The Wall Street Journal has this today, reporting on a spat between British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner:

On Saturday, the U.K.’s Mr. Brown surprised many attendees by throwing his weight behind the idea of levying a tax on financial transactions and using those funds to pay for future bank bailouts. Germany and France reaffirmed their support for such a tax. Mr. Brown conceded that reaching a global agreement on such a plan would be difficult.

Mr. Geithner made plain that the U.S. wouldn’t support a bank-transaction tax. His view is backed by Canada and Russia.

   I side with the Prime Minister here. More than a year ago, I highlighted a similar proposal floated by Rep. Peter DeFazio. More recently, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka broached the idea. This seems to me to be the most common-sense proposal: it would restore a bit of stability to the financial system by slowing down some of the most riskiest transactions AND it would provide revenue to do things that society needs.