Free Republic

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...

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,...

Exit, Lori Lightfoot; enter, Brandon Johnson — and the song remains the same. Or does it?It’s hard to imagine conditions in Chicago getting more desperate than under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, but new Mayor Brandon Johnson — in office less than a week, as I write — is already doing his damnedest to make everyday life and business survival in one of the country’s most iconic cities even worse.But imagine, we must.As reported by The New York Post, the iconic Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) opened in 1898, only 27 years after the infamous Great Chicago Fire. Proud Chicagoans heralded the...

Occupy’s busting out on a new path … So Adbusters is asking people all around the world to march on Oct. 29. “We want to send a clear message that we the people want to slow down this global casino.” And Adbusters does have one specific demand, a 1 percent tax on financial-sector transactions. Some form of that idea, known as the “Robin Hood” tax. Dominant Social Theme: We want justice for the world and the UN will give it to us. Free-Market Analysis: Kalle Lasn, founder of Adbusters magazine, based in Vancouver, B.C. – the magazine that issued the...

Fullerton police have arrested three boys suspected of attacking a minister and his family as they were driving to his church. The suspects were arrested shortly after the Friday night attack on Willie Holmes, president and founder of International Nondenominational Assemblies, but their arrests weren't revealed until Sunday. Each of the boys was booked on suspicion of felony vandalism, assault with a deadly weapon and being a gang member. Their names were withheld because of the their ages. Holmes had said a group of youths stepped in front of his car Friday night and began throwing rocks, bricks and bottles....