February 10, 2010
Robin Hood Tax
Richard Curtis has launched a campaign for the Tobin tax in the UK. It’s pretty good.
Amongst the responses from leading economists is the opinion that this will probably not fly unless it is also broadly accepted by the large European countries (i.e. France and Germany) and the US. And the US, they say, will never accept it.
UPDATE: Well, it’s looking at the very least like this idea is being taken seriously for the G20 summit. Watch them closely.
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14 Responses to “Robin Hood Tax”
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“Robin Hood Tax,” a name like that would never fly with conservatives here. I can hear them already, “This is, as the name suggests, stealing. State sanctioned stealing AND redistribution. ‘Robin Hood Tax,’ they may as well call it what it is: communism.”
Yes, I think that’s what Joseph Stiglitz was getting at.
But this raises a very serious point, which is about the disaffectedness of non-banker non-Palin Americans. The attitude is so weary now, the expectation is that every humane idea will get ground out of existence by the banks and the lobbyists and the lawyers and the puppets they hire to govern the country, and so people withdraw and accept that that is how it will always be.
I read this article today, which probably won’t help, but it is interesting.
And the awful possibility is that in 3 years time, Palin’s crowd will be buoyed up with the fizz of their own ignorance, whereas people who voted for Obama will be mute and kind of depressed and withdrawn.
For a second, I thought that was Bill Nighy.
For that second, you were right.
And then I watched it and wished I could delete that last comment.
And the awful possibility is that in 3 years time, Palin’s crowd will be buoyed up with the fizz of their own ignorance, whereas people who voted for Obama will be mute and kind of depressed and withdrawn.
This is exactly why I get frustrated when I hear liberals complain about President Obama’s effectiveness. It’s not that I don’t agree he could be doing better it’s that I’m worried progressives are shooting themselves in the foot by, first, expecting too much of one man and, second, getting overly depressed about it.
Some good stuff has happened in the last year. More than you’d think if you talked to some people.
Not for nothing, but this is just another form of sales tax. Inventing new taxes to “save the poor” doesn’t work if there’s nothing also done to a) make sure that the revenue generated by the tax is put into worthwhile programs (and not just used when governments run short of funds for other reasons) and b) help the “poor” make good decisions to become self-sustainable where possible.
Well the interesting thing about this idea is that it links the more abstract financial transactions and products to poverty, so it’s not “just another sales tax” because it’s not taxing normal customer transactions. Not that, of course, banks wouldn’t find ways to pass it off on anyone but their own profits, but the direct linking of these mercurial financial inventions and the world’s poor through a flow of energy such as money, seems elegant and apt to me.
Indeed there would need to be a sound system to funnel this money through, and quite apart from governments’ normal systems of foreign aid. The topic of ’self-sustainable’, however, is a right can of canaries once you open it. I mean, that’s basically what the Communists were trying to achieve in their isolated closed off little (large) world. Once you’re in the world and trading, the idea of “self-sustainable” tends to fall away in the great survival of the economically fittest and most dominating/ appeasing. Now of course, the ‘teach a man how to catch fish rather than just giving him a fish’ approach is a highly sensible one.
Wow, folks. Have a look at this!
Agreed, Lucy. I think that we have somewhat different political ideas, but I respect your opinion and feel that we have a lot of common ground too.
[...] above video stars actor Bill Nighy and was directed by Richard Curtis. [via] [...]
Ha ha! Our Sheriff of Nottingham, aka Goldman Sachs, has tried to rig the vote! Incidentally, you can vote and visit the HQ of the campaign here.