Agree, if the markets meltdown again, and bankers are blamed, it softens up the political minefield for bank taxes. Hopefully, not FTT.
Good point. Obama has sweet talked bankers when it suited him, although there may not be any good political reason to do so now.
Sounds like the UK wants to see the EC-11 FTT fine print, to determine if their final version of FTT is extra-territorial in reach, taxing the UK, or not. Can't blame them. The UK seems to guess the EC-11 FTT will have extra-territorial reach, and they are saying they will force proper protocol in the process, and vote no in QMV, plus try and defeat this FTT from taxing them in any case. Fully expected this. Does the UK and other no voters have enough no votes to defeat EC-11 FTT in the QMV process? Who has the latest vote count? If they vote end of 2012 and markets are shaky with the U.S. fiscal cliff and post-election EU news getting worse, let's hope for a QMV failure on EC-11 FTT and tabling it for the near future.
Increased likelyhood that the next Treasury Secretary will support FTT. http://washingtonexaminer.com/repor...ama-cabinet-slot/article/2512982#.UJwE3UbCz8A White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew is the favorite to replace Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, but Obama aide Pete Rouse is looking for âa Fortune 500 CEOâ to work under the president who embraced Occupy Wall Street.
a quick question, not sure, but i was just wondering what power does the treasury secretary have in forwarding the potential FTT threat? Is it that he or she has a lot of influence in convincing members of the house and senate, or is there some other mechanism in place where he or she can forward the FTT agenda?
The Treasury Secretary can influence the President's tax agenda, and the President then lobbies Congress to enact that agenda into law. When Obama first took office he was in favor of the FTT. Summers and Geithner talked him out of it (or so the story goes). Geithner killed FTT talk at every G-20 meeting he attended. A pro-FTT Treasury Secretary would join forces with other pro-FTT countries in an effort to enact a coordinated world-wide FTT.
A Republican US House of Rep. would never vote for an FTT, no matter who Obama appoints as Treasury Secretary. It doesn't matter whether he appoints someone that embraces that bowel movement called Occupy Wall Street. In addition, if the US agreed to enter into a Global FTT, wouldn't that fall under a 'Treaty' type of agreement, which would require at least 67 votes in the U.S. Senate to ratify? Yes, the GOP had a rather lously 2012 election, losing a few Senate seats, and the presidency, but they did maintain the U.S. House majority by a rather comfortable margin despite the Democratic turnout being almost identical to the 2008 model. Actually, the minority block voters turned out for Obama by a higher rate than in 2008, and yet the GOP only lost a small handful of House seats. The way I see it, there two things the House GOP will feel intense pressure on. That is raising taxes on the very top bracket of wage earners (The Rich), and Immigration reform. FTT is not an issue they will give in to. Ever. Even when Democrats had a super majority in the Senate, and an overwhelming majority in the House, not one piece of FTT legislation ever made it out of committee. Yes, more progressive clown Democrats were elected to the Senate, but as long as the GOP holds at least one house of congress, and has the ability to filibuster in the Senate, the FTT is one issue that won't see the light of day in becoming law in the US, or evolving into any sort of Global FTT agreement.