Congress readies 90% punitive taxes on bonuses

The Americans have begun moves to introduce probably the most socialist tax ever seen in their history. A 90% tax on bonuses for companies that have had a taxpayer bailout . The tax would apply to bonuses paid to high earning employees at companies that have received at least five billion dollars in aid from the US government. The measure comes after it was revealed that more than 160 million dollars were paid in bonuses to top AIG executives in the past week. The Democratic tax would apply to employees whose total annual pay exceeded 250,000 dollars at firms that received more than five billion dollars in government rescue funds.

So

Should it be done here in the UK?
Could it be done here?

Should Sir Fred get the 'Public opinion tax,' threatened in a moment of opportunistic populism by Harriet Harman a few weeks ago?
And if it were unveiled could a socialist government, desperate for funds, resist not putting that particular genie back inside the bottle.

Probably the only factor preventing what would be seen as a vote winning, anti Tory, anti capitalist, pro worker, debt reducing, equality, strong government policy, is that if it could be done for bankers, could it not apply to regulators? Or legislators? Or the guardians of the public finances? Or civil servants? Or Public sector workers? Or Quangos? Or Union Leaders?
Or MP's ....

Why only 90%

"We figured that the local and state government will take care of the other 10 percent," quipped Democratic Representative Charles Rangel, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

HMG Treasury in action

2 whisper stories to end the week on this week:

1. The newly minted state banks have meetings with their senior management every week now with Shriti Vadera (Minister for small business - I guess that is where the want the banks to go!) and a treasury team. These are not meetings the bankers' look forward too.

After the opening niceties it goes something along the lines of:

"How much F**cking money have you lent this week? Why aren't you lending more? What have you done about improving you capital ratios you f**cking imbeciles"

The shocked bankers sit and try to explain that the many contradictory orders cannot be followed. Surprisingly, they just get shouted down.

One week just after Christmas Lord Mandelson turned up. The meeting was more civilised. Mandy said I trust you all to do what you think is best, its is your business after all. He then said, of course there was another side to the deal and that '"from the moment I leave this room I am going to call you all C**ts to the media."



2. An Army General came to dinner with a friend and said he had had the top three MOD treasury mandarins down to see him during the week. They were doing the usual thing about budget cuts and overspend. When asked about what they future held they said they had no view at all of what would happen over the rest of 2009, but were sure that inflation would jump to over 6% in 2010 due to the monetary stimulus being injected into the economy.

Maths Quiz

Friday Fun

Numbers seem to be getting smaller these days. Used to be that £1 million would last a footballer all season or count as a decent bonus for a bank exec.
But since Northern Wreck the talk is of Billions. Trillions of Billions of toxic debt.
But what do these sums actually mean. Can they even be comprehended?

If you start counting now, out loud, "One..Two.. Three "without pause, you will reach the number 1,000,000 around about 1pm on Tuesday the 16th February, and you will have missed valentines day.

1 minute = 60 seconds.
1 hour = 60 minutes (or 3600 seconds).
1 day = 24 hours (or 86,400 seconds).
1,000,000/86,400 = 11.574 days.

So, today class, and in a departure from the usual national multiple choice curriculum,
how long would it take to count to
A} 1 Billion
B} 1 Trillion

And part 2.
The UK treasury expected to have to borrow only an EXTRA £118bn for 2010.{exceedingly unlikely to be that little..that was the November '08 fantasy amount} Excluding interest, how long would it take to pay off just this extra borrowing at £100 a second.{Answer. Depends how quickly you can get the printing presses to run}

UPDATE

If we wanted to pay down a billion pounds of the UK debt, paying one pound a second, it would take 31 years, 259 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds.


To pay off a trillion pounds of debt, at a pound a second, would take about 32,000 years.


About a billion minutes ago, the Roman Empire was in full swing. (One billion minutes is about 1,900 years.)


About a billion hours ago, we were living in the Stone Age. (One billion hours is about 114,000 years.)


About a billion months ago, dinosaurs walked the earth. (One billion months is about 82 million years.)


A billion inches is 15,783 miles, more than halfway around the earth (circumference).The earth is about 8,000 miles wide (diameter), and the sun is about 800,000 miles wide, not quite a million.


Total UK personal debt at the end of December 2008 stood at £1,457bn.With Mrs BQ contributing to a healthy % of it.

Something for the weekend

Friday fun

This week a simple word game..


TIE-KEN-DO: The ancient art of bringing back a heavyweight.

SHEERPRICE: The difference in a banking share's value between Monday and Friday.

Please provide the best definitions for any of the following words...

And the winners are

CAMEROON:Old South says.. Cameroon: A genetically engineered beast, derived from a camel and a baboon. Every time it appears in public and speaks, the stock market drops 5% within the hour (See 'Henry Paulson').
CASHSTRATION: Nick Drew says ..Surgical removal of 'crown jewels' via investment in Standard Life's Cash Fund. From 'cash' as in "wholly invested in cash - the most stable of investments" (© Standard Life 2005)
IGNORANUS:Caronte says... someone who cannot tell the difference between his anus and elbow
BOZONE: Prodicus says ..The city formerly known as London.
MERVOUS:Steven_L says.. Apprehensiveness associated with doubts about ones reputation as an after-dinner speaker.
INTAXICATED:Mithch says..A state of mind brought on when you realise what all your tax is used for.
EL GORDO:
{the Spanish lottery} Idle says .El Gordo: Miss Macpherson in her dotage, having eaten all the pies.
STRAWBURY: BQ says ..A report, usually critical of the justice department, which appears on a heavy news day.
GULLIBALLS:Nick Drew says- One day, Ed, all this will be yours.
- Gosh, thanks Gordon !
TRUSTCOTT:Hatfield Girl says...Trustcott - remittance man's villa in Kenya/ Spain/Algarve.

and a worthy "Please add 'Testiculate' to the list, as they all wander round, upwardly grasping at imaginary bollocks..." from Scrobs.

One word quiz

Just been on one of those "Blue skies " away days. This one was more of a grey skies with black clouds looming but that's the weather forecast for the next few months. It finished with the now almost obligatory feedback form. Last question

IN ONE SINGLE ADJECTIVE HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE PERFORMANCE OF TODAY'S STRATEGY FOCUS TEAM.

I wanted to put "predictable" but settled for "burnishing" as the most misleading I could think of before heading for the exit.

The weekend quiz

IN ONE SINGLE ADJECTIVE HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE PERFORMANCE OF

Gordon Brown
David Cameron
Harriett Harman
Alistair Darling
George Osbourne
John Prescott
Nick Clegg

I offer...

GB Ogreish
DC Anemic
HH Shaky
AD Eunuch
GO Callow
JP Weighty
NC Keen

In the comments please..

Moses

Peter Mandelson says Brown is "like Moses".
"People really do look to him like some Moses figure who is going to lead them away from this economic mess to the promised land,"said the prodigal son.


He may have a point.
Moses was tasked by God to deliver the Hebrews from slavery. After the plagues were unleashed on Egypt, he led the Hebrew slaves across the Red Sea where they wandered in the desert for 40 years. Despite living to 120, Moses died before reaching the Land of Israel

So, just 38.5 more years and we'll be there.

Moses had the 10 Commandments too. A bit like his earlier 5 economic tests for joining the Euro.
{tourist rate Euro is 1.09 today so nearly there}

Any ideas for Brown's new 10 commandments ?

Thou shalt not covet thine neighbours mortgage protection insurance
Thou Shalt lag thine water tank