I followed what was going on at the G20 this week. I was choked and finally not that surprise that once again Canada was on the US side. It seems that my country always follows in order to be seemed like we have an opinion, when actually it is evident that they don’t know what to do. Our dollar just prove it, it plays up and down since a year.
Gordon Brown’s proposed at the G20 summit an international levy on transactions to prevent tax payer’s money to be use in future bailouts. This tax was also proposed in order to help the cost of climate change. A Tobin Tax is the suggested tax on all trade of currency across borders. Named after the economist James Tobin, the tax is intended to put a penalty on short-term speculation in currencies. Tobin suggested a new system for international currency stability, and proposed that such a system include an international charge on foreign-exchange transactions. The idea lay dormant for more than 20 years and was revived by the advent of the South East Asia economic crisis in the late 1990s[and now following the credit crunch in 2009 by UK’s prime minister].
According to what I read, the Tobin tax is actually a good idea to make the bank pay back to society, but I’m not sure Brown was the right person to propose it. It seems that he doesn’t have enough power. Moreover, by saying that if not all the countries are following the idea the UK wouldn’t do it shows that he might have just wanted to be more appreciated than having finally a good thing to propose.
I read different articles from UK and Canada to see how they were relating the story and how the opinions were differing between the 2 countries. The articles I like the best were from the guardian because the writers had opinions.
The headline of the guardian was quite evocative Don’t let a backlash knock out Tobin tax. It is quite obvious with such a headline that the article is in favour of the Tobin tax. In the first paragraph, the journalist state clearly is opinion by saying that support for a tax on global financial transactions is a welcome call on the banks to repay their debt to society [..] and to defend the idea of financial transaction taxes as a means to the progressive redistribution of economic gains. The article has many bias, the author clearly shows is opinion and uses ways to convince the readers. I think that people in favour of the tax will definitely agree with the author. I also like the fact that it had a lot of research in this editorial since the author showed how the tax was proposed 10 years ago in south-east Asia, the benefits of the Tobin Tax even if his opinion was present and what this tax could bring even at a rate of 0.05% for UK’s national economy by generating $700bn a year that could be invested in public services. He ends the article with a strong argument saying that the billions that could be raised by a financial transactions tax offer a means to recoup those losses [loss of jobs and big cuts into public services] and to direct funding towards frontline public services, anti-poverty programmes or adaptation to climate change.
I totally agree with the position of Guardian articles. It was clear to read, it gave me enough material to be able to understand the different issues facing this idea from UK’s prime minister and it convince me that this action should be in the best interest of everyone worldwide. It also discourage me that my country wasn’t in favour of it since we also need to improve our public services, especially our health care since we can wait more than 12 hours in a hospital before a doctor sees us.
Another article that was shown in the Guardian by another other definitely proves that this paper is pro opinions and more on the right side. Another article shown in the paper had for as a headline: Gordon Brown is right: rich western banks should pay for the developing world to go green. This second article agreed 100% with Brown statement saying that «There must be a better economic and social contract between financial institutions and the public, based on trust and just distribution of risks and rewards.» The author clearly show is opinion and says the big problem is to get universal backing. What I liked about this article is that the main focus was about the benefits this tax would bring to poor countries and for the environment.
Both articles from UK Guardian were in favour of the tax and what this could bring to the world. I read other articles as well from FT, Wall Street Journal and The mail online, but they were more relating the facts about what was said and didn’t went really further in details.
As for Canadian newspapers, I found that they were not really involve into the cause of Tobin tax and how we could improve our economy if for once we would follow European’s instead of Americans.
Reuters and Canwest collaboration for an articles show that Flaherty, Canada’s finance minister, doesn’t appear convinced that a tax will help. The article doesn’t have any bias, it simply relate what happened during the conference, which clearly deceived me since there was 100 things to say. Some quotes in it show how Flaherty keeps everything according to the book by saying «we have been a government that has been reducing taxes». I don’t really know how since our tax are not really moving since the past 5 years. The article is not in favour of Canada’s opinion or UK, but it still shows how Canada was behind by stating that «it’s not particularly a priority in the Canadian situation, since we have not had any of our financial institutions fail.»
This last quote is truth for now, but I think our economy is struggling like every economy right now and that Canada should be part of this levy that is even lower than the Tobin Tax at only .005 per cent to help the global economy.
To conclude, I think that Canadian reporters should support more our Country and should learn from UK’s reporters. It is not hard just to give an opinion instead of just relating when it comes to financials news that are happening worldwide. I think that even if our banks are not in a big crisis, Canada should separate itself from US and have an opinion and be more globally concern. I think we might be in a changing are though since UK prime minister is in favour of a change, we might, hopefully, follow in the next years if we can change government.
Sources:
Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/10/tobin-tax-backlash-financial-transactions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/09/bank-tax-pays-for-develpment
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/08/darling-brown-tobin-tax-obama/print
Reuters & Canwest
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Flaherty+sold+proposed+bank+levy/2198883/story.html
Mail Online
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1226013/Humiliation-Brown-plan-global-banking-tax-rejected-U-S-G20-meeting.html#
Reuters
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-joins-g20-push-for-bank-levy-reuters_molt-2335cb3ba041.html?x=0
Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/594673f2-cba8-11de-924d-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
Gordon Brown’s proposed at the G20 summit an international levy on transactions to prevent tax payer’s money to be use in future bailouts. This tax was also proposed in order to help the cost of climate change. A Tobin Tax is the suggested tax on all trade of currency across borders. Named after the economist James Tobin, the tax is intended to put a penalty on short-term speculation in currencies. Tobin suggested a new system for international currency stability, and proposed that such a system include an international charge on foreign-exchange transactions. The idea lay dormant for more than 20 years and was revived by the advent of the South East Asia economic crisis in the late 1990s[and now following the credit crunch in 2009 by UK’s prime minister].
According to what I read, the Tobin tax is actually a good idea to make the bank pay back to society, but I’m not sure Brown was the right person to propose it. It seems that he doesn’t have enough power. Moreover, by saying that if not all the countries are following the idea the UK wouldn’t do it shows that he might have just wanted to be more appreciated than having finally a good thing to propose.
I read different articles from UK and Canada to see how they were relating the story and how the opinions were differing between the 2 countries. The articles I like the best were from the guardian because the writers had opinions.
The headline of the guardian was quite evocative Don’t let a backlash knock out Tobin tax. It is quite obvious with such a headline that the article is in favour of the Tobin tax. In the first paragraph, the journalist state clearly is opinion by saying that support for a tax on global financial transactions is a welcome call on the banks to repay their debt to society [..] and to defend the idea of financial transaction taxes as a means to the progressive redistribution of economic gains. The article has many bias, the author clearly shows is opinion and uses ways to convince the readers. I think that people in favour of the tax will definitely agree with the author. I also like the fact that it had a lot of research in this editorial since the author showed how the tax was proposed 10 years ago in south-east Asia, the benefits of the Tobin Tax even if his opinion was present and what this tax could bring even at a rate of 0.05% for UK’s national economy by generating $700bn a year that could be invested in public services. He ends the article with a strong argument saying that the billions that could be raised by a financial transactions tax offer a means to recoup those losses [loss of jobs and big cuts into public services] and to direct funding towards frontline public services, anti-poverty programmes or adaptation to climate change.
I totally agree with the position of Guardian articles. It was clear to read, it gave me enough material to be able to understand the different issues facing this idea from UK’s prime minister and it convince me that this action should be in the best interest of everyone worldwide. It also discourage me that my country wasn’t in favour of it since we also need to improve our public services, especially our health care since we can wait more than 12 hours in a hospital before a doctor sees us.
Another article that was shown in the Guardian by another other definitely proves that this paper is pro opinions and more on the right side. Another article shown in the paper had for as a headline: Gordon Brown is right: rich western banks should pay for the developing world to go green. This second article agreed 100% with Brown statement saying that «There must be a better economic and social contract between financial institutions and the public, based on trust and just distribution of risks and rewards.» The author clearly show is opinion and says the big problem is to get universal backing. What I liked about this article is that the main focus was about the benefits this tax would bring to poor countries and for the environment.
Both articles from UK Guardian were in favour of the tax and what this could bring to the world. I read other articles as well from FT, Wall Street Journal and The mail online, but they were more relating the facts about what was said and didn’t went really further in details.
As for Canadian newspapers, I found that they were not really involve into the cause of Tobin tax and how we could improve our economy if for once we would follow European’s instead of Americans.
Reuters and Canwest collaboration for an articles show that Flaherty, Canada’s finance minister, doesn’t appear convinced that a tax will help. The article doesn’t have any bias, it simply relate what happened during the conference, which clearly deceived me since there was 100 things to say. Some quotes in it show how Flaherty keeps everything according to the book by saying «we have been a government that has been reducing taxes». I don’t really know how since our tax are not really moving since the past 5 years. The article is not in favour of Canada’s opinion or UK, but it still shows how Canada was behind by stating that «it’s not particularly a priority in the Canadian situation, since we have not had any of our financial institutions fail.»
This last quote is truth for now, but I think our economy is struggling like every economy right now and that Canada should be part of this levy that is even lower than the Tobin Tax at only .005 per cent to help the global economy.
To conclude, I think that Canadian reporters should support more our Country and should learn from UK’s reporters. It is not hard just to give an opinion instead of just relating when it comes to financials news that are happening worldwide. I think that even if our banks are not in a big crisis, Canada should separate itself from US and have an opinion and be more globally concern. I think we might be in a changing are though since UK prime minister is in favour of a change, we might, hopefully, follow in the next years if we can change government.
Sources:
Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/10/tobin-tax-backlash-financial-transactions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/09/bank-tax-pays-for-develpment
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/08/darling-brown-tobin-tax-obama/print
Reuters & Canwest
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Flaherty+sold+proposed+bank+levy/2198883/story.html
Mail Online
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1226013/Humiliation-Brown-plan-global-banking-tax-rejected-U-S-G20-meeting.html#
Reuters
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-joins-g20-push-for-bank-levy-reuters_molt-2335cb3ba041.html?x=0
Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/594673f2-cba8-11de-924d-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
This is a good topic - showing how different cultures can interpret the same news due to political leanings. Good. 7/10
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