Friday, August 23, 2013
Webster Tarpley: 1% Wall Street Sales Tax to pay for on-budget social Programs
A 1% Wall Street Sales Tax to pay for on-budget social programs. Known under various names (Tobin tax, financial transactions tax, Robin Hood tax), a tax on the sales of stocks, bonds, futures, options and other derivatives is key both to generating trillions in revenue and to reducing the burden of predatory financial speculation.
Such a tax was passed in January 2013 by 11 EU member-nations, including Germany, France and Italy. The Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act, re-introduced in February 2013 by Senator Harkin (IA) and Rep. Peter Defazio (OR-4), provides a template for the US, and is quickly gaining support among economists and activists.
The turnover (transactions) in question, including stocks, bonds, options, futures and derivatives, is estimated to exceed five quadrillion (5,000 trillion) dollars per year. While working class families pay an average of 7% in sales tax for clothing, utilities and even food, hedge fund operators pay nothing. The EU tax and mainstream proposals in the US tax these transactions at anywhere from 0.005% to 0.1% (advocated by Robert Reich). This is not enough! Harkin and Defazio estimate tax receipts of $300 billion over 10 years. In this same period, the Simpson-Bowles commission intends to cut $4 trillion from the budget, mostly from Medicare and other social programs.
The UFAA demands a full 1% Wall Street Sales Tax, to generate trillions in needed revenue. We recommend a $1 million exemption to protect household-level investment, and a requirement that all transactions must be sold over public exchanges and taxed in order to be legally valid.
Economic Collapse 2014 ~ Loan Rates, Credit, Personal Debt, Spending Habits, and Banking Industry Practices
Loan Rates, Credit, Personal Debt, Spending Habits, and Banking Industry Practices (2004)
Consumer debt can be defined as 'money, goods or services provided to an individual in lieu of payment.' Common forms of consumer credit include credit cards, store cards, motor (auto) finance, personal loans (installment loans), consumer lines of credit, retail loans (retail installment loans) and mortgages. This is a broad definition of consumer credit and corresponds with the Bank of England's definition of "Lending to individuals". Given the size and nature of the mortgage market, many observers classify mortgage lending as a separate category of personal borrowing, and consequently residential mortgages are excluded from some definitions of consumer credit - such as the one adopted by the Federal Reserve in the US.
The cost of credit is the additional amount, over and above the amount borrowed, that the borrower has to pay. It includes interest, arrangement fees and any other charges. Some costs are mandatory, required by the lender as an integral part of the credit agreement. Other costs, such as those for credit insurance, may be optional. The borrower chooses whether or not they are included as part of the agreement.
Interest and other charges are presented in a variety of different ways, but under many legislative regimes lenders are required to quote all mandatory charges in the form of an annual percentage rate (APR). The goal of the APR calculation is to promote 'truth in lending', to give potential borrowers a clear measure of the true cost of borrowing and to allow a comparison to be made between competing products. The APR is derived from the pattern of advances and repayments made during the agreement. Optional charges are not included in the APR calculation. So if there is a tick box on an application form asking if the consumer would like to take out payment insurance, then insurance costs will not be included in the APR calculation (Finlay 2009).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer...
To be able to provide home buyers and builders with the funds needed, banks must compete for deposits. The phenomenon of disintermediation had to dollars moving from savings accounts and into direct market instruments such as U.S. Department of Treasury obligations, agency securities, and corporate debt. One of the greatest factors in recent years in the movement of deposits was the tremendous growth of money market funds whose higher interest rates attracted consumer deposits.[16]
To compete for deposits, US savings institutions offer many different types of plans:[16] Passbook or ordinary deposit accounts — permit any amount to be added to or withdrawn from the account at any time. NOW and Super NOW accounts — function like checking accounts but earn interest. A minimum balance may be required on Super NOW accounts. Money market accounts — carry a monthly limit of preauthorized transfers to other accounts or persons and may require a minimum or average balance. Certificate accounts — subject to loss of some or all interest on withdrawals before maturity. Notice accounts — the equivalent of certificate accounts with an indefinite term. Savers agree to notify the institution a specified time before withdrawal. Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Keogh plans — a form of retirement savings in which the funds deposited and interest earned are exempt from income tax until after withdrawal. Checking accounts — offered by some institutions under definite restrictions. All withdrawals and deposits are completely the sole decision and responsibility of the account owner unless the parent or guardian is required to do otherwise for legal reasons. Club accounts and other savings accounts — designed to help people save regularly to meet certain goals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banking_...
Consumer debt can be defined as 'money, goods or services provided to an individual in lieu of payment.' Common forms of consumer credit include credit cards, store cards, motor (auto) finance, personal loans (installment loans), consumer lines of credit, retail loans (retail installment loans) and mortgages. This is a broad definition of consumer credit and corresponds with the Bank of England's definition of "Lending to individuals". Given the size and nature of the mortgage market, many observers classify mortgage lending as a separate category of personal borrowing, and consequently residential mortgages are excluded from some definitions of consumer credit - such as the one adopted by the Federal Reserve in the US.
The cost of credit is the additional amount, over and above the amount borrowed, that the borrower has to pay. It includes interest, arrangement fees and any other charges. Some costs are mandatory, required by the lender as an integral part of the credit agreement. Other costs, such as those for credit insurance, may be optional. The borrower chooses whether or not they are included as part of the agreement.
Interest and other charges are presented in a variety of different ways, but under many legislative regimes lenders are required to quote all mandatory charges in the form of an annual percentage rate (APR). The goal of the APR calculation is to promote 'truth in lending', to give potential borrowers a clear measure of the true cost of borrowing and to allow a comparison to be made between competing products. The APR is derived from the pattern of advances and repayments made during the agreement. Optional charges are not included in the APR calculation. So if there is a tick box on an application form asking if the consumer would like to take out payment insurance, then insurance costs will not be included in the APR calculation (Finlay 2009).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer...
To be able to provide home buyers and builders with the funds needed, banks must compete for deposits. The phenomenon of disintermediation had to dollars moving from savings accounts and into direct market instruments such as U.S. Department of Treasury obligations, agency securities, and corporate debt. One of the greatest factors in recent years in the movement of deposits was the tremendous growth of money market funds whose higher interest rates attracted consumer deposits.[16]
To compete for deposits, US savings institutions offer many different types of plans:[16] Passbook or ordinary deposit accounts — permit any amount to be added to or withdrawn from the account at any time. NOW and Super NOW accounts — function like checking accounts but earn interest. A minimum balance may be required on Super NOW accounts. Money market accounts — carry a monthly limit of preauthorized transfers to other accounts or persons and may require a minimum or average balance. Certificate accounts — subject to loss of some or all interest on withdrawals before maturity. Notice accounts — the equivalent of certificate accounts with an indefinite term. Savers agree to notify the institution a specified time before withdrawal. Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Keogh plans — a form of retirement savings in which the funds deposited and interest earned are exempt from income tax until after withdrawal. Checking accounts — offered by some institutions under definite restrictions. All withdrawals and deposits are completely the sole decision and responsibility of the account owner unless the parent or guardian is required to do otherwise for legal reasons. Club accounts and other savings accounts — designed to help people save regularly to meet certain goals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banking_...
Alex Jones Show: Friday (8-23-13) Syrian Girl & Dr. Christopher Busby
On this guest-packed Friday, August 23 edition of the Alex Jones Show, Alex exposes how the mainstream media may be downplaying the possible racial motivation behind recent, high-profile murders because it does not fit the media's agenda. Alex welcomes back Syrian Girl to get the latest updates on the situation in Syria. In yet another example of war propaganda, the U.S. government is now claiming that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is using chemical weapons against his own people. Alex interviews Dr. Duane Weed and Marc Messmer, the two Impeach Obama protestors arrested by police in Missouri for not leaving a public area. Dr. Christopher Busby, a British scientific advisor to the Low Level Radiation Campaign, also joins the show to discuss new developments in the Fukushima nuclear disaster. A Japanese governor has recently announced that the massive leak of radioactive water from the damaged nuclear plant is a national emergency.
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