I may be wrong, however I clearly think that Obama is a friend of Mainstreet...
The Bad guy was the one before him...
Let's pray !
The Bad guy was the one before him...
Let's pray !
1/4% Tax on all stock trades pushed in NY Times today
- Thread starter seasideheights
- Start date
German Chancellor Merkel had to do the same flip-flop as the IMF-chief and later Speaker Pelosi did too. First say how you really feel, that you are against a financial-transaction tax, and prefer a bank levy instead (as the IMF chief and Secretary Geithner have said). Geithner is the only one not flip-flopping here and staying on message.
The global leaders have agreed to work within a G20 framework to reach global consensus (post Bush). They know full well, that if any action is not coordinated and passed by all in tandem that money will fly to money-friendly jurisdictions. Money travels faster than banks and people. The G20 game plan is to wait for the IMF report to the G20 on financial reform due in April 2010 - which will cover the issue of financial reform and the bank levy versus a financial-transaction tax - and then discuss it in a diplomat-fashion at the next G20 meeting in South Korea. Nothing will happen in South Korea other than more debate and a consensus to discuss it further at following meetings. It will take some time, and in the mean time, hopefully US and foreign banks will recover and continue their wise ways in paying back bailout funds with dividends. Hopefully by that time the economies around the world will be stronger again with jobs recovery and good growth. If that happens, more people may forget the problems and they won't be angry any more.
By the G20 in South Korea, American will be in full 2010 midterm election campaign mode and Democrats will need to be more careful. Hopefully, they wonât become desperate and destructive like the UK Labor party as we are witnessing this week with the banker bonus taxes.
Every time someone tries to jump the line to rush a yes or no to the financial-transaction tax - like DeFazio pushing it in the US, Pelosiâs flip-flop, and the German Minister saying no - the G20 representatives will put them in their place to say no answer until the next G20 meeting.
The UK could pass banker bonus taxes without affecting the G20 consensus, and that was not jumping the line.
I think Germany, the UK and US all have significant business interests in fostering their vital financial services industries and financial exchanges. Paris may be wonderful, but it's not among the leading financial exchanges.
China, Hong Kong and Singapore, along with Switzerland may save us from the Eurocentric dreams of global sovereignty. They are not expected to pass these bad-for-business ideas and its odd coming from a communist-capitalist country. I guess their governments donât need to worry as much about populist anger.
Well it sounds like Germany isn't ready to jump into the fire just yet with their suggestion of waiting until next fall. I guess it's also good that there appears to be some disagreement in German govt regarding the tax.
-Guru
Why not forward such original research (possibly even with sources and methods) to Prof. Burton Malkiel? He's turned out to be very receptive to such reasonable arguments, as I've just found out after I sent him, attached to my little gratitude letter, some of the more surprising unintended consequences of this tax, including:
- the real impact on the bid-ask spreads (it is larger than anyone has previously estimated without actual simulations),
- the comparison of the deFazio rate with sales taxes paid by brick-and-mortar businesses (in relative terms, with markups used as the common denominator), which would place a 100-times heavier tax burden on Wall Street,
- the inconsistency with the current monetary policy (the adverse impact on the cost of credit, constraining the credit action, because nowhere else does business financing come so cheaply as in the futures markets), etc.
Who knows, we might see our ideas used in defense of our livelihoods, published in the next WSJ article (or at least the Journal of Finance
?Scary when the unions have this much power, and the unions were the ones all pressing for our transaction tax. Just look what they got for healthcare:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091210/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091210/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul
Quote from ZeroSigma:
Why not forward such original research (possibly even with sources and methods) to Prof. Burton Malkiel? He's turned out to be very receptive to such reasonable arguments, as I've just found out after I sent him, attached to my little gratitude letter, some of the more surprising unintended consequences of this tax, including:
- the real impact on the bid-ask spreads (it is larger than anyone has previously estimated without actual simulations),
- the comparison of the deFazio rate with sales taxes paid by brick-and-mortar businesses (in relative terms, with markups used as the common denominator), which would place a 100-times heavier tax burden on Wall Street,
- the inconsistency with the current monetary policy (the adverse impact on the cost of credit, constraining the credit action, because nowhere else does business financing come so cheaply as in the futures markets), etc.
Who knows, we might see our ideas used in defense of our livelihoods, published in the next WSJ article (or at least the Journal of Finance
I might do that, but I feel like what do I know with all of these people educated multiples more than I am, and don't they already know this? Seems like they would have better access and know how to research data and have the people trained to do that.
The negatives seem like common sense. Volume after volume could be written as to the negatives of such a tax with real life applications of the tax in other countries as examples.
SIFMA has data on the securities industry and:
SIFMAâs Bentsen Statement on Introduction of Transaction Tax Legislation
http://www.sifma.org/news/news.aspx?id=14498
True, but they just gave a good example of how to fight a tax -- get a quote from an average joe about how harmful the tax will be -- then get that quote into the MSM . . . . . Hey, no fair, why can't we do that?
"I support health care reform but I can't afford this tax," Valerie Castle Stanley, an AT&T call center worker and member of the Communications Workers of America, said at a news conference outside the Capitol. "For families like mine that are on a budget, the results will be devastating."
I'd love to see Defazio and Krugman try to directly bash farmers and ranchers as participants of "socially useless" behavior.
Tobin tax remains UK Treasury ambition
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3648a9c4-e5c0-11de-b5d7-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3648a9c4-e5c0-11de-b5d7-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss