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Obama administration officials and Congressional leaders said Tuesday that the House and Senate would have to reopen the conference proceedings on a sweeping financial regulatory bill after Senator Scott Brown, Republican of Massachusetts, said he would oppose the final version because it contained a tax on big banks and hedge funds. * * * The need to reopen the conference negotiations, which could happen on Tuesday afternoon, suggested that Democrats were paying a slightly embarrassing price for rushing to meet President Obama’s request that the legislation be completed by the end of last week so that it could be signed...

HUNTSVILLE, Canada (AFP) – The drive for a punitive global tax on the world's largest banks ran into the sand Saturday with key G8 and G20 nations dismissing the European plan as unwarranted. A last-gasp European push for the levy failed as a raft of developed and developing countries -- led by G20 hosts Canada -- rejected one-size-fits-all rules. Britain, France and Germany had argued the tax would curb the type of excessive financial risk-taking that pushed the global economy to the brink, and help build a nest egg for future crises. But the idea came up against fierce opposition...

Two months ago the POTUS proposed a tax on the biggest companies that received TARP funds (except of course GE Capital run by Obama buddy Jeff Immelt and GM/Chrysler effectively owned by Obama's buddies at the UAW). “My determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at some of the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people. We want our money back, and we’re going to get it.” The real purpose of the tax was not to "get our money back" as the President said. It's...

Gordon Brown said on Wednesday the world’s leading economies were close to agreeing a global bank tax, amid hopes in Downing Street that a deal can be concluded at the G20 summit in Canada in June. Mr Brown believes that opinion has shifted decisively in favour of a globally co-ordinated tax after President Barack Obama’s move last month to raise $90bn (£57.7bn) from a US bank levy. Gordon Brown The tax could cost the financial services sector tens of billions of pounds a year. The prime minister has strongly advocated some kind of charge on banks. “I’m interested in the...

... [L]et’s discuss the President’s recent rhetoric. Paraphrasing him, “we will get back all the people’s money.” And the applause line, “every dime!” OK, fine. But most of the banks, and in particular the ones in the headlines for paying large bonuses, have paid back all their TARP loans. This logic causes him no pause. Apparently, and we must read between the lines as this is the most transparent administration ever, he means all the money lent out to everyone through TARP not just to banks. So, loans to the car companies, and AIG, and FNMA/FHLMC, all must be paid...

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Billionaire financier George Soros said on Wednesday U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to impose a tax on large banks was premature and his wider proposals to rein in banks' activities may not go far enough.

Forget Goldman Sachs funding a housing bubble even while betting against it. Revisit the famous collapse of Long Term Capital Management, in which (according to a 2000 book by former Journal reporter Roger Lowenstein) Goldman used information gathered from its hedge fund client to bet against the client's positions. Or revisit a column in this space, circa 1998, about Goldman holding a splashy event in Moscow to sell investors $1.25 billion in new Russian government bonds, which allowed Russia to pay off a $500 million loan to Goldman just before Russia defaulted on its international debts. Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein...

A handful of large insurance companies, most of which turned down government bailout funds, would likely owe money under the proposed Financial Crisis Responsibility tax. The proposed tax, unveiled Thursday by President Barack Obama, would amount to 0.15% of total assets minus high-quality capital, such as common stock, and disclosed and retained earnings. Insurance-policy reserves would be untaxed, being already subject to federal fees, according to the White House, but analysts and insurers note that some details are yet to be clarified. The fee must be approved by lawmakers. Quite a few insurers qualify for the tax, according to analysts....

No sooner does Washington propose a new tax than an army of experts tries to figure out ways to avoid it. That is already the case with U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed fee on banks, designed to ensure that Wall Street banks pay up to $117 billion to reimburse taxpayers for the financial bailout: Bankers, lawyers and consultants are already considering ways to avoid paying the fee. ... The Obama administration hopes this fee will give banks and other companies an incentive to shrink bloated balance sheets, and some companies likely will shed assets. But others will look for ways...

Wall Street’s main lobbying arm has hired a top Supreme Court litigator to study a possible legal battle against a bank tax proposed by the Obama administration, on the theory that it would be unconstitutional, according to three industry officials briefed on the matter. In an e-mail message sent last week to the heads of Wall Street legal departments, executives of the lobbying group, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, wrote that a bank tax might be unconstitutional because it would unfairly single out and penalize big banks, according to these officials, who did not want to be identified...