by Linda Bealecross posted with Ataxingmatter Bank Tax: France, Germany and UK, but where’s the USA? On June 23, the big three Euro countries–France, Germany, and Britain–agreed to tax banks directly, “to ensure that banks make a fair contribution to reflect the risks they pose to the financial system and wider economy, and to encourage […]

by Bruce Webb Mostly lost in the furor over whether BP Apologist Joe Barton should remain as Ranking Member of the House Energy Committee and so potentially the Chairman should the Republicans take over the House is the fact that under Republican caucus rules he is term-limited out. Something high-lighted in this Feb article focused […]

… While it will be many years yet before we can put a hard number on the amount of taxpayer dollars actually lost in the bailout, the Center for Media and Democracy’s latest assessment of dollars disbursed in the bailout graphically illustrates the extraordinary lengths to which the federal government went to bailout the financial […]

by Linda Beale David Cay Johnston has noticed a tax giveaway through FERC [hat tip to Tax Prof; edited to correct typo and provide links] David Cay Johnston, writing in Tax Notes, has focused on a tax giveaway that most of us have missed–a provision that permits partnerships that own pipelines to charge consumers for […]

The House-Senate conference committee on financial reform takes up the derivatives issue tomorrow. Will they adopt the Senate version (which covers 90% of derivatives according to the CFTC) or the House version which is riddled with loopholes and covers only 60% of derivatives trading?

by Rebecca Wilder GIIPS labour costs not moving in the “competitive” directionThe GIIPS (Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain) hope: exports. Fiscal austerity crimps the saving of the private sector. And provided the governments make good their plans to put on the fiscal straight-jacket, there’s no other impetus for growth except foreign demand. Financial crises […]

Hilary Doe, the National Director of the Roosevelt Campus Network, spoke this week at the National Academy for Social Insurance conference in Washington, DC. She thinks ahead to the year 2040 — and fighting to keep Social Security around. Think 2040 is the Roosevelt Institute sponsored platform for Millenial generation input into the whole debate. […]

by Bruce Webb Those of us who follow the Obama Deficit Commission and its seeming hyper-focus on cutting Social Security were heartened last week by what turned into a veritable de-pantsing of Commission co-Chairman Alan Simpson in the course of an 8 minute video interview outside the (closed) doors of the Commission by Social Security […]

Lest readers fall asleep about the idea of proxy access, take note of the Business Roundtable reaction. Business Roundtable voices discontent: Ivan G. Seidenberg, chief executive of Verizon Communications, said that Democrats in Washington are pursuing tax increases, policy changes and regulatory actions that together threaten to dampen economic growth……The final straw, said Roundtable president […]