Why don´t Europeans agree first...they seem worlds apart!

Sir Peer SteinBrück, the German finance minister, in “A tax on trading to share the costs of the crisis”, September 25, proposes a tax on financial transactions of 0.05 percent that could “yield up to $690bn a year.

But, Bernard Kouchner, the French minister of foreign affairs in “A tax on finance to help the world´s poor” September 17, he spoke about a tax of 0.005 percent that would “raise €30bn”.

Why don’t the Europeans agree first among them what they want to propose to the world? Now, they seem worlds apart.

That said before any tax of this sort, the world´s poor, and most of the rest of the world, would benefit more from taking away that financial tax that the current capital regulations for banks represent in that, above of what the market already charges for risk differentials, it creates arbitrary costs, far from minuscule, that directly taxes those more prone to be considered as more risky, like the poor and the development countries. http://bit.ly/4yX7k1

Mr Bernard Kouchner, you better beguine by taking away the tax on the world’s poor.

Sir I do not believe that the markets´ capability to arbitrage away disequilibrium would be seriously compromised by a minuscule tax on financial transactions and so I do not oppose it, in fact I support it as “a time for a second thought tax” helpful for everyone. And of course I do not reject the idea of “A tax on finance to help the world´s poor” as argued by Bernard Kouchner, September 17.

That said let me be absolutely clear that the world´s poor, and most of the rest of the world, would benefit much more from taking away that financial tax that the current capital regulations for banks represent in that, above from what the market already charges for risk differentials, it creates arbitrary costs, far from minuscule, that directly taxes those more prone to be considered as more risky, like the poor and the development countries.

And so, Mr Bernard Kouchner, I would much prefer you forget your well-intentioned tax and instead eliminate your non-intentional tax.