While President Barack Hussein Obama (peace be upon him) confers with world leaders for the G-20 summit in South Korea to consider proposals that are supposed to stabilize the global economy, a brilliant idea being bandied about is an aptly named “Robin Hood tax.”  This Marxist measure would collect money from rich nations to give to the poor.

The Robin Hood tax is actually a global financial transaction fee that could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to pay the cost of the global financial crisis and support developing nations struggling to recover.

So far, it’s not exactly receiving rave reviews.

Britain, France and Germany have been pushing a bank tax for all G-20 nations.  However,  financial gurus from the industrialized nations shot down the idea at a previous summit held in Toronto last summer.

Still, the tax’s supporters, the usual suspects, including unions, environmental groups, Comic Relief (remember Whoopi, Robin, and Billy?), UNICEF and others in a coalition made up of several countries, claim that the tax could go to canceling debt from poor nations. They also say that it could be used for social programs to fight hunger, diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria or other causes. The thing is, these are all programs to which America and other nations already donate billions.

The socialist advocates make up a coalition of 183 organizations from 42 countries.  They issued a plea this week urging leaders at the G-20 summit in South Korea to adopt the measure. No specifics have been given (of course), but the idea would be to charge a small transaction fee, anywhere from 0.05 percent to 1 percent, on each stock transaction made.

In other words, penalize capitalism.

The coalition wrote a letter to G-20 leaders, including Obama, claiming that the tax would help meet the costs

…of the global financial and economic crisis, including reducing the unacceptably high rate of job loss, and achieve key development, health, education and climate change objectives in developing countries.

Those that have actually thought about the consequences of this proposal say that it would kill businesses and job growth in the U.S.  They also make the point that Obama doesn’t even have the authority to tax U.S. businesses to pay for a global fund.

Scott Talbott, a lobbyist with the Financial Services Roundtable, which advocates for large financial firms, said:

We support the goal of helping distressed nations, but feel that the tax would harm the economic recovery of the other countries.

The proposal misses the mark and will do more harm than good. It will raise the price of financial products for the average investor, retirees, pension plans and parents saving for college tuition.

According to an e-mail sent by David C. John , a senior research fellow in retirement security and financial markets at The Heritage Foundation, to Fox News, the proposal has been tried before and failed miserably:

Decades ago, responsible economists showed that the so-called ‘Robin Hood’ tax on financial institutions has no purpose other than to punish banks and provide money for certain pet projects. Given that several governments have already rejected the tax, governments that do impose it will find that thousands of jobs leave their shores for more competitive countries with better fiscal policies.

When this idiotic proposal came before the G-20 summit last summer, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote to Treasury Secretary  Turbo Tax Tim Geithner, saying that the financial transaction tax

…would raise trading costs and reduce the liquidity that benefits all investors and businesses while a bank tax could reduce the lending capacity of financial institutions, harming the ability of businesses to grow.

R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of government affairs for the chamber, warned that the severe negative impact from the Robin Hood Tax could damage the U.S.’ ability to recover from recession or create jobs.  A spokesman for the chamber told FoxNews.com that the business lobby stands by that position.

That hasn’t stopped the Progressives back home from floating the idea of a transaction tax from gaining attention at home as a potential moneymaking source.  Last December, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., tried to introduce a bill to impose a tax on financial transactions aimed at letting taxpayers off the hook for future bailouts. The bill never even made it out of committee.

In a letter to G-20 leaders, Obama didn’t bring up the Robin Hood tax per se.

But,  he did encourage the G20 to pursue policies that will help poorer nations:

Finally, we should advance our cooperation to address common global challenges.

The Korean presidency has highlighted the key role growth has played in lifting so many out of poverty, especially in emerging Asia, and drawn attention to what we all can do to increase the potential for inclusive growth in low-income countries.

Turbo Tax Tim  Geithner wrote an opinion article published Wednesday in the Asian version of The Wall Street Journal that also alluded to consideration of the financial transaction tax:

We need to strike a balance on the pattern of growth across countries.  Balance matters not for its own sake, but because it is critical to strong and sustained growth globally and to future financial stability. Ultimately, we are trying to lift global growth, not just shift it — so as to deliver strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

This is nothing new for Obama.  In 2001, he spoke about redistribution of wealth in an interview with a Chicago Public Radio Station.  Here’s the audio:

During 1948’s Presidential Campaign, Norman Thomas, a 6 time Presidential Candidate for the American Socialist Party, said:

The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.

Sound familiar?  Thank God, Thomas  had no clue as to the wonderful advances in the area of communications that America has seen since he made that statement.  Thanks to the advent of Conservative Talk Radio, Conservative websites, and Fox News, Americans are informed and fighting back, as evidenced on November 2nd.  However, that was just the opening round in the fight to maintain our liberty.  We must stay vigilant for the next two years and beyond.