Of course, but thanks for the link. Back on thread, here's a piece from the Telegraph on the Tobin tax;
Mervyn King rubbishes Gordon Brown's Tobin plan, allies himself with Barack Obama
Gordon Brown’s attempts to cast himself as the architect of financial reform were dealt a humiliating blow on Tuesday after the Governor of the Bank of England rubbished the Prime Minister’s flagship proposal and allied himself with President Barack Obama...
Addressing the influential Treasury Select Committee, Mervyn King dismissed Mr Brown’s plan for a tax on financial transactions, the so-called “Tobin tax”. He said: “I don’t know anyone on the international circuit who’s enthusiastic about it ... Of all the measures being considered, the Tobin tax is probably at the bottom of the list.”
The Prime Minister has been a staunch advocate of the tax since first floating the idea at November’s G20 meeting at St Andrews. Earlier this month, he wrote in a newspaper article that “the IMF is looking at ... a global financial transactions tax” and, in December, the Treasury said “international coordination is both feasible and enforceable”.
Mr King said there was “much more support for a US-type levy” to create an insurance fund to bail-out the banks in the event of another financial crisis. Although Mr Brown also raised the prospect of an insurance levy at St Andrews, he made it clear he favoured a Tobin tax.
President Obama has announced plans to raise $90m from banks in the US with a 0.15pc tax on their unfunded balance sheet. The Governor said the structure of the US levy could be used to build up a resolution fund for future crises
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...in-plan-allies-himself-with-Barack-Obama.html