Look what this nut job wants to do to traders.
Really the only firm that needs to be heavily taxed in this situation is GS.
They should be soley held responsible for bailing out the worlds financial system. Come on GS. Fork it over.
Nov. 7, 2009, 10:29 a.m. EST · Recommend (2) · Post:
Comments Screener (79) Alert Email Print ShareBy William L. Watts, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday urged finance officials from the world's 20 largest industrialized and developing nations to weigh a global tax on financial transactions that would be used to fund bank bailouts.
"I believe we should discuss whether we need a better economic and social contract to reflect the global responsibilities of financial institutions to society," Brown told finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations gathered at St. Andrews in Scotland.
France and Germany have backed such measures in the past, but efforts have met resistance from London.
Brown mentioned the measure alongside proposals for an insurance fee to reflect systemic risk or a resolution fund or contingent capital arrangements.
Such measures, however, would need to be implemented globally to ensure a level playing field, he said.
Among other conditions, the proposals "would need to be implemented by all responsible financial centers in the world -- the U.S., Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Switzerland," Brown said. "Let me be clear: Britain will not move unless others move with us together."
The measures will be discussed in a report due in April by the International Monetary Fund.
U.S. officials had no immediate reaction to the comments, according to news reports.
The G20 meeting, which got under way Friday night and was set to conclude Saturday afternoon, is designed to give life to a pledge by G20 to give life to a robust 'peer-review' process, advertised as a method for reining in any country whose policies threatened to damage global growth.
This type of cooperation has been tried in the past, with little success because there were no "teeth" in the enforcement process.
Meanwhile, the joint statement from G20 officials is expected to include a commitment to maintain economic stimulus measures until a sustainable recovery is firmly in place. Reuters reported that a draft version of the communiqué will acknowledge improved financial and economic conditions in the wake of the G20's coordinated fiscal and monetary stimulus measures, but will warn that the recovery remains uneven and fragile. Officials will agree to keep the stimulus in place until recovery is assured, the report said.
