The Fat Cats

[CHIMO]

Ottawa defies call for bank tax

The Harper government is pushing back against Britain’s efforts to win support for a global levy on financial institutions, a political decision that drew applause from Canada’s banks, yet risks creating discord within the Group of 20.

In a message aimed at British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other European governments, Canadian officials speaking on the condition of anonymity told news organizations – starting with London-based reporters for The Wall Street Journal – that Canada would amplify its opposition to a bank levy in the days ahead.

The British leader, irritated Canadian officials by suggesting this week that there’s a consensus forming around a proposal that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have stated they oppose.

Mr. Brown repeated yesterday that he hoped the G20 would endorse his call for an international levy that would curb the excesses that led to the financial crisis. He has support: Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos said earlier this week that “almost” all of the EU finance ministers agree there will be a “form of banking taxation.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/ottawa-defies-call-for-bank-tax/article1475089/


Get behind Robin Hood

People who make romantic comedies don't understand economics, surely? The writer Richard Curtis and the actor Bill Nighy are spearheading proposals for a tax on banking transactions designed to raise money for the poor.

But economists understand economics. Some 350 of them – among them the Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, as well as Jeffrey Sachs, George Soros and Warren Buffet – have written to the G20 leaders asking them to implement a 0.05% tax on financial transactions "as a matter of urgency". It's hard to think of a time when 350 economists agreed on anything. But they agree on this. "The financial crisis has shown us the dangers of unregulated finance," they say, "and the link between the financial sector and society has been broken. It is time to fix this link and for the financial sector to give something back to society."

This is not a punitive levy, in other words, but a restorative one. It's a very religious idea.

There is no lack of reasons that banks deserve to be taxed, first among which is the fact that the taxpayer has paid for them to survive. The net effect of that public bailout has been the largest single transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich since William the Conqueror – the first of many rulers to unfetter the City.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/feb/19/robin-hood-tax-churches

So there you have it. The fat cats win again. Doesn't matter if you are a white cat or a black cat. You win.

And all the rest loose.

[HeresyLives]

1. What 'fat cats' have won?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=190x29317

[CHIMO]

2. The Capital

Fat cats.

The money fat cats. Seems pretty obvious.

But of course we all know that Robin Hood won in the end.

[HeresyLives]

3. Well since no such thing has been decided,

and Harp has no say in the matter, I wouldn't worry about it.

It's the Tobin Tax of a few years ago, and has nothing to do with 'helping the poor' or Robin Hood.

[CHIMO]

4. If

You follow the discussions in Europe, it is being presented as the Robin Hood solution.

[HeresyLives]

5. Nah, that's a tabloid name.

It's the Tobin Tax, and has been around for years.

It taxes financial transactions...and it's first purpose is to haul countries out of bankruptcies. After that, it's global warming.