An other thing I told the IMF is the supporters sometimes point out the "moral hazard" of an insurance fee against a Tobin Tax, but what the IMF is working on is a mean to prevent future crisis and finance future bailouts, whether it's with Tobin tax fund or insurance fee fund. They are not working to save forest or climate. There's no more "moral hazard" in financing bailouts by insurance fee than by Tobin tax. It would rather be normal that the banks pay for their own future bailouts. Please point that out in your messages to the IMF.
We have another potential problem. It turns out that radio/MSNBC host Ed Schultz is now seriously thinking of running for Bryan Dorgan's Senate seat. I've highlighted that talk show host before on this thread. The man is for that god damn transaction tax, and he's a good friend of DeFazio. Now he may not ultimately run, and if he did, he may not win. But then again, who knows these days. The last thing we need is to have a proponent of the TT in the Senate. We already have Harkin blathering on about it. Now another?!!?? No friggin' way! Gang, this is not good, and we need to really get politically active.
I am familiar with Ed Schultz grew up watching and listening to that douche bag. He will be tough to beat of he runs, and he is obviously an uber loony liberal.
Schultz may not be eligible to run. I read on another site that Schultz admitted he thought there was a North Dakota law that stipulates you have to have been a resident there for at least five years before you could run for any political office to represent the state. Schultz admitted that he has not lived in ND, so if this law is in fact true, he can't run. Here's the article mentioning that. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31202.html
Funny that you mentioned this, I too thought he lived on a lake home in Minnesota? The republican governor is also thinking about running and he is extremely well liked by both sides of the aisle.
Even if Schultz were able to run, he would not win a Senate seat in North Dakota. The only way he would have a chance is if ND Republican Governor John Hoeven doesn't run, which isn't happening. Hoeven currently has an 87% approval rating as North Dakota's Governor, and would easily beat Schultz. The Democratic party has fallen out of favor there big time, where 65% of the state opposes the Obama health bill. The only reason the Dems. want Schultz to run is because he can help generate significant campaign funds in the state for other Democratic candidates. Schultz also see's that writing on the wall, which is why he's indicated that he's leaning against running. Even Schultz knows that he would just be used by the Democrats as a campaign fund generator. The North Dakota Senate seat is one that the GOP doesn't have to worry much about. However, with CT Democratic Senator Chris Dodd announcing that he won't be running for re-election in 2010, the Democrats will probably retain that seat.
The guy Rudd definitely gets disproportionate G-20 clout. They listen to him - no recession, no failed banks, low unemployment, rich country --- IMF analysts need to read his statement below over and over and over so it sinks right in --- so it counts as a definite "G-20 NO" and so he is also reminded. December 17 2009 Copenhagen. Australian PM Kevin Rudd --- 'In terms of Tobin taxes or aviation taxes, of course, that's not the view of the Australian Government...' His outright rejection of TT should be repeatedly put to IMF attention --- also as a reminder to PM Rudd he publicly ruled out the tax, so lessening any possibility of shameful retreat under Brown et al pressure.
I noticed that both Defazio's (HR 4191) and Harkin's bill don't list any co-sponsors now. I wonder if the website is screwed up or something? http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-4191 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-2927 Per the above site's both were updated today. Hopefully they arn't adding more co-sponsors... -Guru
The following URL is an official source, whereas govtrack is a private service that pulls the data from "thomas". For the HR Bill, select "Bill Number", then type "H.R. 4191" in the search box. http://thomas.loc.gov/ For the Senate Bill, select "Bill Number", then type "S. 2927" in the search box. http://thomas.loc.gov/