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London could lose more than a million jobs if Britain quits the EU and fails to adopt more outward-looking trade policies, according to a report commissioned by Boris Johnson, the London mayor. In those circumstances, the capital could shed 1.2m jobs and lose out on tens of billions of pounds of gross domestic product, the report says.

[Snip]...Not only is the North Polar cap not melted away – global warming is not happening either. There has been no global warming in 17 years and 9 months.

The European Court of Justice on Wednesday (30 April) rejected a UK legal challenge to plans by eleven countries to set up a financial transactions tax (FTT). The main thrust of London’s opposition to the tax relates to the so-called “residence” and “issuance” principle in the proposed bill, which means that some traders operating outside the FTT-11 would still be liable to pay the levy. The UK, which has the largest financial services sector in the EU, says that it would be hit by the tax as a result. But since the proposal has not been agreed, the UK case...

Preface:  The scientific method requires allowing a free-for-all of hypotheses, which then rise or fall based upon the results of actual experiments.  In other words, science means that you throw out theories - no matter how good they look on paper - that are disproven by experimental results, and adopt those confirmed by the results. [Economics is supposed to do that, too ... but hasn't.]For example, putting Galileo to death because he didn’t agree with the “accepted” consensus that the Sun revolved around the Earth was not a great example of the scientific method. Instead of conducting experiments to see...

IMF paper warns of 'savings tax' and mass write-offs as West's debt hits 200-year high ... Debt burdens in developed nations have become extreme by any historical measure and will require a wave of haircuts, warns IMF paper. The paper said policy elites in the West are still clinging to the illusion that rich countries can chip away at their debts with a blend of austerity cuts and growth. – UK Telegraph Dominant Social Theme: The West is out of control and only taxes can save it. Free-Market Analysis: The UK Telegraph has discovered that the IMF wants to inflict...

The French National Assembly’s finance committee has green-lighted an amendment to the country’s draft 2014 budget law, significantly increasing the amount of aid funds that can be generated from the upcoming financial transactions tax (FTT), EurActiv.fr reports. An unexpected proposal for taxing financial transactions—amendment 23—was adopted on Tuesday (15 October) by the French Parliament’s finance committee during its examination of the country’s draft budget law for next year. … But the proposal is viewed less positively by the French Finance Ministry, which wants to protect the interests of French banks. Financial market operators, such as NYSE Euronext and Paris Europlace,...

A financial transactions tax (FTT) for 11 EU countries would be illegal as it affects the tax sovereignty of others, according to an opinion by the legal service of the EU Council in Brussels. The European Commission says the tax is in line with EU law, however. In the leaked document, seen by Reuters and Financial Times, the lawyers serving EU member states say the proposed financial transactions tax “exceeds member states’ jurisdiction for taxation under the norms of international customary law as they are understood by the Union.” The 14-page legal opinion concludes that the proposal is “not compatible”...

EU tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta has cast doubt on reports that his Financial Transactions Tax (FTT), also known as the Tobin Tax, is being unraveled by member states. The Reuters news agency and the Wall Street Journal this week cited “senior EU officials” as saying some of the 11 countries set to take part are having second thoughts. Semeta’s original proposal envisaged a 0.1 percent tax on share and bond trades and a 0.01 percent levy on derivatives trading from 1 January, designed to take €35 billion ($45 billion) out of the pockets of banks and traders into national treasuries....

France’s experiment with the Tobin Tax has proved a spectacular flop. Its finance ministry admits that the scattershot levy on financial transactions has raised just a third of the money expected since August. Total takings will be a paltry €800 million ($1.04 billion) in 2013, but that overlooks the much greater damage inflicted on French finance, industry and the government’s own tax base. “France is shooting itself in the foot,” said Paul-Henri de La Porte du Theil, head of French finance industry AFG. … The House of Lords EU Committee says the Tobin Tax will have “far-reaching adverse consequences” for...

Around 400,000 Britons live or own homes in the south of Spain, which is suffering a deep recession that is hampering Madrid’s attempts to balance the public finances and stave off a bail-out. Senior figures in Germany are now arguing that some richer home owners in countries like Spain, Portugal and Greece have so far avoided paying their fair share to rescue the euro, leaving Germany paying too much. Taxes on property or other assets would mark a significant change in Europe’s approach to funding bail-outs for eurozone members. Until now, the cost of rescue packages for countries like Ireland,...

The proposal to introduce a tax on financial transactions (FTT)—or Tobin tax—across a number of EU countries by January 2014 is under pressure as Italy wants fundamental changes to the plan and the UK has launched a legal challenge in the European Court of Justice. A statement on Saturday (20 April) from Italy’s permanent representative in Brussels, Ferdinando Nelli Feroci, said: “Transactions in state bonds should be excluded from the taxed instruments in the proposed Tobin tax.” He described this as a red-line, non-negotiable issue for Italy. … The plan was requested through “enhanced cooperation” by 11 countries, including Italy,...

The European Commission said revenue from a proposed financial transaction tax (FTT) should be set aside to fight poverty and climate change, as an investment against global instability. “I would very much want member countries really to take it seriously,” European commissioner for development Andris Piebalgs told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday (27 February). The FTT is backed by 11 member states and would put 0.1 percent levy on bonds and shares and 0.01 percent on derivative products. Estimated generated annual revenues could range between €30 billion to €35 billion ($39 billion–$46 billion) a year. …

Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband vowed on Monday (19 November) he would not let Britain sleepwalk towards exit from the European Union as Prime Minister David Cameron prepared for tough talks in Brussels this week on a renewal of the bloc’s budget. Speaking to a conference of business leaders, the pro-EU Miliband said leaving Europe would be bad for prosperity and a betrayal of Britain’s national interests. “Increasingly we see euroskepticism on the rise among the British public—we see cabinet ministers in this government openly calling for Britain to leave,” Miliband said. “For those of us like me, who care...

A majority of Britons would vote to leave the European Union if given the chance, according to a survey published on Sunday. The Optimum Research poll in The Observer newspaper found that 34 percent would definitely vote to quit the 27-member bloc and 22 percent would probably do so, giving a total of 56 percent that would opt to leave the EU. …

European Union officials are examining legal options to side-step a possible British veto on the bloc’s long-term budget, in a bid to weaken Prime Minister David Cameron's trump card in the talks, diplomats said. Britain is one of several net contributors including Germany and France demanding deep reductions to EU spending plans worth more than €1 trillion between 2014-2020, which they say are at stark odds with austerity-driven spending cuts at home. Under pressure from Euroskeptics in his own party to deliver a real terms cut, officials believe Cameron is the most likely to make good on a threat to...

The much vaunted EU financial transaction tax (FTT) is set to be hard-wired into the EU budget, with most of its revenue going directly to the EU.A paper prepared by EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy and sent to European capitals ahead of next week’s EU budget summit, where leaders aim to agree a mandate on the budget framework for 2014-2020, would deduct FTT revenues from national contributions to the annual EU pot. Van Rompuy put forward his ideas after private talks with EU countries’ budget sherpas over the past 10 days. He has proposed a cut of €75 billion...

Does Britain belong in the European Union? There are plenty both in the United Kingdom and on the Continent who have their doubts. Now, with the debate over the EU’s next budget raging, a European Commissioner has challenged London to decide. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel is also losing her patience over the squabble. … On Friday, European Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget Janusz Lewandowski, Poland’s representative in the EU’s executive, said it was time for Britain to make a fundamental decision regarding its future in the European Union. “Of course there are limits,” he said in an interview...

The EU commission on Tuesday (24 October) proposed that a group of 11 countries move ahead with a common financial transactions tax, after years of wrangling failed to produce a deal among all member states. Estonia late on Tuesday joined an earlier group of 10—Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain—willing to go ahead with the tax. The proposal still needs the approval of a majority of the EU’s 27 countries and the European Parliament, after which a joint legal text will be issued. EU tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta said this will be “the epitome of...

A threshold-breaking eleven member states have agreed to push ahead with a financial transactions tax, but the political breakthrough is tempered by a number of unanswered questions. "Today we have received a clear and very welcome signal that there will be enough member states on board for an EU Financial Transactions Tax," EU tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta said Tuesday (9 October). He promised to come forward with a decision in November, but noted that at least nine countries have to formally make a request in order to trigger a legislative process for a splinter group of member states. So far,...

France and Germany still need the backing of a number of member states to put in place a European Union financial transaction tax (FTT), despite claims from French President François Hollande that the tax is "now effective", EurActiv.fr reports. For over a year now, Paris and Berlin have been battling to persuade their European partners to put in place a FTT. … A working group, launched by Germany and France in March 2012, continues to discuss the proposal. Poland and Austria say they will take part in the project. To form a robust cooperation agreement, a minimum of nine countries...