Democracy is an illusion! It’s become a political system fostered by the élite, for the élite, in order to fool the people that they have a stake in the system. In actual fact, they have virtually none. The whole political system in the modern era, despite having noble beginnings, is now used to benefit the few at the expense of the many. – Mark Alexander, June 29, 2018
EU Proposes Bank Tax to End 'Unacceptable' Taxpayer Bailouts
THE TELEGRAPH: Banks must face new taxes to avoid repeating the 'unacceptable' bail-outs of failed banks that cost taxpayers billions, the European Union’s chief financial regulator warned.
Michel Barnier, the European Union market regulation chief, says he believes in the 'polluter pays principle.' Photograph: The Telegraph
European banks may face taxes on the size of their balance sheets, on how much they owe other institutions or on how much profit they make, Michael Barnier, the EU's Financial Services Commissioner said on Wednesday.
The cash raised would be used to pay for future bail-outs.
“It is not acceptable that taxpayers should continue to bear the heavy cost of rescuing the banking sector,” Mr Barnier said. "They should not be in the front line. I believe in the polluter pays principle.
"We need to build a system which ensures that the financial sector will pay the cost of banking crises in the future."
The plans by Mr Barnier come as the eurozone faces the biggest crisis in its short history, as investors fear that the debt crisis that engulfed Greece will spread.
However, there are divisions among European countries on how to implement the tax and what it should be used for.
France and Britain would like the money raised to reparing the hole in public finances, but Germany wants to ring-fence the levy. >>> | Wednesday, May 26, 2010
January 14, 2010
Barack Obama Imposes Tax on Big Banks
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama has unveiled a new tax on the country's biggest banks to recoup the money spent bailing the system out, putting the administration on a collision course with Wall Street.
Barack Obama, the US president, is imposing a levy on banks to recoup bail-out costs. Photograph: The Telegraph
The plan, if approved by Congress, would levy the tax on up to 50 financial services companies based on the total size of their liabilities. White House officials estimates it will raise at least $90bn over the next decade and wrest back for the taxpayer the money given the banks as part of the $700bn Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP).
Mr Obama said the move is aimed at preventing Wall Street firms from going back to "business as usual" and resuming high-risk lending practices and huge bets on mortgages and other instruments he blames for igniting the financial crisis.
"My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed," said Mr Obama.
"My determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people – have not been made whole, and who continue to face real hardship in this recession."
His announcement comes amid rising public anger in America at the prospect of the titans of Wall Street handing out multi-million dollar bonuses to staff little more than 12 months after the financial system was rescued by the brink. >>> Telegraph Staff | Thursday, January 14, 2010
October 22, 2009
US Bailout Companies Ordered to Cut Pay
TIMES ONLINE: Top executives at US companies that have not yet repaid billions of dollars of taxpayers' bailout money will be forced to take pay cuts of up to 90 per cent after a ruling by President Obama's pay czar.
The most senior 25 employees at Citigroup, Bank of America, American International Group, General Motors, Chrysler, as well as the financing arms of the two car companies, will see their basic salary fall to just 10 per cent of previous pay, with some earnings replaced with shares in the company that cannot be sold for several years.
The result of the measures will be an average remuneration reduction of 50 per cent.
The move is designed to link the personal self-interest of board members with the long-term health of the company and will be closely watched in the UK, as ministers grapple with how to limit the excesses of bonus culture at British banks. >>> Rebecca O'Connor | Thursday, October 22, 2009
April 04, 2009
The Liberal Economist Who's Become Obama's Chief Critic
THE INDEPENDENT: Forget the Republicans, the biggest thorn in the President's side is Paul Krugman. Stephen Foley reports
Paul Krugman On the bank bailout: 'The plans are a classic exercise in 'lemon socialism': taxpayers bear the cost if things go wrong, stockholders and executives get the benefits if things go right. Photo courtesy of The Independent
His apocalyptic warnings have sent readers flocking to his blog. A viral video of a Californian man literally singing his praises is a hit on YouTube. Tickets to a lecture he was giving in California last night were going for $135 (£91). Newsweek magazine just put him on the cover and dubbed him the head of "the loyal opposition". Paul Krugman is the man of the moment. And Team Obama is rattled.
While the US leader has been entrancing foreign statesmen on a whirlwind tour of Europe and trying to craft an era of bipartisanship back home, his staunchest opponent has appeared from very close quarters – from the left – threatening a crisis of confidence that could capsize his infant presidency.
The Obama administration has been blindsided by the emergence of Mr Krugman – not even a politician, but an economist – as a focus for dissidents who believe it is not doing enough to repair the economy.
On both pillars of Mr Obama's economic strategy – the $800bn package to stimulate the economy and the $1 trillion bailout for the financial sector – the bearded Princeton university professor has been the President's most coruscating critic.
Mr Krugman has been doing his New York Times column for a decade. He has long been a staple on political talk shows and gained new respect last year when he won the Nobel prize for economics for his work on international trade. But in the past few months, he has tapped into the anxiety of a wider audience, which is asking the question of the moment: will the Obama recovery plan work?
His answer is no. The economic stimulus Bill was far smaller than required to combat soaring job losses, which yesterday passed five million since the start of the US recession. Worse, the plan to repair the banking system – lending private investors up to $1 trillion to buy toxic mortgage assets from the country's ailing banks, in the hope of freeing them up to start lending again – is doomed, because it is based on the flawed notion that the major US banks are fundamentally sound. >>> Stephen Foley | Saturday, April 4, 2009
