Finally, instead of tax incentives and tax cuts many see that what is desperately needed at this point in time is the introduction of a new tax. This tax would be a tax on investments, akin to the Tobin tax. The 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. The original tax rate he proposed was 1%, which was subsequently lowered to between 0.1% and 0.25%. http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/28/28896/1.html
In a sign of how worried companies have become about getting credit, General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote) considered seeking a bank charter that would give it access to government lending channels, sources familiar with the company's thinking told Reuters last week. http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCATRE49B30P20081012?sp=true
Now we are starting to get anecdotal evidence that this extremely vital market is also freezing up. If you think the problems stemming from a meltdown with the commercial paper markets are threatening to the world economy, they are small potatoes when compared to a seizure in the letter of credit markets..... "'There are all kinds of stuff stacked up on docks right now that can't be shipped because people can't get letters of credit,' said Bill Gary, president of Commodity Information Systems in Oklahoma City. 'The problem is not demand, and it's not supply because we have plenty of supply. It's finding anyone who can come up with the credit to buy.'...... That means he can't ship goods, which means that within the next 2 weeks, physical shortages of commodities begin to show up. THE CENTRAL BANKS CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN OR WE HAVE NO ECONOMY, LET ALONE A CREDIT SYSTEM."..... http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article6745.html
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77687 China stiffing America for $100 billion in debt
Yet U.S. taxpayers helping Beijing as part of trillion-$ credit bailout
