax of only a fraction of a penny, we could raise billions to create jobs, lay the groundwork for long-term economic prosperity and help reduce the national debt. The Robin Hood tax also would discourage risky Wall Street speculation and encourage longer-term investments that would strengthen rather than endanger the economy.

These taxes have received broad support:

Economists, political leaders, religious leaders, business people and civil society groups around the world all support a financial speculation tax. Prominent supporters include Nobel Prize winners Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain, Warren Buffett, George Soros and the Catholic Church.

Bill Gates also supported the tax at the G-20 summit in Paris. In the U.S., "Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced the Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act that would assess a financial speculation tax of .03 percent." Over at Daily Kos, Laura Clawson says the tax is good policy, but the 'Robin Hood tax' name is a bad idea.

Those who support the U.S. version, introduced last week in Congress, can take action to help pass the bill.