It's important to remember that the financial industry is not monolithic. I was reminded of this over the past couple weeks as I worked to persuade financial professionals to come out in support of small taxes on trades of stocks, bonds, and derivatives.

Last week, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Representative Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) renewed efforts to enact a financial speculation tax. The Occupy movements across the United States should demand this initiative.

While whacking our parents and grandparents with a big cut in Social Security benefits apparently draws bipartisan support, the supercommittee will not even score a plan to tax Wall Street financial speculation.

While deficit hawks like investment banker Peter Peterson, Morgan Stanley director Erskine Bowles, and the Washington Post never tire of preaching the virtues of shared sacrifice, somehow sacrifice for Wall Street never features as a part of this story.

We need jobs to fully recover, but jobs won't come about until demand picks up. Demand won't pick up until people have money to spend. So why are our leaders hell-bent on cutting public sector jobs when we need them most?

We are constantly being told by politicians -- from President Obama to Tea Party Republicans -- that America has a problem with out-of-control spending. This claim is an invention, a falsehood with no basis in reality.

The Europeans often leave us Yanks way behind. And now they appear on track again, with solid progress this week towards adopting an innovative proposal to pay for the costs of the global economic crisis.

Levying a tiny tax on financial transactions could help build a healthier and more stable future.

Here are eight things to watch out for in 2011 that threaten to rock the financial system and undermine any recovery.

Angry about the greedy financial speculation that wrecked the economy? Got a deficit headache? How do we spell relief? Try F.S.T., which stands for Financial Speculation Tax.

$9 million in stock options as a 2009 bonus for Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is now considered a big concession from Wall Street. Before we all start applauding, let's take another look at what's really happening on Wall Street.