Doctor Boris Johnson, staunch champion of the city of London has vigorously defended skimming, the multi million pound operation that he views as a key employer in the capital and that enables a trickle down of wealth from rich to poor. He was responding to Lord Turner's report last week that suggested a Tobin Tax should be levied on all bonuses. Commenting that the financial sector - which he described as an intermediate rather than an end product activity - had become too large, Turner condemned some financial innovation as "socially useless", questioning for example whether "the world would have been better off without any credit default swaps".
However Dr Johnson has hit back at Lord Turner, asking: "What is a flaming pinko doing running the FSA? People certainly have very short memories don't they? I should say so. Don't people remember the Bolsheviks? One day they were trying to curb the excesses of the bankers, the next they were pumping lead into members of the royal family."
Mr Johnson was not slow to point out that many people in the economy benefited from skimming. He suggested that were regulation on skimming actually to be decreased - either for credit card skimming or casino skimmming - the activity would then flourish, bringing much needed taxes into treasury coffers. "You ask the taxi driver, the celebrity chef, the diamond dealer, the super-car or yacht trader whether that wealth placed in the hands of a few people does not benefit the economy... And it's not just that. There is also a 'trickle down effect' via taxation. Many of the taxes that pay for your schools and hospitals, your roads and your police could well be funded in the future by an expanded 'skimming' industry. You might call skimming an intermediate activity, since it does not offer an end product, but that does not stop it allowing money to flow. And the flow of money is just what the economy needs right now!"
Doctor Johnson concluded by adding: "It is clear that when a man is tired of the City of London, he is tired of lies."
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Turner is making sense. People do indeed have short memories, if they forget the catastrophe of last year. If Turner turns talk into actions on banks and hedge funds, good for him. The vulnerable taxpayer is still waiting to hear what has been implemented to ensure we are never again exposed to such catastrophic levels of risk.
ReplyDeleteTurner should understand that when you are in the depth of recession it's not the right time to shoot yourself in the foot by hampering your most important industry.
ReplyDeleteAnd since when do we judge and tax industries on the basis of whether they are socially useful or not? Should we introduce additional taxes on buy-to-let landlords, ticket touts, clairvoyants, bookmakers and Facebook on that basis?
The Tobin Tax has been mooted a few times over the years and its just a pity that Labour ignored it as a way of raising revenue till now in favour of less obvious (and more expensive) ways. It's quite easy to monitor and cheap to collect but I doubt they'll push it through in time and it would probably be reversed by the Tories even if they did and repealed.
ReplyDeleteYou haven't explained why a specific tax on one particular industry (and one that we need to get right given its prominence in the UK economy) is justified, right or wise.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea and would raise lots of government money to pay us all back for bailing out the banks.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment the same also happens with stamp duty on house purchases and it definitely makes you think twice about moving house when stamp duty is factored in so in the same way it would act as a brake on overexuberance in speculative financial transactions without hurting any other part of the real economy.
Love to know what Cameron thinks about loose cannon Boris. Anyone know what Boris thinks about the NHS???
ReplyDeleteThere's also an activity called skimming that is legal anyway. its where a product is put on the market at a high price before other companies enter the same product. When they do the price is lowered
ReplyDeleteBoris would lap it up
At the next election, journalists will probably be urging Boris to open his (big) mouth as much as they can...
ReplyDeleteMemories are indeed very short.
ReplyDeleteJust one year ago everybody was going on about how the near collapse of the economies was caused by excessive risk taking... thanks to bonuses.
What kind of idiot is Boris?
I for one know that Boris is not an idiot. He is a man of distinction and discernment. He would not make any of the mistakes of the past such as banging the drum for investment bankers and their big swinging boners. Oh no, that is one of Gordon Brown's mistakes and Boris most definitely will not go down that path
ReplyDeletePoint of order: It is not possible for a big boner to swing. Vacillate or girate, perhaps, but definitely not swing.
ReplyDeleteLadies, ladies, please stop talking about my boner. Boner Boris did not get where he is today by having you ladies take his boner in vain.
ReplyDeleteSo please please please, leave my Johnson alone.
Peter Hitchens makes a very good point this week about the irrelevance of voting. If Cameron gets in at the next election, nothing will change. We;ll still have buffoon Boris sucking up to the city, Osborne pretending to care about what the Big Dicks did under Brown.
ReplyDeleteAnyone want a straw poll on what the next derivative to bust the market will be called?
Maybe Straw Poll Derivatives...?
In response to Ned Ludd and Anon... The tories are probably fighting the same duplicitous game as New Labour did.
ReplyDeleteCameron can offer Boris's conservatism to one lot of tories and caring NHS Cameron conservatism to the New Labour disillusioned set.
Who says that Old Etonians cannot be double dealing little shits (just like New Labour)?
Ladies, ladies, I've had a change of bone. I've decided that you can all talk about my boner to your heart's content
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen Ehrlichman???
ReplyDeleteEhrlichmanz dayz haz cam und gan.
ReplyDeleteZee era av realpalitik eez returned now zat zee neo-canns are not papular unnymore.
Vee in Vashington are now usking: Eez Baris Jahnsan a realpolitician or a baffoon?
Please stop that fake Kissinger accent shit. It convinces noone and the great Henry is still alive so it is qvite offensive
ReplyDeleteNow which board was it that Kissinger was on...?
ReplyDeleteWasn't Bernie Madoff's board by any chance?
Bernies come and Bernies go, but Pyramids are here to stay - You ask the Pharoah.
ReplyDeleteBoris is the new Ram-eses
ReplyDeletePharoahs come and Pharoahs go, but wankers are here to stay
ReplyDelete