These are my links for February 8th through February 10th:
- US labour launches Centre for Green Jobs | ToUChstone blog: A public policy blog from the TUC - We need to invest in the same way
- Principles, what principles? Another KPMG update | - KPMG is so transparent it can't decide if it can disclose its principles
About as transparent as their work in tax havens then
And about as transparent as their tax planning as outlined by the Guardian (and here on occasion)
- Tax gap series: Boots moved its headquarters to Switzerland - I have always found this one deeply irritating
Not least because I think it puts this company in jeopardy
And because it turns their PR into something that no one can believe
- Tax Justice Network: The City of London Corporation: the state within a state - "When people ask - as they often do these days - which is the biggest tax haven in the world, our answer is almost invariably the City of London. The City hosts Britain's largest offshore financial centre and is intimately linked to [the UK's numerous] satellite tax havens across most time zones.
Often called The Square Mile, the City is a geographically defined area of the London metropolis. The City is not a London borough, and unbeknownst to almost everybody it has its own distinctive political representative body, the City of London Corporation, which in addition to holding some rather unusual powers - such as the power to organise its own police force - is probably the most powerful and self-interested political lobby in the world. "
TJN makes the point loud and clear: London is at the centre of the tax haven problem.
- Leaders unsure of need for change will be replaced - The Irish Times - Mon, Feb 09, 2009 - "Last weekend’s security conference in Munich hinted at some major changes. The G20 summit in London at the beginning of April will probably outline others – including a death sentence for offshore tax havens.
The Guardian newspaper ran a series on corporate tax avoidance in the UK last week. Such tax avoidance was always inequitable; it has now become politically unsustainable. Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy have already made it quietly clear to Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco and Switzerland that things have to change. The G20 is going to apply significant pressure on the British government, for instance, over the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar and the British Virgin Islands.
Much of the solution is not overly complex. Were governments to deduct standard rate taxes from all transfers to accounts in tax havens, they would effectively wipe out such havens and their hedge funds."
Are the Irish getting it?
- Barclays battles to convince doubters | - It will take a lot to convince me
I simply don't believe they have the capital that they claim
With the number of offshore subsidiaries they have the chance of them really assessing their risk is low
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Richard,
I found this assessment of current problems by Steve Keen (professor at the University of Western Sydney) an interesting read. You might like to post the link:
http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2009/01/11/bernanke-an-expert-on-the-great-depression/
Keen questions Bernanke’s understanding of the Great Depression and believes his analysis of the current situation is flawed by a dogmatic adherence to the idea of equilibrium in world economics: essentially belief that acceptance of the obvious simplification that debts are always paid is necessary in order to understand economic systems. Furthermore Keen suggests that Bernanke has yet to recognise the destabilising influence of high levels of debt.
Stefan
I am a fan of Steve Keen
I strongly recommend Debunking Economics
His analysis looks good to me
Richard