Username	Slightly Optimistic
Joined	04 Feb '06  18:48
First Post	04 Feb '06  20:22
Last Post	21 May '13  07:58
Total Posts	6003
Total Recommendations	290

Last 10 posts

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21 May '13  07:58
Finance and Investment
Google is claiming it is a victim of a lesser form of financial arbitrage in the UK. [see 16 May '13 09:52 for BP's ordeal in the US]

The chief executive is hoping the G20 will definitively rule on the tax competition, whatever the G8 might decide. Cameron refuses to say if he will quiz Google boss Eric Schmidt over tax

A government's ability to corrupt the checks and balances on finance in the global economy is yet another matter to be resolved. Hopefully Pascal Lamy will be allowed to contribute to the matter [16 May '13 10:28].

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19 May '13  10:16
President Obama
Is it really any worse than what can happen in other jurisdictions, 3dc?

Checks and balances on global finance, for example, can be removed by government whenever it wishes - as the House of Lords heard in a parliamentary inquiry into the bank collapse. The UK and the G8 it chairs aren't moving to stop this. As a result the continued absence of effective national/international rules on finance means that asset owners are fair game at present.

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16 May '13  13:05
European Political Economy
Russia might have to worry more about being swamped by China.

Map of the World's Countries Rearranged by Population

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16 May '13  12:07
International Trade
The game is called 'beggar-thy-neighbour'.

International [and national] checks and balances were deliberately kept weak to encourage the competition.

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16 May '13  10:28
Finance and Investment
We live in a global economy, where not every government plays by the same rules LB. Independent inquiries tend to be stymied.

See 30 Apr '13 14:06 below:

Oxford Martin's red lines mean it is unable to form an opinion. Surely Pascal Lamy is unaware of this restriction on the Commission's international remit.

However from even the limited information available to 'Transparency' the UK gets a worrying international rating.

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16 May '13  09:52
Finance and Investment
BP thinks it's a victim of financial arbitrage.

BP is so worried by the potential magnitude of alleged undeserved payments it is making to companies that it is planning to ask the British prime minister and chancellor for help in persuading the US government to intervene. It is hopeful that David Cameron will raise the issue at the G8 meeting of the government of the world's richest countries, which the UK is hosting next month.

The court filing warns that BP will be "irreparably harmed" unless the compensation system is reformed fast. According to BP sources, the rate at which cash is leaking from the company could turn into a serious new financial crisis for the company, putting at risk its dividend and making it vulnerable to a takeover by another oil company.

BP is hopeful that David Cameron will raise the issue [financial arbitrage] at the G8 meeting of the government of the world's richest countries, which the UK is hosting next month? It seems unlikely, for starters, that the UK government would try to stop a practice that advantages it.

BP's Gulf of Mexico compensation costs 'jeopardising' the company

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15 May '13  16:24
International Trade
News of potential clashes in the Arctic.

See 02 Feb '13 16:57: "Developments in the Arctic will show whether nations are ready to accept international order" Will the US join the UN's Law of the Sea, for example?

Arctic Council grants China, Japan and India observer status


Why US won't sign UN treaty

the Treaty remains objectionable for three main reasons: it compromises US sovereignty, it gives undue power to the United Nations, and it will deter much needed investment in offshore resources

Last week, the White House unveiled a new Arctic strategy with the policy aim of advancing national security interests.

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15 May '13  11:21
International Trade
Further to 12 May '13 14:54: "The growth in the developing world means they'll need more loans, therefore fewer loans will be available for the West - although 'Wall Street' is unlikely to mind this either in a global economy."

The FT reports: China is forecast to surpass the US as the world’s largest corporate debt market for non-financial companies in the next two years, according to a report from Standard & Poor's. The rating agency expects the debt needs of companies in China to reach upwards of $18tn by the end of 2017, accounting for a third of the forecast $53tn in new debt and refinancing needs of global companies in the next five years. Debt includes bank loans and bonds and is drawn from public information collated by S&P.

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15 May '13  10:48
Finance and Investment
Financial arbitrage and the corrupting of financial audit. We are learning more about the questionable practices of government agencies in finance.

In the US the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration was allowed to release an independent report this week that found individuals and groups were singled out for discriminatory treatment based on policy stances. Some time ago in the UK we saw that a government has powerful weapons to bring financial audit to heel, as a warning a firm of 'independent' auditors was banned from public sector work for several years.

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14 May '13  16:29
Finance and Investment
Talking of the difficulty in stopping financial arbitrage [see Trade forum 14 May '13 15:18], one of the agenda items the UK chair has chosen for the G8 is ensuring tax compliance.

But EU member Luxembourg refuses to play ball. Shades of the UK's opposition to a Tobin tax here - Luxembourg has declared its opposition to a new law against tax evasion; its wealth comes mainly from financial services, with the banking sector worth 22 times the size of its economy.

The European Commission has been trying to update its anti-tax-fraud legislation for the past eight years. Its 2005 law forces member states to automatically exchange information on EU nationals' deposits in other European Union countries.

But it contains gaps on income received via investment funds, pensions, trusts and foundations. It also contains a big hole on Austria and Luxembourg.

The two financial centres are exempt from automatic exchange until such time as five non-EU tax havens - Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland - agree to it as well.

Luxembourg's reluctance to go ahead puts it on a collision course with major EU states, including France, Germany and the UK.

Luxembourg says No to new EU tax law